A Six-Month Exhibition Exploring the Relationship between Indigenous Art and American Art History, Opening October 20, 2023

Kay WalkingStick to be Honored at New-York Historical’s 2023 History Makers Gala

NEW YORK, NY (July 18, 2023)—This fall, the New-York Historical Society presents Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School, an exhibition that places landscape paintings by the renowned, contemporary Cherokee artist Kay WalkingStick in conversation with highlights from New-York Historical’s collection of 19th-century Hudson River School paintings. On view October 20, 2023 – April 14, 2024, this artistic dialogue showcases the ways in which WalkingStick’s work both connects to and diverges from the Hudson River School tradition and explores the agency of art in shaping humankind’s relationship to the land. The exhibition celebrates a shared reverence for nature while engaging crucial questions about land dispossession and its reclamation by Indigenous peoples and nations and exploring the relationship between Indigenous art and American art history. The exhibition is the result of a close collaboration between the artist and Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto (Native Hawaiian), senior curator of American art at New-York Historical.

In conjunction with the exhibition, WalkingStick will be honored at New-York Historical’s annual History Makers Gala on October 19, and will receive the History Makers Award, acknowledging her six-decade career.

“This exhibition is a meditation on the theme of humanity’s relationship to nature, as observed by Kay WalkingStick and the artists of the Hudson River School,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of New-York Historical. “It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to collaborate with the artist on this exhibition and showcase her work, while also examining our historic collections from a new perspective. We look forward to celebrating Kay WalkingStick’s illustrious career at our gala this fall.”

“I hope viewers will leave the Museum with a renewed sense of how beautiful and precious our planet is,” said Kay WalkingStick. “Also, that they leave with the realization that those of us living in the western hemisphere are all living on Indian Territory. These are certainly straightforward, even obvious, thoughts, but I believe they are concepts easily forgotten. It’s easiest to simply get on with our lives. We are all responsible for the health of our planet. We are all responsible to see that our legislators honor the many treaties made with the American Indians throughout our history and that Native rights are honored. Painting is a visual language. This is what my paintings are saying to you.”

Highlights of the exhibition’s more than 40 works include two of WalkingStick’s paintings that are directly inspired by Hudson River School artists; the artist’s sole landscape referencing the Trail of Tears (a journey her Cherokee ancestors were forced to take); examples of her early painted sculptural abstractions inspired by nature; and several of her most recent paintings—like Niagara and Aquidneck After the Storm—which overlay geographically specific abstract Indigenous patterns onto representational landscapes in order to re-assert an Indigenous presence long erased in European settlers’ depictions of North America as a pristine and unpopulated wilderness. Native American objects on loan from the artist and other museum collections, including woven baskets and ceramic jars, offer insight into WalkingStick’s source patterns and artistic process.

Showcasing WalkingStick’s work alongside both Euro-American and Indigenous traditions of art, the exhibition demonstrates the complex ways the artist contends with and interweaves these artistic lineages. Niagara, which was recently purchased by New-York Historical, is grouped with two paintings of the iconic waterfalls by Louisa Davis Minot (1787-1858), which are among the few known works by her hand and rare examples of early 19th-century landscape paintings by a Euro-American woman. These works position WalkingStick within a lineage of women landscape painters in the Hudson River region while also considering the critical differences between the two artists’ work: Minot’s work includes generic Indigenous figures to distinguish the site as North American, while WalkingStick uses a culturally specific Haudenosaunee pattern to mark the land as Indigenous.

Other works from New-York Historical’s collection demonstrate the Hudson River School artists’ attempts to forge landscape into an expression of national and cultural identity. These include Asher B. Durand’s Catskill Study, NY, ca. 1870, which invites direct communion with nature; Albert Bierstadt’s 1860 painting Indian Encampment, Shoshone Village, which promoted US expansion westward; and John Frederick Kensett’s Pulpit Rock, Nahant, from 1859, depicting the touristic allure of coastal nature.

Kay WalkingStick (b. 1935, Syracuse, NY) is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma with Cherokee/Anglo heritage. Her six-decade career is both a visual record of her life experience and her attempt to present Native American history as a crucial part of America’s history. She draws on formal modernist painterly traditions as well as the Native American experience to create works that connect the immediacy of the physical world with the spiritual. Attempting to connect the present with the past, her complex works hold tensions between representational and abstract imagery. Her paintings represent a knowledge of the earth and its sacred quality. WalkingStick’s work is in many museum collections, including Denver Art Museum; Detroit Institute of Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; and Whitney Museum of American Art. She received a BFA from Beaver College (now Arcadia University), Glenside, PA in 1959 and an MFA from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY in 1975. She lives and works in Pennsylvania.

Publication
Accompanying the exhibition is a full-color, 56-page catalogue. It includes images of all the works on view and a conversation between Kay WalkingStick and Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto. It will be available for sale at the NYHistory Store.

Programming
Private group tours can be arranged throughout the exhibition. Family programs will also take place. Learn more at the family calendar. Additional programs will be announced.

Support
Major support for Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation.

Exhibitions at New-York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.

About the New-York Historical Society
Experience 400 years of history through groundbreaking exhibitions, immersive films, and thought-provoking conversations among renowned historians and public figures at the New-York Historical Society, New York’s first museum. A great destination for history since 1804, the Museum and the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library convey the stories of the city and nation’s diverse populations, expanding our understanding of who we are as Americans and how we came to be. Ever-rising to the challenge of bringing little or unknown histories to light, New-York Historical will soon inaugurate a new wing housing its Academy for American Democracy as well as the American LGBTQ+ Museum. These latest efforts to help forge the future by documenting the past join New-York Historical’s DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Center for Women’s History. Digital exhibitions, apps, and our For the Ages podcast make it possible for visitors everywhere to dive more deeply into history. Connect with us at nyhistory.org or at @nyhistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Tumblr.

Image credits from left:  Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee, b.1935), Niagara, 2022. Oil on panel in two parts. New-York Historical Society, Purchased through the generosity of Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang; Nancy Newcomb; Anonymous; Barry Barnett; Helen Appel; Belinda and Charles Bralver; Dorothy Tapper Goldman; Margi and Andrew Hofer; Louise Mirrer; Jennifer and John Monsky; Suzanne Peck and Brian Friedman; Pam and Scott Schafler; Barbara and Elliott Wagner; and Linda Ferber, 2023.2ab. © Kay WalkingStick. Louisa Davis Minot (1788–1858), Niagara Falls, 1818. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Waldron Phoenix Belknap Sr. to the Waldron Phoenix Belknap Jr. Collection, 1956.4

The first live music event in Española hosted by Taos-based Awakening Productions took place at the Plaza on July 14.

Presented by Native Winds Radio, the event featured local musicians Bobby Madrid, Kenny Madina, Lluvia Negra and Northern Revolution. Local car clubs also exhibited vintage Chervolettes, Fords and other classic cars, and attendants voted on their favorite.

Native Winds Radio approached the city with the idea earlier this year. Similar events have taken place in Taos, Los Alamos and Santa Fe. 

Turnout was low, in part from the heat wave that rolled through the valley last weekend. But coordinators of the event are optimistic about the future.

“It’s ok for our first time I think,” said Glenda Martinez from Native Winds Radio, of Española, in an interview with the Rio Grande Sun. “Española doesn’t have anything like this. Next year, hopefully we can have bigger and better things.”

At sunset, the talleys were in for the crowd favorite car in the competition. The winner, a vintage baby blue Chevy convertible from Viejitos Car Club in Chimayó.

“Just to have the cars and the people passing and looking at them, it’s something you don’t see often,” said Viejitos Car Club Chimayo President Eppie Martinez. “We’re not about the shows. We’re all about community.”

The plaza will host two more Friday night music events this summer on July 28 and August 11, both of which will showcase a wider selection of vintage cars, vendors and caterers.

“It’s something that the valley needs,” Martinez said. “It brings communities together in one place to enjoy some local northern New Mexico music. It gives a little taste of the culture of the valley.”

The weather held out. The crowds came, the Black Brook Singers were drumming, the food aromas were enticing, and it was a day of celebration in Aquinnah for the annual Native Artisan Market and Festival.

The festival, in its 16th year, provides an opportunity for local — and not so local — Native American artists to sell, and teach how to make, jewelry and other goods and gifts.

“It brings me a lot of joy to organize something like this where we have a group of native artisans who hand make their items,” said Aquinnah Wampanoag NaDaizja Bolling, director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center. She says the event continues to grow: “I’m happy to bring all these people into our space on Wampanoag land. It’s really special.” 

While a good number of the 20 artisans were from Aquinnah, Douglas Vanderhoop traveled four days from Utah to be back in his original home.

Vanderhoop comes yearly to the festival with his family, who were spread out over three different tables at the festival. 

While many of the Wampanoag artisans use wampum, each has a unique style. Vanderhoop happens to affix wampum to the center of his dreamcatchers, which he superimposes over a framed image of the Gay Head Cliffs.

Just a few of the other artisans include Aquinnah Wampanoag jeweler Jannette Vanderhoop, who fashions necklaces using shells, glass, and stone beads, and uses wampum only for accent. When she receives quahog shells that aren’t quite right, Jannette Vanderhoop “seeds” them. “I cover them and say a little prayer to Moshup, and hope the tourists don’t find it,” she said. Moshop in Wampanoag culture is a benevolent being with supernatural powers and a gigantic frame. “It’s to put the calcium back into the ocean, and also in the hope that I could come back and find them refined,” Jannette Vanderhoop continued. “Because people are picking every piece of wampum off the beach; you can’t really find them like you used to.” 

Jannette Vanderhoop doesn’t buy her other beads, but rather recycles them from existing jewelry that has been given to her. 

“We’re taking every single resource out of the Earth and out of the ocean, and there’s so much material already,” she said. “My business model is to take things apart and make something new.” 

Paiute Shoshone Mikala Jackson from Carson City, Nev., does the same, calling it “reclamation jewelry.”

Also selling jewelry at the festival this weekend was Aquinnah Wampanoag Tracy Leigh Adams. She creates silver settings in her wampum bracelets and rings that highlight the purple and white shell. She also makes silhouettes of zodiac signs, whale tales, hearts, and the like, and enjoys specializing in custom designs. 

Adams worked for Leslie’s Pharmacy for years, and when customers would see the jewelry she was wearing, Adams recalls, “They would tell me, ‘You made that? You need to do that full-time.’ I finally listened to them. Now I can’t keep up. I always say, ‘I was born and raised on the Island, and lucky enough to stay,” she said.

Seaconke Wampanoag Kristine Thomas-Jones had a display of aromatic medicinal herbs that she mixes for teas and tinctures that can help for things like getting a good night’s sleep. 

Thomas-Jones combines valerian root, chamomile, rose buds, lavender, linden, and passionflower, hops, California poppy, lemon balm, and catnip. 

She also makes her morning tea with dandelion, orange peel, cinnamon, and ginger. “People think of dandelion as a weed, but it has a lot of healing properties,” Thomas-Jones said. “It has a lot of iron and helps your liver, which is one of the most important organs because of so many jobs it does, such as digestion, helping to produce more red blood cells, energy for our body, and blood clotting.”

Narragansett Robin Spears from Rhode Island works entirely with natural materials. He fashions wooden dance sticks, and uses mink oil to bring a sheen to white cedar earrings. He also boils pine sap mixed with ash to make glue that he uses to attach a stone head to an ax handle.

There was also the teaching of the jewelrymaking tradition at the festival. Mashpee Wampanoag Darius Coombs was showing Kelso Gilman how to drill a hole through the quahog shell to make his own wampum pendant. 

Coombs, who learned the art some 40 years ago from his elders, said that the bit, which is made of metal, originally would have been made of a hard stone, like quartz. Gilman, proudly sporting his finished piece, said, “It was a bit challenging at first, but eventually had a rhythm to it.” 

Asked what he thought of the day, Kelso’s father, Tim Gilman, reflected, “It’s an amazing display of crafts, and a chance for the kids to participate in the activities. It’s a great event for everybody to be involved in.”

There was also a demonstration on how to make a sailor’s valentine. Aquinnah Wampanoag Beverly M. Wright was teaching youth how to glue tiny shells on top of small wooden chests. The pieces recalled what sailors made while out in the South Sea islands and then brought home to their sweethearts, wives, and mothers. 

Narragansett Dawn Spears from Rhode Island has been coming to the festival for more than 10 years because, as she says, “It’s my home away from home.” 

Demonstrating how to make cornhusk dolls, she explained, “This goes back to not wasting anything. When we take the husks off the corn, we save them and dry them,” she said. 

Creating these traditional dolls is not just about making a plaything. The process of wrapping the husks to create the doll is complex, and Spears shared that it helps you gain hand and eye coordination. And, she added, “After you’re done, you dress it so you’re teaching your children how to sew, making moccasins and clothing so they learn those skills for the future.”

The Afropop star Oluwatosin Ajibade—better known by the stage name Mr. Eazi—will launch his latest album alongside an international exhibition of African art entirely commissioned by him.

Each song on the album has been turned into work by one of 13 artists representing a total of 8 countries on the continent. These include the Contonou-based artist Dominique Zinkpe, Edozie Anedu from Lagos and the Texas-based Cameroonian artist Sesse Elangwe, who is one of two artists to make a work based on the album’s first single Chop Time, No Friend.

Elangwe’s The Way I See It (2023) is a mixed collage work pasting in headlines from Ajibade’s non-music career and personal life, including his work with Hugo Boss and partnership with the Ghanaian betting company Bet Pawa.

The project is being funded by Choplife IP—Ajibade’s company that was founded to invest in African culture; from music to film.

The idea for the exhibition—which will travel to Lagos, Accra, London and New York—was created at a time that Ajibade was feeling uninspired by his work; “I was tired of making music,” he tells The Art Newspaper. He was recording for the album in Benin in 2021, staying at the capital’s Hotel Maison Rouge, when he came across the work of Cotnou native Patricorel. Seeing the artist’s irreverent, skeletal etchings in the exhibition being held at the hotel “was the first time I really realised that certain types of art caught me,” Ajibade says.

From there, the musician realised he wanted to collaborate with artists on his upcoming album, Patricorel included. Later, however, with the help and guidance of Sotheby’s head of Modern and contemporary African art Hannah O’Leary and the director of Ghana’s Noldor Artist Residency, Joseph Awuah-Darko, the idea for a travelling exhibition was born.

Ajibade will also be collaborating with the founding director of the contemporary African art fair 1-54, Touria El Glaoui, as the fair hosts the London leg of the exhibition as part of its special projects section this October. “Mr Eazi is one of the biggest Afrobeats artists in the world right now… We were therefore thrilled when his team approached us about collaborating on the London iteration of his exhibition and listening experience,” El Glaoui says. “For me, it’s exciting to see an internationally acclaimed musician platforming the work of emerging African artists,” she adds.

Putting together the exhibition has also given Ajibade an opportunity to throw himself into the African art scene. Since beginning work on the project, he says that he has collected “over 50-something pieces”. This year he travelled to Cape Town Art Fair, accompanied by O‘Leary, and purchased works by artists including the Paris-based Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux. The fair is also where Ajibade met the Zimabwean artist Kufa Makwavarara, who is now taking part in the album project.

The exhibition will also double up as a listening party. The Lagos and Accra iterations will be especially focused on introducing the work to people who may not ordinarily see it: “It’s more for my fans and the music industry and bringing them into this world,” Ajibade says.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Joseph R. Biden announced recently his intent to appoint Jane Semple Umsted, curator of the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian Arts.

In addition to her curation of the SFM, Jane Semple Umsted is an artist who has spent a lifetime working in a variety of media which includes oils, acrylics, watercolor, sculpture, and the unique media of batik. She is a descendent of two Choctaw Chiefs and her art exudes the spirit of her Native roots.

“It is such an honor to be appointed by President Biden to the Board of Trustees for the Institute of American Indian Arts. Many thanks to Chief Batton and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for nominating me,” Semple Umsted said. “As Curator of the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art at Southeastern, I will have the pleasure of promoting Indian Art and Artist throughout the United States.”

Since childhood, Semple Umsted has been inspired by the themes and visual images of the Choctaw culture, which have become the inspiration of her artwork. Emphasis on vibrant color and dramatic design is one of the strongest and most dramatic elements of her work, and these qualities consistently permeate all aspects of the art she produces.

She received a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1969 and an M.E. from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1989. She retired from the Durant Public Schools where she was the art teacher for the Durant Middle School until 2007. She is a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and has been a professional artist for over 50 years. Semple Umsted is the owner of the Indian Territory Art Gallery in Durant.

“To have one of our Southeastern alumna and valued campus and community members recognized as a leader in their field is always an exciting accomplishment,” said Dr. Thomas W. Newsom, president of Southeastern. “Janie will be an excellent trustee of this valuable and important institute, and we are proud to have Southeastern represented by this presidential appointment.”

“Jane Semple Umsted is a brilliant artist as well as a loving and humble person,” said Chief Gary Batton, 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “She represents the Choctaw people so well in her artwork as well as her daily life. She is a shining star for the Choctaw Nation and is very deserving of this appointment.”

The Institute of American Indian Arts (formally known as the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development) is one of only three Congressionally chartered colleges. It was originally established in 1962 as a high school under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was formally established as a separate college by Congress in 1987. The mission is “to empower creativity and leadership in Indigenous arts and cultures through higher education, lifelong learning, and community engagement.” Today, sixty years later, it continues to fill a vital role as the only fine arts college in the world dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaskan Native arts.  

About Southeastern

Founded in 1909, Southeastern Oklahoma State University provides an environment of academic excellence that enables students to reach their highest potential. By having personal access to excellent teaching, challenging academic programs, and extracurricular experiences, students will develop skills and habits that promote values for career preparation, responsible citizenship, and lifelong learning. Our over 5,000 students include 50% first-generation students and 28% students of Native American descent, with 82% receiving financial aid. Southeastern ranks amongst the most affordable schools in the region thanks to out-of-state tuition waivers, and is proud of its exceptional affordable accredited MBA program, stellar aviation program, and outstanding national ranking in graduating Native American students. Southeastern is home to the Semple Family Musuem of Native American Art and the Native American Artist Hall of Fame.

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NEW ORLEANS — For queer artists, country music has been something of a final frontier. Out musicians are ubiquitous in dance and pop music, but the country genre has been slower to embrace LGBTQ artists and queer themes. Recently, however, there’s been a grassroots movement — aided by social media — to carve a path for queer country artists and expand the themes found in the genre.

Ever More Nest

When Kelcy Mae Wilburn, 40, who performs under the name Ever More Nest, was growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, country music seemed omnipresent, she said. 

“In Shreveport, which is very Bible Belt, the musical influences in that region are largely country and blues and gospel,” she said. “I grew up in the church, and so I grew up singing songs out of the Baptist hymnal, and that’s where I learned harmony and really developed an appreciation for distinctly Southern songs. A country station was always on the radio.”

She tried making indie rock when she moved to New Orleans at 18, but it didn’t stick. 

“The older I’ve gotten, the more I feel like I’ve developed myself and gone back to these kinds of roots,” Wilburn said of Southern country music. 

Unlike mainstream country, which has its roots in Nashville, queer country lacks a geographical home base. Despite this, artists in this musical subgenre have nonetheless created a community — one that has been facilitated by social media, according to Wilburn.

“We really started connecting and creating a scene,” she said. “Artists all across the country are now able to put on events together in different cities.” 

One such event, Wilburn said, is the Queer Roots Showcase at the annual AmericanaFest in Nashville. While the event wasn’t an official part of the festival, it ensured that queer musicians had a chance to come together, she said. 

“Particularly in the South, it is more important than ever that young people see people who are out making music and writing things and being in life — not just surviving and not having to hide,” Wilburn said. “The priority is visibility for all these people who are being told they have to shut down parts of who they are.”

Lilli Lewis

For Georgia native Lilli Lewis, expanding the country genre means focusing on making music that also makes change. 

“As long as I can remember, I have felt kind of responsible for healing whatever ailment in the world I’m able to heal,” said Lewis, who’s now based in Bush, Louisiana, just west of the Mississippi border. 

Lewis, 47, said one of the healing elements of music, specifically country music, is storytelling. Some of her songs — including “A Healing Inside” on her “Americana” album — serve as a recorded history of her own journey overcoming trauma, she said.

“I wrote it as something of a mantra a few years into my trauma work,” she explained. “I thought its simple melody could serve as bread crumbs as I attempted to reassemble a sense of self that wasn’t based on toxic memory.”

Lewis said writing about her own queer experience is a generous act of bravery that also feels necessary. 

“The only way we’ve carved out any space for ourselves is to put it all on the table,” she said. “Queer stories have been sublimated in music for so long that it feels edgy and interesting to have them finally see the light of day.”

But Lewis, who describes herself as “fat, Black and left-handed,” said she doesn’t feel entitled to anyone’s attention because she’s marginalized. “I want to be associated with innovation and excellence,” she said.

She said the queer country movement is part of a long history. But while queer people have long been making country music, she added, they’ve largely tailored it to suit heterosexual norms.

“We’ve been showing straight people how to have and express their feelings so long,” she said. “It’s time we enjoy allowing our music to tell our own stories.”

Lewis cites Ma Rainey and Little Richard as some of the queer musicians who blazed the trail for this generation of artists. Just like those artists, contemporary queer artists are still balancing the work of being seen and telling their own stories with making their music relatable to everyone — without erasing their queerness. 

“I’m writing to the people who want to listen to music, and that’s everybody,” she said. “I’m not necessarily talking about queer or trans things. I’m just writing songs that are wholesome and righteous. I’m writing for humans. Because I’m writing from my perspective, every story I tell is a trans story, and every story I tell is a queer story, because I’m telling it.” 

Paisley Fields

The stories that have been told by country music — and whom they’ve been told by — have historically been limited to straight white artists. Expanding those narratives can be rewarding for artists and fans alike, according to queer country artist Paisley Fields.

“When I play shows, there will be people who come out and say, ‘I never thought I would hear music that I can actually relate to,’” said Fields, who’s based in Nashville.

However, he is quick to note that it’s not just queer fans who can relate to the themes found in his unique disco-country beats. 

“There is that whole human experience of feeling like maybe you don’t fit in somewhere or the experience of love or loneliness,” the 36-year-old said of the themes found in his music. “We all experienced the same feelings in our own ways.”

Fields, who grew up in Hudson, Iowa, mentioned his song “Iowa” on his album “Limp Wrist,” where he sings: “Sometimes your hometown isn’t home.”

“I think anyone who has left home can relate,” he said of the song. 

And his song “Canyon,” which is on the same album, “speaks about the universal feelings of love and longing,” Fields added. 

“My hands are tremblin’ / there’s something I should mention / but there’s a canyon between you and me,” he sings in the song.

Mya Byrne

Themes of belonging and home are central to country music, according to Mya Byrne, a 45-year-old New York City-based country artist who grew up in New Jersey. 

“Country music in itself is a very diasporadic thing, because we’re all searching for a sense of home,” she said. 

A common theme in modern country music is pride in one’s home, while queer country tends to be about the quest to belong, Byrne explained. 

“There’s a lot of searching for home or how we make home within ourselves,” she said of queer country music.

In Byrne’s song “Where the Lavender Grows,” she sings about her longing to create or to discover a sense of home: “We’ve come together this far / different paces on the same road / if we stray too much apart / meet me where the lavender grows.”

The idea of queer country music fostering a community for artists and fans can be traced back to the pioneering  country musician and activist Patrick Haggerty, according to both Byrne and Wilburn. 

Haggerty, who died last year, was part of a band called Lavender Country, which he started in the early 1970s. The band’s first album, also called “Lavender Country,” was one of the first country albums with outwardly gay themes, according to Billboard. The album, originally released in 1973, includes songs with lyrics about queer desire and homophobia. 

Byrne said she has been inspired by the concept of “lavender country,” which she described as a sort of queer utopia —  “a place where we can all be saved.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a place we could be together?” she mused. 

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Native art exhibit opens at History Museum

With respect and deep appreciation, a retrospective of artist Gail Tremblay is taking place in the Welcome Cultural Arts Center Longhouse on The Evergreen State College campus on Saturday, July 29. She was an artist, writer, teacher and poet. Tremblay’s decades of contributions to the world and specifically with Evergreen are being formally honored. The public is invited to attend.

Gail Tremblay: Renowned & Influential Educator

“Gail helped shape our connections with a wide array of native artists,” says Laura VerMeulen, director of the House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center. Because she was a nationally well-known writer and artist, Tremblay’s network of relationships was extremely helpful to attract people from afar to Olympia. Guests came to talk and lead workshops and symposia. “It’s all about relationships,” notes Laura, who is grateful for all of it. “We were really new and not like anything in the nation.” The evolution of the House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center is not just as a building, but as a public service center.

Tremblay was integral to the process of establishing a presence of Native culture at The Evergreen State College. Her influence on students of all diversities spans more than a generation. Native arts and studies at the college grew and expanded as time passed.

“Gail had a philosophy of encouraging a lot of students to think more broadly about artwork and writing,” recalls Laura. She was a treasure on campus for anyone who had interest. “She inspired people to do their best.”

Tremblay was a long-standing member of the center’s advisory board. She especially enjoyed selecting tribal grant recipients.

In 2001, she was honored with the Washington State Governor’s Arts and Heritage Award.

Tremblay’s advocacy for diversity and gender equality in the world of academia and arts is a lasting tribute to her life. Her art is on display at Smithsonian Nation Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

Tremblay passed away in May 2023.

Gail Trembley Retrospective Speakers

At the event on July 29, several people will speak reflect on Tremblay’s life well lived, including:

• Former Evergreen provost Barbara Smith will speak about Tremblay’s scholarship.
• Cathy Denning, contemporary art historian and writer, will talk about Tremblay’s artwork.
• Rebeccah Chamberlain will be reading one of Tremblay’s poems that is on display at Paradise at Mount Rainier and talking about her writing.
• Hisami Yoshida, former student, will share about Tremblay’s impact as a teacher.

Making Film Baskets – Mixing Culture and Media

The artistry of Tremblay’s baskets is notable. “I enjoy keeping traditional basket patterns and use them with new materials,” Trembly explained in a video. A basket maker since childhood, Tremblay started weaving baskets of out scraps from 16mm film from outdated educational films and old movie trailers. One art piece is named “It was never about playing cowboys and Indians.” She used film scraps from a movie that looked at the play of Indian children. “I enjoy the form and playing with forms. That’s how I came to make film baskets,” she said on camera. Color, design and attention to detail are integrated into her pieces.

Gail Tremblay Authored Books of Poetry

Her books of poetry blend traditional and modern styles:

“Farther From and Too Close to Home”
“Indian Singing in 20th Century America”
“Close to Home”
“Night Gives Women the Word”

Visit The House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center

The House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center hosts cultural events that support Indigenous artists locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. There are performances, lectures, films, cultural art workshops and cultural presentations. Annual events take place including a Holidays Native Arts Fair in December, a tribal youth art-making event and a Fall Community Dinner. A summer art camp for Tribally-enrolled youth happens in August.

The Evergreen State College’s Native programs began in 1972, with faculty member Mary Ellen Hillarie of the Lummi tribe. Her articulation and vision of the need for a culturally appropriate facility, as in a longhouse, resulted in its construction. The 10,000-square-foot longhouse was completed in 1995, with a celebration that included many tribal dignitaries. It has classroom and event spaces and a community kitchen. Since then, additional square footage has been added including a carving studio and a fiber studio that has a master weaver.

The public is invited to the retrospective of Gail Tremblay’s visual and literary art works at the House of Welcome Longhouse located at The Evergreen State College on July 29 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There is no cost for the event, but there is a charge for parking on campus. For those who may miss the event, the Longhouse is open for tours during the week where visitors can see artwork on permanent display.

The Evergreen State College

2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Olympia

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