FırstAmericanArt MAGAZINE
Art of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
Spring 2014
Da-ka-xeen Mehner Allan Houser Remembered Carla Hemlock Native Artists in China Radmilla Cody Cuzco School Painting in Peru Ben Aleck Art Therapy in Indian Country
65 Roses
by Benjamin Harjo, Jr. Commissioned by Dick and Jeannette Sias
Inspired by the story of young children, who, not able to clearly pronounce “cystic fibrosis,” renamed their disease “sixty-five roses,” artist and philanthropists collaborated to create an opportunity to share in the quest for a cure for this fatal disease.
Purchase yours today!
65 Roses
All proceeds (100%) from the sale of any
item will benefit the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Sooner OKC Chapter Beautifully framed original: $20,000 Signed/numbered limited edition giclée 20” x 20” prints: 65 available at $650 each Note cards: $20 per package of 5 cards To purchase:
call (405) 787-0056 or email Oklahomacity@cff.org Allow 4–6 weeks for shipping. Shipping charges apply. For federal income tax purposes, the deductible amount is limited to the excess of contribution over the values of goods received.
You Want To Visit The Seven Wonders Of The World. There’s Your Magic Number. For you, retirement isn’t about sitting still, bound to a fixed budget. You want to get out and explore the world. Live out as many dreams as possible. That’s where we come in. We’ll help you create a retirement strategy built with your goals in mind. And that magic number we all hear about will take on a new meaning altogether. Let’s plan for your tomorrow, today. Give us a call, or better yet, let us come see you.
Private Banking | Fiduciary Services | Investment Management Wealth Advisory Services | Specialty Asset Management 405.936.3797 | www.bokfinancial.com © 2013 Services provided by Bank of Albuquerque, Bank of Arizona, Bank of Arkansas, Bank of Kansas City, Bank of Oklahoma, Bank of Texas, Colorado State Bank and Trust, divisions of BOKF, NA.
SPRING 2 0 1 4
| 1
Arctic and Indian arts for the 21 century st
26 Maine Street Kennebunkport, Maine 207 967-2122
First American Art Magazine, LLC Issue No. 2, Spring 2014
Publishing Editor: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Copy Editor: Meghan Cunningham Proofreaders: Samonia Byford (Cherokee Nation), Mary Ellen Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Stephen MacMurray, Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa) Layout and Design: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa) Advertising Representatives: Nancy Fields (Lumbee), Barbara Harjo (Cherokee descent) Social Media: Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation), Staci Golar (Cornish-Welsh-American), America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa)
Hogan Teapot with Sheep Amelia Joe-Chandler
2013 Santa Fe Indian Market Award Sculpture | Prints | Jewelry |Beadwork |Baskets shop online: www.homeandawaygallery.com
Contributing Writers: Jeanine Belgodère (French), Gloria Bell (Métis), Kelly Church (Odawa-Ojibwe), RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo), Suzanne Newman Fricke (Ashkenazi-American), Staci Golar (CornishWelsh-American), Reid Gómez (Navajo Nation), Teri Greeves (KiowaComanche), Emily A. Haozous (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache), Anna Hoover (Unangan), Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi (Alutiiq), Melissa Melero (Fallon Paiute-Modoc), Arvo Mikkanen (Kiowa-Comanche), David Winfield Norman (American-Norwegian), dg nanouk okpik (IñupiaqInuk), Stephanie Pratt (Eastern Dakota), Jessie Ryker-Crawford (White Earth Chippewa), Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa), and Matthew Ryan Smith (Canadian) Editorial Advisory Board: Emily A. Haozous, PhD, RN (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache) Maggie Ohnesorgen (Mestiza) Paula Rivera (Taos Pueblo) Ken Williams Jr. (Northern Arapaho-Seneca) Thanks to: Jacquie Archambeau (Cherokee Nation), Leatrice A. Armstrong, Annick Benavides (Peruvian), Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation), Carleen Burger (Cherokee Nation), Callie Chunestudy (Cherokee Nation), Jill Dupont, Joseph Erb (Cherokee Nation), Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation), Tom Farris (Otoe-Missouria-Cherokee), James Fendenheim (Tohono O’odham), Jennifer Foerster (Muscogee Creek), John Hagen (Aleut-Iñupiaq), Renate Hugel, Linda Eben Jones (Northern PaiuteModoc), Peter B. Jones (Onondaga), Elizabeth Kirrane, Tim Landes, Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw), Iris McLister, Sheridan MacKnight (White Earth Ojibwe-Hunkpapa Lakota), Carl Milam (Cherokee Nation), Nancy Marie Mithlo (Chiricahua Apache), Peyton Wright Gallery, Henriette Pleiger, David Rettig, John Running, Heather Shannon, Deborah Schroder, Gabriel Lopez Shaw (Pyramid Lake Paiute), Janet Lamon Smith (Cherokee Nation), Rick Stivers, Marcia Swain, Ellen Taubman, Magdalena Velasco (Yaqui-Kickapoo), Mary Jo Watson (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) Subscription services, changes of address, and wholesale inquiries: First American Art Magazine 1000 Cordova Place #843 Santa Fe, NM 87505 Telephone: (505) 473-0149 www.firstamericanartmagazine.com First American Art Magazine welcomes queries about editorial submissions. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork. First American Art Magazine is not responsible for the content of any article or for the statements of any advertiser. Copyright © 2014 by First American Art Magazine. Cover and contents are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or part by any method without written permission, except those specific images listed with Creative Commons licenses. First American Art Magazine is a Papyrus font-free publication.
2 | W W W.F I R S TAM E R IC AN ARTMAG A ZI N E.C OM
ISSUE NO. 2, SPRING 2014 FEATURES
14
DEPARTMENTS
Allan Houser: Reflections on My Grandfather Emily A. Haozous (Fort Sill Chiricahua Apache)
36
Recent Developments
8 10
The Theme of Dance in Allan Houser’s Sculptures Jeanine Belgodère
40
Guest Editorial Sustaining Black Ash Traditions Kelly Church (Grand Traverse Odawa-Ojibwe)
Healing Through the Creative Process: Art Therapy in Indian Country RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo)
44
Travels to China: Artists Sustain Traditions Using the Universal Language of Art Staci Golar
48
Cuzco School: Andean Visions in Oils and Gold America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
52
Seven Directions 11 heather ahtone (Chickasaw-Choctaw) Exploring Native Graphic Design Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Chippewas of Rama First Nation) 18
ARTIST PROFILES Ben Aleck 14 (Northern Paiute) Melissa Melero (Fallon Paiute-Modoc) Radmilla Cody (Navajo) Reid Gómez (Navajo)
18
Carla Hemlock (Mohawk) Teri Greeves (Kiowa-Comanche)
24
Da-ka-xeen Mehner (Tlingit-Nisga’a) Anna Hoover (Unangan)
30
24
12
Advice—Art and Object 74 Conservation: Caring for Featherwork Jessie Ryker-Crawford (White Earth Chippewa) Poetry dg okpik (Iñupiaq-Inuk)
76
Photo Essay Chilkat River Studies John Hagen (Aleut-Iñupiaq)
76
Book Reviews
69
In Memoriam Sherman Chaddlesone (Kiowa) Arvo Mikkanen (Kiowa-Comanche)
78
LaVerna (Laverne) Goldtooth (Navajo) Leatrice A. Armstrong RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo)
REVIEWS
30
Cover: Carla Hemlock (Kahnawake Mohawk), Tribute to the Mohawk Ironworkers, 2008, quilt: cotton cloth, glass beads, sequins, cotton and nylon thread, 62.36 x 49.75 in., National Museum of the American Indian 26/7164. Image courtesy of NMAI.
Dena’inaq Huch’ulyeshi Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi (Alutiiq)
60
Blok P: Final Salute David Winfield Norman
62
Greenland: Head for the Centre of the World David Winfield Norman
63
Baby Blue: Work by Chandra Melting Tallow Gloria Bell (Métis)
65
Lovesick Child Matthew Ryan Smith
66
Indian Candy Gloria Bell (Métis)
67
SPRING 2 0 1 4
| 3
Editor’s Greetings
C
AN THE ENGLISH WORD “ART” be stretched to include Indigenous American concepts of art? I believe so, but the first step is to acknowledge that “art” means different things to different peoples. In Native communities throughout the Americas and the world, art is integrated into every aspect of daily and ceremonial life. As we collectively shape Native American art history and critical theory, we must keep art relevant to our communal lives. We cannot allow it to become a rarified, esoteric intellectual pursuit for the few; we need to ensure that our art keeps its living heart and soul and resonates with the people. For the public to understand Indigenous art, we need to articulate the values that our art embodies, which is the goal of First American Art Magazine.
This issue is strategically eclectic. We want to introduce different communities within the Native art world to each other and to the public. By showcasing artists and art from diverse times, geographical regions, media, and approaches, First American Art Magazine reflects the complexity and depth of our Native art world to stoke curiosity and elicit questions. Unknown Ka’apor artist, Pu’ir (necklace), 1955-1962, macaw and toucan feathers, cotinga scalps, tree gum, cordage, Pará, Brazil, National Museum of the American Indian 23/3269. Image courtesy of NMAI.
A heartfelt “thank you” goes out to all the people who support this magazine and make it possible, especially you, our reader.
—America Meredith
D ESERT R AIN GALLERY
TOHONO O’ODHAM BASKETS • TRADITIONAL FOODS • ORIGINAL PAINTINGS • CUSTOM PENDLETON BLANKETS • JEWELRY, GIFTS & MORE WWW.TOCAONLINE.ORG • 520.383.4966 • MAIN STREET • SELLS, ARIZONA • 85634 • TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION
4 | W W W.F I R S TAM E R IC AN ARTMAG A ZI N E.C OM
Letters to FAAM Pilot Issue I found this Native American magazine was a new change. Usually Native American art magazines only present art in a romanticized and stereotypical way, such as animals beside a woman, or man with a six-pack in a warrior outfit. Those magazines have few pages for upcoming artists. They mainly show pieces to be sold rather than showing artists’ backgrounds and what they feel passionate about.
F E S T I VA L
I am always fascinated with cultures I have not heard about, such as the Greenlandic art and their people’s history. Also different media like fashion, or stories dealing with blood quantum and Natives trying to keep their culture alive through their art. With all that I have read, I see that many artists out there really hold on to what they have left within their culture to pass onto future generations. I hope to read about more upcoming artists or different cultures in future issues. —Julia Edmonds (Kiowa-Caddo), Santa Fe
“Protectors Waiting” by Raymond Nordwall
I really enjoyed the interview with Anita Fields by Denise NeilBinion. The interviews focused more on the artists than the work. Even though the art is really good in each magazine, I felt that this magazine offers more material for upcoming artists. I could relate to some artists and learn something new about different cultures.
JunE 5-7, 2014
REMINGTON PARK • OKlAhOMA CITy ART • DANCE • FOOD • MusIC
(405) 427-5228 • www.redearth.org
Nani Chacon I enjoyed the interview with Nani Chacon by Suzanne Fricke. Murals and street art have always intrigued me; even as a young child in Santa Fe, I was drawn to this art form. As a child, I felt a connection with these murals. They depicted images from a culture and time that was familiar and safe to me. I would carefully observe the New Deal era pieces located throughout the city, and admire the murals as I walked down Alto Street.
Chacon says she “wants her art out in public spaces where many different people can see it.” As I studied her mural titled She Taught Us to Weave, all those familiar childhood memories came back to me. The mural flows smoothly, and each detail incorporates and softens the raw elements of the building. Chacon’s remarkable murals and works of art embody the female essence, culture, and street art design. In most cities, murals and street art are visible to everyone to see and connect with. Sometimes it is the only art that people are exposed to. Murals are usually themed and illustrated with images of common people and communities. Street art is truly for the people. I thought that murals were a thing of the past, as I slowly watched them painted over by a growing and changing Santa Fe. It is refreshing to see a young artist like Nani Chacon who is passionate about this art form. —Angelica Gallegos, Santa Fe We welcome letters to the editor! Please mail them to: First American Art Magazine, Attention: Editor 1000 Cordova Place, #843, Santa Fe, NM 87505 or email to info@firstamericanartmagazine.com. SPRING 2 0 1 4
| 5
Contributing Writers JEANINE BELGODÈRE (French) is an Associate Professor of
English at the University of Le Havre, France. She has studied and lectured extensively about dance, Allan Houser, and Phillip and Bob Haozous. In 2005, she was a visiting professor at the IAIA. In 2009 and 2010, Belgodère was a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico. Her published works include: “Tradition et évolution dans l’art du Powwow contemporain,” “An Apache Artist and the Santa Fe School of Traditional Indian Painting: Allan Houser’s Alternative Vision,” and articles on Allan Houser as well as on the Sun Dance (Dictionnaire Larousse).
GLORIA BELL (Métis) is a writer and researcher based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She earned her Master’s Degree in Art History from Carleton University. She has served most recently as the web editor for the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective and as an intern at the School of Advanced Research. Her research interests include First Nations and Aboriginal histories and art practices, as well as debates surrounding the term “Indigeneity “ within the global art world. Bell has heritage ties to the Métis at Red River Settlement and Cree in James Bay.
KELLY CHURCH (Grand Traverse Odawa-Ojibwe) is a fifth-
generation black ash basket weaver from Michigan. Her cousin John Pigeon and her father Bill Church taught her how to harvest, process, and weave black ash. She collaborates with her daughter Cherish Parrish in weaving, birch bark biting, and textile arts. Church earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan. She is an outspoken activist and educator about saving the black ash tree from the emerald art borer.
at the University of Oregon, she completed an arts management internship at Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Reservation and then went to work for SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market and, later, the IAIA. She has served as a public art program and grant panelist and as a freelance arts and public relations consultant. Currently, she is the Associate Director for the International Folk Art Market–Santa Fe, as well as a freelance writer and an artist.
REID GÓMEZ, PhD (Navajo Nation), is the Mellon Visiting
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Kalamazoo College. She is currently working on The Navajo Slave Project and finishing her fourth novel. Her work addresses extermination and slavery in the borderlands and bloodlands and language revitalization.
TERI GREEVES (Kiowa) is a beadwork artist who grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Currently, she lives in Santa Fe with her husband and two sons. Greeves graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a degree in American Studies. Her work‚ which is in the British Museum, Museum of Art and Design, and other major collections, combines Kiowa oral history with her personal and family experiences.
EMILY HAOZOUS, PhD, RN (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache), is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing. She received her nursing training and doctoral degree at Yale University. Passionate about American Indian health, she links indigenous methodologies to intervention research in an effort to improve cancer outcomes in Native people. Haozous is the granddaughter of Allan Houser, one of the most celebrated American Indian artists of the 20th century, and daughter of Bob Haozous, a renowned sculptor.
ROSEMARY DIAZ (Santa Clara Pueblo) is a freelance feature ANNA HOOVER (Unangax) earned her Master of Arts degree writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her book in progress, entitled The Diaries of Sunshine YellowStar, is an exacting and epic tale of historical trauma, unraveled through the daily entries of its title character. Diaz studied literature and its respective arts at the IAIA, the Naropa Institute, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her feature articles have appeared in numerous publications. She is also an award-winning and anthologized poet and holds the copyright to the Mylar Tipi, the Indi’n Housewarming Kit series, and the Native Foodways: New Seasons food series.
SUZANNE FRICKE, PhD (Ashkenazi-American), completed
her Doctorate in Art History, with an emphasis on 20th-century Native American pottery, at the University of New Mexico in 2003. For the past 20 years, she has taught art history at the University of New Mexico, IAIA, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and Central New Mexico Community College. In 2012, she curated the exhibit Octopus Dreams, which traveled throughout Russia and to 516 Arts Gallery in Albuquerque. She is currently curating a show of Native photography that will travel to Russia.
in Native American Art History and Master of Communications degree in Indigenous Documentary Filmmaking both from the University of Washington. She is an artist, curator, filmmaker, educator, community organizer, and the daughter of the widely respected late sculptor John Hoover.
NADIA JACKINSKY-SETHI, PhD (Alutiiq), is an art historian and an adjunct instructor at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She works as a program officer for a grant program dedicated to supporting Alaska Native artists at the CIRI Foundation. Her research interests include Alaska Native art, cultural revival, and identity.
MELISSA MELERO (Northern Paiute/Modoc) is a mixed media artist living in Hungry Valley, Nevada. She is currently a fulltime artist and works part time for a non-profit arts organization in Reno, Nevada. Melero has a BFA from IAIA and a Bachelor of Science from Portland State University in Oregon. She exhibits her art nationally.
STACI GOLAR (Cornish-Welsh-American) holds a BFA ARVO from Eastern Oregon University and a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration from the University of Oregon. While studying 6 | W W W.F I R S TAM E R IC AN ARTMAG A ZI N E.C OM
QUOETONE
MIKKANEN, JD (Kiowa/
Comanche), has served as a private practice attorney, tribal court judge, and adjunct law professor. Presently, he is a federal prosecutor
Be Keen. Be Seen... Advertise
firstamericanartmagazine.com/advertise.html
Subscribe
Proud to Support the Arts
firstamericanartmagazine.com/subscribe.html
Join the conversation www.facebook.com/FirstAmericanArt
The New Voice of Native American Art
1-800-590-2580 nbcok.com
Member FDIC
OKLAHOMA CITY · ALTUS · ENID · KINGFISHER · TULSA
and liaison to Indian tribal governments in western Oklahoma. He is the founder and President of the Oklahoma Indian Bar Association. Mikkanen graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School. Recently, he received the US Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service in Indian Country. He is interested in and a collector of Indian art and formerly served as Chair the Board of Trustees of the Jacobson Foundation in Norman, Oklahoma.
DAVID WINFIELD NORMAN (American-Norwegian)
is a writer and art historian living in Oslo. He has studied at the University of Glasgow and the University of Oslo where his focus was contemporary art and culture in the circumpolar North and North Atlantic regions. His writing on Greenlandic art and exhibition strategies is in CONDITIONS and the catalogue to the Danish-Greenlandic pavilion at the 13th Venice Biennale.
DG NANOUK OKPIK (Inupiaq) is originally from Alaska’s
Arctic Slope, and her family lives in Barrow. She earned a BFA in Creative Writing from IAIA and an MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast College. okpik was awarded the Truman Capote Fellowship. Corpse Whale (University of Arizona Press, 2012) is her first full-length book. Her poetry has been published in Touchstone, Ahani: Indigenous American Poetry, Many Mountains Moving, Poet Lore, Washington Square, Red Ink, and Sentence. Her work has been anthologized in Effigies: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from the Pacific Rim (Salt Publishing, 2009) and Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas (University of Arizona Press, 2011).
3.625" x 4.75" H STEPHANIE PRATT , PhDW(Eastern Dakota), descends from the Sisseton-Wahpeton band by her paternal grandmother, Rosa Daisy Fleury. Pratt taught art history at Plymouth University for 19 years. Her book, American Indians in British Art, 1700–1840 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2005) resulted from her doctoral research on the visual representation of Native Americans in European Art. She lives in the United Kingdom.
JESSIE RYKER-CRAWFORD (White Earth Chippewa) is Chair of the Museum Studies Program at the Institute of American Indian Art. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington, where she earned her Masters Degree in Sociocultural Anthropology.
NEEBINNAUKZHIK SOUTHALL (Chippewas of Rama First Nation) is a graphic designer and artist, working in portrait photography and body painting. She earned an honors BFA from Oregon State University’s Graphic Design Program and the University Honors College, with a minor in Fine Arts. She created the Native American Graphic Design Project to increase the visibility of North American Indigenous graphic artists.
MATTHEW RYAN SMITH, PhD (Euro-Canadian), is a writer, independent curator, and sessional professor at the OCAD University and the Haliburton School of the Arts, Fleming College. Currently based in Toronto, Smith’s writings have appeared in several Canadian and international publications including Canadian Art, C Magazine, FUSE, Afterimage, and ArtUS. SPRING 2 0 1 4
| 7