ANCESTRAL, HISTORICAL & LIVING ARTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS
FırstAmericanArt MAGAZINE
Issue No. 7, Summer 2015
Keri Ataumbi Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez
Catawba Pottery Tribal Canoe Journeys
Nicholas Galanin
Solar Map Project in Paraguay
Inuk Silis Høegh
Walking With Our Sisters
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CHEROKEE ART MARKET O C T O B E R
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One of Oklahoma’s most prestigious and largest intertribal Native American art markets. CherokeeArtMarket.com • (877) 779-6977 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa • I-44 Exit 240, Catoosa, OK
Troy Jackson –“The Gift” (sculpture) Shawna Cain –“Grandma’s Gathering” (basket)
APPLY for the IAIA Artist-in-Residence Program 1-month residencies for artists on campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico $3000 stipend, housing, studio space and more For more info: 505.424.2389 www.iaia.edu/iaia-artists-in-residence
On-Campus AFA, BFA & BA Degree Programs • • • • • •
Studio Arts Creative Writing Cinematic Arts & Technology Museum Studies Indigenous Liberal Studies Business & Entrepreneurship
Online Certificate Programs • Museum Studies • Native American Art History • Business & Entrepreneurship Admissions and Recruitment 505.424.2307 Center for Lifelong Education 505.424.2387 Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 505.983.8900 Office of Institutional Advancement 505.424.2310
The Institute of American Indian Arts is the only four-year, fine arts college in the nation dedicated to the study of contemporary Native arts and cultures. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design www.iaia.edu
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First American Art Magazine, LLC Issue No. 7, Summer 2015 ISSN 2333-5548 (Print) • ISSN 2333-5556 (Online) Publishing Editor: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Marketing Director: Barbara Harjo (Cherokee descent) Copy Editor: Rosa Cays (Chicana) Proofreaders: Rosa Cays (Chicana), Jean Merz-Edwards Layout and Design: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Editorial Advisory Board: heather ahtone (Chickasaw-Choctaw) Emily Haozous, PhD, RN (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache) Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw) Maggie Ohnesorgen (Mestiza) Paula Rivera (Taos Pueblo) Mary Jo Watson, PhD (Seminole) Ken Williams Jr. (Northern Arapaho-Seneca)
Eagle Dog, oil on canvass, 2010 ATT Grand Award by Gary Montgomery (Seminole)
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KESHi thezuniconnection 227 don gaspar santa fe nm 505.989.8728 Zuni Maiden necklace by Troy Sice
SINCE 1981 fetishes jewelry pottery KESHI.com
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ADVENTURE AND INTRIGUE FROM COVER TO COVER. What You’ll Learn May Surprise You. Nine historical titles are now on sale. “Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees” volumes one through five provide insight into daily Cherokee life as told by white missionaries. Also available are “A Guide to the Cherokee National Museum Newspaper Collection,” “The Life and Times of Reverend Stephen Foreman,” “The Teachers of the Cherokee Nation Public Schools,” and “The Development of Law and Legal Institutions Among the Cherokees.” Enjoy these and many other hard-to-find books on Cherokee history and culture.
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ISSUE NO. 7, SUMMER 2015 FEATURES
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DEPARTMENTS
Opening the Water Highway: 16 Tribal Canoe Journeys as an Honor Song for American Indian People Misty Ellingburg (Shoalwater Bay Tribe)
Recent Developments
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Seven Directions Jason Asenap (Comanche-Muscogee Creek)
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The Talent and Tradition of Catawba Potters Michole Eldred (Catawba -Eastern Cherokee descent)
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Exploring Native Graphic Design Chad Earles (Caddo) Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa)
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From the Birthplace of the World: The Solar Map Project and the Ancestral Stone Inscriptions of Eastern Paraguay America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
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Art + Literature: 84 Interview with and prose by RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo) by America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Image: Walter BigBee (Comanche)
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Walking With Our Sisters: 38 A Commemorative Art Installation Denise Neil-Binion (Delaware-Cherokee)
In Memoriam: Jeri Ah-Be-Hill (Kiowa-Comanche) Teri Greeves (Kiowa)
ARTIST PROFILES
Margarete Bagshaw (Santa Clara Pueblo) RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo)
Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa-Comanche) Michele Cook
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Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez (Quechua) Staci Golar
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Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit-Unangax) Matthew Ryan Smith
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Inuk Silis Høegh (Kalaaleq) David Winfield Norman
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Gerónima Cruz Montoya 90 (Ohkay Owingeh) Matthew J. Martinez (Ohkay Owingeh) Editorial Bob Haozous (Chiricahua Apache)
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Advice: Get Your Art Online America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
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REVIEWS
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Art Exhibit Reviews Book Reviews Music Review Report
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COVER: Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa-Comanche), Tlingit Bear, Intaglio Signet Ring series, 2013, 22-karat gold, sterling silver, diamonds, hand-carved intaglio in chalcedony. Photo: Stephen Lang, stephenlangphotography.com.
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Editor’s Greetings
W 215 S. Muskogee Ave., Tahlequah, Oklahoma 918-453-5728 ar tscenter.cherokee.org
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E LOST A GOOD FRIEND and supporter of the magazine this spring: Jeri Ah-Be-Hill, a strong advocate of Native arts and cultures. Jeri hosted our last launch party at her home and always attended our New Mexican events. There will never be another Jeri Ah-Be-Hill, but we can take inspiration from her life. She knew exactly who she was and was proud of her tribal identity. Jeri wore Kiowa clothing every day, not just for special or ceremonial occasions. She patiently educated curious people about the meanings behind tribal clothing and other art. Santa Fe can be a sleepy town, but Jeri brought it to life. When she arrived, the party started. Her two brilliant daughters, Teri Greeves and Keri Ataumbi, helped make this issue happen. Jeri was the first to let me know what a skilled writer Teri is. Every issue of First American Art Magazine challenges preconceived notions about Native art and who Native people are today. Featured in this issue, Walking With Our Sisters is a powerful event that is far more than an art exhibit—it’s a healing ceremony turning loss and heartbreak into action. Although it originated in Canada, the kidnapping and murder of Indigenous women is an urgent problem in the United States and other countries. The Solar Map Project is a grassroots effort to document precontact petroglyphs and to share the insights of the Pai Tavytera people of eastern Paraguay with the world. Sometimes the scientific community needs a reminder that Indigenous people have studied our own histories and artistic expressions far longer than anyone else. Tribal Canoe Journeys is an intertribal Northwest Coast celebration that has grown so large that there will not be just one journey this year. To keep the spirit alive, several tribes will host smaller journeys this summer. The pottery of Catawba people reminds us that some southeast tribes in the United States were never removed. The Catawba still live in their ancestral homelands and continue their longstanding artistic traditions today. While Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa) has a wide range of talents, our interview focuses on her work with ethically sourced, precious metals and gemstones. Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez (Quechua) is our first weaver and first artist from South America to be profiled. A talented artist in her own right, Nilda’s legacy is the work she has done for the Quechua weavers of Peru. Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit-Unangax) is a rapidly rising star, currently at his opening in New York as I type this. His provocative work is making waves throughout North America and he chooses to live in his home community of Sitka, Alaska. Inuk Silis-Høegh (Kalaaleq) took a risk and gave us images of his work for our pilot issue. We catch up with him two years later, after he has garnered international recognition for his films and installations. All our departments and reviews hopefully answer some of your questions about what’s happening in the Native art world today and elicit even more. Thank you for joining us in our journey to plumb the depths of the Indigenous art world of the Americas. —America Meredith
Letters to FAAM Dear FAAM Editor, On a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, my husband and I visited a great little folk art shop (Peyote People) on Calle Juarez and bought two beaded Huichol pieces by Santo Bautista, one of their best artists. We also had a good visit with the shop owner, Kevin Simpson, who was featured in your magazine [“Wixáritari Yarn Paintings,” First American Art Magazine, No. 3, Summer 2014: 48–55]. Thanks to FAAM for hooking us up! Well, actually, I saved the article and tracked the shop down when we got to Puerto Vallarta. We are so glad we did. Kevin is working hard with the Huichol people to bust incorrect “knowledge” of their art being peddled on el Malecón in Puerto Vallarta. It’s hard to get through to sunburned, beer-marinated tourists, but he is giving it his all. I know something about the upstream swim of busting myths regarding Native art. Kudos to Kevin Simpson for his efforts on behalf of the Huichol and to FAAM for spreading the word. Martha Berry Cherokee beadwork artist www.berrybeadwork.com Martha: So glad you visited Peyote People and met Kevin Simpson in person. Our mutual friends and enthusiastic art collectors, Beth and Peter Shumway, introduced Simpson to our magazine, and we’re grateful they did. We hope to feature more of his insightful writing in future issues. The Indigenous art world creates wonderful connections between individuals and communities. Let’s keep growing them! —FAAM
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N AT I V E A RT S G AT H E R I N G
ANGELA BABBY
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Cur Camping 2014 Best of Show
BLACK HILLS, SOUTH DAKOTA WWW.NATIVEARTSGATHERING.ORG
I read various Native arts magazines and have been delighted with them. To me, First American Art Magazine takes it a step deeper, especially as it pertains to our art! I’ve always said, “We had enough time to learn a new language and to read and write it, and it is time to write our own history,” which you’re doing. Deeper yet, to me personally, is the fact that it contains material on several people, places, and things I’ve enjoyed as an artist. Ron Anderson Choctaw-Chickasaw artist Parker, AZ We welcome your letters to the editor! If we print your letter, we will send you a free copy of that issue of the magazine. Please email your letters to us at: info@firstamericanartmagazine.com ormail letters to: First American Art Magazine Attention: Editor 3334 W. Main St. #442 Norman, OK 73072
Errata Topaz Jones is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, not the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation, as erroneously printed on page 93 of Issue No. 6, Spring 2015. SUM M E R 2 0 1 5
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Contributing Writers HEATHER AHTONE (Chickasaw-Choctaw) is the James T.
Bialac Assistant Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2006. She independently curated numerous traveling exhibits and worked with SWAIA and Ralph Appelbaum Associates. She has published in several scholarly journals including Wícazo Ša Review and taught at OU for four years.
MICHELE COOK is a novelist, screenwriter, and former newspaper reporter living in Santa Fe. She and her husband, author John Sandford, are writing a young-adult trilogy called The Singular Menace. Random House will publish the second book, Outrage, in July.
ROSEMARY DIAZ (Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa) is a freelance
feature writer based in Santa Fe. She writes an original online series “Native Foodways: New Seasons” for Indian Country Today Media Network and is writing her study/memoir on historic trauma, entitled The Diaries of Sunshine YellowStar: Entries from Zarzamine. RoseMary studied literature and its respective arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Naropa University, and University of California, Santa Cruz.
MICHOLE ELDRED (Catawba-Eastern Cherokee descent) is a
writer, curator, and educator. She received her bachelor’s degree in art and museum studies at University of South Florida and her master’s in education from Berry College. Much of her work is focused on curating Indigenous art and historical exhibitions. She believes that the process of art making and enjoyment of the arts should be accessible to all peoples. Her work in writing art curriculum and teaching the arts to people with disabilities is reflected in the interpretive planning she creates when presenting exhibitions.
MISTY ELLINGBURG (Shoalwater Bay Tribe-Willapa) is an MFA candidate in fiction writing at the University of Idaho. She is a founding editor for Four Winds, an American Indian literary journal; teaches English composition and rhetoric; and has published in Yellow Medicine Review, Split Lip Magazine, Specter, and 100 Word Story.
SUZANNE NEWMAN FRICKE, PhD (Ashkenazic-
American), wrote her dissertation in art history on 20th-century Native American pottery at the University of New Mexico. She teaches art history at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. In 2012, she along with Beverly Morris (Aleut) and Charlie James curated the exhibit Octopus Dreams: Works on Paper by Contemporary Native American Artists, which traveled to six sites in Russia and to 516 Arts in Albuquerque. In 2014, two museums in Russia displayed another show, As We See It: Photography by Contemporary Native American Artists, curated by Dr. Fricke and India Young, who are preparing an accompanying catalogue. She is currently organizing a third show, which will also travel to Russia.
STACI GOLAR (Cornish-Welsh-American) holds a bachelor’s
degree in art from Eastern Oregon University and a master’s degree in arts administration from the University of Oregon. She completed an arts management internship at Crow’s Shadow Institute of Art on the Umatilla Reservation, and went on to work at SWAIA/Santa Fe Indian Market and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Currently she is the associate director of the International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe. Her writing has been featured in the Santa Fean, Santa Fe New Mexican, Native Peoples, Bead and Button, and other publications. A lifelong advocate of the 8 | WWW.FIRSTAMERICANARTMAGAZINE.COM
arts, and an artist herself, she believes in the transformative power of art and in those who create it.
TERI GREEVES (Kiowa) is a beadwork artist who grew up on
the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Greeves graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a degree in American studies. Her work‚ which is in the National Museum of the American Indian, the British Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, and other major collections, combines Kiowa oral history with her personal and family experiences.
SCOTT W. HALE is an adviser and accredited art appraiser for
Native American Art Appraisals, Inc., with offices in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Tulsa, and New York City. He pursued his master’s and doctoral studies at the University of Oklahoma, where he taught in the Native American Studies program and lectured in the School of Art and Art History. Hale is a former curator of private, corporate, and nonprofit art collections and has written and lectured for several publications and museums.
BOB HAOZOUS (Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache) works
in a range of media and is best known for his monumental, site-specific sculptures. He has co-curated exhibits such as the 2006 Relations: Indigenous Dialogue with Joseph Sanchez (Tewa descent), Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo), and other Native artist-activists. Haozous earned his BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and has shown his work internationally.
ZELMA LONG (Danish-American) is a PhD candidate in
performance studies at University of California, Davis, with a designated emphasis in Native American studies. She plans to attend the University of Oklahoma School of Art and Art History in fall of 2015 and then proceed with her dissertation. Long grew up in Oregon on the Columbia River, and returned to school to further her knowledge and understanding of Native American cultures and art.
MATTHEW J. MARTINEZ, PhD (Ohkay Owingeh), is the
assistant professor of Pueblo Indian studies at Northern New Mexico College. He worked for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in the Sciences (SACNAS) and the New Mexico Higher Education Department. Martinez earned his doctoral degree in American studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He was associate producer of Canes of Power, a 2012 documentary about the canes presented by President Abraham Lincoln to leaders of the 19 New Mexican pueblos.
THOLLEM McDONAS is a peripatetic pianist, keyboardist,
vocalist, a collaborator, an activist, an educator, and an author. He has released over 40 albums of his own work and in collaboration with others on 18 different vanguard labels. As an author, he has contributed articles to Anthology of Essays on Deep Listening, Entasis, and Full Moon Magazine.
JEAN MERZ-EDWARDS has studied art history since 2000
when she attended her first art history classes at Hunter College in New York. She recently earned her master’s degree in art history from the University of Oklahoma, where she was awarded a certificate in women’s and gender studies and the Alice Mary Robertson Award for her scholarship on the life and art of Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw). Merz-Edwards teaches art history and English at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas.
DENISE NEIL-BINION (Delaware-Cherokee) earned her master of arts degree in Native American art history from the University of New Mexico. Her research interests center on Native American female artists in Oklahoma. She is a PhD candidate in Native American art history at the University of Oklahoma and currently resides in Norman, Oklahoma.
DAVID WINFIELD NORMAN is a writer and art historian. He studied at the University of Oslo and the University of British Columbia, where he focused on contemporary art and culture in the circumpolar North. His writing on Greenlandic art and exhibition strategies has appeared in journals, exhibition catalogues, and magazines such as Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society; CONDITIONS: Independent Scandinavian Magazine on Architecture and Urbanism; and the catalogue to the DanishGreenlandic pavilion at the 13th Venice Biennale of Architecture.
MASON RIDDLE is a critic based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who writes about the visual arts, architecture, and design. She was the director of the former Two Rivers Gallery at the Minneapolis American Indian Center where she curated multiple exhibitions. Previously, she was the director of the Goldstein Museum of Design and the Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Places program. Riddle has written about numerous Native artists. She holds a master’s degree in art history and museum practice from the University of Minnesota and has taught art history at the college level.
CATHY SHORT (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) is a professional photographer and textile designer. With her husband Hank and son Christopher, she owns Lizard Light Productions, specializing in fine art photography, video production, laser art, and Native-designed clothing and accessories. Short serves on the board of Wings of America. She exhibits throughout the Southwest and is based in Goodyear, Arizona.
MATTHEW RYAN SMITH, PhD, is a freelance writer, independent curator, and sessional professor in the Department of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. His writings have been featured in several Canadian and international publications including Canadian Art, Prefix Photo, ESSE, Briarpatch, Blackflash, C Magazine, Alternatives Journal, Magenta, FUSE, and Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Criticism. He has also published in several academic journals including The Senses and Society, TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, the Canadian Journal of Native Studies, and Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly (forthcoming).
NEEBINNAUKZHIK SOUTHALL (Chippewas of Rama First Nation) is a graphic designer and artist, working in a variety of media including photography, body painting, and three-dimensional art at Neebin Studios. She graduated magna cum laude in 2011 from Oregon State University and earned a minor in fine arts and an honors BFA through the University Honors College and OSU’s competitive graphic design program. Southall works at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, where she photographs, designs, and manages media.
IFAM 2015
JOHN TORRES-NEZ, PhD (Diné), is the president of the Indigenous Fine Art Market. He earned his doctoral degree in ethnic studies from the University of California, Riverside. He has taught in the Indigenous Liberal Studies department of the Institute of American Indian Arts. Torres-Nez has served as a curator and tribal archaeologist and is a flintknapper, silversmith, and beadwork artist.
INDIA YOUNG decided, somewhere between her Alaskan home, her New York college education, and peace riots in La Paz, art best expresses activism. She returned to school to learn the practice of sharing her passions. Today, she is a doctoral candidate in art history at the University of New Mexico and an independent curator. Young researches print media, contemporary Indigenous arts, and activist art. Her curatorial pursuits focus on the spaces of interconnection between Indigenous arts and the larger world.
INDIGENOUS FINE ART MARKET AUGUST 20 21 22 SANTA FE RAILYARD indigefam.org . facebook.com/indigefam artwork: joe hopkins
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Recent Developments MUSEUMS The University of Tulsa hired James Pepper Henry (Kaw-Muscogee Creek) as the new executive director of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Henry previously served as director and CEO of the Heard Museum and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, associate director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and director of the Kanza Museum, which he co-founded. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board is refurbishing the Southern Plains Indian Museum (SPIM) in Anadarko, Oklahoma. John Worthington, a Bureau of Indian Affairs archaeologist, is serving as interim curator while the previous curator Bambi Allen is on extended leave. The new museum design will feature more space to display items from SPIM’s permanent collection and a hands-on learning center for children. The interim chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), Candice Hopkins (Carcross/ Tagish First Nations), has accepted the position as chief curator. Hopkins earned her master’s degree from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and has curated at the National Gallery of Canada, the Western Front, the Walter Phillips Gallery, and SITE Santa Fe. The Iroquois Indian Museum, in Howes Cave, New York, hired Stephanie Shultes as its new director. Shultes volunteered at the museum in 1985 through 1991, when she became the museum’s curator. She earned her master’s degree in anthropology from University of Albany, SUNY. The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art hired Scott Shoemaker, PhD (Indiana Miami), as its new Thomas G. and Susan C. Hoback Curator of Native American Art, History, and Culture. Shoemaker earned his doctoral degree in American studies and master’s degree in landscape architecture. His research interests include Miami language and ribbonwork.
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The Pablita Velarde Museum of Indian Women in the Arts in Santa Fe is closing its doors after the death of its founder Margarete Bagshaw (Santa Clara Pueblo, 1964–2015). The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is rotating artwork in its Art of the Americas galleries. Its new selection from the permanent collection will be on view this summer.
GALLERIES Scholars and Indigenous artists partnered to create Tucum, an artist network with a gallery in Santa Teresa, Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Tucum also hosts an online store, selling locally crafted items to benefit 15 Indigenous villages from the Amazon, Cerrado, and Northeast Brazil. The founders believe artwork such as jewelry, basketry, and pottery help transmit cultural values to the younger generations. Members of the Kayapó tribe were the first to join the project, followed by members of the Kamayurá, Karajá, Kashinawa, Krahô, Mehináku, Pataxó, Suruí, Ticuna, and Waimiri-Atroarí tribes. For more information, visit tucumbrasil.com. The Winnipeg Art Gallery received a $500,000 gift from TD Bank Group to build its planned Inuit Art Center. The bank, holder of one of the largest corporate collections of Inuit art, contributed the gift to fund an artist-inresidence program and printmaking studio.
ART FAIRS The Heard Museum Guild held its 57th annual Indian Fair and Market at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy) won Best of Show, his second at the Heard Fair. Best of Class winners were Vernon Haskie (Navajo), jewelry and lapidary; Daryl Whitegeese (PojoaqueSanta Clara Pueblo), pottery; Orlando Allison (Gila River-Hopi), paintings, drawings, graphics, and photography; Alex Lewis (Cheyenne River Sioux),
wooden carvings; Nelson Tsosie (Navajo), sculpture; Clarissa Rizal (Tlingit), textiles; Kevin Pourier (Oglala Lakota), diverse art forms; and Jeremy Frey, baskets. The 2015 Southwest Indian Art Fair (SWIAF) hosted by the Arizona State Museum in Tucson, awarded Ronald Honyouti (Hopi) Best of Show. Johnathan Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo) won the Legacy Award and both Jody Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Iva Honyestewa (Hopi-Navajo) won acquisition awards. An Award of Excellence was given to one to four winners in each category: Jessica Lomatewama (Hopi) and Stephanie Lomatewama-Kayquoptewa (Hopi), basketry; Charlene Reano (San Felipe Pueblo), Fritz Casuse (Navajo), Weaver Selina (Hopi), and Allen Aragon (Navajo), jewelry; Ronald Honyouti (Hopi) and Antone Honanie (Hopi), katsina carving; Nuvadi Dawahoya (Hopi) and Carol Lujan (Navajo), sculpture; Alberta Henderson (Navajo), textiles; Kevin Horace Quannie (Hopi-Navajo), Baje Whitethorne (Navajo), and Mike Medicine Horse Zillioux (Akimel O’odham-CheyennePawnee), 2-D art; and James Garcia (TewaHopi-Laguna), Jody Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Jordan Roller (Santa Clara Pueblo), clay.
ART SHOWS The Best of Show winner of the 2015 Art Under the Oaks Competitive Art Show, sponsored by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation). Classification winners were Vicki Coppedge (Cherokee Nation), basketry/ traditional; Kristie Vann (Cherokee Nation), basketry/commercial; Dorothy Ice (United Keetoowah Band), textiles; Sandy Fife Wilson (Muscogee Creek), jewelry; Jimmy Gerald Stone (Seminole Nation), graphics; Verna Bates (Cherokee Nation), pottery; David Chaudoin (Cherokee Nation), sculpture; Toby Hughes (Cherokee Nation), cultural items; Dylan Cavin (Choctaw Nation), 2-D miniatures; Ronda Moss (Cherokee Nation), 3-D miniatures; Carolyn Pallett (Cherokee Nation), beadwork; and Gary Allen (Cherokee Nation), painting.
ORGANIZATIONS The Aboriginal Art Research Group (AARG) has published a new journal, AboRiginaTe, of student writing about Aboriginal Canadian art with a Montreal focus. Their pilot issue came out in March and is available online at aarg.ca/ aboriginate-vol-1. AARG is a student-led organization in the Concordia University Department of Art History in Montreal. The Aboriginal Curatorial Collective (ACC) has hired Mylène Guay (Abenaki descent) as their new national coordinator. Founded in 2006, the ACC is a Canadian nonprofit organization that supports Indigenous curators and promotes Native arts and cultures.
technological developments through a series of digital applications and educational booklets produced by Grupo Sura. Established in 2010, researcher Cecilia Duque and 20 others founded the organization and partnered with eight Indigenous Colombian tribes: the Curripaco, Emberá, Guahibo, Guambiano, Huitoto, Kogi, Kuna, and Wayuu. Three books of ancestral Indigenous knowledge, lavishly illustrated by Native artists, were created for schoolchildren. Four applications feature games and puzzles about Indigenous cultures targeted toward children from 0 to 13 years old. Grupo Sura’s publications and games will be incorporated into elementary school curriculum throughout Colombia.
PROJECTS Artists and researchers are creating a multimedia documentation of a May 2015, month-long journey through the Gran Chaco region of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The Chaco Ra’anga Project includes three representatives from each country, as well as Spain, and begins in northern Argentina and ends in Asunción, Paraguay. Through photography, video, texts, and other interpretations, the project will present the art, culture, and science of Gran Chaco, the second-largest forested region in South America. After the journey, an international symposium will be held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to discuss sustainable development in the Gran Chaco based on Indigenous values. The Chaco Ra’anga Project was organized by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID). Colombia celebrates its Indigenous languages, cultures, history, and
The First Peoples Fund presented the 2015 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards to David R. Boxley (Tsimshian), Mel Losh (Leech Lake Ojibwe), Wayne M. Valliere (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe), and Keone Nunes (Native Hawaiian). These artists were chosen as cultural bearers who “bring spirit back to the communities in which they live and work.” Each artist was award a $7,500 grant.
PRECONTACT SITES
COLLECTIONS Sam Schwartz, an alumnus of the University of Saskatchewan, donated his collection of Native art to the university. Schwartz and his late wife Margaret Schwartz primarily collected early-20th century Inuit and Northwest Coast stone carvings over four decades. His collection, the largest Aboriginal collection ever given to the university, is on display at the Edwards School of Business.
(Fallon Paiute-Modoc) is the Ronald and Susan Dubin Fellow. Marlowe Katoney (Navajo) is the Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow. Kathleen Wall ( Jemez) is the Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native Artist Fellow.
View from plaza at Tiahuanaco, Bolivia. 700–950 CE. Photo: Danielle Pereira (CC BY 2.0).
AWARDS & HONORS Robert Houle (Saulteaux) was awarded one of eight 2015 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Hosted by the Canada Council for the Arts and Governor General of Canada, the awards come with a medallion and $25,000 prize. Houle is a painter, sculptor, curator, writer, and educator based in Toronto. Lydia Whirlwind Soldier (Sicangu Lakota) was designated the 2015 South Dakota Living Indian Treasure. This award was sponsored by the South Dakota Arts Council and South Dakotans for the Arts. Whirlwind Soldier is a poet, educator, and visual artist from the Rosebud Reservation. She founded the Oak Lake Tribal Writers Society. The School for Advanced Research (SAR) in Santa Fe awarded its 2015-16 Native Artists Fellowships. Melissa Melero
Archaeologists using groundpenetrating radar have discovered a buried ziggurat in Tiahuanaco in the La Paz Department in western Bolivia. The Tiahuanaco Archaeological Research Center developed a five-year plan for excavating and researching the newly discovered structure. First settled in 1580 BCE, Tiahuanaco became the capitol of the pre-Inca Tiwanaku Empire, which flourished from 500 to 900 CE.
LEGAL ISSUES A federal judge ruled that the First Amendment does not protect Commissioner Phil Lyman of San Juan County, Utah, from facing conspiracy charges for organizing an illegal protest ATV ride through Recapture Canyon. In May 2014, 50 protesters drove ATVs through the protected canyon, which is open to hikers and horse riders but not motorized vehicles. Lyman and three other men will stand trial for organizing the protest ride, which Bureau of Land Management says may have damaged Ancestral Pueblo archaeological sites within the canyon. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, police discovered a portfolio of prints by Al Momaday (Kiowa, 1913-1981) in a condemned apartment that housed a meth lab. The stolen artwork, valued at $33,000, was returned to Momaday’s family. SUM ME R 2 0 1 5
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