SANTA FE, N.M. – When Osage artist and fashion designer Wendy Ponca describes her latest collection as “universal,” she means it. “I’m hand screen-printing my silks with original symbols that are universally recognized by both human beings and inter-dimensional beings traveling more freely due to CERN,” she says. CERN stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, the French name for the European Organization for Nuclear Research. CERN is the organization responsible for groundbreaking physics research using incredibly complex scientific instruments like the famous Large Hadron Collider at their lab near Geneva, Switzerland. According to the CERN website, “physicists and engineers are…
Author: Stacy Pratt
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.: In January 2018, Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara-Lakota) put out a call for people from across the United States and Canada to create handmade clay beads using instructions he provided. For months, people across both countries worked individually and in groups to create 4,000 beads. On May 3, the beads were unveiled in their final form at the Ent Center for Contemporary Art, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Galleries of Contemporary Art as part of the Lazy Stitch exhibition. The 4,000 beads were used to create Every One, a monumental sculptural installation representing Sister, a photograph by Kaska Dena photographer Kali…
LONDON, U.K.—Is cultural appropriation ever an accident? What about cultural appropriation of cultural appropriation? These are some of the questions brought up by British artist Anthea Hamilton’s installation The Squash, currently at Tate Britain. The Squash involves a wandering model dressed in a variety of costumes which include squash-like headpieces. Originally, the Tate’s website stated that Hamilton was inspired by a photograph of a person dressed as a vegetable lying among vines, but she did not remember where she had seen this photograph. Hamilton told Vogue, “The starting point of the work is a found image I’ve had for many years. It shows a…
TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma—On April 8 from 2:00–4:00 pm, Encore! Performing Society will present a preview of their reimagined version of Four Moons at the Armory in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The original Four Moons ballet was created in 1967 by and for the Oklahoma Indian Ballerinas, a group of five ballerinas who were extremely successful in the 1940s. The preview is a chance for the local community to see the dance before it is performed April 13 to 15 (two performances each day) during Cherokee Days at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The Oklahoma Indian Ballerinas – Maria Tallchief (Osage), Marjorie Tallchief (Osage),…
SANTA FE, N.M. — It’s not often that dogs attend art openings, but several (along with a cat) were present for the opening of Chaz John’s residency at Ellsworth Gallery in Santa Fe, where he is working on paintings for his series Rez Dogs. His residency has recently been extended to April 13, which is also the date of the Rez Dogs exhibition from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the gallery. Chaz John (Winnebago-Mississippi Choctaw) has created several drawings as part of the Rez Dogs series, which looks at the rez dog as an allegory. “Often the rez dog is used as a metaphor…
Reviews of plays by and about Native people tend to include words like “powerful” and “heartbreaking.” But here’s part of the review of Dillon Chitto’s Bingo Hall in the Los Angeles arts journal Stage Raw: “Bingo Hall is a delight, a deft and witty comedy that recalls vintage Neil Simon.” A delight? Vintage Neil Simon? Wait a minute. … Aren’t plays (and movies and television shows and books) about Native people supposed to be bittersweet, if not tragic? Chitto is among the playwrights widening the theatrical portrayal of Native people, in this case by writing a very funny play. Chitto, who is enrolled…
In February, FAAM’s list of ballet happenings in Indian country included Moccasins En Pointe, a collaboration between Colorado Ballet, the Mandaree Singers, and Lakota fancy shawl dancer Keya Clairmont. Those attending the 44th Annual Denver Powwow this weekend can catch another performance of the piece on March 24 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm at the Denver Coliseum. Moccasins En Pointe combines Clairmont’s fancy shawl dance with classical ballet, as she is joined onstage by dancers from the Colorado Ballet. A video posted by Colorado Ballet shows Clairmont teaching the ballet dancers the step techniques of fancy shawl dancing. Ballerina Alexandra Wilson said, “It’s very…
It’s hard not to talk about Clyde the Big Red Indian as if he is an actual person. I thought it was just me, but everyone I talk to eventually starts speaking of Clyde as if he has his own identity. That’s the impact of a strong visual image. The headdress-wearing, literally red, literally plastic Indian toy is the main figure in a series of prints by Mvskoke (Creek) artist Bobby Martin. Recently, the Clyde prints have been chosen as the signature artwork for Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain. Beyond the Spectacle is a multidisciplinary research project that…
FORT POLK, La. — Back in January, we posted a story about archaeologists looking for artifacts in Vernon Lake. The lake had been temporarily drained while the dam was being repaired after Hurricane Harvey. On February 26, I attended a meeting of the West Louisiana Archaeological Club (WLAC), where initial findings about the artifacts were presented. Johnny Guy, president of the WLAC, recounted the history of the organization’s involvement in the lake. It began in November 2017, when a journalist reported evidence of looting to the WLAS shortly after the lake was drained. Guy requested permission for a surface survey of…
The man who has been called “one of the most dangerous Indians alive” has walked on. James Luna died on March 4, 2018, at University Hospital in New Orleans, where he was attending a residency at the Joan Mitchell Center. Since the mid-1970s, Luna’s performance art pieces have taken up and shaken up stereotypes of Indigenous people through audience participation, shock, humor, and irony. Luna (Puyukitchum-Ipai-Mexican-American), who was an active artist to the time of his death, is perhaps best known for his Artifact Piece (1987), in which he laid, dressed in a loincloth, among other “Indian artifacts” from his daily life to…