Author: FAAM Staff

Anchorage Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market Dimond Center By Bryn Barabas Potter Even if transportation requires bush planes and boats, the Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market (CJNAM) brings people together. The market’s atmosphere is incredibly welcoming, filled with smiles, good cheer, and amazing art, and like Alaska, CJNAM is big. This year 210 artist spaces filled the common areas of the Dimond Center, the only facility in Anchorage large enough to host this event. CJNAM takes place during the Alaskan Fur Rendezvous, known as “Rondy.” which began with trappers bringing furs to Anchorage. In 2019 Rondy celebrated its 84th winter…

Norman Gerald Clarke: Out of Sight, Out of Mind Lightwell Gallery, University of Oklahoma By Michelle J. Lanteri An artist and assistant professor of ethnic studies at University of California, Riverside, Gerald Clarke (Cahuilla) curated his solo exhibition as an intertribal crossroads,  bringing visual signifiers together to question recent historical moments. This remembrance includes the creation of his installation at the Lightwell Gallery in the University of Oklahoma’s School of Visual Arts building. Named Out of Sight, Out of Mind, the show’s well-trodden title frames several of Clarke’s series critiquing the branding of people, places, and cultures in lands now…

By Neebinnaukzhik Southall An image of a powerful woman resided in the changing gallery space at the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, as part of their exhibition Imprint, that was on display through March 2019. Warrior Maiden Muse from the Tewa Tales of Suspense, by Jason Garcia, a Tewa artist from Santa Clara Pueblo, expresses the power of Tewa culture and women in the form of a painted clay tablet. The piece is placed on a stand in a corner, next to five works on paper by the same artist. The figures depicted are predominantly women, aside from…

Including Native Narratives in Florida’s Tourist Destinations By Michole Eldred (Catawba/Eastern Cherokee descent) Who hasn’t heard those words after enduring a long museum tour? So many historical tours and centers feed the tourists an exciting story while making a few bucks. The true story of history is rarely told. Especially when it comes to historical facts that involved Indigenous people. While many sites are making progress by involving Native people in the planning of historical presentations, there is still a long way to go for the truth to be told. Artists Want the Truth Flagler College Artist in Residence, Wendy…

By America Meredith Two tornadoes ripped through a cultural festival at the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto, Texas, on Saturday, April 14. The storm ripped the roof off of the visitor’s center, lifted up cars, and destroyed the site’s grass lodge. Of the estimated 100 people attending the Caddo Culture Day celebration, 30 to 40 people were injured. Eight people sustained critical injuries, as local Sheriff James Campbell told KTRE Channel 9. [1] Several of the most seriously injured had to be medi-flighted to hospitals in helicopters. One fatality has been reported. Located in Cherokee County, 26 miles…

By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) A valuable tool or a harbinger of dread? Your artist’s statement can be the most intimidating thing you write. You’ll find bios on every aspiring artist’s website but far fewer statements. Yet, a good artist’s statement can arouse curiosity, lure the public out to your exhibitions, and inspire them to more deeply engage with your artwork. An artist statement is an integral component of an artist packet, which includes a bio, statement, images, and image list. Today, these also form the backbone of your online portfolio. Artist statements can be about a single work of…

An Introduction for the Technologically Challenged Artist on a Budget By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) My primary advice to emerging artists is — well, number one, make incredible art you are passionate about, then number two — get your art online. The internet has revolutionized, globalized, and democratized communication in ways we have yet to fully comprehend. The important thing for artists is, no matter where you may live, Skiatook to Chinle, Natashquan to Sitka, by launching a website you access a worldwide audience. Curators and other folks regularly ask me to recommend artists. I can name promising emerging artists,…

By Tahnee Ahtone (Kiowa/Mvskoki/Seminole) I write to honor the life of Eco-Mahe Damian Jay McGirt (March 23, 1953–December 18, 2018), the respected historian of Maskoke and other Southeastern Indigenous cultures, who has gone to his campfire in the sky. It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the sudden passing of Uncle Jay in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Born in Okemah in 1953, Jay grew up in Okfuskee, a Maskoke community in rural Okfuskee County. He was from the Wind Clan and Tokvpvcce Etvlwv and a son of the Deer Clan. As a teenager, inspired by Plains Indigenous peoples’…

By Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida Nation) Created by the union available materials and cultural understanding, Native art has long made public statements of beauty, struggle, environment, and resilience. Native Fiber on exhibition at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts (WMQFA) in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, through April 28, 2019, is stunning example fine Native art executed in a wide variety of fiberwork. In 2017, while part of the group show, In Death, I approached the WMQFA about hosting their first ever all Native fiber exhibition. Director Melissa Wraalstad responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes!,” and in 2018, I began contacting artists…

By Bryn Barabas Potter The Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage is known for its support of Native peoples in several important ways. First, of course, is by providing top-rate medical care. Second is by allowing the Auxiliary, a nonprofit group led by a cadre of volunteers, to manage the Auxiliary Craft Shop. Third is by housing the Auxiliary Heritage Collection’s artworks in museum-quality displays. For artists to be represented in the Auxiliary Craft Shop, the rules of participation are basic. Artists must have recognition from the State of Alaska as being eligible to receive care at this facility. Artists…