El Malpais National Monument in the western part of New Mexico is home to a varied landscape that can be considered otherworldly. It’s known as the land of fire and ice for good reason: not only is it home to a large volcanic field but to caves that keep cold enough for ice to form. It’s a land of contrasts, a land of beauty, and a land of culture. In the areas surrounding this great national monument live Native American artists who will share their art and talents at the upcoming Fire and Ice Native American Art and Dance Gathering. Held May 20-21, 2023 at El Malpais National Monument, this is one event you won’t want to miss.

And, of course, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase art directly from the artists!

Will you attend the Fire and Ice Native American Art and Dance Gathering at El Malpais National Monument this May? For more information on this extraordinary cultural event, visit the National Park Service’s website.

Looking for a scenic drive? After visiting El Malpais National Monument, take a drive along the Grants to Quemado Scenic Drive — it’s truly breathtaking!

The 31st annual Indian Market and Festival returns to the Eiteljorg June 24-25. The celebration of Native cultures will feature more than 120 Native American and Canadian artists as well as music, dance and food. 

Visitors can shop for items including jewelry, pottery, paintings, beadwork, weavings and carvings and enjoy music, storytelling and dance performances. “Expressions of Life: Native Art in North America” will also be on exhibit in the Eiteljorg’s reimagined Native American Galleries.

“Since its inception in 1993, the annual Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market and Festival has grown in stature to become one of the top Native American art markets in the country, as well as a must-do event on the downtown Indianapolis summer calendar,” said Alisa Nordholt-Dean, vice president for public programs and Beeler family director of education at the Eiteljorg. “Artists, performers and thousands of market-goers and art buyers have come together at the Eiteljorg to celebrate Native arts and cultures.” 

Many of the artists will have entered their artwork into that weekend’s juried art competition. In order to show and sell their art at the festival, artists must be enrolled members of a federal or state-recognized tribe. 

Admission for the festival is free for Eiteljorg members. For non-members, tickets range from $20 to $25. For more info, go here. 

—Xain Ballenger

At this moment, as I write to you from Portland, it is a clear, sunny, 85 degree day. Ah, the sun! Welcome back! (I’m not jinxing it, trying to scare it off by naming its presence–I promise!) As the days grow longer and the sunlight lingers into the evening, nothing sounds better than strolling through the neighborhood, admiring the way that everything seems to come alive. Everything feels bright, vibrant, and oh so colorful. Many of the events this month also celebrate color and vibrancy through direct and formal approaches or through the wonderful textures it can enhance.

Also dear readers, happy Asian American and Pacific Island (AAPI) Heritage month! Since 2009, the month of May has officially been recognized as the month to celebrate the presence, histories, and resilience of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Island (including Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Native Hawaiian) communities. While I’ve included just a few events featuring or curated by Asian American artists in this month’s roundup, it is by no means comprehensive of the incredible and inspiring contributions of AAPI artists, curators, scholars, and organizers to Oregon’s visual arts scene. Hat’s off to you all, thank you for everything you bring to the table!

Recent Work
Yuji Hiratsuka
May 4 – May 27
Augen Gallery
716 NW Davis St, Portland (Tues – Sat 11:30am – 5pm, or by appointment)

Through a series of skillful intaglio prints, Yuji Hiratsuka thinks through multiple complex intersections: first, the material relationships between paper, ink, and the etched copper plates; second, the interplay of of figures and objects in space; and third, the cultural tradition of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and the imagery of the Western Hemisphere. Color and texture are not shy here, but orchestrated to generate wry satire and emotion in a world that feels surreal but tangible.

Fruit of My Past
Salomée Souag
April 21–May 28
Nationale
15 SE 22nd Ave, Portland (Thurs – Mon 12pm – 6pm)

Fruit of My Past may be Salomée Souag’s first solo gallery exhibition, but chances are high that you have already seen one of her many community murals–from Portland’s Arbor Lodge neighborhood to Hey Love at Jupiter Next to the Living School of Art in Gresham. The Peruvian-Algerian artist and designer originally from Switzerland (but currently residing and working in Portland) reflects on the softness of human connection and the shedding of shame through a new series of neo-transcendental paintings. The poetic, symmetrical forms (rendered using Pacific Northwest-foraged natural pigments and Conté crayon), evoke for Souag an elegant femininity through their form and fluidity. Their presence, then, reclaims space for womanhood that seeks healing and flourishing. 

Monuments
Emily Jung Miller
May 2 – June 23
Shirley Huffman Auditorium Gallery
150 E. Main Street, Hillsboro (Mon – Fri 8am – 5pm)

Processing the grief of her grandparents’ passing alongside the ongoing ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Emily Jung Miller has created a series of memorial objects and installations akin to commemorative offerings made of reclaimed materials and fishing gear. Rather than seeking the stoic permanency of traditional monuments, Miller embraces ephemerality with coiled rope baskets and moons of handmade paper embedded with kelp. Her objects are meant to live and breathe with us, cultivating a special space for empathy and kindness through the remembrance of lost loved ones.

The Homelands Collection, 3rd Edition
May 11 – June 1
Raven Makes Gallery
182 E. Hood Ave, Sisters (Thurs – Fri and Sun – Mon 11am – 4pm, Sat 10am – 5pm)

Drawing on the traditional Indigenous genre of ledger art, Raven Makes Gallery coordinates a showcase of contemporary Indigenous artists, brought together by a core medium approach: works of art done on original maps of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The expansive collection of approximately 90 works embodies what Native American Art Magazine describes as a move to “decolonize the map,” a visual conceptualization of the undoing of settler colonialism’s harsh (and violent) effects. 

FROM: TO: | :فرستنده: گیرنده
Mana Mehrabian
April 21 – June 3
East Gallery, Paragon Arts Gallery
815 N. Killingsworth St, Portland (Wed – Fri 12pm – 7 pm, Sat 12pm – 5pm)

Mana Mehrabian explores the precarity of transition through the use of mundane or commonplace materials. Recognizable objects like shipping boxes and computer screens transform into delicate messengers of memory, migration, and the question of home as Mehrabian reconstructs them from unexpected materials. Mehrabian’s visual language is at once minimal yet deeply poetic, expressing a complex intersection of longing and the troubles of merging cultures. 

Physical Education Basement Garage
Organized by Takahiro Yamamoto
April 28, 29, May 6, 12
Sator Projects
220 SE Market, Portland

Physical Education Basement Garage (PEBG) brings together an exciting group of artists, organized by Takahiro Yamamoto, in a series of events featuring performance, reading, sound art, film, and more–a casual offshoot stemming from Physical Education. Yamamoto invited participants to mine their art basements/garages (actual, mental, digital, or otherwise) for works that have been long stored, offering them an opportunity to present them for casual public enjoyment. PEBG also coincides with the Portland release of Yamamoto’s new book, NOTHINGBEING, based on the artist’s performance of the same title from last year’s TBA Festival. 

Sponsor

Jessica Poundstone and Leondra Brackett
May 5 – June 10
Multnomah Arts Center Gallery
7688 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland (Mon – Thurs 9am – 9:30pm, Fri – Sat 9am – 5pm)

In two very different but complementary styles, Jessica Poundstone and Leondra Brackett contemplate the sublime beauty of nature through colorful abstraction. Poundstone presents selections from her Superbloom collection, a series of color field prints inspired by extraordinarily abundant expanses of blooming wildflowers after long bouts of rainfall. Brackett presents more intimately-scaled watercolor paintings and books that begin as observational sketches she creates during her hikes and adventures through the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. 

Slow Gestures
Ellen George
May 3 – 29
PDX CONTEMPORARY ART
1825 NW Vaughn Street, Suite B, Portland (Tues – Sat 10am – 5pm)

Abstract painting has a way of evoking the body–not always literally, but often through a reminder of the way the body moves with the gestures and brush strokes in its creation. Ellen George focuses on this sensitivity and presence of the body in Slow Gestures, a series of paintings and metalpoint on wood panels. A convergence of her daily Tai Chi practice and her studio work, Slow Gestures stands as evidence of George’s moving meditations and focused attention.

45th Annual Photography at Oregon Exhibition and Auction, Second Exhibition
May 5 – June 1
Gallery at Dot Dotson’s 
1688 Willamette St, Eugene (Mon – Thurs 10am – 5:30pm)

Photography at Oregon (PAO), a nonprofit organization that has been bringing together photography exhibitions and events since 1966, presents a series of exhibitions featuring the work of local and internationally-renowned photographers from Eugene and Lane County, opening its second installment this month. The exhibitions coincide with their annual fundraising auction, with opportunities to bid on any of the entire collection available online until June 30. 

Artist Talk: Black Art/Ists Project Resident Talk (via Zoom)
May 4, 4pm – 5:30pm
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Online via Zoom and YouTube

Sitka Center welcomes six artists and practitioners for a collaborative residency this spring with a group conversation. Curated by 2021 resident Intisar Abioto for their current project Black Art/Ists, the cohort of Licity Collins, Silver, Akela Jaffi, Melanie Stevens, Mia O’Connor, and Abioto themself will offer brief presentations of the work as they prepare for their upcoming group residency at Sitka. The talk will be held online via Zoom, and will be recorded and posted to Sitka Center’s YouTube channel.

Artist Talk: Fabiola Menchelli & Heather Watkins
May 6, 11:30am
Reed College Chapel, Eliot Hall
3202 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland

As part of their current exhibition on display at Cooley Gallery, Dark Moves, Fabiola Menchelli and Heather Watkins will discuss their work through a conversation with curator Stephanie Snyder. Dark Moves was designed collaboratively by Snyder, Menchelli, and Watkins. Both artists are deeply interested in sensory and perceptual nuances, especially as they emerge through darkness and shadows. The work is an ethereal study in phenomenology, delighting the senses and toying with perception.

One last thing, as a little bonus! This is technically not in Oregon, however…

What Else is Here?
Lindsey Costello and Erika Callihan
April 14 – June 6
Sou’Wester Arts
3728 J Place, Seaview, WA

Our dear former VizArts Monthly columnist Lindsey Costello in collaboration with artist-friend Erika Callihan presents What Else is Here?, a body of site-responsive drawings, soundscapes, paintings, and textile works while in residence at Sou’Wester Arts. What Else is Here? thinks about the intersection and overlap of rest, trust, Annie Dillard’s writings, and the healing potential of nature. In conjunction, the exhibition also features 8mm diaristic nature films by Costello, screened in the Red Bus Theatre.

Moss Arts Center 2023-24 performances 

Brentano String Quartet with Hsin-Yun Huang, viola

Friday, Sept, 22, 7:30 p.m.

Having first performed at the Moss in 2014, the ensemble returns for the center’s anniversary season joined by leading violist and Juilliard faculty member Hsin-Yun Huang. The program includes Haydn’s string quartet, “The Bird;” Brahms’ exuberant “Quintet for Strings in G Major;” and the premiere of James MacMillan’s “Viola Quintet.”

“The Book of Life”

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m.

Rwandan writer and activist Odile Gakire “Kiki” Katese takes to the stage with Ingoma Nshya, the Women Drummers of Rwanda, for “The Book of Life,” a deeply moving perspective on life, loss, and recovery. The performance is filled with personal letters, stirring shadow puppetry, and joyous live drumming.

Mountain Stage with Kathy Mattea

Sunday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m.

Join Grammy-winning country and bluegrass star Kathy Mattea for an episode of “Mountain Stage” recorded live from the Fife Theatre. Airing on nearly 300 public radio stations across America, the radio show features musical performances from seasoned legends and emerging stars.

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily

“Love in Exile”

Saturday, Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Spellbinding vocalist Arooj Aftab is the first Pakistani American to win a Grammy, MacArthur genius Vijay Iyer is an influential pianist, and multi-instrumentalist/composer Shahzad Ismaily has performed with Lou Reed and Tom Waits. Together, they create timeless, one-of-a-kind performances of haunting collaborative soundscapes.

Winona LaDuke

“The Next Energy Economy”

Monday, Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m.

A Native American activist, economist, and author, Winona LaDuke has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous people’s rights and environmental justice. The grassroots organizer is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg and was a leader of the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

Garage Dance Ensemble

“Krummelpap, Scandals Wrapped with Prayer”

Thursday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m.

Garage Dance Ensemble from O’Kiep, South Africa, brings this deeply personal and socially charged contemporary dance-theatre work that captures the personal and political circumstances and aspirations of the people of South Africa’s former mining community, Namaqualand.  

Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, artistic director

Thursday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Experience the luminous and rich tones of Belgian early music vocal and instrumental ensemble Vox Luminis in this evening performance of Bach’s sacred, brilliant, and dazzling early cantatas.

Pink Martini featuring China Forbes

Friday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Audience favorite Pink Martini brings its infectious, bubbly sounds back to Blacksburg. With vintage jazz vibes, Pink Martini takes the audience on a musical trip around the world, from a samba parade in Rio to a French nightclub.

Javon Jackson with Nikki Giovanni and Nnenna Freelon

“The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni”

Friday, Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m.

A historic collaboration between poet and Virginia Tech legend Nikki Giovanni and saxophonist-composer and former Jazz Messenger Javon Jackson features hymns, spirituals, and gospel numbers hand-picked by Giovanni. They are joined by celebrated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon.

Seongbukdong Beedoolkee Theatre

“MEDEA on Media”

Wednesday, Nov. 8, and Thursday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.

This Seoul, Korea-based innovative contemporary theatre company delivers an original take on the enduring Greek tragedy “Medea,” recasting the ancient tale as a commentary on contemporary media. With plenty of physicality and a dash of silliness, “MEDEA on Media” is also clever and profound.

Invoke

Thursday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m.

Adding banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and voice to the string quartet, Invoke is reinventing classical music. Encompassing traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism, the vibrant ensemble is fueled by its passion for storytelling.

Deantoni Parks

Thursday, Nov. 30, 7 and 9 p.m.

Experimental composer and percussionist Deantoni Parks uses technology, hip-hop, sampling, and electronica to create sonic experiences. He has been a member of band Kudu and art rock group Bosnian Rainbows and has worked with John Cale, the Mars Volta, and other greats.

Roanoke Symphony Orchestra

“Holiday Pops Spectacular”

Saturday, Dec. 2, 4 p.m.

A much-anticipated audience favorite returns to the Moss, filling the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre with holiday cheer as only the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and its “Holiday Pops” program can. Audiences of all ages love this spirited holiday event.

Blacksburg Master Chorale

“Messiah”

Sunday, Dec. 17, 4 p.m.

The New River Valley’s own Blacksburg Master Chorale is joined by a professional orchestra and soloists to present one of the most iconic works of the holiday season, Handel’s “Messiah,” which features 80 singers performing the glorious and resounding “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Led by Grammy-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, America’s most famous big band Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returns with a program celebrating percussionist Max Roach. Considered one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, Roach used his music to address racial, political, and social issues.

Cirque Mechanics

“Zephyr: A Whirlwind of a Circus”

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m.

Cirque Mechanics makes a Moss encore with a fun-for-all-ages theatrical circus show inspired by the power of wind. “Zephyr” harnesses human power to generate an energetic experience, complete with a rotating windmill and breathtaking aerial acrobatics.

Mark Morris Dance Group

“The Look of Love”

Saturday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.

Internationally celebrated choreographer Mark Morris presents an evening-length homage to the legendary Burt Bacharach. Favorites such as “Walk on By” performed by a live, spirited band and Broadway vocalist propel Morris’ deceptively simple, yet glorious movement.

“An Evening with Elizabeth Kolbert”

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Longtime journalist with The New Yorker Elizabeth Kolbert has met with top scientists to get to the heart of the debate over global warming. Her book “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize.

Meshell Ndegeocello

Friday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.

Traversing soul, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, and rock, Grammy winner Meshell Ndegeocello has defied and redefined the expectations for women, queer artists, and Black music for over 30 years. She remains one of few women who write the music, sing the songs, and — bass in hand — lead the band.

Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw

and special guest Shodekeh

Wednesday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.

Multi-genre quartet Sō Percussion joins forces with two preeminent collaborators for an evening of music bridging the worlds of classical and pop. The program includes selections performed with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and groundbreaking breath artist, beat boxer, and composer Dominic Shodekeh.

Las Cafeteras

Tuesday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.

East Los Angeles Chicano indie-folk band Las Cafeteras has taken the music scene by storm with its infectious live performances. With jaranas and requintos (Mexican ukulele-sized guitars) and the rhythmic percussion created by dancing on a wood floor, Las Cafeteras remixes roots music as modern-day troubadours. 

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Thursday, April 4, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring only ukuleles and the voices of its performers, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returns to the Moss for an unforgettable evening. Fresh and entertaining, both modern and old-fashioned, the orchestra is best known for playing versions of famous rock songs and film themes, sometimes in amusing new ways.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

Saturday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.

An inspired blend of dance and impeccable humor, the world-class, all-male parody ballet company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo makes its Southwest Virginia debut. Dancing en pointe, the performers celebrate rather than mock the spirit of dance as an art form.

“Small Island, Big Song”

Wednesday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.

An inspiring multimedia concert confronts climate change as artists from Pacific and Indian Ocean nations blend traditions to create music celebrating the ways we are all connected. The result is a breathtakingly beautiful sound made by those who sing for the seas.

Bamberg Symphony

Jakub Hrůša, conductor

Hélène Grimaud, piano

Friday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

With a musical lineage stretching back to the 18th and 19th centuries — to Mahler and Mozart — Germany’s Bamberg Symphony is a favorite around the world. Its Moss debut features works by Brahms, Schumann, and Richard Wagner, one of the most revolutionary, emotional — and polarizing — figures in the history of music.

“An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr.”

Saturday, May 4, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

He wowed audiences in his breakout role as Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” and now Leslie Odom  Jr. comes to the Moss for an intimate musical evening. With a career spanning all performance genres, Odom has received recognition with Tony and Grammy awards as well as multiple Emmy and Oscar nominations for his achievements in Broadway, television, film, and music.

Purchase subscriptions

Subscriptions for the 2023-24 season offer discounted prices, priority seat selection, and first access to major events, including pre-sales for Broadway performances.

This year, there are four ways to subscribe:

Premier Plus Subscription includes 22 performances at a 25 percent discount off adult ticket prices and tickets for the two 2023-2024 “Broadway in Blacksburg” performances (titles announced this summer).

Premier Subscription features 22 performances at a 25 percent discount off adult ticket prices.

Gold Build Your Own Subscription allows for a 20 percent discount off the price of adult tickets for 12 or more performances.

Silver Build Your Own Subscription starts at just five performances at a 15 percent discount off ticket prices.

Student and youth tickets are always $10 per performance, including in subscriptions.

Subscriptions can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center’s box office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300. Currently, only subscription packages are available for purchase for the 2023-24 season. Tickets for individual performances will be available beginning Thursday, Aug. 3.

Note that Garage Dance Ensemble, “MEDEA on Media,” and Deantoni Parks are available as package add-ons with a discount.

An exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum features the works of international Indigenous artists who explore Indigenous history, culture and representation through a contemporary lens.

It’s called Native America: In Translation, which took three years to make.

The exhibition highlights 10 featured artists’ perspectives on community, identity, heritage and the legacy of colonialism on the American continents.

“The exhibition in my mind starts with this work by Marianne Nicolson. It’s a really large photograph; it’s on the wall at the bottom of the stairs as you come into the gallery space,” says Ariel Pate, the assistant curator of photography.

Paul Smith with the museum’s Native Initiatives Advisory Group for a tour.

Pate continued, “And it shows a cliff in sort of beautiful natural area, and there’s a really prominent painting on the face of the cliff.”

The image is 30-feet wide and 28-feet-tall and was originally painted in 1998.

“It’s located in Kingcome Inlet, which is in what we call British Columbia, but which is actually the ancestral homeland of the Dzawada’enuxw Nation. Marianne Nicolson is of that nation and this work really welcomes people into that territory of the Dzawada’enuxw people and lets them know that the Dzawada’enuxw people are there today,” says Pate.

Native America: In Translation is on display in the Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts, on the lower level of the Milwaukee Art Museum.

I followed Pate and Smith’s lead wherever they wanted to take me along the tour.

Next was a series of six photos by Alan Michelson. Paul Smith, with the museum’s Native Initiatives Advisory Group for a tour, has a personal connection to the images. He says they struck him.

“Being from the Oneida Nation, we are not sovereign to Wisconsin; we’re from New York and people don’t know our story a lot of times and how we ended up here in Wisconsin,” he says.

“People often don’t know that the Iroquois Nation, which the Oneida nation is a part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, that we [Oneida] were the United States’ first military ally. And that allyship between the Oneida and the United States broke up our confederacy. The other nations in the confederacy sided with the British,” Smith explains. “The Oneida were the only one of the confederacy to side with the Americans. After the Revolutionary War, the Oneida helped with the victory over the British quite decisively over in upstate New York area, and you can see how that relationship devolved in these pictures.”

Smith says the images show in sequence, “From being Upstate New York, to signs celebrating the Army destroying our villages, and the movement, and the fire, the treaties broken and then our Wampum belt.”

Pate describes the painting at its significance. “So, it’s a work that’s six panels, and each of them a different image is projected onto a bust of George Washington,” Pate says. “Sort of taking this, you know, figure from American history and projecting historical documents on it that reflect this really tortured relationship between the Iroquois Nation and America.”

Both Pate and Smith say not enough people in Wisconsin know this history.

Further inside the gallery there is a room full of photos by Martine Gutierrez.

The images are from a fashion magazine she created in 2018 called Indigenous Woman.

“It’s big. It’s really colorful. The cover looks just like Andy Warhol’s interview. There’s a lot of like really glamorous images in it and Martine made this because she felt that as a trans Latinx woman no one was going to put her on the cover of a Paris fashion magazine, so she needed to make her own,” says Pate.

Pate says in each of the photos, Gutierrez is the model, the stylist, the photographer and the editor.

“And also a woman of Indigenous descent and sort of thinking about how we think about Indigeneity as authenticity. And you know as a trans woman she really works hard to have people acknowledge her as who her identity is and have people take her for who she is,” says Pate.

Pate and Smith agree that this exhibit is historic.

It showcases Indigenous people in media in a contemporary fashion from Indigenous perspectives, versus as just historic figures. And they hope Native audiences who see the show feel welcome to the museum.

Native America: In Translation is on display until June 25.

Details

By Stacy Thacker

May 03, 2023

Larrisa Fasthorse found her voice and her superpower through being a playwright. 

On April 20, Fasthorse (Sicangu Lakota) became the first Native American woman playwright produced on Broadway with the debut of her original work, “The Thanksgiving Play.”

The play — starring D’Arcy Carden, Katie Finneran, Scott Foley and Chris Sullivan— tells the story of four white presenting people attempting to devise a culturally sensitive first Thanksgiving play for Native American Heritage Month. The characters try so hard to do everything right that they do everything wrong, Fasthorse said. 

Fasthorse says she wanted to challenge herself to write a play about contemporary Indigenous issues through white presenting characters. 

This play is also an opportunity for people to come together and enjoy being in a space where they can share laughter, happiness, joy, and truth, she said. 

“I’m really happy with it and how it came out and the things it deals with,” Fasthorse said. “As Native people, a lot of the history that I’m talking about in this play, we know it. It’s not news to us. It’s news to everybody else.”

When Fasthorse started working in film and television 15 years ago, she was frustrated with the inaccurate representation of Indigenous people. 

Shows like Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs that depict contemporary Native life with Indigenous-specific humor with Native actors weren’t around back then. 

“I sold a couple of shows, but they were just getting watered down the way they’re portraying Indigenous people, and I didn’t have the power to change that,” Fasthorse said. “In film and TV, the studios own your work — you don’t. So, they can change whatever they want.” 

But then Fasthorse was commissioned to do her first play in 2012 and everything took a positive turn. 

“I was really excited because the theater was willing to do things right, to hire Indigenous consults, to hire language consultants, hire other Indigenous artists to work around the show,” she said.  

Fasthorse grew up in South Dakota, where at a year old, she was adopted by a white family. Her adoptive parents worked to help her keep a connection to her Lakota culture and people.  

“But growing up, that’s hard — you are separate, and I always worried about not being enough of anything,” Fasthorse said. “Not being enough white, not being enough Lakota, all the things.”

Not feeling enough and being stuck in between was reinforced when a casting director in California told her it was a problem that she wasn’t quite white — and they could tell. 

“Now I realize how much that’s my superpower,” she said. “I’m a bridge. I’m a bridge that can translate between cultures,” she said, adding she can take contemporary and historical issues and translate them for a white audience and weave in Lakota storytelling.

“I was really fortunate as a Native playwright around the country to be working quite a bit, getting commissions and having them produced,” she said. “But then I couldn’t get second and third productions; my plays would just kind of be once and be done.”

The process grew increasingly frustrating, and the fight to hire Indigenous actors also became an issue. But eventually, she says, she cracked the formula, and “The Thanksgiving Play” opened doors. 

Fasthorse describes “The Thanksgiving Play” as a dark satirical comedy that depicts historical events accurately. 

She added the Indigenous crew found the truth and humor in the story to be a relief. 

Although her plays tell historical truths, Fasthorse emphasizes that her primary aim is to create art. 

“A lot of my art does educate, but it’s first and foremost art,” she said. “It is not education.” 

Her first writing mentor, Merata Mita, a Māori filmmaker, producer and writer from New Zealand who passed away in 2010, told her that she could either be an artist or an educator, Fasthorse said. 

“Now, some art educates, and some education is artistic,” Fasthorse said. “But you have to choose which one you are. So, I’m very much an artist.”

Fasthorse encourages Indigenous artists to stay true to who they are/

“Everybody has to find their people and if you aren’t being true to who you are and your voice, your people can’t find you,” Fasthorse said. “Your voice is something they don’t have and if you don’t stay true to that, the people who love what you have can’t find you. If you try to please everyone, you will please no one, including yourself, most importantly yourself.”  

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Celebrate spring and early summer with these art exhibitions and events around the West and beyond.

Through May 14
Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe

Tracing Oscar Howe’s career and development from early conventional work through the emergence of his innovative abstract approach to painting, this exhibition introduces new generations to one of the 20th century’s most important Native American painters. It travels to South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota, June 10–September 17. Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 503.221.2811, portlandartmuseum.org.

Oscar Howe; Umine Dance; 1958; casein and gouache on paper, mounted to board; 18” x 22”. Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.

Through May 19
Vitality and Continuity: Art in the Experiences of Anishinaabe, Inuit, and Pueblo Women

Rooted in contemporary and historical artworks, this traveling exhibition celebrates some of the critical roles Anishinaabe, Inuit, and Pueblo women fulfill in their families, communities, and the art world, exploring themes like mothering, making, art-world success, spirituality, and continuity in visual culture across generations. It travels to the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum in Saginaw, Michigan, September 22, 2023–January 6, 2024. The Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, Michigan, 231.995.1055, dennosmuseum.org.

Lois Beardslee; Potty Training on Dixon Island, 2001. Acrylic paint, blue and black ballpoint pen ink, gel pen ink of multiple colors on paper. (Photo credit: Bonifas Art Center/Purchased by Ann Stack directly from the artist for Bonifas Art Center’s permanent collection)

Through May 21
Morning Light: Photographs of David H. Gibson

Dallas photographer David H. Gibson has been capturing the beauty of the Southwestern landscape for more than 50 years. This exhibition takes visitors to two of his favorite sites: Cypress Creek in Wimberley, Texas, and Eagle Nest Lake, in the mountains east of Taos, New Mexico. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 817.738.1933, cartermuseum.org.

David H. Gibson; Sunrise Moments, Eagle Nest Lake, New Mexico, August 31, 2021, 6:37:48 AM; inkjet print. (Photo credit: Courtesy of the artist)

Through May 21
William Herbert “Buck” Dunton: A Mainer Goes West

Clad in a 10-gallon hat, cowboy boots, and chaps, Maine native William Herbert Dunton created paintings of frontiersmen firmly cemented in the historical genre of the American West. Through his works, Dunton, a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, created a mythology of the West, focusing on the romantic geographic and cultural Southwest landscapes. Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico, 575.758.9826, harwoodmuseum.org.

William Herbert Dunton, My Children, 1920, oil on canvas, 50” x 60”. Collection of Museum of New Mexico. Gift of a friend, 1927 (351.23P) (Photo credit: Blair Clark)

Through May 31
Hopi Quilts

The craft of quilting was introduced to Hopi in the latter half of the 19th century. From its initial adoption by the Hopi, quilting became an important craft. This exhibition features work by 11 contemporary Hopi artists. Hand-painted designs appear on many of the quilt blocks. Amerind Museum, Dragoon, Arizona, 520.586.3666, amerind.org.

Bonnie Nampeyo, Butterfly Maiden-Palikmana, 2020, cotton fabric with paint, 26” x 28.5”. (Courtesy of the Amerind permanent collection)

Through May 28
Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery

Curated by the Native American communities it represents, this traveling exhibition features more than 100 historic and contemporary works in clay and offers a visionary understanding of Pueblo pots as vessels of community-based knowledge and personal experience. It is on view in New York City at the Metropolitan Art Museum, June 23, 2023–June 24, 2024. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Santa Fe, 505.476.1269, miaclab.org.

Through July 2
Nampeyo and the Sikyátki Revival

This installation of 32 pots celebrating the artistic ingenuity of famed Tewa-Hopi potter Nampeyo (ca. 1860–1942) is juxtaposed with examples of Hopi pottery from her time. de Young Museum, San Francisco, 415.750.3600, deyoung.famsf.org.

Through July 3
Contemporary Native Art 101

A visual review of contemporary Native art from 1875 to today, this exhibition focuses on its developments in painting, sculpture, prints, installations, and other multimedia. Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, 317.636.9378, eiteljorg.org.

Through July 23
Ansel Adams in our Time

See more than a 100 photographic masterworks by Ansel Adams alongside the world of 23 contemporary photographers who reflect his influence. The show includes some of Adams’ most famous works, including an image of Yosemite’s Half Dome under the moon. de Young Museum, San Francisco, 415.750.3600, famsf.org.

May 26 – 28
Texas Masters of Fine Art and Craft Invitational Exhibition

Returning with its treasure trove of superb quality jewelry, pottery, painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving, furniture, rock art, and more, this group show of award-winning Texas master artists and craftspeople celebrates its 20th anniversary at this location. Y.O. Ranch Resort Hotel, Kerrville, Texas, 469.223.4162, texasmasters.com.

Sherry Steele, Red River Crossing, pen & ink, 20” x 17.5”.

May 27 – 28
Native Treasures: A MIAC Art Market

This annual event presents artwork from more than 200 juried Native American artists, in a wide range of art forms from traditional to contemporary and honors its 2023 Living Treasure, jeweler Anthony Lovato (Santo Domingo Pueblo). Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Santa Fe, 505.476.1269, miaclab.org.

May 27 – 29
Western Art Show & Sale

A longstanding Memorial Day weekend tradition, this annual event features artwork by outstanding Western artists in a wide variety of mediums. A miniature masterpiece show and sale, plus an artist award ceremony on Sunday, are among the special events. Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona, 928.778.1385, phippenartmuseum.org.

June 1 – 3
Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival

This celebration of Native art and culture features an art market offering artistic creations by some of America’s most celebrated Native artists as well as artist demonstrations and competitions, hands-on arts and craft stations, live music, and special dance performances. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, 405.427.5228, redearth.org/pages/upcoming-festival.

June 9 – 10
Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale

With works by some of today’s finest Western artists on exhibit June 2–August 6 and art sale weekend June 9–10, the show includes works ranging from historical subject matter to more contemporary and impressionistic expressions of the West. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, 405.478.2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

June 10 – 11
American Indian Arts Marketplace

The largest Native arts fair in Southern California offers one-of-a-kind artwork, jewelry, and fashion from top Indigenous artists as well as the popular annual Native Voices short-play festival. Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, 323.667.2700, theautry.org.

June 17
Plein Air Fest, Etc.

Painting en plein air, more than 40 invited artists are given one day to capture the beauty of the National Elk Refuge from the museum’s Sculpture Trail. Visitors and collectors are welcome to browse and bid on the fresh artworks, which will be sold by silent auction later in the day. National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming, 307.733.5771, wildlifeart.org.

June 24 – 25
Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival

At this 31st annual Indian market and festival, more than 140 Native artists will show and sell their artwork—from paintings and carvings to jewelry, pottery, beadwork, weavings, and more. Enjoy Indian fry bread and cultural performances, including music, dance, and storytelling, as well as family art-making activities. Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, 317.636.9378, eiteljorg.org

To learn more about the many art events and exhibitions coming up this spring, grab your own copy of our May/June 2023 issue on newsstands now or right here.