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Crystal Littleben (Navajo), sterling silver tufa cast dragonfly necklace with handmade beads;

Diné College’s Navajo Cultural Art Program fills the walls of the Arizona House of Representatives with artwork.

Tsaile, AZ

Arizona-based Diné College created its Navajo Cultural Art Program (NCAP) in 2016 with the mission of enhancing and revitalizing traditional Navajo cultural arts practices. The program also provides opportunities for scholars of Navajo cultural arts and master artisans to share their skills in a multigenerational setting.Tamerra Martin (Navajo), Two Face weaving with hand-spun and dyed wool.

Christine Ami (Navajo), coil-built bowl with applique, locally sourced and hand processed clay

In response to the devastation of the pandemic, Arizona State Rep. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren invited the NCAP to fill the walls of the Arizona House of Representatives with artwork that centers on resiliency. The project, with help from Diné College’s Bachelor of Fine Arts assistant professor Matthew Bollinger, features 20 artwork images by NCAP students, staff and faculty.

The exhibit, titled T’áá awołí bee, will be on display through August on the North and West hallways of the third floor of the Arizona House of Representatives. These collective works are dedicated to those who have fought and continue to fight Covid-19, specifically two Diné College students: Shawna Snyder and Jerome Nez, who passed away in 2020 from Covid-19 complications.

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The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, IN. Jessica Strickland Photography

Eiteljorg in home stretch of Project 2021
Indianapolis museum turns to the public for the last leg of its major fundraising campaign.

Indianapolis, IN
The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is approaching its $55 million goal for Project 2021, a capital/endowment campaign that will make major transformational changes to the museum’s galleries and programming spaces. The museum is now looking to the public for support in funding the remaining amount, with a public campaign called Project 2021: Telling Your Stories. The goal: raising more than $6 million by May 2022.The Eiteljorg Museum’s Native American Galleries. Courtesy Origin Studios

The Eiteljorg Museum’s Native American Galleries. Courtesy Origin Studios.

One of the major phases of the museum’s renovations is the reconstruction and reinstallation of the Eiteljorg’s Native American Galleries. The galleries will have a revamped and updated appearance upon reopening in June, with a focus on Native peoples of the Great Lakes.

“Through a combination of gifts and bequests from the museum’s most loyal supporters, corporate partnerships and grants from local and national foundations, the Eiteljorg has been remarkably successful in hitting our financial milestones during the ‘quiet phase’ of our fundraising over the past five years,” says Eiteljorg president and CEO John Vanausdall. “Even during the pandemic, when all charitable giving slowed, our supporters helped us make progress toward our capital campaign and endowment goals. Now we are announcing the public phase of fundraising, and urge Eiteljorg supporters, members, visitors and the community to contribute to helping the museum cross the last mile.” Other updates to the institution include renovating the most popular parts of the museum to provide visitors more culturally enriching experiences.

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Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo), Tonantzin, 2021, ceramic, steel, leather and brass, 47 x 18 x 13½”

Art Indigenous Santa Fe comes to Market Week
A brand new contemporary art fair brings cutting-edge Native American artwork onto the Santa Fe scene.

Santa Fe, NM
Art Indigenous Santa Fe debuts at El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District this August, featuring contemporary sculpture, paintings, photography, installations and performances by leading Indigenous artists from the United States and Canada. Exhibiting galleries hail from all across the world. The fair is sleek, chic and sophisticated—imagine Art Basel with a Native American twist. A VIP opening night party on Thursday, August 18, kicks off the four-day fair. Attendees can take part in one of the most pivotal, new events for fine Native arts, previewing artwork, mingling with Indigenous art patrons and enjoying hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.Art Indigenous Santa Fe logo

Hosted and sponsored by SWAIA, Art Indigenous Santa Fe runs concurrently with the centennial Santa Fe Indian Market, making for a truly spectacular weekend for art in Santa Fe. “2022 will be like none other for Indigenous art collectors and visitors to Santa Fe,” says SWAIA executive director Kim Peone (Colville Confederated Tribes/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians). A variety of other events will be taking place at galleries, museums and other venues in and around Santa Fe in celebration of 100 years of Indian Market. The combined events will be celebrated under the name IC22, for Indigenous Celebration 2022. For more information visit www.heard.org.

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Zig Jackson (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara), Indian Man on the Bus, Mission District, San Francisco, California, 1994, inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.7. © Zig Jackson Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, North Dakota.

Amon Carter Museum Highlights Indigenous Photography

Fort Worth, TX
An exhibition opening October 30 at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art takes visitors through the evolution of Indigenous photography. One of the first comprehensive exhibitions dedicated to contemporary Native photography, Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography, features more than 100 works by more than 30 artists, including site-responsive installations by Kapulani Landgraf, Jolene Rickard and Sarah Sense. As part of the exhibition experience, visitors can move through a range of media from photography to video and three-dimensional installations, organized in four thematic sections centered on themes of identity, resistance and belonging.

Speaking with Light opens with examples of 19th-century portraits of Indigenous leaders from the Amon Carter Museum’s Bureau of American Ethnology Collection, followed by works created over the past 30 years. The collective body of work sheds light on Indigenous artists’ contributions to the history of photography and American visual identity.

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An installation view of the Passage of Peace.

Oneida Nation Unveils Passage of Peace

Oneida Indian Nation, NY
The Oneida Indian Nation recently unveiled a public art installation in Upstate New York called the Passage of Peace, aiming to raise awareness of the impact of Covid-19 on Western Tribal Nations, as well as spread a message of hope to the local community.

The installation, which ran in tandem with Native American Heritage Month this past November, included seven illuminated tipis—a show of solidarity with the Western American Indian Nations that have suffered greatly as a result of the pandemic. The bright, glowing tipis, positioned along Oneida Nation lands, offered a sense of peace and remembrance during the holiday season. —