Hundreds of people visited Indigenous artists, dancers and musicians at the fifth annual Native Arts Marketplace at the Driftless Historium in Mount Horeb over the weekend.

Hosted by the Little Eagle Arts Foundation and the Mt. Horeb Historical Society, the marketplace featured seven Indigenous artists, including painters, leather workers, bead artists and jewelers, as well as traditional dance performances and contemporary music.

“We’ve had just a great crowd. People have been amazing,” said painter Terri O’Connor of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. 

O’Connor, who grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation and now lives in Poynette, works in a variety of media, including pencil drawings, watercolors and oils.

Ho-Chunk painter Christopher Sweet, whose recent work focuses on large mural pieces like the memorial mural for the ancestors buried under the UW-Stevens Point campus, said he appreciates the chance to sell things like prints and notecards.

“It’s really nice to do these setups to share my smaller works,” he said. “The fun part of it is you meet new people from all over the place.”

Master beadwork artist Sayo’:kla Kindness-Williams of the Oneida Nation was also on hand, with her award-winning work “Uplifting Peace in 2022, the Year of Genocide.” The panel, depicting the traditional Tree of Peace with weapons of war buried under it and an eagle atop, took her nine months to create — “the time it takes to birth a baby,” she said.

The event was co-hosted by Little Eagle Arts Foundation, a 10-year-old organization based near Baraboo that helps Indigenous artists promote their work and become arts entrepreneurs.

Founded by retired educator, artist and 1980 Miss Indian America Melanie Tallmadge Sainz, LEAF works with artists of all 11 of Wisconsin’s federally recognized Indigenous nations as well as Wisconsin artists who are members of other nations. It does not receive funding from the nations, however; most funding comes from private donations and contracts.

Tallmadge Sainz said LEAF has about 50 aritsts on its roster currently, and several of those showing at the event this weekend also serve as mentors for emerging artists.

“It’s a very supportive group,” O’Connor said. “We encourage each other. (Art is) a part of our lives. It’s our culture, it’s part of our heritage. We love sharing it with others … It’s a great thing for us to always learn from each other.”

“LEAF has always been a real big supporter of my work and pushing me into different projects. They’ve helped me get established, pretty much,” Sweet said.

“You don’t always have the time to do marketing or events. LEAF took care of all of that so I’m really really thankful,” Kindness-Williams added.

Tallmadge Sainz said the first hurdle to success for many young Indigenous artists is their own self-doubt. She said she often approaches young artists and encourages them to take their work to larger regional and national shows.

“The first thing they’ll say is when I see their art, they’ll say, ‘I’m not good enough for those type of shows,’” she said. “So it’s really boosting their confidence, and encouraging them as much as possible.”

COLLINSVILLE — The area’s Native American heritage was celebrated at the Gateway Center in Collinsville over the weekend as the annual Cahokia Mounds Indian Market Days showcased the diverse creations of Native artisans from across the country.

A part of the convention center was filled with Native American artists and vendors who displayed and sold original creations ranging from jewelry to clothing, paintings and sculptures. Many different tribal affiliations were represented.

At the 2023 Summer Art Fair in Downtown Midland, a third and final mural is being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters as part of the Art Seen Festival.

The Art Seen Festival is a creative movement celebrating public arts and mural making to bring vibrancy to the community. Public art gives the community a collective voice and a way to express values while bringing awareness of and beauty to Midland’s physical and cultural landscape.

Public Arts Midland, an initiative of the Midland Area Community Foundation, has been the bridge to help link the Art Seen Festival together with Midland Center for the Arts Summer Art Fair and Creative 360’s Art Speaks Festival to bring people together in one incredible art-filled weekend.

MOUNT HOREB, Wis. (WMTV) – The fifth annual Native Art Marketplace is taking place in Mount Horeb this weekend.

Award-winning native artists will show and sell their work while sharing stories about their artistic process and culture.

There is a wide variety of art, including black ask baskets, beadwork and paintings.

The marketplace is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Driftless Historium, 100 S 2nd St in Mt Horeb. Admission is free.

“We’re excited to showcase such a great group of Native artists and culture bearers,” Native Art Marketplace event coordinator Chrissy Shegonee said.

Family-friendly activities are also available including bracelet making and fiber deer sculpting.

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Has there ever been a small state with as much money being invested in the arts as is the case in Arkansas right now? I can’t think of one.

We start our statewide tour in Bentonville, where the already spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is increasing the size of its current facilities by 50 percent. Almost 100,000 square feet are being added to the 200,000-square-foot architectural gem, increasing Crystal Bridges’ capacity for exhibitions, educational and outreach initiatives, cultural programming and community events.

At the time the expansion was announced, Crystal Bridges founder Alice Walton said: “It’s wonderful to see how our community, our region and travelers to Bentonville from across the nation and around the world have embraced Crystal Bridges and enjoyed the experience of being surrounded by art, nestled in nature and immersed in Moshe Safdie’s architecture.

“With the number of visitors we welcome annually, it’s timely to enlarge our building and make sure more people can access these offerings. Having Safdie Architects expand on the original Crystal Bridges design with this addition will create a unified experience for enjoying art, nature and architecture.”

Crystal Bridges has had more than five million visitors since opening on Nov. 11, 2011. Safdie said: “It has been a joy to see Crystal Bridges’ enthusiastic reception by the public. We are honored to be back and working with the museum to realize a series of facilities that will enrich the diversity of the museum experience.”

Meanwhile, The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ sister institution in Bentonville, continues to gain momentum. The contemporary art museum, which is in a former Kraft manufacturing facility, had the misfortune of opening just weeks before the pandemic began in early 2020. Visitor numbers have soared during the past two years, however.

In 2014, Crystal Bridges curators met with 1,000 working artists for a survey of American art titled “State of the Art.” After an exhibition based on the survey closed, museum officials began planning The Momentary.

In Little Rock, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts opened in MacArthur Park in late April and already is receiving rave reviews from across the country. Forbes called it “America’s most inviting art museum.”

Chadd Scott wrote for Forbes: “Inviting. That best describes the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock, renamed and reopened following a four-year, $150-plus million renovation. The refreshed museum is bright, open and airy. Artworks on view are big, colorful and uplifting.

“Featured are striking masterpieces from modern art history’s top names, particularly the Impressionists, who remain the most inviting artists to much of the museum-going public. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir–fine examples of each are on display.”

Scott wrote that the presentation at AMFA seems to say to visitors: “Come on in. Look around. This is art. It’s for you.”

“There are no ropes or alarms or barriers placed in front of the art,” he wrote. “Visitors were smiling. Talking. Joking. The building and installation fostered that. Supporting this invitation, admission to AMFA is free. Parking is free. The museum front and back intentionally open onto shaded park space, welcoming passerby to pop in, or giving youngsters a quick exit to run around and play outside.

“The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. I am unaware of any other art museum in the country with that many extended nighttime hours, AMFA recognizing working people should be afforded the opportunity to see art as well, and not just on the weekend.”

MacArthur Foundation “genius award” winner Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects unified the old Arkansas Arts Center with modern additions. She worked closely with fellow genius Kate Orff of SCAPE Landscape Architecture, the first landscape architect to ever win a MacArthur “genius award.”

“Sustainability was a key consideration throughout,” Scott writes. “Most prominently, the distinctive design of the roof shades and cools the building, reducing energy use while also catching stormwater and channeling runoff into a series of native plant rain gardens intentionally placed and planted to filter and disperse the water and attract pollinators and migratory birds.

“The landscape design also incorporated the planting of 250 native trees that will mature to combine with existing trees on site to form a shade canopy covering the grounds.”

Between Crystal Bridges and AMFA, a state of just more than 3 million residents now has two world-class art museums. That alone is impressive, especially in a place where a top tourist attraction when I was a boy was a theme park based on the state’s hillbilly image. But there’s more going on when it comes to the arts in Arkansas. A lot more.

In the emerging Little Rock neighborhood now being branded as East Village, plans are moving forward for the Artspace Windgate campus. Windgate Foundation officials began meeting with artists and civic leaders in 2018 to determine if there needed to be a live-work space for artists.

A four-story building will be constructed. It will provide 60 units of affordable housing for artists and their families, 10 artist-in-residence studios, event space, gallery space and about 16,000 square feet of commercial space.

“Providing the creative community in central Arkansas with a place to gather, live and work is essential to the growth of our culture as well as to our economy,” says the Windgate Foundation’s Robyn Horn, who also is overseeing grants for arts facilities on college campuses across the state.

Just down the street in East Village, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will build the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center. It will include a grand hall for rehearsals and concerts, multiple practice spaces, music classrooms, a streaming studio, climate-controlled instrument storage and additional flexible space.

Among Windgate’s campus initiatives is the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The foundation made a matching gift of $20 million to build the facility, which will serve music, theater and visual arts students with classroom, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces.

The center covers more than 100,000 square feet. UCA President Houston Davis says: “There are going to be a lot of options for what we can do with our program in this beautiful building. Our program’s trajectory is going to elevate tremendously.”

That could be said for the entire state’s trajectory. It’s truly a new day in Arkansas.

COLLINSVILLE — The Riverbend’s Native American heritage was celebrated at the Gateway Center in Collinsville over the weekend as the annual Cahokia Mounds Indian Market Days showcased the diverse creations of Native artisans from across the country.

A part of the convention center was filled with Native American artists and vendors who displayed and sold original creations ranging from jewelry to clothing, paintings and sculptures. Many different tribal affiliations were represented.

AMHERST COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Drums throbbed like heartbeats across the ring where dancers spun and swirled Saturday at the Monacan Indian Nation’s 30th Annual Powwow.

To a new onlooker, the dances may seem random and chaotic, but each style is an art: years of work and dedication spent mastering the intricate steps accompanying the rhythm of drums and singers.

For three decades the tribe has hosted the event in Central Virginia. The Monacan Indian

Nation, a federally recognized sovereign tribe, is headquartered in Amherst County, where nearby Bear Mountain overlooks the powwow site.

Although the Monacan Nation was certainly present at the powwow, Indigenous people from across the continent also participated in the event. The dance categories reflected the tribal diversity so that all Indigenous dancers could participate.

What each dancer wore in the ring depended on the kind of dance they were performing and what tribe each dancer is from. Some of the regalia were large and colorful with feathers and beads, while others wore more muted tones.

For the Jingle Dancers, small bell-like cones fastened to the ornate skirts release a rattling beat along with the drums. The regalia can weigh up to thirty extra pounds, so to pull off the graceful dance well is no small feat.

The dancers range across all ages, from small kids to elders. Many of the children took the opportunity to learn and practice during the powwow dances as the next generation of Indigenous dancers. Kaleigh Pollak said she was once one of the kids learning how to dance. Pollak grew up in the area and has been serving on the Powwow Committee along with her mom and grandmother since 2019, but she started dancing when she was just in middle school.

Although the ambiance of the event felt like a celebration, an undercurrent of sorrow ran through the gathering–a shadow often felt among Native communities.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement (MMIW) advocates for the disproportionate number of Indigenous women and girls who face violence and atrocities.

A special MMIW dance was held at the powwow to recognize the issue. Some of the participants wore regalia featuring a red handprint—the symbol that represents those who have not come home to their families.

MMIW is one of the many issues Pollak says can be represented at powwows. Although MMIW is something she said has not affected her own family directly, it’s an issue that needs to be in the conversation.

“I think it’s important to raise the awareness on different issues or traumas that the Native people have experienced since first contact, and MMIW is a big one,” she said.

MMIW was only one of the important acknowledgments of the day; simply the milestone 30th anniversary of the powwow was cause for celebration. One thing Pollak said was special about this year was the increased number of vendors who set up shop.

The event orbits around the dance ring, with a massive arc of vendor tents spread around the area. Visitors browsed the stalls, where Native artists offered jewelry, art, fur pelts, and a myriad of other items.

The location is ideal for the powwow–a blessing Pollak doesn’t overlook after the days when they had to rent a cowfield in Elon to hold the event.

“We would have to get out there a month prior and prep this cowfield in order for us to have powwow. So now that we have our own parcel of property, we can kind of set things up how we want,” she said.

Although the Monacan Indian Nation was on the land long before anyone else, it wasn’t until 2021 that the tribe was able to reclaim land of their own once more in Amherst County. That’s where the powwow has been held for the past two years.

Throughout the day, a large crowd was gathered around in camp chairs and makeshift hay bale seats to watch the dancing. For those attending a powwow for the first time, Pollak says the event should be approached from the perspective of respect and wanting to learn.

“It’s okay to ask questions,” she said. “Just be respectful in what you’re asking.”

She said the dancers are willing to talk to the public about what they wear and what it means to them and their people, but the key to that relationship is respect.

“Most tribes try to put on powwows to educate the general public about the Indigenous community that they inhabit and to raise awareness about things going on in their tribe or in Indian Country, like MMIW,” she said.

But she also said to come to have fun. There’s plenty of food, music, vendors and dancing–something for everyone.

If you missed the powwow on Saturday, the gates open again at 10 a.m. on Sunday for the second day of the Moncan Indian Nation’s 30th Annual Powwow. Visit their website HERE for more information.

PONCHATOULA, La. (WVUE) – JLynne Hamberger’s oil pastel work “Louisiana Natives” was named Friday (June 2) as winner of the 2023 Congressional Art Competition for Louisiana’s First District, Rep. Steve Scalise’s office announced.

The Ponchatoula High School freshman’s artwork depicts animal and plant species native to Louisiana, including the brown pelican and magnolia flower. The painting will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year, alongside the work of other winning artists from across the country.

“JLynne’s artwork truly captures the beauty of Louisiana’s natural landscape and wildlife,” House Majority Leader Scalise (R-Metairie) said in a statement. “The artwork creatively uses the state outline to frame our natural resources and I am proud it will soon be on display for the thousands of Capitol visitors from Louisiana and across the nation to view.”

A post by Ponchatoula High School said Hamberger “will travel to Washington D.C. to view her piece on exhibition in the Cannon Tunnel of the US Capitol building.”

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