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Welcome To Session One
Welcome To Session One
Welcome to Exploring Indigenous Art in North America, Viewing the Past and Visualizing the Future, an encompassing topic with new happenings everyday.
Scroll down here to view a sampling of the visual images we will be studying in each of our next nine Sessions.
Your ideas, your opinions and your questions are most welcome throughout our study. Please share them as we explore many aspects of Indigenous art.
Session Two, March 17, Initial Visions and Visual Interchanges
Our study of Indigenous art begins with viewing the work of Anglo artists in fine arts and photography depicting Native Americans during a period of almost 200 years, starting in the mid-19th Century.
Seth Eastman, American, Sioux Indians Breaking Up Camp, 1848. Oil on canvas, 25 1/4" x 34 7/8", MFA Boston.
Charles Milton Bell (1848-1893), Juanita, Chief Manuelito's Favorite Wife, also called Ta-Ha-Ni Ba-Da-Na, 1874
"Indigenous peoples have long organized themselves into sovereign entitiies that vary tremendously in their languages, customs and cultural protocols. In the middle and late 1800s, American eagerly claimed Native lands for their own , negating and dismissing the rights and heritage of Indigenous peoples.
During this period, leaders and delegates of Indigenous nations traveled repeatedly to Washington, D.C. to negotiate treaties with the United States. During these trips, it was common for them to sit for photographic portraits. They brought the same strength and dignity to the photographers' studios that they brought to their diplomatic dialogues." Denver Art Museum Speaking with Light
Edward S. Curtis, (1868-1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American west.
The North American Indian, "...a 30 year project by this Seattle society photographer to photograph Native Indians and cultures in their traditional clothing and settings before they were assimiliated into modern American culture (vanished)"
"Will Wilson is a photographer and trans-customary artist who spent his formative years living on the Navajo Nation. Through various methods of photography, Wilson combines digital technology, historic photographic processes, performance, and installation around themes of environmental activism, the impacts of cultural and environmental change on Indigenous peoples, and the possibility of cultural survival and renewal." Native Arts and Culture Foundation.
Session Three, March 24, Early Depictions of the Lives and Work of Indigenous Artists
A glimpse of new art forms : Ledger Art, Crafts, Work by the Kiowa Six, Abstract Art , Early Photography
Ledger Art. Texas Beyond History
"Visual sovereignity is the exercise of cultural and intellectual sovereignty, the rights of Indigenous peoples to imagine themselves in ways that uphold the wisdom and teachings of our ancestors." Michelle H. Raheja, University of Arizona Press, 2015
A late 19th Century Example of the Pomo Basket
The Pomo Indians of Northern California have long been celebrated for their extraordinary basket weaving. Made by both women and women, these exemplary baskets incorporated materails from the annual harvest and served both utilitarian and ceremonial purposes.
Beginning in the 1870s, so called Califronia baskets became very popular with with Euro-Americans. While greatly reduced in number Pomo basket makers are still revered for their sacred artistic practices.
Work of Kiowa Six
"Kiowa Six are considered significant in the development of Native American painting by bridging the era of Ledger Art to flat-style Southern Plains. While not the first Native Americans to be successful in the international mainstream art world, their careers proved inspirational to many Native American artists in the 20th Century." Wikipedia
Abstract Art
Rudolph Carl (R.C.) Gorman, a Native American artist of the Navajo Nation and referred to as the Picasso of American Indian was considered to have broken the "mold of Indian art."
R.C. Gorman, Pottery Keeper, stone lithograph, 1977
Henry Inman (1801-1846), painting of [Tah-Col-o-Quoit], ca.1832
Henry Inman, painting of [Tah-Col-o-Quoit], ca.1832
On view for the first time at the Harvard Art Museums are portraits of [Tah-Col-o-Quoit (Rising Cloud)]—an Asakiwaki/Sauk warrior—and a Chippewa chief, believed to be [Weesh-Cub (The Sweet)]. Painted by Henry Inman (1801–1846), these paintings provide a sneak peek into a broader collection currently undergoing conservation treatment at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Museums of Art.
Session Five, April 7 - Early Contemporary Indigenous Art
In post World War II times Indigenous artists began to change their work, modifying their earlier work we saw in Session Three: their flat, two-dimensional traditional painting on paper and canvas surfaces with static images of people, land, and animals. In this ession, we will study six artists and their work. See below the work of three of these early contemporary Indigenous artists.
T. C. Cannon, Two Guns Arikara, 1974–1977. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 71.5" x 55.5"
The painter, who died at the age of thirty-one, vivified his Native American heritage with inspirations from modern art. The New Yorker, April 8, 2019.
Fritz Scholder, Indian No. 1, 1967
"This painting, Indian No. 1, and the works that followed thrust contemporary styles into a genre dominated by what Scholder characterized as “flat” and, at times, disingenuous depictions of Native Americans. His paintings disrupted comfort zones — even for Native Americans — by rawly exposing issues including alcoholism, unemployment and cultural clashes.
But for Scholder, who was one-quarter Native American, the choice to paint the charged subject matter was — as in any of his paintings — second to his love of color and focus on composition. Scholder did not fully embrace his Native American heritage. He was, at his core, a painter." Smithsonian, December 29, 2015
Rick Bartow (1946-2016) GC 4, 2014 Pastel, tempera on paper 50" x 45"
"Rick Bartow drew inspiration from his Wiyot ancestry and was influenced by contemporary artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Fritz Scholder." Denver Art Museum.
Session Six, April 21 - Contemporary Indigenous Art: Survivance
"The activism of the 1970s and new approaches to art in the 1980s inspired Indigenous artists to explore the dismantling of dominant settler narratives about Indigenous peoples and cultures as well as to continue communication about the Indigenous presence in their lives. In 1999, scholar Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe) coined the term “survivance” to describe this continuing Indigenous presence framed by grievance, humor, pathos, and anger." Amon Carter Museum
Ten Indigenous artists and their work, representative of Survivance, are discussed in Session Six. Here below see the work of three of these artists.
Zig Jackson, Indian Man on the Bus, Mission District, San Francisco, California, from the series Indian Man in San Francisco. 1994, printed later Inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.7. © Zig Jackson Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, North Dakota
"Zig Jackson transforms an everyday scene with an enactment of Indigenous presence. By donning his headdress, the artist uses San Francisco’s MUNI public transit system as a stage for the performance of identity. Jackson’s “Indian everyman” commands presence, standing against erasure through his regalia and authoritative gaze. He pushes back against the flattening of stereotyping and exoticism, compelling viewers to question preconceived notions of what Indigenous people are supposed to look like and where they live." Speaking with Light, Denver Art Museum
Wendy Red Star, Alaxchiiaahush/Many War Achievements/Plenty Coups from the Series 1880 Peace Crow Delegation, 2014, Inkjet print, pigment-based, of a digitally manipulated photography by C.M (Charles Milton) Bell, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, 26 x 18 7/16 in.
Exhibition, Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, 2024.
Nicholas Galanin, Get Comforable, 2012, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX. P2021.42
"Get Comfortable" is a photograph and an intervention of sorts. Like a lot of my work, this one is based on our relationship to our history with the land. During colonization, a lot of our place names were actively removed, erased, and renamed with colonial settler language. Connecting to both our land and our history, this work speaks to our erasure pretty blatantly. In this photograph, “River” is crossed out and “Land” is written over it. Get Comfortable also speaks to comfort—ideas of comfort or discomfort for settler communities or those who occupy Indigenous land, all the way down to the legislation and rights that the government implements and imposes upon our communities to remove and erase us." Nicholas Galanin
Session Seven, April 28 - A Visual Glimpse: Land and Landscape
We study here the special relationship that Indigenous people have with the land; the relationship of being stewards of the land, rather than owners. The relationship furthermore means respecting and protecting the national environment through practices deeply connected to their ancenstral knowledge and relationships, a relationship often described as a sense of belonging and responsibility toward all living beings within their territory:
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Indian Canyon, 2019, archival pigment print.
Kay WalkingStick, Niagara (2022), 40 x 80 inches, marked by a Haudenosaunee design motif. New-York Historical Society
"In the 1980s, she found meaning in using the diptych format, juxtaposing textured abstractions evocative of geologic strata directly with more representational paintings of the land. Such duality and symbiosis persists in her paintings of the last two decades that superimpose abstract Native patterns on illusionistic scenes." NY Times, Oct. 19, 2023
Andrea Carlson, Red Exit, 2020, Oil, watercolor, opaque watercolor, ink, acrylic, colored pencil, ball-point pen, fiber-tipped pen, and graphite on paper, 60 parts, Overall (In-situ): 115 × 183 in.
"Andrea Carlson (b. 1979) presents a panoramic seascape informed by ideas of re-creation and renewal. Vibrant, prismatic motifs—some drawn from the land of the artist’s ancestral home, and others from effigies, petroglyphs, and navigational signs—pulsate and collide across a series of horizons. The composition is anchored by a loon, known in the Ojibwe re-creation narrative as an Earth-Diver, who alongside other surviving animals, helps remake the world.. Through her images, which take shape as a continuous wake pattern, she invokes moments of resistance and empowerment." Whitney Museum of Art
Session Eight, May 5 - Contemporary Indigenous Art with Nation as a Theme
Jeremy Dennis, 2016 - 2017, Nothing Happened... a photo series that explores the violence/non-violence of post-colonial Native American psychology.
"Nothing Happened Here explores the violence/non - violence of postcolonial Native American psychology. Reflecting upon my own experience and observations in my community, the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton, New York, specifically the burden of the loss of culture through assimilation, omission of our history in school curriculum, and loss of land and economic disadvantage; this series illustrates the shared damaged enthusiasm of living on indigenous lands without rectification. The arrows in each image act as a symbol of everlasting indigenous presence in each scene." Jeremy Dennis, Artist Statement
Kiliii Yuyan, Masks of Grief and Joy in the Land of the Yu'pik , ... a story about a village on a remote island close to Siberia, where a community-led art therapy project called ‘ Masks of grief and joy’ empowers indigenous Alaskan teens to express their emotions about suicide. Sinchi Foundation
Kali Spitzer, Honouring Maria, chromogenic print with audio, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.59. © Kali Spitzer
"Kali Spitzer collaborated with Audrey Siegl, the sitter, to create this memorial honoring Siegl’s sister, Maria, and all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People (#MMIWG2S). They share: “We held space for Maria’s spirit to be with us. Safe spaces for our women are nonexistent . . . unless WE build them . . . With our work we are creating visibility and voice where there has only been silence and oppression.” Speaking with Light, Denver Art Museum.
Session Nine, May 12 - Contemporary Indigeneous Art with Indigenous Visualities and Visualizing the Future
Sarah Sense, Bayous Meander, Trees Remember, Water Heals, Roots Meander, Inkjet prints, bamboo and rice paper, wax, and tape, 2022. Collection of Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, © Sarah Sense
"The outer panels of this work interweave photos of culture and natural place, invoking the invader’s mindset that has overrun but not fully taken over the landscape. Choctaw and Chitimacha weaving patterns make clear the resilience and continuity of those cultures. The middle panels, using maps and the words and drawings of ethnographer Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, suggest the overwhelming of Chitimacha life by settler colonialism. The loosening of the pattern, however, suggests a resolution found in the fluidity of water, tree branches, and roots." Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Caroline Monnet, Water Flows Through Bent Trees, Baltimore Art Museum
"The artist responds to the Museum’s architecture as a departure point for her distinct aesthetic vocabulary, which inscribes traditional Anishinaabe motifs and cultural practices within contemporary forms and materials. Optically vibrating and resonating outwards, the forms forcefully clasp space while also reflecting both a sense of reception and transmission. Through doing so,the artist and her work affirm the long-denied place of Indigenous people within the world of museums and the fabric of society at large." Exhibition, Preoccupied, Indigenizing the Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, April 21, 2024 to February 16, 2025.
Takes Care of Them Suite by Dyani White Hawk, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Dec. 6, 2019
"Collectively, the four prints create a suite titled Takes Care of Them. White Hawk explains: “Inspired by Plains style women’s dentalium dresses, the set speaks to the ways in which Native women collectively care for our communities. Through acts of creation, nurturing, leadership, love, and protection carried out in infinite forms, our grandmothers, aunties, sisters, cousins, nieces, and friends collectively care for our communities. As a suite, these works speak to the importance of kinship roles and tribal structures that emphasize the necessity of extended family, tribal and communal ties as meaningful and significant relationships necessary for the rearing of healthy and happy individuals and communities". Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Dec. 6, 2019
Session Ten, May 19 - Changing Roles and Functions of Museums Today
For the last Session of our course, we are most pleased to have a curator from the Peabody Essex Museum join our class via zoom to discuss with us some of the important topics relating to museums today including the development of exhibitions focussing on Indigenous art.
"In one place, visitors will experience the collective histories of 39 distinctive First American Nations. First Americans Museum (FAM) will share the cultural diversity, history, and contributions of the First Americans. The 175,000 square foot museum showcases state-of-the-art exhibitions in First American history, culture, and art; live public and educational programs; a family discovery center with immersive family-friendly activities; a full-service restaurant presenting unique Native inspired cuisine; and a museum store featuring authentic one-of-a-kind hand-made items or products by premiere First American artists." First Americans Museum (FAM)
The artwork, perspectives, and histories of Native artists, scholars, and community members are at the center of Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum, a major BMA initiative. The wide-reaching project seeks to begin addressing the historical erasure of Indigenous culture by arts institutions while creating new practices for museums.
Exhibition, Preoccupied, Indigenizing the Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, April 21, 2024 to February 16, 2025.
A Brief Overview of Looking Ahead (Sessions Two - Ten)
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