The many Native American tribes throughout the Southwest imbue the region with a richness of art and culture, carried on through both tradition and innovation. From Hopi to Choctaw to Navajo, creating everything from paintings and baskets to jewelry and sculpture, Native American art is as vibrant as it is diverse. A new exhibition at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, aims to capture a portion of that creative energy. Through collaboration with contemporary artists, private collections and the Phippen Museum’s permanent collection, Under Native Skies will feature a wide variety of works by Kim Seyesnem Obrzut, Alvin Marshall, Fil (Yoimasa) Kewanyama, Karen Clarkson, Lorenzo Cassa, Harrison Begay, Arthur C. Begay, Tony Abeyta, Beatien Yazz, Narciso Abeyta, Gerald Nailor, Doug Hyde, Gretchen Lopez and many more.
Lorenzo Cassa (San Carlos Apache), Summer Breeze, oil on Masonite board, 18 x 24"
“We wanted to do a compilation of new works by artists because of the times we’re in. This year being what it’s been with the pandemic, we want to bring [artists] visibility, as well as pieces that will represent the Native American tribes here in Arizona,” says Jeannette Holverson, curator and collections manager at the Phippen Museum. “I think about fiber arts, basket weavings, acrylics and oils, sculptures...and pottery,” Holverson says of the curation process, “and look at the historical as well as the contemporary, blending those two so you have a real cohesive show to walk through. What we want visitors to really see is the storytelling and how that has changed over the generations.”
Kim Seyesnem Obrzut (Hopi), Sunflower, bronze, 12 x 8 x 7"
Obrzut’s bronze Sunflower embodies the Hopi artist’s distinctive style of smooth, rounded forms. She provides insight into the meaning behind the piece: “The Hopi live in the high, arid mesa country of northern Arizona where a sophisticated knowledge of the land, the plants and the climate are required for the success of an agricultural people...The young girl gathers the sunflowers from the gardens on the side of the Mesa watered by the springs...The sunflower’s beauty comes from all that it provides for our people. She has no face, which symbolizes the egalitarian society of the Hopi people. She represents a people, not an individual. The Hopi thought is: One Mind, one Body and one Spirit.”
Baje Whitethorne (Navajo), Untitled, acrylic, 20 x 30"
Fil (Yoimasa) Kewanyama (Hopi), Hopi Bear Medicine, acrylic on wrapped canvas, 24 x 36"
An oil painting by Cassa, Summer Breeze, is a masterful example of capturing light. Bright sun rays from the left cast a warm glow over the painting and illuminate the edges of a young girl’s face, where all is seemingly peaceful. “There is an old photograph taken in 1886 in which Geronimo and other Chiricahua Apache prisoners are sitting along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks before reboarding the train,” Cassa says of the story behind the piece. “They were on a solemn journey where fear, sickness, sorrow and death awaited many. I wanted to initiate a painting in peaceful contrast to that image without ever depicting the disintegration of Native America.”
Under Native Skies will be up for collectors to observe and explore from March 20 through July 25.
March 20-July 25, 2021
Under Native Skies
Phippen Museum
4701 Highway 89 North, Prescott, AZ 86301
(928) 778-1385, www.phippenartmuseum.org
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