Art by Survivors of America’s Wars

May 7, 2023 By Admin in Native

CHICAGO — What could a US Army veteran, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, an African-American Chicagoan, and an Iraqi refugee possibly have in common?

Each has been marked by the legacies of the longest military conflicts in US history: the American Indian Wars and the Global War on Terror. And from that experience each has made art, examples of which are currently on view in the Second Veteran Art Triennial, exhibited alongside the work of dozens more artists — some veterans, some from communities impacted by war, some both.

Like any truly great and ambitious exhibition of contemporary art — which this most assuredly is — Surviving the Long Wars: 2023 Veteran Art Triennial & Summit is chock-full of fantastic sculptures, videos, paintings, photographs, and installations, sensitively displayed in evocative configurations and storied locations. Among the hundreds of biennials, etc., that have proliferated worldwide, however, it is unique in being dedicated not to art generally, or even as thematized by a star curator, but to art made about war by those implicated. In its commitment to the most critical and advanced forms of art practice, and to affected populations that extend beyond service members, the Triennial distinguishes itself from veteran art programs such as those run by the US Department of Veteran Affairs. And it is right at home in Chicago, alongside the National Veterans Art Museum and the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, as well as a roster of recurring break-the-mold events like the MdW Fair, a convening of artist-run projects from across the Midwest; the Barely Fair, a 1:12 scale international art fair; and the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which becomes ever more local and experimental with each iteration.

Installation view of Hanaa Malallah, “She/He Has No Picture” (2019/2020), burnt canvas collage on canvas with laser cut brass plaques, four Art Books, thousand moving images generating by computer and original booklet published by government in 1991, at the Chicago Cultural Center

Across the Veteran Art Triennial’s three venues — Residues and Rebellions at the Newberry Library, Reckon and Reimagine at the Chicago Cultural Center, and Unlikely Entanglements at the Hyde Park Art Center — the sheer variety of cultural traditions represented is unmistakable. Mahwish Chishty, trained in miniature painting, depicts a series of MQ-9 Reapers, the armed drones that have terrorized civilians living along the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands, making them riotously visible with decorations in the flamboyant style of Pakistani truck art. Ledger art, a practice of many Plains Native communities in which events are pictorially chronicled on used pages of settlers’ account books, abounds: Terran Last Gun (Piikani) traces the hard-edge geometries of Blackfoot tipi designs and Air Force vet Dwayne Wilcox (Oglala Lakota) illustrates comedic scenes of scathing political commentary. A handful of artists update time-honored textile crafts: Miridith Campbell (Kiowa), a veteran of the Army, Navy, and Marines, ornaments a US cavalry coat with buckskin fringes and beaded shoulder patches; Melissa Doud (Ojibwe) adds spent bullet casings to her old Army uniform, turning it into a jingle dress; Dorothy I. Burge quilts a portrait of US Army Colonel Charles Young, who in 1889 became the third African American graduate of West Point; Sabba Elahi embroiders fisheye-lens tondos of her young son as a target of the domestic surveillance of brown and Muslim bodies. There is even classical oil paintings by Bassim Al Shaker, whose canvases are as lush and moody as a Turner seascape, and even more nightmarish in their depiction of the sky seen overhead during bombings the artist survived when he was a student in Baghdad.

Explicitly contemporary practices like assemblage and conceptualism are represented, too. Marine Corps vet Jose deVere fashions limbs, weapons, and a full-size horse out of scraps of furniture, discarded parachutes, old tarps, and other detritus, holding it all just barely together with screws and string and his own creative willpower. Ali Eyal refuses to tell the story of exactly what happened to him and his family when war came to their Iraqi village, instead presenting two walls, fragmented drawings, and a set of clues to the horrors they lived through and the imaginative tactics of survival.

Intstallation view of Monty Little (Diné), two works from the *Survivance* series (2022/23), monoprint on BFK Rives, 24 x 20 inches each, at the Newberry Library

This cultural heterogeneity ought not come as a surprise, given the extent of the US military’s incursions abroad and at home, as well as the diversity of its own ranks, where Native Americans served long before they received citizenship; African Americans fought, despite slavery, discrimination, and segregation; and foreigners have always been able to enlist, often as a pathway to American citizenship. Far more salient is how the tools of the colonizer, the occupier, and the oppressor can be used to resist and persist, and the ways in which that reclamation accommodates hybrid identities. Ledger art has always done this, but ledgers aren’t the only bureaucratic form open to appropriation. Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh build an archive room of declassified records and media clippings related to the Global War on Terror, partly searchable and partly impenetrable, with simultaneous translation broadcast in Arabic and Dari. Four metal traffic signs by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation) offer deadpan commemoration of the US government’s forced removal of 100,000 people from their ancestral lands during the Trail of Tears. There are other memorials here, too, like the makeshift ones Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) has been documenting since 1999, honoring tribal veterans at the Memorial Day Powwow in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Most feature a triangle-fold American flag, some form of tobacco, and a photograph of the dead.

The portraits are crucial: to have a face is to be known and remembered, however imperfectly, and artists oblige, particularly when confronted with government destruction. Ganesh paints gentle watercolors of people detained and disappeared in the months following 9/11. Hanaa Malallah painstakingly recreates, out of scraps of burned canvas, the missing images of Iraqi civilians killed in the predawn bombing of their neighborhood shelter by an American smart bomb. Chris Pappan (Kaw/Osage, Lakota) draws a grid of Indigenous warriors in Ghost Dance regalia, posed boldly atop a collage of US cavalry recruitment forms, traditional graphics, and maps and warplanes bearing appropriated tribal names. The flip side is true, too: monotypes of unnamed Native Americans by Marine Corps veteran Monty Little (Diné) are smeared, layered, and sliced up beyond legibility, acknowledging the brutality and complexity of their history while refusing to spectacularize it. A pair of life-sized self-portraits by Army vet Gina Herrera (Tesuque Pueblo), with their mismatched mannequin and metalwork legs, exploded upper halves, and colorfully wrapped appendages bespeak war-damaged bodies held together by fierce personal spirit, can-do, and culture.

Whatever side of whichever conflict they have found themselves on, and however they have managed to come through it, every artist in this show understands that art remains unparalleled in helping us all grapple with that most horrendous and enduring of human activities: war.

Installation view of Sabba Elahi, “the suspect in my son,” nos. 3, 4, 5 (2018), machine embroidery on felt, 18 x 18 x.75 inches each, at the Hyde Park Art Center

Installation view of *Reckon and Reimagine* at the Chicago Cultural Center; Quilt portrait by Dorothy I. Burge; wall of memorial photos by Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) signage by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation) (photo by James Prinz)

Left to right: Miridith Campbell (Kiowa), “Marine Corps Dress – Southern Style” (2022), artist-tanned and smoked buckskin hide, antique, vintage, and contemporary seed beads, red broadcloth English wool, vintage Marine Corps service buttons, hawk bells, horse hair; Miridith Campbell (Kiowa), “Adobe Walls Battle Dress” (2022), cotton canvas dresses with blue edging, ledger art is digitally produced and fabricated to dress, depicting the battle; Melissa Doud (Ojibwe), “Bullet Dress” (2016), Army uniform with bullets. Installation view at the Chicago Cultural Cente

Installation view of *Reckon and Reimagine* at the Chicago Cultural Center; foreground sculptures by Gina Herrera (Tesuque Pueblo)

Installation view of Chris Pappan (Kaw/Osage, Lakota), detail from *War Dance I–IX* (2022), series of nine graphite, ink, and colored pencil drawings on recruitment ledger paper, at the Chicago Cultural Center

Installation view of *Unlikely Entanglements* at the Hyde Park Art Center; sculpture by Jose deVera; paintings by Bassim Al Shaker; wall portraits by Eric Perez; footprints by Yiran Zhang (image provided by Hyde Park Art Center, courtesy Sofia Merino Arzoz)

Installation view of Mahwish Chishty, “Hovering Reaper II” (2015), gouache, tea stain, and photo transfers on birch plywood, 12 x 30 x 8 inches, at the Hyde Park Art Center

Surviving the Long Wars: 2023 Veteran Art Triennial & Summit continues with Residues and Rebellions at the Newberry Library (60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois) through May 26; Reckon and Reimagine at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois) through June 4; and Unlikely Entanglements at the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 South Cornell Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) through July 9. The exhibition was organized by a team including Aaron Hughes, Ronak K. Kapadia, Therese Quinn, Joseph Lefthand, Amber Zora, and Meranda Roberts.

Full disclosure: The writer’s husband, artist Michael Rakowitz, has work included in the exhibition and is not discussed herein.

Nature made: Native plants, pollinators depicted in mural at Joplin museum

May 7, 2023 By Admin in Native

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A red brick wall at the Joplin History and Mineral Museum has been transformed into a colorful garden of coneflowers and other native plants with bees and butterflies flitting about thanks to an art teacher and area art students.

Christine Allgood at the museum arranged for a mural as part of the native prairie project that is being done there and in other areas of city parks. She arranged a planting early this year using seeds of native plants outside the museum and plans to have volunteers help plant native shrubs and flowers later this spring.

She is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Missouri Prairie Foundation to do the projects.

For the mural, she was assisted by Nellie Mitchell, an art teacher at Carl Junction High School. Two of Mitchell’s students, Avari Fifer and Olivia Wobken, designed the mural.

Students with the National Honor Society or National Arts Honor Societies at Carl Junction, Joplin and Baxter Springs, Kansas, along with Allgood and Mitchell and some other adults, painted the mural. Some of the students also are painting benches at the museum with pollinator and native flower imagery.

“It’s bright but we wanted it that way for people on Seventh Street to see it and attract their attention to the museum,” Allgood said.

Wobken said she wanted to be involved because “I am really passionate about wildlife and nature.”

“I did a lot of research because I wanted to design the mural with only plants and pollinators I knew were native to Missouri,” she said.

Fifer said they made a digital version of the design that was projected and drawn onto the wall as a guide for painting. That took about two hours with six students including Fifer and Wobken and three adults tracing the images.

The students included a lot of detail in the photo so that it would transfer to the wall well, because the brick wall had grooves and tuckpointed seams that would alter the images.

Wobken said the artists also had to account in the design for the drain pipes and beams on the side of the building.

There were more than 30 student volunteers who painted to get the mural done in about two days.

“It would not look the way it does without all of their talent,” Mitchell said.

Funding and supplies for the effort came from several donors. Mitchell had obtained a grant last year from the Casey’s Cash for Classrooms program for an art project that was used. Her husband, who works at Ozark Center, obtained their help with the costs. Allgood also obtained assistance with materials for ABE Painting and Spectrum Paint in Joplin.

Wobken and Fifer said they want their families to see the mural and plan family trips to take in the view.

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Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band brings visibility to Indigenous people through jazz

May 7, 2023 By Admin in Native

It is a rarity to see a solo Indigenous jazz musician perform, let alone sixteen on stage at once. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band is a trailblazing ensemble that showcases the Indigenous roots of jazz through the creative expression of Indigenous artists.

Juneau Jazz & Classics and Áak’w Rock Music Festival partnered to jointly present the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band this weekend.

They played their opening performance Friday night at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

They also had two more performances Saturday, with a show at the University of Alaska Southeast’s Noyes Pavillion for students, and at the Crystal Saloon.

Juneau Jazz & Classics annual spring music festival continues through this week and next weekend, with performances from Awadagin Pratt, Zuill Bailey, James Logan, and Phil Wiggins Blues House Party.

Native American director, singer, and songwriter Julia Keefe talked to News of the North Friday night.

“The community has just been so loving and welcoming. Some of the band members and I went to the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples rally at the state Capitol, which was incredibly powerful and important that we acknowledge that,” she said. “Especially on this day that we’re performing, as a woman who runs this band and all Indigenous band. I’m really honored to be able to share this music on such an important day. And hopefully bring more visibility to that incredibly, incredibly important and time-sensitive issue.”

Keefe is a nationally acclaimed and award-winning jazz vocalist, actor, activist, and educator currently based in New York City. She is Nez Perce. It was her first time in Juneau, and she said she loved flying over the mountains.

She explained that they bring awareness to Indigenous artists by lifting them up the way they know how-through music.

“So much of what we do is about bringing visibility to Indigenous issues anyway. The Indigenous presence in jazz not only historically but in a contemporary standpoint, being able to be there and to be amongst relatives who have lost relatives,” she said. “Members of our own band, we all have intimate knowledge of this issue, honoring those people who have lost loved ones but also to honor those who have been lost. We bring visibility to Indigenous people, as a whole.”

The big band’s music fuses traditional jazz with Indigenous storytelling and culture, creating a unique sound that has captivated audiences around the world.

Keefe addressed the audience multiple times throughout Friday night to explain the significance behind their songs, many of which were composed by band members themselves, such as by the trombonist Wade Demmert, saxophonist Rico Jones, and bassist Mali Obomsawin.

Below: Keefe said her favorite song from their performance was Mildred Bailey’s “Rockin’ Chair.”

Bailey’s “Darn That Dream” was also performed.

When talking about Mildred Bailey, Keefe said this.

“Indigenous artists have always had a place in jazz,” she said. “Mildred Bailey was a Native American jazz singer during the 1920s and 1930s, and she helped popularize jazz singing. We have always been here.”

Bailey was known as “The Queen of Swing”, “The Rockin’ Chair Lady” and “Mrs. Swing”. She was Coeur d’Alene Indian.

In 1989, Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

Keefe reflected with the audience on starting to sing jazz at a young age, and that when she discovered Bailey’s music, it reaffirmed to her that this was something she could do.

Above: Keefe sings Bailey’s “Rockin’ Chair” with fierce soul. Below: Administrative support and bass player Mali Obomsawin, who is from Odanak First Nation, sings in her language. The band’s last song they performed in their set was Obomsawin’s “Blood Quantum” from her album Sweet Tooth. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

“We are the only race that I can think of…that has to prove it,” Keefe said before they performed Obomsawin’s piece.

Below: Rico Jones is the co-director of the Big Band and he plays the tenor saxophone. He played many solos throughout the night. The band also performed pieces he composed. This is from his piece “Earth”, which he said was fitting to play after seeing Juneau’s lush scenery. He is Mesoamerican and Andean. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: Keefe said although it may be subtle, she wanted to keep the message of National Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Day on the stage through the form of a red dress. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: Edward Littlefield, Lingít, plays the drums solo. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: Chantil Dukart plays piano. She is Tsimshian and Sugpiaq/Alutiiq. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: More photos from the band’s opening night. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Wabanaki leaders to join panel at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

May 7, 2023 By Admin in Native

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens will host a panel discussion Saturday, May 13, with six Wabanaki leaders as they discuss a growing movement to center Indigenous knowledge and leadership in conservation work. Dr. Darren J. Ranco, associate professor of anthropology and coordinator of Native American research at the University of Maine in Orono, will moderate this conversation prioritizing Indigenous leadership in conservation.

Dr. Darren J. Ranco helps lead a virtual seminar in November 2020 for the University of Maine’s Outdoor Leadership Program on acknowledging and raising awareness about Indigenous lands. Courtesy of the University of Maine

Last year, Ranco was the keynote speaker in the 12th Annual Ina and Lewis Heafitz Endowed Lecture. Educator, researcher and citizen of the Penobscot Nation, Ranco shared contemporary scholarship about Indigenous conservation practices and identified best practices for partnerships with environmental organizations and Indigenous peoples.

The May 13 discussion will focus on the interconnections of land, culture and Indigenous sovereignty, and includes a cross-disciplinary mix of Indigenous artists, writers, researchers, educators and historians, including Nolan Altvater, Passamaquoddy; Suzanne Greenlaw, Maliseet; Jennifer Neptune, Penobscot; Richard Silliboy, Mi’kmaq Nation; and Donald Soctomah, Passamaquoddy.

“We are honored to host such a distinguished group of guests all in one evening,” Daniel Ungier, the gardens’ vice president of guest experience and education, said in a prepared release. “We aspire not just to learn more about Wabanaki expertise but to better understand the barriers Wabanaki people face to exercising this expertise and to better understand our shared responsibility in addressing those barriers. We’re excited to invite the public to share in the learning together.”

The discussion is from 7-8:30 p.m. at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, 105 Botanical Gardens Drive, Boothbay. One hundred percent of proceeds from registrations will go to the Wabanaki Self-Determination Fund, a long-term, sustainable funding structure that the Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship is currently creating, which is funded primarily by sustained commitments from non-Wabanaki people and organizations who work and dwell in Wabanaki homelands. Run entirely by and for Wabanaki people, it recognizes Wabanaki expertise and knowledge in identifying the best ways to use funds.

For more information and to register, visit mainegardens.org or call 633-8000. To learn more about the fund, visit firstlightlearningjourney.net/working-groups/fund.

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Obituary: Albert Landry Jr.

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Public reviews four finalist proposals for Mountlake Terrace plaza art installation

May 6, 2023 By Admin in Native

Artwork will be a key part of a pedestrian plaza at the southwest corner of 236th Street Southwest and Van Ry Boulevard, across from the Mountlake Terrace light rail station. Mountlake Terrace residents and city officials gathered recently to view presentations from four artist submissions for that artwork.

The Mountlake Terrace Arts Advisory Commission selected the artists — BK Choi, Miguel Edwards, John Fleming and Tsovinar Muradyan — from a list of 30 applicants to present their ideas April 19. A naming process for the 2,000-square-foot future pedestrian plaza will take place later this year, followed by its construction in 2024.

Artists were asked to create a piece of art large enough to be recognizable from the light rail station, and one that would represent Mountlake Terrace and its natural beauty. The arts advisory commission will review the public’s feedback May 16 and make a recommendation to the Mountlake Terrace City Council.

BK Choi: Camas dancheong

Choi, a Mountlake Terrace resident since immigrating from Seoul as a child, presented a monument representing the native flower species Camassia quamash in the style of dancheong, a bold Korean style of decorative painting used to adorn temples and other buildings. The plant’s bulbs were eaten and traded by native peoples living in the Pacific Northwest.

Miguel Edwards: Two submissions — Penumbra Ascent or Rise Together

Edwards is an established sculptor and photographer in the Pacific Northwest, having created sculptures around Washington. He presented two sculptures that incorporated ideas of lighting responsive to the environment and time of day. Edwards stated his goal with Penumbra Ascent and Rise Together was to create a whimsical piece with subtle nods to Mountlake Terrace history.

Tsovinar Muradyan and Gegham Abrahamyan: Two submissions –Fragile Habitats or Blooming Stones

Muradyan and Abrahamyan, Washington state artists, focused their arts on life and nature. Fragile Habitats is meant to alert humanity to endangered habitats while giving a feeling of ethereal flying as its balloons contain images of native endangered species. Blooming Stones reminds people of hope in every situation.

John Fleming: Two submissions — Votive or Uplift

Fleming’s Votive and Uplift focus on the city’s excellence in environmental stewardship. Votive is a tall, rust-colored sculpture supporting a series of mirrors with cutouts of endangered Washington animals. Uplift contains mirrors in a different, outward-facing chassis and encourages Mountlake Terrace residents to write their names to create a sense of ownership.

— By Jasmine Contreras-Lewis

Jacob’s Pillow to Rebuild Doris Duke Theatre

May 6, 2023 By Admin in Native

The new building is projected to cost $30 million and is supported by a coalition of donors and foundations, with a formal campaign launching in May 2023.

BECKET, Mass.— Jacob’s Pillow announced building plans to rebuild and reimagine the Doris Duke Theatre, a flexible theater on the site of the original Doris Duke Theatre, which was lost to a fire of undetermined cause in November 2020.

The reimagined Doris Duke Theatre will be approximately 20,000 sq. ft., compared with the former Duke’s roughly 8,500 sq. ft. footprint. The design allows for multi-use flexibility, so that the building can support performances, events, residencies, and more, sometimes simultaneously. The theater will seat up to 230 patrons in the main performance space, with an array of seating and stage configurations.

“We are so grateful for the leadership support that makes it possible for us to envision a re-imagined Doris Duke Theatre, one that promises to have the warmth and character of the original and beloved Duke, while at the same time being relevant and accessible to what artists and audiences will need in the future,” said Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director, Pamela Tatge. “The building will deeply resonate with and respect the land and environment on which it rests. At the same time, it will be technologically equipped to ensure that the creative appetites of artists will be served in the decades to come.”

The new building is projected to cost $30 million and is supported by a coalition of donors and foundations, with a formal campaign launching in May 2023. Since the announcement of the naming gift of $10 million from The Doris Duke Foundation in November, Jacob’s Pillow has received leadership support from the Knight Foundation to support digital implementation, as well as commitments from Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Barr Foundation, and Sarah Arison and the Arison Arts Foundation. The Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund supported the pre-schematic design phase of the project. An endowment of at least $5 million is being raised to help support the digital integration of the new Doris Duke Theatre and provide direct support to the artists who will make their work in Pillow Lab residencies in the future.

“The design creates a year-round space,” added Tatge, “that will serve as an incubator for a new generation of artists seeking to integrate technology into live performance and create art native to the digital realm. It will be a porous, indoor/outdoor space for creation, performance, and community engagement that speaks to the lessons we’ve learned during the pandemic about the need for community-building, and our innate connection with nature, which we at the Pillow treasure greatly.”

The building will feature two lobbies with sliding doors, which will create multiple entrances and exits to the building. The lobby on the west side of the building will serve to welcome visitors in from the spacious artist quadrangle, and will also provide a covered and ventilated space for pre-show talks alongside a new exhibition space. The lobby on the east side of the building will serve as a warm-up and rehearsal space for artists, and can also host receptions and meetings as needed.

“Jacob’s Pillow has always been at the forefront,” said Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation. “The new Duke Theatre will enable Jacob’s Pillow to harness the digital revolution to serve a more inclusive, innovative, and engaging vision for dance.”

Rainwater will be collected from the green rooftops of the building to be reused for flushing toilets and irrigation.

Contributions from Indigenous artists to the design will include visual art installations, a medicinal garden with local and indigenous plantings near the entrance of the building, and a fire pit for gatherings and celebrations.

The infrastructure of the theater will include high-speed internet, as well as flexible locations for stage management and sound, and a dedicated video room for documentation and livestreams. The theater will also have improved lighting and audio capabilities, with an efficient LED stagelighting system as the baseline, and with the ability to add incandescent fixtures. Many windows and skylights (with darkening capabilities) throughout the building will connect the theater with the surrounding campus and landscape.

The building’s infrastructure will support technological capabilities including the use of a digital spatial audio system with live tracking of dancers correlated to moving sound images, infrared camera tracking of performers for interactive video content, and live dance performance interaction with recorded/projected dance content. Hard-wired connectivity between buildings will enable real time collaboration across Pillow venues using simultaneous filmed performances.

“I can’t overstate the importance of this sort of technologically-forward space for the dance field right now,” said Sydney Skybetter, Choreographer and Founder of the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces at Brown University. Skybetter is a consultant on the Doris Duke Theatre project. “Dance artists sorely need the sorts of space, tech, and expertise that the Pillow is assembling right now. This is where the future of the field will come from.”

Safety, comfort, and accessibility will be improved for audiences, artists, and staff compared with the former Duke. This will include the addition of catwalks for easy technical installation, additional bathrooms, and an enlarged green room and dressing rooms for artists. New seating arrangements will include mezzanine access to the top of the retractable seating to allow for late seating and more accessible seating options. Additional functions include a support box office and office spaces for staff.

Netherlands-based architecture firm Mecanoo, led by Creative Director and Founding Partner Francine Houben, is serving as the lead architect for the new building project, in partnership with New York-based architecture firm Marvel, led by Jonathan Marvel, founding principal, as the architect of record and landscape architects. Theater and acoustics consultants Charcoalblue are working alongside the architectural team on the project.

“For me, what was inspiring arriving at Jacob’s Pillow is the energy of the festival and experiencing performance in this unique natural setting,” said Francine Houben. “We wanted to make a building which embodied Indigenous principles of connecting with the land and thinking seven generations forward. The sequence of moving between outdoors and indoors and the sculptural layering of the building emphasizes the feeling of movement in space, while firmly rooted to the site in this special place in the Berkshires.”

Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, is serving as a consultant on the building’s relationship to the site and Indigenous design values. According to a press release, the Pillow seeks to honor the building’s context on the ancestral lands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok, or Mohican peoples, who are now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and reside in Wisconsin. Additionally, the Pillow honors the Agawam, Nipmuc, and Pocumtuc who also made their homes in what is now known as Western Massachusetts. Gibson has participated in regular design sessions and has helped steward stakeholder engagement with Indigenous community members to seek feedback on the evolving design.

“It’s been great working with Jacob’s Pillow and Mecanoo to develop the new Doris Duke Theatre,” Gibson said. “The current design takes into account important Indigenous values and supports multiple kinds of performances that can engage the inside and the outside of the building and traditional and more intimate performances. Certain Indigenous materials, patterns, and processes will be reflected in the interior and exterior, and I’m excited to see the submissions from Indigenous artists to help realize the final iteration of the building.”

The original Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow was built as the Studio/Theatre in 1989 as one of three primary performance spaces on Jacob’s Pillow’s 220-acre campus in Western Massachusetts and opened for its first full season in 1990.

The new Doris Duke Theatre will restore a second indoor theater space for Jacob’s Pillow’s annual summer Dance Festival alongside the flagship Ted Shawn Theatre, and provide year-round studio space on the Pillow campus, in addition to the Perles Family Studio, which is home to The School at Jacob’s Pillow and the Pillow Lab, artist-in-residence program.

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Madison’s first Native Art Market features 15 Indigenous artists

May 5, 2023 By Admin in Native

Melissa Perry

Hand-woven baskets. Vibrant beadwork. Portraits made out of porcupine quills.

Those are just a few of the items that will be available for purchase at Madison’s first Native Art Market this weekend. The market, at the Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston St., provides a space for 15 Indigenous artists from various tribes across Wisconsin to showcase their work.

A preview of the market took place Friday as part of “Gallery Night,” but the full market runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“This is something that I’ve always really been interested in supporting and creating for the community here in Madison,” said Dakota Mace, a local Diné artist and curator of the Native Art Market.

Mace, who comes from a family of artists, has seen the power that art holds throughout her life.

“It was always a source of income for my family,” Mace said. “Our artistic expression is directly connected to not only our family traditions and our culture and our language, but it’s also part of the future in terms of maintaining those cultural traditions.”

Mace often attended art markets when she was younger. As she got older, Mace noticed that the markets had barriers to entry, such as vendor fees, and felt that media coverage didn’t include Native voices. So for the Native Art Market, Mace wanted to make the market not just accessible but also centered around the artists’ identities and cultural backgrounds.

Along with not charging an application or vendor fee, all the featured artists received a stipend and help with lodging, if needed.

“We really just want to focus on supporting our artists and being in the community,” said Paige Skenandore, a local Oneida artist, who worked with Mace to organize the market. “Artists are coming from all throughout Wisconsin.”

PBS Wisconsin projects sheds a light on the lives of Muslims across the state

Besides making the market accessible, another motivation of Mace was prioritizing the needs of Indigenous artists following allegations in January that a Madison artist, Kathryn “Kay” Le Claire, had pretended to be Native American, benefitting professionally and financially.

“Unfortunately, what had happened was that the conversation that was created was more focused on singling out Indigenous representatives throughout our community and having them speak for the entirety of our people,” Mace said. “I wanted this market to re-center the narrative of supporting Indigenous artists.”

Meet the artists

Paige Skenandore beading photo — Local Oneida artist Paige Skenandore often hosts beading circles at her home for her friends and other local artists.

SAMANTHA MADAR, STATE JOURNAL ARCHIVES

Skenandore, who owns the small business Moody NDN, will be selling a mix of beadwork, quillwork and apparel at the market. Skenandore, who didn’t consider herself an artist until later in life, often hosts beading circles at her home.

Beaded Medallion close up — One of Paige Skenandore’s beaded pieces.

Clint Greendeer

“I think beadwork, or just Indigenous art in general, is really connected to my Native identity because it’s one way we stay in our communities, and it’s also really beautiful,” Skenandore said. “I just love the network that I’ve found in Madison Native artists.”

Melanie Sainz, a Ho-Chunk artist based in the Wisconsin Dells, specializes in the use of porcupine quills in portrait, floral and geometric objects. Since retiring and founding the nonprofit Little Eagle Arts Foundation, which provides entrepreneurial support for Indigenous artists, Sainz doesn’t participate in art markets as often as she used to. But she didn’t want to miss this one.

“I really wanted to be there as an elder to support this effort in whatever way I can,” Sainz said.

Along with showcasing her work, Sainz will be leading a quillwork workshop on Saturday.

Melanie Sainz.My Chief is Not Your Mascot — One of Ho-Chunk artist Melanie Sainz’s quill-embroidered portraits is titled “My Chief is Not Your Mascot.”

Melanie Sainz

“We’re not just showing art, we’re engaging with the public and we’re really sharing our stories, whether it’s the historic trauma that our people have endured or personal experiences,” Sainz said. “I often thank the people who adopt my pieces. They’re giving them a new home.”

Practicing respect

For local artists, exposure is often everything, making this weekend all the more important. Organizers ask that those attending the market refrain from touching the artwork and sharing pictures on social media. When in doubt, they said, ask the artist.

“We’re seeing a lot of non-Native artists or businesses that are stealing Indigenous designs and even language to boost their profits or make money on them,” Skenandore said. “So I think it’s really important to just talk to the artists and really connect.”

In addition to this weekend’s market, Mace and the Arts + Literature Laboratory hope to host similar events, including an exhibition and a second Native Art Market in October.

“It’s really exciting to see all these different types of artists explore their own stories, whether that’s their family histories or their culture and language,” Mace said. “It’s all about creating this idea of a new way of appreciating Indigenous art from an Indigenous perspective and really independent from that Western gaze.”

Fave 5: Race and culture reporter Melissa Renee Perry picks her favorite stories of 2022

This September, I started as the Wisconsin State Journal’s first race and culture reporter. Since then, I’ve had the privilege to interview community leaders, explore broader issues such as cultural appropriation and amplify social justice efforts. Here are my five favorite stories from this year.

As Black women creatives in Madison voiced their concerns, some artists like Catrina Sparkman created safe spaces of their own.

Dark Matter, an exhibition at the MMoCA, featured a variety of works from the prolific Wisconsin-based artist Faisal Abdu’Allah.

Some residents considered the issue of cultural appropriation when picking their Halloween costumes this year.

I talked to Awa Sibi and Jeff Patterson about the joys and challenges of being a Black business owner in Madison.

A free 12-week course in baking, food sanitation and restaurant management gives students a fresh start.

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Mecanoo and Marvel reveals designs for a rebuilt theater at Jacob’s Pillow

May 5, 2023 By Admin in Native

Jacob’s Pillow, the Berkshires’ renowned dance center, has announced plans for a new, Mecanoo Architects–designed theater. The Doris Duke Theater, which burned down in 2020 will be rebuilt on a larger scale.

The original 8,500-square-foot theater will be rebuilt as a 20,000-square-foot facility that can seat up to 230 people. While the performance venue’s focus is dance, the building will be able to support additional events and residences with a range of stage configurations. Rounding out the design team are Marvel as the architect of record and landscape architect; Charcoalblue as theater and acoustic consultants; and Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent; will consult on indigenous design values and the project’s relationship to the homeland of the Mohican people which it will be built on.

rendering of a cultural campus — Aerial view of the Jacob’s Pillow campus, with the planned new Doris Doris Theatre on the site of the original Duke studio theater. (Mecanoo Architects and Marvel)

The building’s circulation will be positioned around multiple entrances and exits, enabled by two lobbies with sliding doors. The lobby on the western side of the building will welcome entrants to an “artist quadrangle,” which will provide space for talks and exhibitions. The second lobby, on the building’s eastern side, will serve as a rehearsal space for artists which can double as a secondary reception space.

It will also house “flexible locations for stage management and sound” and improved audio and lighting capacities. Windows and skylights will bring natural light in, and can be darkened with curtains when necessary. A digital spatial audio system will installed to track dancers alongside moving sound images, enabling interactive video content and the integration of live and recorded performances. The theater will be hardwired to other buildings at Jacob’s Pillow. Technology will allow more than one event or performances to take place at once.

rending of an interior gathering space — A portion of the west lobby of the planned new Doris Duke Theatre. (Mecanoo Architects and Marvel)

Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation, said that “The new Duke Theatre will enable Jacob’s Pillow to harness the digital revolution to serve a more inclusive, innovative, and engaging vision for dance.” Jacob’s Pillow sees the theater as ushering in the future of its programming as a “future-forward dance theater.”

The $30 million project is being funded by donors and foundations, including $10 million from the Doris Duke Foundation. The Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund supported the project’s pre-schematic design. Indigenous artists will contribute visual arts projects, a medicinal garden near the building’s entrance, and a firepit for gatherings.

Jacob’s Pillow executive and artistic director Pamela Tatge said: “The design creates a year-round space that will serve as an incubator for a new generation of artists seeking to integrate technology into live performance and create art native to the digital realm. It will be a porous, indoor/outdoor space for creation, performance, and community engagement that speaks to the lessons we’ve learned during the pandemic about the need for community-building, and our innate connection with nature, which we at the Pillow treasure greatly.”

Nature made: Native plants, pollinators depicted in mural

May 5, 2023 By Admin in Native