Spend any time at all in Santa Fe and people will undoubtedly hear of a venue with an alphabet soup of a name: IAIA’s MoCNA. It sounds intimidating at first, but the name is a prestigious one in the world of Native American art. The Institute of American Indian Arts’ Museum of Contemporary Native Arts—IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is its preferred name—is the country’s only museum for exhibiting, collecting and interpreting the most progressive work of contemporary Native artists. The museum, which has a collection of 9,000 artworks all created after 1962, is dedicated solely to advancing the scholarship, discourse and interpretation of contemporary Native art for regional, national and international audiences. The museum frequently shows cutting-edge contemporary art that pushes the boundaries of Native American art. It’s also in a splendid location, just several hundred feet from the Santa Fe Plaza.
Daniel McCoy Jr. (Muscogee Creek/Citizen Band Potawatomi), Mind Food, 2014, Prismacolor and ink on paper, 13 x 13”. Collection of Mateo Romero. Photograph by Addison Doty.
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangaˆx), Things Are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter, 2012, digital print, 20.42 x 14.67”. Image courtesy of the artist.
Featured Exhibition
The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts has a packed slate of events scheduled now through early next year, but one of the highlights is Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future, which is now on view through January 3, 2021. The exhibition will highlight artworks that “present the future from a Native perspective and illustrate the use of cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life,” according to the museum. “The science fiction and post-apocalyptic narratives depicted in these artworks are often reality for Indigenous communities worldwide. The imagery and narratives also emphasize the importance of Futurism in Native Cultures. Artists use sci-fi-related themes to pass on tribal oral history to younger audiences and to revive their Native language.”
Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti), Taoky, Doyen of the Rez Spine Watchmen, 2019, high fire clay, 24½ x 13 x 9". Photograph by and courtesy of Virgil Ortiz.
The theme of the exhibition pulls from a number of different pop culture sources including Star Trek and Star Wars, whose heroine, Princess Leia, wore a hairstyle based off the Hopi squash blossom whorl. Artists in the exhibition include Marcus Amerman (Choctaw), Frank Buffalo Hyde (Onondaga/Nez Perce), Elizabeth LaPensée (Anishinaabe/Métis), Steven Paul Judd (Kiowa/Choctaw), Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo), Ryan Singer (Diné), Robert Dale Tsosie (Navajo/Picuris Pueblo), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax); Teri Greeves (Kiowa), Skawennati (Mohawk), Neal Ambrose Smith (Salish/Métis/Cree), Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo) and many others.
Event Calendar
Through January 3, 2021, Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future. An exhibition that highlights artworks that present the future from a Native perspective, and illustrates the use of cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life.
Through March 28, 2012, Tom Jones: Strong Unrelenting Spirits. An exhibition featuring new works from Tom Jones’ series of portraits that are rooted in his Ho-Chunk identity. Artist reception, August 14, 3-5 p.m.
Through January 24, 2021, Tamara Ann Burgh and Luanne Redeye: FRAMED. Tamara Ann Burgh (Inupiat-Kawerak/Swede) and Luanne Redeye (Seneca Nation of Indians/Hawk Clan) investigate issues of self-representation and identity and examine the “American Experience” from a Native perspective through mixed media works.
Through January 2021, Amanda Beardsley: Future Vibes. Featuring the work of Amanda Beardsley (Hopi/Laguna/Choctaw), this exhibition will focus on her mural Future Vibes, which depicts young Pueblo women dancing into the future to suggest that traditional knowledge continues into the present and future.
Through July 11, 2021, Experimental exPRESSion: Printmaking @IAIA, 1963-1980. Featuring 51 recently acquired works on paper from the Tubis Print Collection, this exhibition will feature works by Peggy Deam (Suquamish), Mary Gay Osceola (Seminole), and Sandy Fife (Muskogee Creek), among other IAIA alumni
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