This year’s Smithsonian Craft Show “Celebrating the American Spirit” launched on May 3 with an opportunity to meet the artists and shop their work while enjoying cocktails and a buffet reception. The Craft show, under the aegis of Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III alongside Honorary Chair and Director of the National Museum of the American Indian Cynthia Chavez Lamar, is spearheaded by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.  Dr. Lamar is pleased the show features the art of 13 Native artists whose work highlights some of the many craft traditions found throughout Native America. 

With Peg Butner, Elaine Cole and Anne Keiser serving as this year’s Co-chairs, the event at the National Building Museum brought together 120 accomplished artists of American craft. Proceeds will support important educational and scientific projects throughout the Smithsonian Institution.  

The Visionary Artist Award was presented to Chunghi Choo and Mary Lee Hu, distinguished artists in metal sculptural arts and design. Glassmaker Amber Cowan received The Delphi Award for outstanding use of traditional materials or works of exceptional artistry. 

tags“Celebrating the American Spirit”Amber CowanAnne KeiserChunghi ChoocraftcraftsCynthia Chavez LamarElaine ColeLonnie G. Bunch IIIMary Lee HuNational Building MuseumPeg ButnerSmithsoniansmithsonian craftSmithsonian Craft ShowSmithsonian Women’s Committee

When Lawrence artist Mona Cliff traveled with her family as a child, she encountered Native American imagery and artifacts for sale at truck stops. In time, she became desensitized to seeing her culture appropriated and reanimated into kitschy souvenirs. 

This week, Cliff, an Indigenous visual artist of the Gros Ventre tribe, was one of three artists presenting work that grapples with how roadside attractions can diminish people’s identities. 

The exhibit, called “Roadside Inappropriation,” was on display inside Teepee Junction, at U.S. 24 and 40 highways north of Lawrence, for two days. 

For the project, the artists each created a display responding to attractions that appropriated elements of their cultures or portrayed people as caricatures.

Artist Erika Nelson has wanted to arrange an exhibit like this for a long time.

Nelson owns the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things, a roadside attractions museum in Lucas, Kansas, that contains small versions of the world’s largest roadside attractions. She has identified and studied roadside attractions that depend on a stereotype or a cartoonish look at a specific culture.

In this exhibit, she wanted to ask who these attractions were built for, who they are serving, and how the people being depicted feel about them.

Nelson has pondered the concept for the exhibit for nearly a decade, but she needed other artists to engage in her idea. 

“I asked them a very hard question of, ‘Hey, here’s something very awkward to talk about. Do you want to talk about it?’” Nelson said. “And my first-choice asks said yes, and I can’t believe they did, because these are amazing, high-profile artists.”

Armando Minjarez, of Wichita, responded to “La Salsa Man,” a muffler man on display in Dodge City. 

Muffler men are giant fiberglass statues that oversee the road and draw attention to the towns in which they are placed. The one in Dodge City depicts a caricature of a Mexican man, with a sombrero and a mustache. 

In his response, Minjarez made 50 plaster casts of his own face, using about seven different colors for skin tone. Then he transformed the casts into “Mexican planters.” The only facial feature he varied on each is the mustache: sometimes it’s long, sometimes short and stubby, sometimes nonexistent. 

The planters are displayed like souvenirs and on the bottom is a label identifying a regional identity: Mexican, Peruvian, Lebanese.

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“I wanted to pose the question to the public, ‘What is a Mexican supposed to look like?’” Minjarez said. “I’m really not telling you what’s right or wrong, but kind of putting you in a space where you have to kind of struggle with that.” 

Minjarez aimed to challenge people who viewed his exhibit “in a way that maybe they didn’t realize until they started interacting with the piece,” he said. 

Cliff was eager to engage in the project, frustrated at seeing Native culture appropriated as souvenir items for commercial gain throughout her life. 

“From my perspective, as a Native person who comes from a tribe who uses teepees regularly, using them in our ceremonies and at social gatherings, it’s worrisome for me … seeing a teepee (out of context),” she said. “I really kind of tongue-in-cheek wanted to address it by actually putting a teepee inside a teepee.” 

Cliff created a teepee that defies expectations, displaying more contemporary designs on the outside. A projection of a buffalo trotting on the plains was cast upon a nearby screen. 

“So it’s kind of marrying these two really taken out of context images, because in my experience waking up in a teepee and stepping outside, you’re just out in nature, but here it’s taken out of that context,” Cliff said. 

For Nelson’s part, she created a work responding to the “Ozark Halfwit,” a 25-foot statue of a red-headed hillbilly stationed at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Nelson recreated an enlarged version of the hillbilly’s head, with an open mouth people could crawl in.

“I couldn’t be the person responding to those (other attractions) because the only thing I know is growing up a hillbilly,” Nelson said.

Inside the head of the hillbilly, viewers were struck with a rich display of sketches, photos and paintings. In one collage, you see the word “work” multiple times. Nearby is a nuanced sketch of the head you’re standing inside, challenging the idea that hillbillies are lazy and uneducated. 

The artists said they hoped viewers would enjoy the display and be inspired to think about the deeper underlying issues. 

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Chansi Long (she/her), Lawrence life reporter, can be reached at clong (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

Molly Adams (she/her), a contributor to The Lawrence Times, is a Haskell alum with a passion for photojournalism. She strives to create authentic images that portray the true lives of Lawrence community members.

She can be reached at molly (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com, and her public work can be found on her website. Check out more of her work for the Times here.

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There are more than 300 Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Stores, but none closer to Lawrence than Emporia, more than an hour drive away. That could soon change.

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A retired staff member, Kathy Stuntz, and three former students, E’Lease Stafford, Ekow Boye-Doe and the late Travis Sanders, were honored Wednesday for their positive contributions to Billy Mills Middle School and the Lawrence community.

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Dozens of people gathered in the Baker Wetlands Discovery Center Wednesday night to view the new mural by Van Go’s apprentice artists. 

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Lawrence artist Chelsea Rezabek will soon host her third artist-centered community event, featuring more than 30 local vendors offering handmade arts and crafts, homemade food and live music.

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Multitalented. Multidimensional. Or, as her website proclaims, “Multidisciplinary Artist, Writer, Visionary.” There’s a reason it’s hard to label Whitney L. Anderson.

Between her artwork, children’s books, and forays into fashion, Whitney L. Anderson can’t be strictly defined — not in her work, not in her person.

From vibrant cow and horse collages to spirit-infused pop culture paintings to her strikingly illustrated lesson-imbued children’s books, this self-taught artist’s work blends reverent realism with playful fantasy, intelligence with soul. Credit, in part, her upbringing for her curiosity and wisdom beyond her 36 years.

Whitney L. Anderson with her piece, Chief.

Born into a fourth-generation commercial fishing family in Alaska, Anderson grew up working on a boat with her dad every summer. She is part Alaskan Native of the Aleut tribe; her Finnish great-great-grandfather settled in the Aleutian Islands and married a Native woman. As a child, Anderson learned the Aleuts’ ways, ate salmon every day, and loved the Indigenous Haida art she was exposed to. Starting at the tender age of 3, she discovered drawing, a quiet activity done in her own little corner oasis as a reprieve from the hard work on the boat. “That’s kind of my nonglamorous beginning of my art journey,” she says with her easy laugh.

The family eventually moved from Alaska to Seattle and then to Colorado. Every year, her mom took Whitney and her sisters out of school for a month to travel. Between the age of 9 and 15, she visited more than 40 countries. Her mother’s “the world is a classroom,” philosophy molded her, and she now attributes her multidisciplinary interests, subject matter, and mediums to her diverse experiences from that time.

But back then, Whitney was an accomplished athlete and had not yet viewed art as the focal point of her life. “It was little more than a good contrast to the high-octane life I lived as an athlete through college.” For years, her life revolved around ski racing and a full-ride cross-country scholarship to Duke University. Everything changed when she sustained a serious injury and was forced to come face-to-face with her called. “I didn’t choose art,” she explains. “Art chose me.”

Dolly Parton by Whitney L. Anderson

A fine arts degree and a world of hard knocks later, she settled in on her artwork — and her own way of doing it. “Everything I do is self-taught from my own mind and experience,” Anderson says.

She’s hard-pressed to pick a favorite medium. “It’s like asking which is your favorite child. All of them are special in unique dimensional thinking. I have a fascination in several different, unrelated things.” You’re likely to find her drawing, illustrating, painting, writing, and working on her collages.

Anyone else might end up in traction after sitting on the floor, cross-legged, leaning over thousands of tiny pieces of paper, cutting, sorting, assembling, gluing, hour after hour, day after day. But it’s the norm for Anderson as she painstakingly assembles her collages in her high-ceiling basement studio in Denver, where she makes her home while keeping her connection to Alaska every summer when she heads north to visit family.

People call it mosaic art — she prefers the term pixelated fine art. And, she adds, it’s “pure collage — not multimedia — there is no painting involved in my collages.” Her tools include glue sticks, scissors, magazines, a big piece of paper, and a podcast or music in the background while she works because the process can be “kind of monotonous.” The results, though, are anything but. It might be a black-and-white portraits of a young Dolly Parton, Cindy Crawford, or Cassius Clay; a commission depicting a treasured racehorse or family pets; or a representation of a breaching whale. “It starts with an emotion or a thought — I think I’ll do a cow today — and it just kind of takes me to a cozy place. I feel like I step outside of my current realm and go to another place. I get the idea, photography it on my phone, lightly sketch it on the background paper. Then I cut magazine pages into tiny pieces and sort colors and textures into piles. I call it controlled chaos. My brain is like high-speed Internet: It scans the photograph and picks up everything I need: colors, textures, shades, etc. and assembles the chaos. Mod Podge to seal.”

Lunatic Fringe by Whitney L. Anderson

The finished collages can range from 24 x 36 inches to as large as 100 x 100, but most are typically 36 x 48. “Generally,” Anderson says, “I thrive off creating larger works of art — I can incorporate details easier that way.”

She has favorite subjects. “I’ve loved horses since I was a kid,” she says. “It’s my favorite land animal. Something about their spirits touches mine. I really admire horse people and that way of life. One of my first collages was of a horse. I’ve done dozens since then and have donated some of my horse artwork to various horse charities.”

One of the highlights of her career as a Western artist was donating to a friend’s charity. “Legacy of the West takes place at National Finals Rodeo. I created some very iconic livestock for that event: two famous bucking bulls in the rodeo world named Pearl Harbor and Bodacious and a famous bucking horse named Lunatic Fringe. I was also commissioned by Purina to do an 8-foot-by-8-foot horse portrait collage made out of Purina bags.”

As for her cow artworks, “The cow represents the all-American animal — commercialized, but the heart of America,” Anderson says. “They provide and symbolize so much. Americans are so removed from this animal that is so integral to their lives, and I wanted to elevate it to a fine art piece. It’s really soothing for me to do a cow. In my dreams, maybe I’m a farm girl at heart. I feed those dreams through my art. It’s very satisfying when I’m able to create that subject matter — I feel kind of like I’m living that life in a way.”

It’s a welcome refuge from a world full of distractions. “I find my solace in art,” Anderson says. “What has compelled me to do all this is a melding of perfectionism with the old adage that adversities, challenges, and disappointments in life compel creatives to create even more. From time immemorial, some of the greatest works of art have been born out of pain, out of the valley. I’ve had a lot of heartbreak and disappointments in my life that, compounded with my perfectionism, have compelled me to create my art. ‘The ripples you make today will be the waves you ride tomorrow’ is something I wrote almost 10 years ago, and it’s an idea that keeps me going.”

Orca by Whitney L. Anderson

Visit Whitney L. Anderson on her site at whitneylanderson.com and on Instagram.

Header Image: Bodacious by Whitney L. Anderson

This article appeared in our May/June 2023 issue, available on newsstands now or through our C&I Shop.

Tampa Bay History Center exhibit highlights local birds, the history of printmaking, and Florida’s natural beauty

Simas is a choreographer and transdisciplinary artist who creates art that weaves together contemporary Native dance, video and sound.

Once the idea of a Native American Tribal Room came about at Madras High School, the school district was all in.

“Kids wouldn’t come talk to me because they believed that they were in trouble because I worked in student services, and so that was kind of a barrier for my position,” said Native American Community Liaison Mariah Stacona-Alexander. “And so my idea was, you know what, we saw this need from our education committee and parents and so that’s how this room came about.”

Recently opened, it brought a safe place for kids to go during and after school.

“I was excited because it was just going to be in the room, and I think that’s pretty cool to have our own room,” said MHS sophomore James Napyer.

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RELATED: The Great Outdoors: Tribal fishing on the Warm Springs reservation

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“It’s just like a home to other people,” said MHS sophomore Rebecca Francis. “If they don’t feel comfortable anywhere else, they always come here to work or to, like, eat or get food or something.”

Stacona-Alexander says the room has brand-new computers for students and areas designed to get schoolwork done.

“The furniture,” she said. “We just wanted a comfortable, neutral color so the kids just don’t feel overwhelmed with too much colors or anything like that. So that’s kind of where the color scheme comes in.”

More than 30% of the student population is Native American at Madras High School, which now has a room — open to all — that embraces and welcomes Native American culture.

“As far as the room, the mural is made up of different basket designs,” Stacona-Alexander said, “So the Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs is made up of three tribes — Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute. So once you take a look at the room, you will see those different basket designs. So we try to represent our three tribes.”

It’s a place to reflect and embrace the past while looking toward and preparing for the future.

“We have a lot of resources on the wall from clubs,” she said. “Graduation requirements. Johnson O’Malley forums, which helps students pay for any activity school related. So there’s just a bunch of different programs that use this room because we oftentimes try to bring in resources for our Native American students.”

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A wave of new art installations is sweeping across the Australian outback with the region shining bright throughout 2023.

Visitors can enjoy a vibrant calendar of art and cultural festivals.

“The Red Centre is home to some of our most significant Aboriginal art movements,” said Scott Lovett, CEO Tourism Northern Territory.

“This year further cements the Territory’s position as a world-class cultural destination.”

New Northern Territory attractions include:

Interactive Arts

The Wintjiri Wiṟu Experience, Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park – From May 2023

The newest experience, launched by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, sees iconic Uluru in a new light. The Wintjiri Wiṟu Experience is a twice nightly state-of-the-art, drone and laser light show that will illuminate the desert sky. It features over 1,000 drones weaving a kaleidoscope of colour. Created in consultation with traditional land owners, the show tells the Mala story, of great importance to the Aṉangu people. Book the signature Sunset Dinner to enjoy welcome cocktails and canapes on the sunset amphitheatre platform overlooking Uluru.

Bruce Munro’s ‘Light Towers’

Renowned British light artist Bruce Munro returns with his new illuminating extravaganza, ‘Light Towers’. This follows the success of Munro’s Uluru-based ‘Field of Light’, which has received international acclaim. Munro’s ‘Light Towers’ is a display of 69 towers, each made up of approximately 220 bottles filled with fibre optic cables. It forms a new multi-million-dollar partnership with the Kings Canyon resort. Enjoy both Munro’s illuminating art installations as part of a Red Centre adventure, accessible by road along the Red Centre Way.

Other unique arts events include:

Darwin Festival, Australia’s hottest winter arts festival from 10 – 27 August Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, one of Australia’s most significant internationally recognised arts events, 11 – 13 August

New galleries and museums

Hermannsburg Historic Precinct

Following a multi-million dollar refurbishment, the newly appointed Hermansburg site is a completely new visitor experience. The Aboriginal settlement of Hermannsburg is famous as the home of Aboriginal landscape watercolour artist, Albert Namatjira. It’s also one of five National Trust-listed historic precincts in Australia.

Ayeye Atyenhe Art

Join an aboriginal art workshop in Alice Springs and immerse in Arrernte culture with renowned Aboriginal artists, Marie Ryder and Kevin Bird. Ayeye Atyenhe Art celebrates and supports the work of talented Indigenous artists from around the Northern Territory, Central Australia and North-East Arnhem Land

GOCA (Gallery of Central Australia)

GOCA is a commercial gallery where everything’s for sale. The gallery at Ayers Rock Resort boasts a remarkable collection of works from art centres across the Central and Western Deserts. Remarkable because the art represents almost 20 communities in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.

Luxury Accommodation & Camping

There are several new accommodation openings in the Red Centre including Drover’s Dream at Kings Creek Station, with 10 new eco premium tents with views of George Gill Range from private decks. BBQ dinner hampers, fire pits and a Bushman’s breakfast are included. For self-drive travellers there is a choice of new campsites including Kings Canyon Resort and Glen Helen Lodge and Ntaria Campground and Outback Store at the newly renovated Hermannsburg precinct.

Outdoor Dining

The ‘Under a Desert Moon’ dining experience, which comprises a 5-course wine-paired dinner has a refreshed menu with a focus on bush ingredients and native flavours. This year also celebrates 10 years of the Tali Wiru dining experience at Ayers Rock Resort. Tali Wiru, meaning ‘beautiful dune’, encapsulating fine dining under the Southern Desert sky.

This open-air restaurant boasts magnificent views of Uluru and the distant domes of Kata Tjuta.

Stargazing Sleepover

Earth Sanctuary’s Sunset to Sunrise tour  is a new premium program and astronomical camping experience! Enjoy an award winning astronomy tour with canape dinner, drinks and campfire nibbles. The tour includes access to Earth Sanctuary’s Space Observatory with an experienced astronomer. You may witness zodiac constellations, meteor showers and other cool astro events. Wake up at sunrise to breakfast before a guided morning walk. This is a unique outback camping experience, perfect for couples.

More information and travel inspiration at www.northernterritory.com

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Vincent Di Nguyen is an artist and curator best known for his visual development on films such as Epic, Rio and Ice Age: Collision Course. Originally from Houston, Nguyen has spent the past two decades living between New York City and London, working with a number of creatives across the industry. Despite the buzz of a big metropolises, the Houston-native always felt a longing to showcase the artists he’s met along his travels to his home city.

Nguyen will bring this aspiration to life through a new group exhibition at Reeves Art & Design in Houston. Aptly titled Friend of a Friend, the show will present a range of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, digital and mixed media works from local and established artists, such as Mark Flood, Taylor Lee, James Jean, Natalia Arbelaez, Mark Dean Veca and more.

Upon returning down south, Nguyen notes of how much the art landscape has changed. “You have more access to everything.” At the core of the show is a celebration of both the city of Houston and the arts hub it’s becoming, as well as highlighting the connections we make during the creative process. Friend of a Friend will run from May 12 to June 3.

Elsewhere, Google’s new online game challenges you to guess which image is generated by AI.

Reeves Art & Design
2415 Taft Street
Houston, TX 77006

Exhibiting Artists:

Natalia Arbelaez,
Austyn Taylor
Ryan Travis Christian
Mike Lee
Judith Supine
James Jean
Mark Dean Veca
Taylor Lee
Ron DeFelice
Wendy Park
Jake Clark
Jeffry Mitchell
AP Shrewsbury
Taylor McKimens
Peter Nguyen
Robert Mackenzie
Dan Mandelbaum
Vincent Di Nguyen
Ben Peterson
Mark Flood
Yeonsoo Kim
Jihye Han

“He set out to mark his place on this earth and he did it,” said Ramon J. Vasquez, his eldest son. “Not too many people can say that.