We are proud to present the Spring 2021 Visual Nation art exhibition! The work in this show was made by Haskell Art Appreciation students, Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors, from all over NDN country. Each student was asked to research and respond to a theme they felt passionate about. Some students practiced artistic rituals of healing and remembrance, while others wanted to document important people and objects. Still others just wanted to paint. They persevered through this unprecedented and confusing time, which makes this work even more remarkable. This is just a sample of artwork HINU students created this semester. For more, please visit our Instagram @hinuarts.
Selena Swan Cheyeene River Sioux Tribe Red Road Mixed Media This is a dirt road leaving a construction site in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I used 3 fluid ounces of red washable paint from a dollar store. I scattered the paint on the dirt road in a symbolic gesture. This project is tied to Rebecca Belmore’s Painted Road performance she did in 2007 in honor of artist Daphne Odjig’s painting, From Mother Earth Flows the River of Life.
Rainy Attocknie Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Au Gaw Tho Hee(n) Mah Colored Pencil on Paper My drawing depicts a young woman in front of a single tipi with dragon fly symbols surrounding her and various things weighing on her mind. The name for this piece is my own Kiowa name which translates to Lone Tipi Woman. The woman is wearing a T-dress with an apron around her waist and concho belt. Her hair is adorned by big red bows that signal she is Kiowa (we are known for the red bows we wear in our hair). The dragonfly is one of my family medicines we carry and hold dear to our hearts. I decided to use them to depict the spirit of my folks who passed on this year. Even though they are gone I know they are still around, protecting me.
Sarah Foraker Chickasaw Sewing Machine Mixed media Inspired by Sonny Assu Lelia’s Desk (2013), I wanted to present this Singer sewing machine that has been in my family for nearly 100 years. My great-great-grandmother used this machine when she lived in what is now the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The items on top include a doll from my mother’s side of the family and a family pillowcase.
Bailey House Standing Rock Lakota Mirror Protector Paint, mirror fabric, ply-board I was inspired by another Hunkpapa Lakota, Cannupa Hanska Luger. I created a mirror shield in honor of all our relatives who are protesting and fighting the battles that need to be fought, risking their lives for the betterment of America and Native America. Luger’s mirror shield project was created for Standing Rock protesters. The idea is that the mirror not only protects like a shield, but it also reflects the oppressors’ image, to allow them to see themselves and the harm they are causing, and to remind them that we are all human beings. I added the symbol of the MMIW movement to let our sisters know we are still here for them and we not only protest for our water, land, and rights but also for the justice of our lost sisters.
Angel Hummingbird Kiowa Gàui:gú (Kiowa People) Mixed Media I wanted to recreate "Medallion" by Dyani White Hawk, which blends painting and beadwork. The oak leaf is a way that we Kiowa people represent ourselves in Indian Country, but not every family uses the same oak design. I like the fall leaf because it reflects how we all get more and more beautiful as we change. Beadwork also reflects this. Once you start a design it looks like nothing but as you keep working you start to see how it slowly comes together and how it becomes colorful and full of life. That's how I see myself changing and pushing through the good, the bad and the ugly. When you work on any type of beadwork sometimes you have to start over or there's a random bead that doesn't go with your color scheme or pattern but you make the most of it just like life. You push through to get to the beautiful parts.
Allison Kaulaity Kiowa Indigenous Plains Acrylic Paint This is a self-portrait. The idea came from a photo taken at the Witchita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Cache, Oklahoma. Oscar Howe inspired me to paint. To me, his art feels spiritual and open. This piece captures my Indigenous homeland and the place that feels sacred to me. Witchita Mountains is my home. I grew up in the area, and we visit family there often. Through this artwork, I grasped many concepts and even learned how to connect with my mind, to let go and just paint. The process was more thrilling than the finished product.
Danielle Kaye San Juan Generations Mixed media Generations is a work that relates to James Luna's "Half Indian, Half Mexican." In the photograph, we see a woman who is Half Spanish and Half Native American, as well as the next generation of her culture as she passes it down to her daughter. This piece confronts the past and present of a matriarchal society. The goal was to blend feminism, history, and creative expression all in one powerful piece. Due to the dominance that men hold in Pueblos, I thought it would be interesting to turn Luna's piece into a woman's perspective, allowing a representation of a new sense of honor and tradition. Women are a gift. They are the most sensitive and maternal people in our society and by having the power to birth children they continue these principles as generations continue.
Jada Martin Comanche Color of Unity Mixed Media My sisters and I are racially mixed with different nationalities. In my photo, you can see how physically different my sisters appear, which was important to me to have in my work. The message I hope the viewers receive and understand is that minorities need to come together because, in unity, there is strength. I took inspiration from Cara Romero and Erica Lord, who both use photography to bring awareness to important issues such as race relations in the United States. As a Native woman, I think it is crucial to highlight the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women human-rights crisis, but also as a Black woman, I find it essential that I bring some awareness to the Black Lives Matter movement as well. The intent of this piece is to do both while also reflecting on my intended message.
Judith Scott Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, & Tolowa Patience Photo collage This is a collection of some of the things I’ve made and preserved recently. Everything I create takes patience. It has taken quite a few years for me to even grasp that concept of that word. A lot of these projects are very recent. The two in the top left and right corner are my first graduation cap and my first wristlet. I completed the other two projects while being at HINU: the plateau inspired earrings and my good friend's graduation cap to match the earrings he made himself. Some of these are collaborations I did with Jessica Lavadour. She did the laser engraving and painting, and I did the beadwork. The foods are the first I’ve ever successfully preserved! The roots from left to right are piiaxi, which is a bitter root and ground up xous, which is biscuit root. In the jars are tiims, also known as chokecherries, and the darker purple jar is wiiwnuu, or huckleberries. I was determined to be able to have foods for my family, even if it was just a little bit, and surprisingly it lasted the whole year.
Jada Sockey Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma The Ideal Indian Mixed Media
All four of these models are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, with enrollment and blood quantum numbers. Even with all these documents, their identities are still ironically stripped away because of their looks. These are phrases used by native and non-native people, words my son, the second half-breed photo, will hear about himself in the future. When does it end?
Cheyenne Tomhave Hidatsa Wealth Photography Wealth involves two photos comparing two different ideologies: a well-maintained grass lawn, and a garden that provides sustenance. Before colonization, Europeans believed that a cut, well-manicured lawn represented wealth. Today, the same belief is still upheld. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a year are spent by each household on lawn care, most of which is for decorative purposes only. Wealth is a nod to Edward Poitras’ work Offensive/Defensive. Poitras used transplanted grasses to shed light on the practice of assimilation. He reminds us that indigenous people are resilient. Wealth visualizes the importance of reclaiming the land and indigenizing it.
McKenna Tucker Cherokee Nation The World of Inbetweens Photography The World of Inbetweens is a photo of my younger sister, Ava, in front of a projector screen. Ava is biracial, just like me. The tribal print and various colors reference the different parts of who we are. I acted like an imposter, being White with my White friends and my dad’s side of the family, then being Cherokee with my non-White friends and my mom’s side. For a long time, I refused to let myself be seen as both. As I grew older, I learned to embrace the world of in-betweens where I am beautifully biracial. My work was inspired by a mix of The Tanning Project by Erica Lord and the photography from Meryl McMaster. The Tanning Project spoke to me because the majority of what Lord discusses applies to me, and I love the photography of Meryl McMaster, specifically Ancestral 9, where she projects photographs onto her face. Trina Tsinnie Navajo Nation Two Worlds Mixed Media Two Worlds is a combination of two different collages. The bottom is a mixed media work of still-life objects and patterns from my Navajo culture. The top is a digital collage about how I was raised to be more white and to forget that I was Navajo. The intention was to express my personal struggle with identity in a way that other people can relate to, especially Natives who no longer live on the reservation.
Jonas Bear Meskwaki Life, Love, & Death Graphite Imagine going to sleep and never waking up. Think about it. Does your chest fill up? Do you reflect on your life? Do you think about your death? That’s Life, Love, & Death, our most important teachers. Don’t take them for granted. Cherish them. Feel their lessons. It’s all inevitable so take the time to learn. To turn away and spend your days to avoid it is to prevent growth. From Love and Life we grow the most beautiful petals, color, and scent. We are the most radiant during these times. From Death the worst parts of us fall away. We no longer cling to things that hold no greater value. It’s the saddest part. But after is growth and rebirth. The cycle. It’s what our ancestors have always hoped we’d learn. It’s beautiful. It’s the past, present, and future in the same place. To ignore the other, in hopes to enjoy the rest will surely be your downfall.
Shaylynn Begay Navajo Adapting Photography (diptych) COVID-19 has impacted many Navajo families, mainly those who live on the Navajo Reservation. The reservation was hit hard by this virus. At first, many people feared going out in public and purchasing essentials, as well as hauling water for their livestock. Many elders still don’t have electricity or running water so they weren’t even able to know about the spread of the virus in their area. Many elders can’t wash their hands due to not having access to running water. Changes had to be enforced. In some places there were capacity limits that only allowed one to two people. Businesses closed because quarantine was our best option to keep away from the virus. Online schooling was the way to keep the children educated, and more and more of us started working from home. At first wearing a mask everywhere was strange, but after a long year it became normal. Social distancing, carrying around hand sanitizer, and washing your hands became a healthy habit.
Ira Blackbear Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes NDN Pipeliner Mixed Media Taken on April 26th of 2021 to show that Native Americans can be in the oil business as a pipeliner. I joined the local union 798 based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2018. A lot of Natives would probably look at me and think I’m betraying my people or I’m supporting the white man by tearing up our land. I see it as a job for me and money to support my family & relatives. It also helps me meet new people from all around the world and it’s a trade I could use when I’m older and have a family of my own. Before I started working on the pipeline, I had no clue on how to use any tools and now I know how to use a variety of tools. A 9-inch grinder is what I use on the daily and that weighs about 13 pounds, which you can see in the picture as I’m buffing the weld.
Tayya Dale Navajo Untitled Mixed Media The rock in the painting represents the strength of women. The rock is her foundation. This particular rock is located in Shiprock, NM. The woman in the painting is a Native American women wearing a facemask. She is faceless. While doing this project I thought a lot about how Indigenous women have gone missing. I chose MMIW as my topic because it is on the rise throughout many reservations.
Kyle Dana Passamaquoddy Dawn of Creation Pencil and Paper We see a hand turning into a mountain range that is grasping a globe. The background contains a bow and the sun. This drawing is of the creator coming down to an empty globe and through him creating the land. The bow represents the time in which the creator shoots one arrow, creating my tribe which is also known as The People of the Dawn. The sun is also a reference to this name. I made this piece as a reflection of what it means to be Native and the importance of keeping our stories. This year I have learned so much about my people and I wanted to show a small piece of that culture. My biggest inspiration for this work would have to be Kent Monkman. His ability to tell a story with his drawings is what drove me to make Dawn of Creation.
Hannah Fox Seminole/Creek COVID 19 First American Girl (after Cara Romero) I love Cara Romero’s idea of photographing native women like dolls surrounded by their accessories. I loved Barbie as a little girl, and now my niece loves them so much more. She had fun creating this with me, and it was great making a good memory before I have to go back to college in August. For the accessories we used things she likes from around our home.
Ransom Garza Kiowa The Last Of His Kind / Artifact Piece Mixed media performance and digital photography I was inspired by James Luna’s performance piece to feel what is was like being on display for people to look at as if I’m not breathing or living just hearing what they have to say about me, exploring the feeling of being uncomfortable and exposing myself as a “modern Indian object” being cast aside in a museum. I gathered things from my past in a white box so viewers could see me and the “artifacts” together. Like Luna, I was exposing myself as a modern day Indian artifact being discovered for the first time for a big show of laughs and confusion. The bright red of the blanket in the background represents something spiritual in my past (like blood), the cards tell mini stories of the artifacts, and the buffalo hide represents protection. For the conclusion, I googled images of museum displays and digitally placed myself into them.
Ashleigh Jones Choctaw Nation Deliberate Impression Photography I took these pictures within my home to reflect the ways that mixed native people can feel invalidated by the perception of other people. The location is within the suburbia of Kansas, since not all Natives live on reservations or experience the inherent culture of their tribe. The work is also done in a bathroom to show the simplicity of getting ready. I was inspired by Erica Lord’s work with self-portraits and using text on the skin. I used words like she did in the first two frames. As I got rid of my insecurities, the words dissipated.
Alec Davis Cherokee Time Flies Acrylic on glass I was heavily inspired by Fritz Shoulder to create a painting. His rough, unfinished, and raw paintings made me feel as if I was in the work itself. This inspired me to paint on a glass picture frame in his style of thick, goopy brush strokes something I love that arouses curiosity and imagination. I have been an avid fan of the show, Rick and Morty, for years, so I decided to create an image of the two time traveling. It was my first time creating a piece of art since elementary school and I have fallen in love!
Shane Eskew Wichita and Affiliated Tribes Untitled Pencil Stereotypes. Have you heard of them? I would say you have. What I draw today you see as stereotypes. I draw with anger and yet passion to finish this drawing. I struggle to draw the vision I see. Many people don’t see Natives as strong and educated. They see them as drunk Indians. They see them on cartoons and think that’s what all Indians look like. They don’t see them as normal people. They see them as the Native American character on Joe Dirt.
Skyler Magee Northern Cheyenne Dream Home Colored pencil and pen on postcard My ledger drawing is a colorful dream-like depiction of where I want to live in my future: a big house on the hills in peace. I made it by collaborating with a card that my grandfather sent me. I used pencil first, outlined everything with a pen, and finally added the colored pencil.
Austin Maguire Wichita Clashing of Forces Mug and acrylic paint Clashing of Forces is a typical ordinary mug that has no specific relevance. It is painted with two forces that never seem to get along: fire and water. But on the mug, I made it so the water passes through the fire with a sort of grace. Just because some forces oppose you doesn’t mean you can’t get along or find some kind of understanding. Jeffery Gibson’s punching bags were the inspiration behind this piece. Gibson talks about how he likes to use everyday materials and transform them into something culturally specific. I chose this mug because it was something super ordinary that everyone could potentially relate to and I gave it a specific meaning that will hopefully inspire others.
Macen Marris Citizen of The Chickasaw Nation The Past Photography The Past is a photograph of Indigenous items. The work explores relationships between my religion, my grandparents, and my culture. It is also a tribute to my family because to me, everything is about family. The setting is in a small Indigenous community called McMillan, Oklahoma. The old abandoned house is where my father and his five other siblings grew up and raised their children. My grandfather was Mississippi Choctaw and my grandmother was Chickasaw, and they were very religious people, but they also kept in touch with their tribal ways. The focal point in my photograph is the old church throne that my grandfather used to sit in when he preached. The ribbon jersey and Bible are in remembrance of my grandmother who used to make shirts like that and also read from the Bible.
Jaden Preston San Carlos Apache Tribe Indigenous. Women. Empowerment. Photography A simple photo taken of a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe can mean so many things. This piece was I inspired by the great Rebecca Belmore’s Vigil and The Named and The Unnamed, which shows bravery, inspiration, and emotion. I was influenced by Belmore’s strength and courage, fighting for the lost Indigenous women of our nation. Her fight for women gives us faith. Within this photo we see a woman, but not only that. We see a brave, Indigenous, Apache woman. She is beautiful, strong, she shows courage, just like other women. We are still fighting for those Indigenous women who are missing and being killed. Our society focuses on other things when this should be our main focus– finding our lost sisters and brothers who are being killed for no reason. In this photo, the subject wears a black t-shirt with the word Apache, signifying her tribe and her bloodline. She wears a red handprint across her mouth with bravery and confidence, a symbolic representation of the violence that effects Indigenous women across the United States, Canada, and beyond. The National Day of Awareness for MMIW was today (5/5/21) and this is also why I’ve chosen to talk more about it. Some of our lives are on the line, we never know what tomorrow will bring. We have to come together as a huge community and FIGHT for change.
Erin Rave Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Navajo Free Your Mind Photography Throughout this semester I drove through quite a few states by myself. I would always be driving before the sun came up all the way till the sun went down. I love sunsets and sun rises so much, it's the way the clouds and the color mix together, it's almost like a different painting everyday because they are never the same. I love staring into the sunset or sunrise and admiring the colors because they are so free, going whichever way and the sun slowly just disappears and it's like the colors get more vibrant. That is what I noticed about sunsets. Sunrises are a little different because it's so dark but as soon as the sun breaks through that darkness or clouds, boom just an open canvas ready to be painted.
Mckayla Tarwater Cherokee Patterns Graphite and acrylic paint on canvas This took me about a month to finish. I just wanted to create a beautiful pattern. I didn't have a reference, just the colors that remind me of tribal art.
Mercedes Thomas Tachi Yokut Tribe Untitled Digital photography I decided to edit two pictures together to create a new image. One of the pictures is the mountains from my reservation, and the other is a picture of me standing next to the Haskell sign. Both photos were taken with my iPhone. The artist I am referencing is Hulleah J. Tsinhahjinnie. She often edits her photos of Indigenous people into different backgrounds.