The FAAM Four is a series of brief interviews with Indigenous artists across nations and disciplines. Brandon Hobson (Cherokee Nation) is the author of Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was longlisted for this year’s National Book Award in Fiction. (Award winners will be announced on Nov. 14.) The novel concerns two Indigenous youths (one Cherokee, the other Kiowa) in foster care in 1980s Oklahoma. Publishers Weekly writes that “Hobson’s narrative control is stunning, carrying the reader through scenes and timelines with verbal grace and sparse detail. Far more than a mere coming-of-age story, this is a remarkable and moving novel.” Hobson is…
Author: Stacy Pratt
Need motivation or information about voting in this year’s midterm elections? Draw Out the Vote, a project of Oni Press (Scott Pilgrim, Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty) can give you both. Indigenous artists Arigon Starr (Kickapoo/Muscogee/Cherokee/Seneca) and Shamus Beyale (Diné) are among the artists who created artwork for the project. Draw Out the Vote is an online project that features free comics-based voting guides for each of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Each guide gives information on how to register and vote, among other things. Starr represents California, where she is based. Beyale represents New Mexico,…
Santa Fe, N.M. — In the bright, airy upstairs space at form & concept gallery, three young Indigenous artists visited with guests before their artist talk on the gallery’s exhibition of their work, which hung along with that of other young artists from the Soul of Nations organization’s Brea Foley Art Program. The artists were Bailey Pete (Navajo), Maiyah King (Navajo/Acoma), and Christine Garcia (Kewa). It was the week of SWAIA Indian Market, one of the Indian art world’s biggest stages, and the artists were eager to speak about their art and their experience. Founded in 2015, Soul of Nations…
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.–Daniel Horsechief’s painting, Grandmothers, won Best in Show at the Cherokee National Holiday Art Show this evening, Aug. 31, at the Cherokee National Holiday Art Show. He said it is a tribute to the role women play in his own life and in the life of the nation. “It’s a painting that’s evolved, ” he said. “I try to show how things are interlinked in my work. It’s almost like composing, like a visual song. [In this painting, I thought of] all the women in my life who have guided me and have helped the whole nation. I think we…
In France, haute couture has a legal definition involving standards of both quality and business practices, but for the rest of the world, the term has come to indicate one-of-a-kind, custom-fitted fashion pieces constructed by hand using rare and/or high-quality materials. Indigenous people walk around in “couture” all the time at powwows and ceremonial events, wearing clothing and jewelry made by hand using rare materials often sourced and prepared by the designer. For example, at this year’s SWAIA Indian Market Native American Clothing Contest, Christy Ruby presented a capelet of sea otter fur, Taboo Love Birds, which she had hunted, tanned,…
Santa Fe, N.M. — Friday at Indian Market, the streets around the Plaza shut down as artists begin preparing their booths. At the Convention Center, winners of the art show are announced, and everyone shares the news as it filters out. Meanwhile, panels and films, demonstrations, receptions, and openings continue in galleries all over town. I began my afternoon at Singular Couture’s opening of their Native Voices group show. Indigenous designers including Marla Allison (Laguna), Anthony Gchachu (Zuni), Lorne Honyumptewa (Hopi), Michael Namingha (Hopi), David Naranjo (Santa Clara), and Shelley Patrick (Muscogee) were featured for Market Week. Singular Couture hires diverse…
Santa Fe, N.M. – Native Art Week, the week of SWAIA Indian Market means openings and events galore. It’s impossible to see and do it all, but I’ll be rushing all over downtown this year to bring as much news as I can! My Thursday started at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where I helped my sister Shelley Patrick move into the dorms along with other artists from all over the country. From there, I headed to the Ralph T. Coe Center to check out Currents, Moving Forward: The Muscogee Canoe Paddle Project presented by Kenneth Johnson (Muscogee) and a…
Washington, DC — On June 26, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) announced Cheyenne-Arapaho artist Harvey Pratt’s design, Warrior’s Circle of Honor, as the choice for the National Native American Veterans Memorial. Pratt, who is based in Oklahoma, served in Vietnam with the US Marine Corps and retired as a leading forensic artist with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, for whom he has also created large-scale public artworks. Back in February, Pratt was one of three Native artists whose design was in the running for the memorial. The others were the design team of Daniel SaSuWeh Jones (Ponca)…
By now, perhaps you’ve heard of The Great American Read, a program sponsored by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to encourage reading? The television show premiered in May with a two-hour special, and it continues in September as an eight-part series. The Great American Read polled 7,200 Americans to compile a list of the country’s 100 favorite novels — not the greatest novels, but our favorites as a country. That’s why the list can encompass both Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy. The list includes only novels, not non-fiction or short story collections, and books in…
IQALUIT, NUNAVUT (Canada) – There’s nothing like children’s television programming for getting cute songs stuck in your head. Now, parents in Canada can go around singing those songs in the Inuktitut language. On May 12, Anaana’s Tent premiered on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network). The program, which is entirely in the Inuktitut language, is designed for preschool-aged children. An English version of the show, which will feature Inuktitut language lessons, will air in the fall. Anaana’s Tent begins with host Rita Claire (Rita Claire Mike-Murphy) setting up camp in her mother’s (anaana’s) tent. While her mother is out, she and her…