Author: FAAM Staff

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…

Onamia, MN—A century ago, in 1918 and 1919 when the global influenza pandemic killed millions worldwide, including thousands of Native Americans, Ojibwe communities created a revolutionary new healing practice: the jingle dress dance. Oral histories vary on where exactly the jingle dress first appeared, but some origin stories point to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe community of Minnesota. Opening Wednesday, April 3, the new exhibition Zibaaska’ iganagoodday: The Jingle Dress at 100 at Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post explores the story of the zibaaska’ iganagooday, or jingle dress, its connections to healing, and how it has spread across Native communities in…

Issue No. 21, Winter 2018/19 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 100 Years of Crow Fair photo essay by Lester Harragarra (Otoe-Missouria/Kiowa), 24–31 Indigenous Futurisms in the Visual Arts, Suzanne Newman Fricke, PhD, 20–23 Bááháálí Chapter Weavers, Aaron Yazzie (Navajo), 32–37 Disney Introduces New Audiences to Native Art, Michole Eldred (Catawba/Eastern Cherokee descent), 38–43 Artist Profiles Linda Aguilar: Chumash Basket Maker, Gloria Bell (Métis), 46–51 Norma Howard: Choctaw/Chickasaw Painter,…

The 61st annual Heard Museum Guild Fair & Market kicks off with the exciting announcement that Ephraim Anderson (Diné) won the 2019 Best of Show for his woven textile, White House Revival II. Howard R. and Joy M. Berlin and Kristine and Leland W. Peterson funded the generous $10,000 Best of Show prize. This year Anna Flynn is serving as fair chair, and director of the Heard Museum, David Roche, announced the award winners. This year, the classification X Open Standards classification is new, while the classifications X Beadwork and Quillwork and XI Cutting Edge are out. A newly-minted special…

INDIANAPOLIS – Five prominent Native American and First Nations artists have been selected for the 2019 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship. Curator-chosen selections of their work – including installations, paintings, video, and mixed media – will go on exhibit Nov. 16, 2019, at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Each artist receives a $25,000 unrestricted fellowship award, is part of the exhibition, and will be featured in a catalogue. Additionally, works by each Eiteljorg Fellow will be purchased for the museum’s permanent collection. Selected by a panel of contemporary art experts, the five artists chosen for the 2019 installment…

FAAM is happy to host a finger-weaving workshop taught by Chickasaw artist Kelley Lunsford. She will teach a cross-over design. This is an introductory-level class; however, more experienced finger-weavers are welcome, and Kelley can answer your questions. Where: FAAM Office, 1005 N. Flood Ave., #100, Norman, OK (NE corner of shopping center) When: Saturday, February 2, 1:00–4:00 pm How much: $25 per person, including supplies (dowel and yarn). Limit 12 participants. Register online: If you want to register more than one person, you’ll have to register and pay for each person individually. Questions? Email us.