Author: FAAM Staff

By Staci Golar It’s not surprising, really, that Dawn Wallace Kulberg (Chugach Alutiiq) became a jeweler. She grew up in Santa Fe watching her parents, Denise and Samuel Wallace, create extraordinary pieces, and learned stonecutting and setting, scrimshaw, and other jewelry techniques from them along the way. Like all artists, however, Wallace Kulberg quickly made the work her own. She is a member of the Old Harbor Native Corporation but lives on the Big Island in Hawaii. Her detailed pieces reflect a delightful mix of her tropical surroundings and Chugach Alutiiq heritage. Everything from caribou and polar bears to hummingbirds…

Jamie Okuma (Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock) won the 2020 Best of Show for her unique cradleboard, Common Ground: Culture Isn’t Black and White. The artist writes about her symbolism: “This is us today. All these images have significant meaning for us. When I say “us,” I mean my family and I, Never do I speak for a group of people. We are not bound to anyone’s idea of what Native art should look like.” The freedom of expression was visible throughout the incredibly diverse array of award-winners. Classification winners are as follows. Classification Winners I. Jewelry and Lapidary Best of Classification: Denise Wallace…

Azhwakwa: Contemporary Anishinaabe Art The Anishinaabeg are one of the largest collective groups of Indigenous peoples north of the Rio Grande. They include the Three Fire Council—the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi—and the Oji-Cree and Algonquin peoples. Their homelands are centered on the Great Lakes of Canada and the United States, and now with communities as far away as Montana and Oklahoma. and they speak related Algonquian languages. The United States federal government forcibly removed several Anishinaabeg groups far from their homelands. On this journey, often referred to as the Trail of Death, Potawatomi and Ottawa communities were established leading to…

The Hood Museum of Art Brings Contemporary Native Ceramics to Dartmouth’s Campus Hanover, NH—Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics examines the work of six artists whose practices are grounded in our relations to the land and to one another. All were chosen because of the complexity of their themes—such as community, identity, gender, land, extraction, language, and responsibility—and techniques. Anita Fields (Osage/Muscogee), Courtney M. Leonard (Shinnecock), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), Ruben Olguin (Mestizo), Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara descent), and Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Tewa) are leading conversations not only within the field of Native American ceramics but also within…

By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) The terms traditional and contemporary are as common as nitrogen and oxygen at Native art events, yet these words don’t advance thoughtful discourse about Indigenous art. Rather, they cripple it. Separately, they can be misused, vague, or trite, but when paired together in a false dichotomy, they are insidious. The contemporary era is our current era in art. If we want to advocate for Indigenous arts’ place in the global art world, we have to speak the art world’s language. Contemporary art follows modern art, [1] and—depending on your perspective—begins in 1989 with the fall…

Dreamwork, From Here to There: The Photography of Gracelynn Growingthunder New photography by Gracelynn Growingthunder (Nakoda/Kiowa) will be on view in an art show curated by Georgeanne Growingthunder (Nakoda/Kiowa). What: Opening reception + launch party When: Monday, January 6, 2020, 6:00–8:00 pm Where: Lobby Café and Bar, 4322 N Western Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73118 Georgeanne Growing, aged 8, makes her curatorial debut with this month-long solo exhibition of digital photography by her sister Gracelynn Growingthunder, aged 10. Landscape and architectural photography predominate Gracelynn’s oeuvre; however, she also shoots group shots, particularly of historic gatherings, such as the Kiowa Gourd…

The politics of the last year have been volatile, particularly for Indigenous peoples of Brazil, Colombia, and Bolivia. It is profoundly important that those of us with media platforms use our voices to advocate for fellow Indigenous peoples of the Americas, both to provide hope for the future when the darkness can seem overwhelming and to embody and share Indigenous worldviews for future generations. The arts are one platform where Native people can communicate our perspectives with each other and the greater world at large. Indigenous artists shared their visions of sustainability and resilience throughout 2019, and below are ten…

Santa Fe, NM—The Coe Center is pleased to host an unparalleled jewelry event on December 12. How It Was Handed to Me: The Caesar Family Legacy, organized by Kenneth Johnson (Muscogee/Seminole), gathers jewelers and jewelry from New Mexico, Oklahoma, and beyond into a complex story of generational and creative legacies. Leading the public event on December 12 is a gathering of jewelers connected either through family or apprenticeship legacies. As Johnson explains, this event is about the end project and the process of how Native jewelers pass on their skills and practice to the next generation. The jewelers in attendance…

Issue No. 24, Fall 2019 Click here to purchase a digital copy for $7 from Issuu. To purchase a print copy, select your location: Locations US, New Mexico $9.74 USD US, other than NM $8.99 USD Canada $9.99 USD International $15.92 USD Features Tapis: Blankets in Celebration of the Sled Dog, Michole Eldred (Catawba/Eastern Cherokee descent), 20–25 The yәhaw Phenomenon: Lifting the Arts Together in the Puget Sound, Miranda Belarde-Lewis, PhD (Zuni/Tlingit), 26–31 Alaska Native Basketry: Diversity in the Far North, Bryn Barabas Potter, 32–37 Roma: Cleo’s Story and Indigenous Depictions in Mexican Cinema, Jeannette Martinez, 38–41 Artist Profiles Linda…

Yamagata University’s Institute of Nasca harnesses artificial intelligence to study the Nasca Lines By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Researchers at the Institute of Nasca at Yamagata University in Japan have identified 143 long-forgotten geoglyphs among the Nasca Lines. These newly rediscovered geoglyphs date from 100 BCE and 300 CE. They feature lines, fish, birds, monkeys, snakes, and even human-like figures. The largest of these spans 197 feet in length. Computer-enhanced images of the rediscovered geoglyphs. Images courtesy of Yamagata University. Used with permission. Nasca Geoglyphs The Nasca Lines are located in southwestern Peru in the high, windless Nasca Desert, one…