On March 11, 2021, the Tucson Museum of Art opened a reinstallation of its Indigenous Arts Gallery that offers a new perspective and approach to curatorial practices and processes. On view are approximately 100 historic and contemporary artworks including baskets, paintings, photographs, pottery, sculpture, textiles, mixed media, katsina and more. Included are pieces from artists such as Wendy Red Star, Tony Abeyta, Marlowe Katoney, Alan Houser, Nampeyo and more.
Marlowe Katoney (Navajo), Garden Ornaments, 2019, wool. Collection of the Tucson Museum of Art. Gift of James and Louise Glasser. 2019.11.
“The Indigenous Arts exhibition features works from the Tucson Museum of Art Indigenous Arts permanent collection and select loans, including baskets from the Amerind Foundation,” says Christine Brindza, senior curator and Glasser Curator of Art of the American West at the museum. “It is a community-based exhibition that is part of a large project at TMA funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), where TMA worked with a committee of Indigenous community curators who worked with staff from start to finish on what stories to tell and items to include.”
For the exhibition, Brindza and the museum’s curator of community engagement, Marianna Pegno, partnered with six others to create the show: Julia Arriola (Mescalero/Mayo), Monica Buckle (Cherokee), Martina Dawley (Diné/Hualapai), Colleen Lucero (Hopi), Reuben Naranjo (Tohono O’odham) and David Tenario (Tohono O’odham).
Dwayne Manuel (Onk Akimel O’odham), Berdina, 2016, mixed media on canvas. Collection of the Tucson Museum of Art. Gift of the artist, 2020.17.
In a press release for the show, Lucero states, “Institutions such as TMA have it in their power to help steward and heal past grievances about museums that Native people are still trying to heal from to this day. Including awareness in this collaborative process and being respectful of Indigenous knowledge builds new procedures in museum environments that help evolve essential practices. We all shared decision making and welcomed new concepts implemented in this exhibition.”
Through Summer 2022
Indigenous Arts
Tucson Museum of Art
140 N. Main Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 624-2333
www.tucsonmuseumofart.org
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