Author: FAAM Staff

First American Art Magazine’s Top 10 Native Art Events of 2015 The year 2015 marked a stellar one for Indigenous arts of the Americas. We could have easily doubled this list with so many strong, major exhibits and new art venues breaking ground. Here are the Top 10 Native Art Events, as selected by First American Art Magazine’s advisors and writers. 1. Walter Soboleff Building, Sealaska Heritage Institute Named for the late Tlingit scholar, Indigenous rights activist, and Presbyterian minister, the Walter Soboleff Building opened in downtown Juneau, Alaska, on May 15th. Built by the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute, the building…

Issue No. 8, Fall 2015 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 Ga ni tha, Three Native Women, and the Venice Biennale, John Paul Rangel, PhD (Mestizo/Apache descent), 26–30 The Continuum of Plains: Pictorial Tradition, heather ahtone (Choctaw/Chickasaw) and Joe D. Horse Capture (A’aninin). 34–39     Asleep and Awake: Contemporary: Indigenous Video Art and the Politics of Presence, Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD, 40–45    Celebrating Life and Death in a Zapotec Village, Kevin…

Porfirio Gutierrez, Zapotec, to Share His Smithsonian Research with His Oaxacan Community “LIKE MANY PEOPLE in our village, my family has descended from generations of Zapotec weavers going back as far as anyone can remember,” says Porfirio Gutierrez. “As you know, Teotitlán has been known for its fine weaving since pre-Columbian times. In spite of our long standing reputation for fine work, the economic downturn and other factors have hurt our livelihood and threaten the existence of our traditional art.” Gutierrez is one of four artists chosen to participate in the Artist Leadership Program sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum…

The Native American Art Studies Association (NAASA) held its 20th biennial conference last weekend north of Santa Fe. Being in New Mexico was homecoming for the organization, since it was founded in Albuquerque. With about 240+ participants, this conference was its largest Thanks to the convenient location at the Pojoaque Pueblo’s Buffalo Thunder Resort, it was easy for locals to drop by and visit old friends and colleagues. NAASA is a mix of art historians, anthropologists, art critics, curators, artists, and other art and museum professionals. Native American studies is usually an interdisciplinary field at colleges, and only approximately a…

Issue No. 7, Summer 2015 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 New Mexico $8.99 USD Canada $9.99 USD International $16.99 USD Features Opening the Water Highway: Tribal Canoe Journeys as an Honor Song for American Indian People, by Misty Ellingburg (Shoalwater Bay Tribe), 16–21 Raising Our Canoe, poem by Misty Ellingburg (Shoalwater Bay Tribe), 21 The Talent and Tradition of Catawba Potters, by Michole Eldred (Catawba/Eastern Cherokee descent), 22–28 From the Birthplace of the World: The Solar Map…

Inuvialuit Inuktitut Name Alternative Names Province Ikaahuk Sachs Harbour NT Inuvik Inuvik NT Paulatuk Paulatuk NT Tuktoyaktuk Tuktoyaktuk NT Ulukhaktok Uluhaktuk, Ulukhaqtuuq, Holman NT Nunavut Inuktitut Name Alternative Names Province Akulivik Akulivik QC Aupaluk Aupaluk QC Chisasibi Chisasibi QC Inukjuaq Inujjuaq, Port Harrison QC Ivujivik Ivujivik QC Kangiqsujuaq Kangirsujuaq QC Kangiqsualujjuaq Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq QC Kangirsuk Kangiqsuk QC Killiniq Killiniq NU Kuujjuaq Kuujjuaq QC Kuujjuaraapik Kuujjuaraapik QC Puvirnituq Puvirnituq QC Quaqtaq Quaqtaq QC Mittimatalik Pond Inlet NU Pangnirtung Panniqtuuq, Pangnirtun NU Sanikiluaq Sanukiluaq NU Salluit Salluit QC Tasiujaq Tasiujaq QC Umiujaq Umiujaq QC Nunavik Inuktitut Name Alternative Names Province Arviat Arviat…

Issue No. 6, Spring 2015 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 New Mexico $8.99 USD Canada $9.99 USD International $16.99 USD Features Dancing with Fire: The Majestic and Dangerous Work of Grupo Sotz’il, by Heidi McKinnon, 16–23 The Musical Instruments, by Heidi McKinnon, 23 Storming Canada: Carl Ray, Indigenous Representation, and the Sacred Legends, by Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD, 24–29 Tarahumara People and Their Art: When the Ordinary Becomes Unique, by Cathy Short (Citizen Potawatomi), 30–39 Through the Sacred…

ROSEMARY DIAZ (Santa Clara Tewa) is a freelance feature writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of an original online series, Native Foodways: New Seasons, for Indian Country Today Media Network, and is engaged in the writing of her study/memoir on historic trauma, The Diaries of Sunshine YellowStar: Entries from Zarzamine. RoseMary studied literature and its respective arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Naropa University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. LinkedIn | ICTNM | email Works Published in FAAM “Gerald Lomaventema,” No. 18, Spring 2018: 64–69. “Healing Through the Creative Process: Art Therapy in Indian Country,”…

By Neebinnaukzhik Southall OSAGE GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ryan Red Corn’s accomplishments are many and varied. He co-founded the design and marketing company Buffalo Nickel Creative, whose clients include Nike and NMAI; operates Red Corn Native Foods; shoots videos and performs for the Native comedy group, the 1491s; launched Demockratees, a successful line of edgy political t-shirts; and serves as the co-executive director of NVision, a Native youth media arts group. Recently, I had a chance to speak with Ryan and hear his perspectives as a designer working with Native communities. Having Access Ryan Red Corn’s creative foundations began early. With a…

By America Meredith I DON’T THINK Cherokees had much of a beading tradition,” I blurted out to my sister at the 2005 opening of the Oklahoma History Center’s Native American gallery. The museum curator overheard and asked if he could show me something. That something was a 1840s Cherokee beadwork sampler of a vine with stylized flowers and strange blue growths, outlined in white. It was psychedelic. That was my first taste of Southeastern Woodlands beadwork, and I was hooked. Martha Berry (Cherokee Nation), a leading advocate for the revival of Southeastern Woodlands beadwork, beaded a bandolier bag called, Hidden in…