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‘Ground Zero 360’ among three new exhibitions at St. Bonaventure’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

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‘Ground Zero 360’ among three new exhibitions at St. Bonaventure’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

Aug 18, 2023

Photo, top: “Stars and Stripes at Ground Zero” by Nicola McClean
Painting, bottom: “From the Ashes, We Rise,” mixed media on board painting by Rachel Gardner

“Ground Zero 360,” an internationally acclaimed exhibition conveying the chaos, courage and emotion of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New Yok City’s World Trade Center, is one of three new exhibitions opening at St. Bonaventure
University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in September.

The other new exhibitions include “Hand and Spirit,” a collection of contemporary Southwestern artwork bequeathed to the Quick Center by the late David Van Buren, a St. Bonaventure graduate, and a companion exhibition of Southwest art titled
“Art and Hand,” which is curated by Gary Keem, a 1969 St. Bonaventure graduate.

All three exhibitions open to the public in Quick Center galleries on Monday, Sept. 11.

“Ground Zero 360” honors the victims of 9/11 and the valor of New York City police officers, firefighters and rescue workers who rushed to the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. The exhibition features artwork created
by artists from around the world to commemorate the day.

from the Ashes we Rise 400The exhibition is the brainchild of Nicola McClean, a photojournalist who was working in New York City on 9/11, and her husband, Paul McCormack, a retired inspector with the New York Police Department. McCormack, a native of Donegal, Ireland, was
among the many police officers who responded to the World Trade Center, while McClean, a native of Dublin, Ireland, took thousands of photographs of the devastation in and around Ground Zero.

“Our exhibition includes more than 40 original pieces of artwork created by professional artists from all over the world,” notes Evelyn Penman, interim executive director and senior curator at the Quick Center. “It is this stunning artwork
that defines this exhibition and takes it well beyond the factual events of 9/11 at Ground Zero.”

Exhibition visitors will be able to touch fragments of a twisted steel I-beam and broken granite from the World Trade Center. Also featured are small steel crosses that ironworkers created onsite at Ground Zero, as well as an American flag that flew over
the site. Personal effects of two victims of 9/11, police officer Moira Smith and firefighter Kevin O’Rourke, which were graciously donated by their loved ones, will also be on display. 

Ground Zero 360 is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the memory of all victims of Sept. 11, 2001.

The exhibition opens Sept. 11 in the Quick Center’s Paul W. Beltz Gallery on the second floor and runs through Oct. 29.

The “Hand and Spirit” exhibition brings to life the culture of the American Southwest. It features a collection of modern kachinas, 27 paintings and drawings, as well as more than 60 pieces of pottery created by artists whose families have
been creating traditional pottery for hundreds of years.

The collection was bequeathed to the Quick Center by the late David Van Buren, a 1969 St. Bonaventure graduate and longtime criminal justice professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Van Buren fell in love with the American Southwest while
serving as a visiting scholar at Northern Arizona University, researching peacemaking and the tribal courts of the Navajo Nation.

“The Van Buren collection adds a new dimension to the University Art Collection,” Penman said. “It will eventually be integrated into our contemporary galleries so that it can be acknowledged as the exceptional art that it is.”

The exhibition opens Sept. 11 in the Winifred Shortell Kenney Gallery on the Quick Center’s second floor and continues through the fall semester.

“Art and Hand,” a companion to the Van Buren collection exhibition, features contemporary Southwest pottery as well as paintings by Raymond L. Knaub, Don Brackett and the late Buffalo-based painter and sculptor Joseph Orffeo. The exhibition
is curated by Gary Keem, a 1969 St. Bonaventure graduate.

The exhibition opens Sept. 11 in the first-floor Front Gallery and runs through Dec. 15.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University is presently observing summer hours, which are noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Beginning Monday, Aug. 28, the hours will be noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Weekend hours,
noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, begin Sept. 16.

______________

About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and
citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.

YSAC seeks artists for Live Oak mural project

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YSAC seeks artists for Live Oak mural project

Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture is seeking artists to create murals in Live Oak as part of its ongoing Murals of Live Oak project.

The first set of murals in this multi-year project were created in 2017, and the project has since established 10 large-scale murals throughout Live Oak. Additional murals will be added to the area thanks to funding from the city of Live Oak and match funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, officials said.

On Our National Mall, New Monuments Tell New Stories

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On Our National Mall, New Monuments Tell New Stories
image

In the shadow of the Washington Monument, six temporary installations tease out who and what should be commemorated, and how art can help us remember.

Public. Art. Monument.

Combine those three terms, and you often end up in a glorious muddle.

Whether a sculpture or fountain or obelisk, a piece might succeed as a monument, but fail as fine art; another might please the public, but fail to commemorate; a third might satisfy an art critic, but leave the public yawning.

For just one month, Friday, Aug. 18 through Sept. 18, the National Mall will be hosting “Pulling Together,” an open-air exhibition that tests what works best, or fails least, when artists, publics and monuments are brought together. The curators Paul Farber and Salamishah Tillet have asked six artists — three women and three men; three of them Black, one Asian, one Latino, one Native — to make “prototype monuments” for the west half of the Mall, from 12th Street to the Lincoln Memorial. For the next month, six installations will aim to address some of the stories, and the publics, that have so far been neglected by the Mall’s monument makers.

“Pulling Together” makes room for monuments that talk, for instance, about Black church leaders with AIDS, about the schoolchildren who cut through Washington’s color line, and about Asian migration after America’s war in Vietnam. (One shocking absence: art that addresses the sexism undermining half the world’s humans. Almost as weird: None of the installations speak to our climate disaster.)

The show is planned as the first installment in “Beyond Granite,” a series of temporary public projects led by the Trust for the National Mall with the National Capital Planning Commission and the National Park Service. Farber is a co-founder of Monument Lab, a Philadelphia group that explores public art and was charged with developing “Pulling Together.” Tillet is a professor of African American studies at Rutgers University who is a contributing critic at large for The New York Times. Funding comes from the Mellon Foundation.

The entries that follow chart an east-to-west course across “Pulling Together,” with each installation’s pros and cons. What I found compelling about the whole project is the way a work might succeed on one dimension (maybe by undermining traditional, Guy-on-a-Horse ideas about monumentality) in the very act of failing on another (say, to achieve the visceral power of an old-fashioned monument). These impossible tensions between success and failure may simply be unavoidable in anything called a “public monument.”

That gives “Pulling Together,” as a whole, the flexible meaning we want from good art.

Paul Ramírez Jonas’s “Let Freedom Ring” consists of 32 little bells hanging from an arch overhead, programmed to play all but the last note in the tune to “My Country ’Tis of Thee.”Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times
Paul Ramírez Jonas with “Let Freedom Ring,” Smithsonian Metro – 12th Street North.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Paul Ramírez Jonas, 58, chair of the art department at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The Place: On the pebbled avenue at 12th Street, on the north side of the Mall between the Smithsonian’s museums of natural history and American history.

The Piece: “Let Freedom Ring” consists of 32 little bells hanging from an arch overhead, programmed to play all but the last note in the tune to “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” Below sits another bell, big enough for a church tower, tuned to play that final note. An “animator” hands each visitor a piece of paper and asks them to take a rubbing from a text cast into the bronze on either side of the big bell; one side says “I WANT TO BE FREE FROM _____,” the other “I WANT TO BE FREE TO ____.” After declaring a preferred kind of freedom, each visitor gets to listen to the peal of small bells play its tune, then to pull a lever that rings the missing note on the big bell.

Pros: The carillon has a lovely sound that provides almost the only moment of old-fashioned beauty in “Pulling Together.” In the time it takes for the tune to play out, visitors display a concentration that is rare even in most museums. Some close their eyes, singing the song in their heads so as not to miss their moment of action. It’s only a 30-second span, but it’s a long moment of peace among today’s distractions. While the bells have a ceremonial quality that seems particularly suited to the ceremonial aura of the Mall, the work also subverts any facile patriotism: Its tune first came with the lyrics from “God Save the King,” the British anthem. So a piece that seems to recall 1776 and the Liberty Bell might also be commemorating that royalist “tyrant,” King George III. Also adding to the work’s heft: The big bell, tuned two octaves below the bells overhead, seems less in tune with them than in tension. It seems to sound a dark warning, like the tolling of a bell on a lighthouse, after the jingle of smaller bells left us too complacent.

Cons: The rigmarole of being asked to choose a text, make a rubbing from it and then name a preferred brand of freedom, all before being allowed to sound the big bell, is gilding the lily. And for a piece that’s supposed to be about freedom, the artist seems to assert an almost dictatorial (or maybe royally Georgian) control over how we use and enjoy it. (On site, Ramírez Jonas said he might yet change the instructions, depending upon public reaction.)

Ashon T. Crawley, creator of a sound art memorial called “Homegoing.” It features speakers that play texts and music about the Black church and AIDS. Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Ashon T. Crawley, a 43-year-old musician and writer from Richmond, Va. He is also an associate professor of Religious Studies and African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia.

The Place: Just south of the Washington Monument.

The Piece: “Homegoing” is a series of platforms or small stages spread across a large field of grass. Speakers hidden below them play a three-part composition by Crawley. One “movement” includes Crawley reciting the names of AIDS victims. The two others combine texts written by Crawley and sounds from Black churches and culture. The result, he says, is “an audiovisual memorial to queer musicians, choir directors and songs from Black church contexts — often closeted, the fullness of their stories still untold.”

Pros: Not since 1987, when a team of volunteers first unfolded the AIDS Memorial Quilt, has the Mall seen a monument to the persecution and neglect of gay Americans. As a work of sound art — Crawley’s platforms seem to merely frame his recordings, like gilded moldings around an old master canvas — “Homegoing” is the ultimate antidote to the imposing thing-ness of most monuments. Sound art is light on the ground where granite and bronze can land with a thud. The low-lying installation seems to mock the Washington Monument’s almost phallic presence. “Homegoing” also invites, even demands, an unusual focus as listeners try to make out what they’re hearing. That’s a fine antidote to the quick, superficial read that traditional monuments are likely to get.

Cons: Compared with work that has a powerful visual presence — that monument to Washington, for instance — sound can easily fade into the background in a busy place like the Mall. And if that leaves “Homegoing” without the focused reception it needs, we come to depend on nearby texts that explain it. The piece can become more about the content that Crawley wants to transmit than any content we might receive — more about his intentions than our reactions.

Derrick Adams, “America’s Playground,” a temporary monument that commemorates a moment in 1954 when the Supreme Court ordered Washington’s playgrounds desegregated.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Derrick Adams, 53, is a well-known creative figure across media based in Brooklyn.

The Place: In Constitution Gardens, north of the World War II Memorial.

The Piece: “America’s Playground” is just that — a large playground, with climbing frames. Its play space is divided into two by a large wall covered in a vast reproduction of a 1954 photo of Black and white children playing on one of Washington’s playgrounds, only days after the Supreme Court ordered them desegregated. On one side of Adams’s wall, the playground is painted in bright colors; on the other it is all in shades of gray; an arch in the wall allows access between the two halves.

Pros: It’s wonderful to see art that does double duty as something truly usable. Adams returns the Mall’s children, at least, to a moment before 1500, when Europeans used an art work for its obvious function, rather than endlessly pondering what art might do. Kids will love having a place to play on an unplayful site like the Mall. The great Washington Monument that soars nearby, not to mention the World War II Memorial down the way, seem almost inert compared with the life and energy of this little playground. This is monumental art with zero pomposity.

In a decade spent in D.C., I found the Mall to be one of the less segregated spaces in the city, but even side-by-side Black and white families tended not to mix. Their kids will, once they come to this playground. That means there’s a lovely, rare balance between what this piece does and the image it bears — like the painting of an ironing board that could also work as one.

Cons (just quibbles, in this case): By virtue of being so unmonumental, Adams’s playground seems barely in conversation with the granite and bronze elsewhere on the Mall, so it can’t quite question them.

The brightly colored side of the playground could be read as celebrating a desegregation that has never been complete. America’s playgrounds won’t be fully desegregated until its neighborhoods — and its wealth — are also shared among races.

Wendy Red Star with “The Soil You See …,” a temporary monument bearing her fingerprint, with the names of 50 Native leaders who once signed treaties with the federal government.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Wendy Red Star, 42, an Apsáalooke (Crow) Native in Portland, Ore., whose works in sculpture, video, photography and performance engage with her heritage.

The Place: An island on the pond in Constitution Gardens that is also home to the Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The Piece: “The Soil You See …” consists of Red Star’s fingerprint printed in red onto a cast glass oval about the height of a human body. It stands upright in an 8,000 pound lump of granite. A text runs within the whorls of the fingerprint. It includes a powerful statement from an Apsáalooke scout who confronted Congress over land rights in 1912. It also features the names of 50 Native leaders who once signed treaties with an “X.” (Others apparently had used their thumbprints.)

Pros: There’s a potent tension with the nearby monument to the Signers, which comes off as self-important and deeply complacent thanks to Red Star’s intervention.

As a quite traditional commemorative object, Red Star’s piece confronts a history of similar works that have simply ignored her Native subject matter, and thereby almost erased it.

When you approach close enough to read Red Star’s text, the Washington Monument pokes up in the distance. It seems small, almost insignificant next to Red Star’s blood-red fingerprint. With its human scale and idyllic island setting, Red Star’s monument is ready-made for Instagram, unlike most of the other installations in “Pulling Together.”

Cons: As a traditional commemorative object, “The Soil You See …” doesn’t question that kind of object-based commemoration. The little piece, tucked away on an island few ever visit, might have to be content with the power it can wield on social media.

Tiffany Chung with her installation “For the Living” on the National Mall. Nylon ropes trace the migration routes of Southeast Asians as they move across the world.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Tiffany Chung, 54, was born in Vietnam and is now based in Houston.

The Place: In Constitution Gardens, just east of the Vietnam Memorial near the north side of the Mall.

The Piece: “For the Living” covers a big stretch of lawn with a world map drawn in black plastic edging, like the kind used around garden beds. Blue nylon ropes trace the sea routes of Asian migrants. Orange ropes map their departures by land, and yellow ones register flights.

Pros: A monument to “the global routes of Southeast Asian immigrants,” it also seems to speak to the massive migration from South to North now caused by climate change. The piece seems designed to be vulnerable to interference — a vulnerability that few monuments dare to explore, but is basic to the lives of migrants. “For the Living” dares to be recumbent and modest, where most monuments stand up and blare out their message.

Cons: A low fence tells viewers to stay off Chung’s map. That is a necessary protection but it leaves the piece more remote and passive than it should be.

Since the information in its maps would be most intelligible from overhead, it may be missed by most viewers. The installation’s skein of lines might thus be read as mere abstraction, like a Jackson Pollock on the grass.

Vanessa German’s monument to Marian Anderson, capped in bottles made from blue glass, sits on a base covered in photos of the audience from the singer’s landmark performance in 1939 — one of the Mall’s most important symbolic moments.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times
Vanessa German with her work, “Of Thee We Sing,” at the steps to the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

The Artist: Vanessa German, 47, based in Pittsburgh and Asheville, N.C.

The Place: By the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Piece: “Of Thee We Sing” is a stylized statue of the great Black contralto Marian Anderson, dressed in bottles made from blue glass. It sits on a base covered in photos of the audience from Anderson’s landmark performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, when 75,000 people got to hear her sing, after she was denied the opportunity to perform at Constitution Hall because of her race. Plastic flowers that mimic Namibian lilies rise at the singer’s feet, amid upraised human arms cut from aluminum.

Pros: German’s monument to Anderson nods to one of the Mall’s most important symbolic moments, which otherwise goes unmarked on the site. Compared with the Lincoln Memorial, massive and marble, the piece seems terrifyingly slight and fragile. That might speak to the fragility of Black life in America.

Cons: The Black woman in German’s piece simply cannot compete, visually — and therefore symbolically — with the giant white man on his seat above and behind her. And by adding so many allegorical elements to its image of Anderson — bottles, lilies, hands and more — “Of Thee We Sing” implies that the singer needs all that to signify. A simpler image of her might better capture the simple, powerful presence she had that day when she sang.

Pulling Together

Friday through Sept. 18 on the National Mall; beyondgranite.org/exhibition.

Here’s What’s Going on in Indian Country, August 17 —August 24

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Here’s What’s Going on in Indian Country, August 17 —August 24
Details
By Kaili Berg

August 17, 2023

This week and next in Indian Country, there is an abundance of celebrations, powwows, and events that celebrate the vast culture of Native people.  Here is Native News Online’s weekly round-up of arts, culture, and entertainment offerings around Indian Country.

Santa Fe Indian Market
Santa Fe, NM
August 19-20

This highly anticipated event showcases traditional and contemporary Native American art, including jewelry, pottery, textiles, paintings, and sculptures. It features over 1,000 artists from over 200 tribes and is the largest and most prestigious Native arts show in the world. Visitors can expect to be immersed in a rich cultural experience, with opportunities to meet the artists, learn about their unique artistic processes, and purchase one-of-a-kind pieces directly from the creators. The event is free and open to the public. 

IndigenousWays Festival 2023
Santa Fe, NM
August 18, 5-9 pm 

The event will take place at Santa Fe’s Railyard Park and have three-time Poet Laureate Joy Harjo headline the festival. The event will showcase leading Indigenous musicians, artisans, and drummers, along with wisdom keepers, weavers, and other performers.

The Crow Fair Celebration
Crow Agency, MT
August 17-20, 6 pm

Come celebrate the largest Native American event in Montana and one of the biggest powwows in the country. The event attracts over 50,000 spectators and participants from around the world. Many cultural activities will take place throughout the day, including an INFR-sanctioned All-Indian rodeo.  

Never miss Indian Country’s biggest stories and breaking news. Sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. 

 

Roasting Ears of Corn Festival
Allentown, PA
August 19-20 

Come enjoy Pennsylvania’s oldest Native American Indian festival. This year, world-renowned Native American recording artist Arvel Bird, Paiute violinist and flutist will perform on both days. There will be dancing, drumming, singing, and special performances and traditional Aztec dancing by the Salinas Family from Mexico City. Vendors will offer a wide variety of products, including sweetgrass, jewelry, pottery, and leather goods. 

Native Cinema Showcase 
Santa Fe, NM
August 17-20 

The National Museum of the American Indians Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. This year’s theme will highlight films of Indigenous perseverance that inspire, uplift and triumph against adversity. 

How about a Pow Wow
Shakopee, MN
August 18-19

Representing dozens of tribes from across the United States and Canada, dancers dressed in traditional regalia will compete for top honors in various dance style categories and age groups while drum groups and singers surround the perimeter of the arena. Native American artists and crafters will display traditional beadwork, jewelry, and handmade goods, while food vendors will offer a variety of authentic meals.  

Mohegan Wigwam Festival
Uncasville, CT
August 19-20

The Wigwam, or Green Corn Festival, is a celebration of thanks, a symbol of Tribal survival, and the chance to feel connected to other Tribal members, past and present. The event is a family-friendly day featuring traditional food, crafts, and dancing. 

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Contest Pow Wow 
Grand Ronde, OR
August 18-20

Come celebrate at the Uyxat Powwow Grounds. Grand entries will be Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 1 pm and 7 pm, and Sunday at 1 pm. There will be drum contests and dancing contests for all ages.  

28th Annual Wawaskinaga Traditional Pow Wow
Birch Island, ON
August 10-20

Come celebrate with the Whitefish River First Nation. Grand entries will be Saturday 1 pm and 7 pm and Sunday at 12 pm. A community feast will be held on Saturday at 5 pm. The event will feature world championship hoop dancers and dancing competitions. 

Native Drum Workshop
Fall River, MA
August 17

On Thursdays from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, Brother Granite presents an interactive Native American Drum Workshop at CRAFTYISH located on Anawan Street. 

Blue Water Traditional Pow Wow 
Port Huron, MI
August 19

The Pow Wow returns to the Fort Gratiot Light Station. Celebrate Indigenous culture in this traditional style powwow. Dancers and participants accepted the day off for all styles. Admission is by donation. The grand entry is at 12 pm. Shop vendors, arts and crafts, raffles, and food from local indigenous food vendors will be available. 

Annual Nansemond Indian Pow Wow
Suffolk, VA
August 20-21

Consider traveling to the Nansemond Indian Mattanock town to the Tribe’s annual powwow. There will be dancing, drumming, and singing along with food and craft vendors. The grand entry is Saturday at 10 am and 6 pm and Sunday at 1 pm. Admission is free for everyone. 

More Stories Like This

Little Shell Tribal Citizen Chris La Tray Named 2023-2024 Montana Poet Laureate
IndigneousWays Festival Finishes Summer Series in Santa Fe
“We are Water” Flows Through Minnesota
101st Sante Fe Indian Market Kicks Off August 19

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About The Author
Kaili BergKaili Berg
Author: Kaili BergEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Staff Reporter
Kaili Berg (Aleut) is a member of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq Nation, and a shareholder of Koniag, Inc. She is a staff reporter for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. Berg, who is based in Wisconsin, previously reported for the Ho-Chunk Nation newspaper, Hocak Worak. She went to school originally for nursing, but changed her major after finding her passion in communications at Western Technical College in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.


North Vernon native to be featured artist in September at Vernon studio

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North Vernon native to be featured artist in September at Vernon studio

Allen. Courtesy – Perceptions Yoga, Mindfulness & Art.

VERNON, Ind. – Perceptions Yoga, Mindfulness & Art is inviting the public to the September art show featuring the work of Mike Allen. The show opens in Vernon on September 1, with an artist reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
Allen was raised and went to school in North Vernon and now lives in Seymour, working full-time as an herbalist. He is a student of well known artist Kay Fox and finds painting creating art to be therapeutic in nature.

“Our artist receptions are great opportunities to meet the artist, learn about art, have great conversations, and connect with other art lovers in our community, all while supporting a great cause,” said Charlinda Evans, president of Perceptions, a nonprofit devoted to providing affordable art, yoga, and mindful practices in Jennings County.

Allen’s artwork will be on display and for sale at affordable prices at the opening and during regular gallery hours on Tuesdays from noon to 5 pm, Thursdays from 1:30 pm to 5 pm and Saturdays from 11 am to 2 p.m. the entire month of September. A closing reception will take place September 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. so that individuals can pick up purchased items or buy any unsold items.

“While painting is not my main career, I have been painting for about four years now,” said Allen. “I didn’t even know that I could paint. It wasn’t until I began my journey of personal healing that I was advised to discover my painting abilities. I met a great art teacher (Kay Fox of Kay Fox Art & Design) and she has guided me on this journey of finding my inner artist.”

He continued, saying “I find art very therapeutic and can get lost in the moment when I am creating. I have done some research on my family heritage, and I have found connections to Scotland. I currently have a series of paintings with Scottish influence. I like to paint landscapes, architecture and animals. My favorite medium is oil and you will see that I use a palette knife to add texture in several of my pieces.”

For more information visit www.facebook.com/northvernonyoga or www.perceptionsyoga.org

Courtesy – Mike Allen

‘Dream come true’: Chippewa Cree artist designs piece for Xbox

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‘Dream come true’: Chippewa Cree artist designs piece for Xbox

When Kaylene Big Knife was 17 and working as an assistant for a print shop at Stone Child College, she never imagined that she’d one day produce an art piece for a video game giant.

But this summer, that’s exactly what happened.

In June, Big Knife got a call from Xbox, a video gaming brand owned by Microsoft, asking if she’d be interested in doing a project. Big Knife jumped at the opportunity, but so did lots of Indigenous artists, who entered into a pool hoping to be selected by Xbox. Big Knife and other Native graphic designers submitted portfolios and presentations.



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Kaylene Big Knife, Chippewa Cree graphic designer, commissioned a piece with Xbox. 



Provided


After several rounds, Big Knife, who is Chippewa Cree and grew up on the Rocky Boy Reservation, was selected to create a piece for the gaming giant as part of its campaign to increase representation of Indigenous people.

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Once she was selected, Big Knife and the Xbox team entered several rounds of design decisions. First, Big Knife presented three mood boards, and the Xbox team picked one, which featured ribbon skirts and ribbon shirts. Next, she submitted artwork based on that concept and entered several rounds of revisions with Xbox.

“It was a crazy amount of deliverable assets,” Big Knife recalled. “I think I turned in more than 40 different designs. It’s definitely one of the most intense projects I’ve ever been a part of.”

A few months later, Big Knife had her design.



xbox facebook.PNG

Xbox commissioned a piece from Kaylene Big Knife. Her design is featured on the company’s social media pages and is available for users as a wallpaper or profile picture. 



Provided


Her piece — featuring deep purples, bright oranges and vibrant greens — includes flowers, geometric shapes and the “X” symbolizing Xbox as the glowing sun. She said she intentionally chose a balance of cool and warm colors and avoided typical design schemes, like portraying a yellow sun against blue sky. The piece, called “Dancing in the Arbors,” is featured on Xbox’s social media pages, and players can use it as a free wallpaper, profile picture or for their avatar in games.

Big Knife drew inspiration for the piece from an old black-and-white photograph of her great-grandfather. The floral designs in her graphic mirror the flowers on his regalia.

“Overall, the design scheme is reminiscent of summertime in Rocky Boy,” Big Knife said. “During powwow, I’d be at my Grandma Minnie’s house. She lives over the hills, and when the powwow goes late into the night, people are still out there, there are stars and lights on the arbor. It’s a very lively place.”



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Kaylene Big Knife drew inspiration for her piece from this photo of her great-grandfather. 



Provided


Big Knife studied at Stone Child College on the reservation and went on to earn a degree in graphic design from the Institute of Native American Art. She also has degrees from the University of Arizona and University of Montana. In her early college years, Big Knife said she played a lot of Xbox and made lifelong friendships through gaming.

“It’s a dream come true,” she said of the piece. “I never thought I’d be doing something like this for a video game giant like Xbox. It’s just funny to see life come full circle. It was just an incredible experience.”



Rocky Boy Reservation

View of the Bears Paw Mountains where a vast majority of the Rocky Boy Reservation is situated, home to about 3,770 people and  composed of more than 170 square miles of hilly terrain.



ANTONIO IBARRA, Lee Newspapers


Despite her success, Big Knife said her pursuit of graphic design wasn’t always easy. There were times she considered leaving the field altogether and times when she worried her art wouldn’t be taken seriously since it wasn’t tactile, like beading or weaving. But, as Big Knife put it, “Life always led me back to graphic design. It’s what I’m good at.”

Now, Big Knife said she appreciates the medium more than ever. She uses graphic design for more than just art — helping local organizations promote events, create business cards and logos, and she’s even created free materials to help preserve the Cree language.

“The digital realm is a very powerful place to be,” she said. “Indigenous professionals and organizations need art, whether it’s branding or selling merchandise. … We, as Indigenous people, need to have a presence in digital art and in digital spaces. This is how I contribute to my community.”

To learn more about Kaylene Big Knife’s work, visit kaybigknifedesign.com.



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Foxboro native starts business that has women capturing their curves on canvas

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Foxboro native starts business that has women capturing their curves on canvas
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A former Foxboro resident who lives in Nashville is bringing her passion for empowering art to the local area by inviting women to paint portraits of themselves in the buff.

Samantha Zaruba, 33, is a mixed media artist and art empowerment teacher interested in how self-constructed narratives and media consumption make an impact on people.

Her latest series of nude figures is a revival of work she started while studying art at UMass Amherst and has lead to the creation of Paint Your Noodz, a personalized paint-and-sip art experience that allows participants to put their own curves on canvas.

Zaruba’s work has been featured in publications, including Out Voices Nashville, “Best Visual Artist,” Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville, NPR’s Today in Nashville, in galleries, including Cëcret, COOP, Turnip Green and on album covers for Ron Gallo and Naked Giants.

Art became a passion for Zaruba when she was still just a student.

“Ms .Cahan at Foxboro High School was great. The art teacher that I was the closest with growing up was Barbara McCaulife. I took private lessons with Barbara in her Foxboro home starting at age 14 during a dark period when I was struggling. Art lessons with Barbara probably saved my life,” Zaruba said.

“One of the most valuable things she taught me that I still think about today is that ‘you can always get something back.’ What that means while painting is to go for it. Artists can get so paralyzed by fear of ‘messing something up’ that it’s a real creativity killer. Try the thing, don’t be scared to ruin it because if you did it once, you can do it again,” Zaruba said.

Zaruba likes art because it provides a sense of peace it delivers to her mind and body when she is creating.

“I love utilizing art to grapple with big concepts such as identity, media, and technology,” she said.

While Zaruba’s art may be too risqué for some, she is committed to using her work to help others.

In 2017, Zaruba started PowArt, a series of pro-bono art empowerment workshops held at various nonprofits and underserved schools and community centers around Nashville with the mission to provide art therapy and an opportunity for people to know themselves as artists.

The idea for Paint Your Noodz was born out of her own love for painting figures and her passion for empowering others by giving them an appreciation for their unique bodies.

Zaruba said she learned to paint nude figures in college at UMass Amherst and refined her skill when she started her most recent series in the spring of 2020.

Participants in her Paint Your Noodz class do not have to draw themselves. Zaruba does all the drawing of each person’s reference photo on the canvas ahead of time, marking out shading so it’s as close to a paint by numbers as possible.

She leads people in bringing their body to life with acrylic paint and offers one-on-one assistance, demonstrating directly on students’ canvas so that everyone leaves with a piece of art they can be proud of.

“I started painting nude figures in college at a time when I felt really disconnected from myself. I revisited nude painting in early 2020 when this feeling reached an apex for me as it did for many others during the pandemic. In May 2020, when I picked back up the paintbrush, I had just turned 30 in lockdown and had swiftly gained almost 20 pounds in two months and did not feel at home in my body. With the raging pandemic, I felt untethered and out of control,” Zaruba said.

She said painting bodies, her own and others, has been healing.

“It’s something I wanted to give to others. Coming up with the concept of this art class in the spring of 2022 was one of those light bulb moments. A tingle in the back of my brain that felt like every single thing I had done so far in my various careers had led to the creation of this idea,” she said.

Zaruba recently helped victims of sexual assault to regain confidence through her class in Nashville.

In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April and as part of her art exhibition for the Tennessee Re-Pair Triennial, she wanted to provide survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence with an opportunity to reclaim their bodies as their own by offering a sliding scale pay-what-you-can Paint Your Noodz class.

“I love empowering others and utilizing my platform to champion causes I care about. I believe my reason for being on this planet is to help unleash people’s greatness and it’s always an honor to be part of someone’s healing journey,” she said.

Zaruba hopes to start offering Paint Your Noodz and her couple’s class Paint Your Partner when she visits family in the Foxboro area three to four times per year moving forward.

Pamela Morgan, of Foxboro, and the owner of The Craft Bar in North Attleboro agreed, to host Zaruba’s Paint Your Noodz class on Thursday, Aug. 31 at 6:30 p.m..

“I think her work is beautiful. She is very talented and I love her message. I respect any person that is involved in empowering other women,” said Morgan.

“Right away, I thought this would be a great class. I believe we both strive to foster peoples’ connections with each other and themselves while empowering them to feel good about themselves in a safe space,” Morgan said.

Zaruba said her message to artists of any age is to take action.

“Your perspective and what you have to share with the world is valuable. Don’t wait until you have something ‘perfect.’ Just go for it. Robots will not replace us. There will always be a crucial need for human-created art,” she said.

Register for Paint Your Noodz class at The Craft Bar and find information on Zaruba’s upcoming events, visit her website at samanthazaruba.com.

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Native Hawaiian discusses cultural landmarks, art and artifacts destroyed by Maui wildfire

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Native Hawaiian discusses cultural landmarks, art and artifacts destroyed by Maui wildfire

As disaster recovery efforts ramp up on Maui, so too has the arduous search operation. The confirmed death toll now stands at 106 people and with most of those victims still unidentified, families and friends of the missing are left fearing the worst. Historic landmarks, art and artifacts have also been destroyed. Noelani Ahia discussed the cultural loss with Geoff Bennett.

Artists Repertory Theatre Cancels 2023-24 Season

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Artists Repertory Theatre Cancels 2023-24 Season
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PORTLAND, ORE.: Artists Repertory Theatre (ART) has announced the suspension of its 2023-24 season, citing financial difficulties. The announcement comes as ART was set to begin rehearsals for its first fall production.

“The decision to suspend our season comes as the aftermath of the global pandemic continues to impact regional theatres across the country,” said incoming managing director Aiyana Cunningham and artistic director Jeanette Harrison in a joint statement. “ART, like many of our peers, has encountered several challenges, including escalating operational costs, decline in ticket sales, and reduced staffing capacity.”

Board chair Pancho Savery added that the “ongoing national crisis among regional theatres has presented us with significant obstacles that require careful consideration and action. To navigate these challenges successfully, we believe it is crucial to take this strategic pause in order to focus on key areas that will shape the future of ART and ensure its sustainability.”

ART posted the statement on its website less than a week after playwright Dillon Christopher Chitto announced on his Facebook page that the theatre had canceled the upcoming production of his play Pueblo Revolt 12 days before the scheduled first rehearsal.

“ART’s cancellation of Pueblo Revolt has not only resulted in future financial losses which I was counting on, but has also squandered career opportunities I had sacrificed for their benefit,” Chitto, who is Native American, wrote. He further stated that the theatre’s “decision to cancel a Native play following the Mark Taper Forum’s cancellation of Larissa FastHorse’s play leaves me utterly disappointed and disillusioned with American theatre.”

Chitto was referring to the Mark Taper Forum’s suspension of their 2023-24 season, which included the cancelation the premiere of Native playwright Larissa FastHorse’s Fake It Until You Make It. Harrison, who is also Native American, was celebrating her first full season as artistic director at ART.

In their statement, ART cited the Oregon State Legislature’s failure to pass House Bill 2459, a proposed recovery fund for the arts and culture sector, as a factor in their decision. The passage of the bill would have designated $250,00 in recovery funds to the Portland theatre, according to their statement.

The bill, which was sponsored by Representative Rob Nosse of Portland, would also have allocated over $5.1 million to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which embarked on a Save Our Season emergency fundraising campaign last spring; $949,375 to Portland Center Stage; and thousands more to other theatres, museums, and performing arts companies. The bill’s list of venues which would receive grants does not include ART, however.

Going forward, ART is “actively working to address the stunning reality of this moment,” according to the theatre’s statement. Staff members are “evaluating all of our options for a path forward, including the potential to present work later in the planned season.”

ART was founded in 1982 and claims to be the oldest professional theatre company in Portland. Their mission is to produce intimate, provocative theatre and to provide a home for a diverse community of artists and audiences to take creative risks. As of 2022, the theatre had a budget of approximately $2.4 million.

Support American Theatre: a just and thriving theatre ecology begins with information for all. Please join us in this mission by making a donation to our publisher, Theatre Communications Group. When you support American Theatre magazine and TCG, you support a long legacy of quality nonprofit arts journalism. Click here to make your fully tax-deductible donation today!

21 Artists to Know at This Year’s Santa Fe Indian Market

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21 Artists to Know at This Year’s Santa Fe Indian Market

This weekend, the 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market kicks off in New Mexico. The annual market—which is held in and around Santa Fe’s historic main plaza—serves as one of the city’s biggest attractions of the year; It’s where Indigenous artists of all backgrounds across North America come to sell their innovative works, including jewelry, textiles, pottery, and more. Even better yet, it’s also where the Indigenous Fashion Show is held, where leading contemporary Native designers such as Jamie Okuma and Orlando Dugi come to showcase their newest ready-to-wear and couture collections—all of which are built around the idea of modernizing their cultural design motifs and carrying them forward in new, exciting ways. 

This year’s artist lineup at the market, which now celebrates its 101st anniversary, is certainly more diverse and plentiful than ever. In the booths, jewelry designers such as Keri Ataumbi, Robin Waynee, and Pat Pruitt will sell their striking new earrings, necklaces, and rings; On the catwalk, Indigenous streetwear brand Mobilize will debut its new unisex pieces, as will rising design talent Jontay Kahm, who specializes in sculptural, avant-garde couture. While taking in all of the design newness, be sure to take notice of the vibrant street style scene happening amongst the plaza. All of this sound too overwhelming to take in? Fret not: Vogue is rounding up the 21 thrilling artists to watch out for this year, below. 

The Plains Cree designer specializes in sculptural, avant-garde creations made out of traditional materials such as goose feathers and turkey quills. 

21 Artists to Know at This Years Santa Fe Indian Market

Photo: Courtesy of @jontay_kahm

With his contemporary line, Ayimach Horizons, Cree-Métis designer Jason Baerg—who also does paintings and large-scale art installations—embraces colorful and print-heavy designs.

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