The Playwrights Realm has opened submissions for its second Native American Artists Lab, with an application deadline Monday, March 11th, 2024. The program, which began in 2022 with artists Sean-Joseph Choo and Moki Bear Eagle, supports the development of specific works as well as  the careers of Native Artists. 

With NAAL, the organization seeks to uplift artists from Domestic Nations and projects rooted in Native practices. In an effort to meet Native American Artists where they are, dismantle biases, and create a welcoming space, NAAL submissions are open to teams with multiple authors and generative artists who don’t identify with the label “playwright.” This program is open to both aspiring and emerging artists in order to support both people who are considering theater as a career and those who have begun their careers already. The finalists for Native American Artists Lab will be chosen by a panel of Native American artists—Tuscarora playwright Vickie Ramirez, Mohegan stage director, playwright, and performer Madeline Sayet, and Navajo playwright, filmmaker, director, performer, and producer Rhiana Yazzie—and will then be interviewed by Realm Artistic Staff.

The program offers individualized attention to recipients and provides further support depending on the desires of participants, including but not limited to design consultations, individualized mentorship, and industry networking. A paid developmental process of up to one week culminates in a reading in New York City, with the Native Artistic Team choosing whether the reading is internal or public. 

2022/23 NAAL artist Sean-Joseph Choo says of the experience, “Working with the Realm felt like a dream: here I was in the heart of Manhattan with a group of Hawaiʻi/Oceania folx, with a Hawaiian director, telling a Hawaiian story. Going through this new work development process at the Realm was so helpful in shaping my ideas for imagining doing similar work back home in Hawaiʻi.”

2022/23 NAAL Artist Moki Bear Eagle says, “I am a Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota who wrote a story, and ended up traveling to New York City, where Playwrights Realm is based and where our staged readings took place. I have been reflecting on how somewhere far across this land, someone thought my voice & story were important; someone actively wanted Native voices to have an experience like this. I came away from this program with many new experiences to learn and grow from. I am grateful. Pilamayayapelo.”

For the readings, NAAL artists are connected with a professional team of collaborators, including actors, directors, and Realm artistic staff. The Realm works with a casting director to help the team find a cast and can facilitate introductions to directors or other types of collaborators. The program offers dramaturgical development (including consultation with a culturally specific dramaturg, if desired) and discussion with the Realm’s artistic staff prior to and following the reading. 

Online playwright group meetings and communal activities provide a chance for the two artists (or teams) to engage with each other and each other’s work and with the co-facilitators of the program: Yazzie, Ramirez, and The Playwrights Realm artistic director Katherine Kovner. In addition to stipends, all housing and transport costs for NAAL playwrights/teams’ participation in readings will be paid by The Playwrights Realm.

The Playwrights Realm also opened submissions to its Writing Fellowship (which awards four early-career playwrights with nine months of resources, workshops, and feedback designed to help them reach their professional and artistic goals) and Scratchpad Series (which opens The Realm’s doors to early-career playwrights from across the country) on January 8. (The application deadline for both is Monday, February 5th, 2024 at 11:59pm ET.) 

The Museum of Contemporary Photography’s newest exhibition features a variety of art done by nine Native artists exploring heritage, community and colonialism. 

“Native America: In Translation” is the first exhibit of its kind at the campus museum.

“We haven’t done a show that’s been primarily by Native artists. So it felt like time to do that, to address that,” said Deputy Director Karen Irvine, also the chief curator.

The traveling exhibition, organized by Aperture and curated by Wendy Red Star, is at the museum in Columbia College Chicago’s 600 S. Michigan building and will run until May 12. 

Red Star is an Apsáalooke, or Crow, multimedia artist who lives in Portland, Oregon.

Throughout the exhibit, there are a variety of photographic mediums from large prints and polaroids to a large projector installation. 

“It’s very dynamic,” Irvine said. “There are kind of two layers to it, of course, one is celebratory. A lot of the artists in the show are looking at indigenous traditions, native histories, cultural traditions and emphasizing those and sharing those with the public.”

The other layer addresses a darker time.

“Then of course, there’s also a layer that’s very critical, particularly of US colonialism, and settlers who came to these lands and overtook them,” Irvine added. “So a lot of the artists are looking back at those very fraught and traumatic histories.”

Alicia Le Rigoleur, from Bretagne, France, who was visiting Chicago for the first time, said she visited the museum in order to learn more about American culture through the lens of Native Americans. 

“I really like the first pictures we can see on the first floor about those women,” Le Rigoleur said in reference to work done by artist Martine Guiterrez, a queer artist of Mayan heritage who has editorial pieces hung on the walls, some pulled from a magazine spread exploring the origins of gender, heritage and narrative.

“I liked the fact that the photographer said, oh, yeah, ‘we will not be in Paris fashion magazines so I’m going to create my own,” Le Rigoleur said. She added that it’s important to see other women representing themselves as they are so those were some of her favorite pieces.

The gallery is divided by three levels and attendees are able to view the exhibit in any order they choose, reflecting as they go.

A piece by Marianne Nicolson projects light through etched glass, creating symbols on the floor that represent varying aspects of Kwakwaka’wakw and Dzawada’enuxw culture and their relationship to their land.

“This is a very new and different piece from what we usually do,” said Ren Andujar, a senior photography major and gallery assistant at MOCP. “So it was really fun to have to figure out how we set it up and how we get the light to project the image correctly.”

Student workers at the gallery are responsible for helping hang the art, deciding the formation of pieces, painting the walls and assisting with everything that goes into the installation process.

“I like to think that art can communicate in ways that other mediums can’t, that more traditional vehicles for information cannot,” Irvine said. “Then there’s an opportunity for sharing and conversation around a lot of the topics that art addresses.”

Related

MISSOULA, Mont. — Native artist Lyle Omeasoo was selected to create a Native American logo for the University of Montana’s participation in Nike’s 7 program, N7.

Omeasoo is from Browning and is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation (Piikani) and Cree tribes.

His logo will appear on the basketball team’s shooting shirts at UM’s N7 games.

For Montana’s N7 games, the Lady Griz take on Sacramento State at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the Grizzlies play Eastern Washington at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3.

The University of Montana released the following:

Ever since he was a kid, Lyle Omeasoo has been a doodler. Mostly pencil on paper, and always during class.

Omeasoo, from Browning and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation (Piikani) and Cree tribes, now has his artwork on sweatshirts and T-shirts.

That’s because the Blackfoot artist was selected to create a Native American logo for the University of Montana’s participation in Nike’s 7 program, or N7.

The Nike retail initiative encourages Indigenous youth to participate in sports and recreational activities.

Omeasoo’s logo also will appear on the basketball teams’ shooting shirts at UM’s N7 games in the Adams Center. The Griz and Lady Griz uniforms are custom turquoise, a color of great meaning and significance for many Indigenous cultures.

When asked what it feels like to see his art represent Native culture and basketball in Montana, Omeasoo said, “It feels like a dream. To see young people wearing the design with pride means something.”

Omeasoo, a decedent of artists and medicine people, said that art and culture go hand-in-hand when it comes to the roots of Indian culture. That’s why he said his art has been nurtured over the years by teachers and family members, who spotted his talent early on.

“I had great teachers at every grade level that showed me things,” he said, recounting his teachers by name, like Bill Hannah, Omeasoo’s high school art teacher, who taught him how to work with charcoal, acrylic and oil paints and silk screen printing. Later on, friends like renowned Native artist David Dragonfly mentored Omeasoo in ways to present at Native art shows.

“At the time, I didn’t even have a blanket or a chair for these art shows,” he said.

Omeasoo, now a staple in the Native art market, represents the Blackfeet tribe in acrylic works depicting landscapes and portraits. He has connections to regional museums, including current work like a life-sized acrylic of the late Earl Old Person on display in the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls.

When asked to be the N7 artist this year, Omeasoo did what came naturally: doodling.

“I thought about it for a long time,” he said. “It took awhile and I kind of got stuck there, so I kept thinking about it, jotted things on paper and little doodles here and there.”

The result is a circular design that Omeasoo said represents the circle of life. The circle includes four distinct sections, representing the four directions and seasons. The design also resembles a medicine wheel, used in many traditional ceremonies.

The four feathers are significant, too.

“No matter what kind of Indian you are, you’re always going to understand the representation of a feather,” he said. “Feathers were given out after war parties. If you were successful, the elders would honor you with a feather.”

Omeasoo said the porcupine quill in the center of the feather, evident in the logo, is unique to most Plains Indian tribes.

“Many tribes dye them different colors, and they were always present in our bundles and pipes,” he said.

Omeasoo’s reverence for tribal ceremony inspires all of his artwork. His mother was full blood and decedent of the Kickingwoman family, who are medicine people.

“My parents, Molly and George, were our community’s bundle holders for ceremony, so I’ve been around them my whole life,” he said.

His connection to UM might even go deeper. After all, three of his children are UM graduates, the most recent being Mariah Omeasoo, Omeasoo’s daughter. Marcus and Brandon are UM alumni and son Vince received his bachelor’s degree and MBA from UM, too. His youngest son, LeBron, is in his first year at UM.

“The University has been good to us,” he said. “We’re very proud of our children.”

Omeasoo also understands the deep tradition of basketball across Indian Country – which is at the heart of the N7 mission.

“Basketball on the reservation is crazy,” Omeasoo said. “Everybody looks forward to games in these communities. It doesn’t even matter if teams win, the community is always going to support their youth.”

Every one of Omeasoo’s sons played high school basketball, and he lists a long line of cousins and family members who ran cross-country and played basketball, many of them setting state high school records and earning championships.

“Running and basketball come naturally to the Blackfeet,” Omeasoo said. “So, it’s kind of full circle to me to get to the be the artist for the N7.”

More than 300 prospective students will attend UM’s N7 games, and UM is busing attendees and students from Missoula County Public Schools, Browning, Pablo, Polson and Arlee.

The officially licensed Nike Griz gear featuring Omeasoo’s logo is already for sale. The gear can be found online and in UM’s Go Griz Store (formally the Bookstore), The M Store, Scheels, Universal Athletics and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Licensing proceeds from this year’s Nike N7 products benefit the Chief Earl Old Person Kyiyo Pow Wow fund, which supports the historic Kyiyo Pow Wow Celebration.

UM will host N7 basketball games over the next two years. Upcoming games will be an opportunity for the University to celebrate the contributions of its Native American students, employees and student athletes. The games will feature a display of Montana’s tribal flags and a halftime Indigenous dance performance.

Montana’s N7 games will see the Lady Griz take on Sacramento State at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, and the men’s team will play Eastern Washington at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3.

In a square block of New York City’s Chinatown is Collect Pond Park — home to a small reflecting pool and centuries of Indigenous history. 

The park was once the site of a sprawling body of water that served as a gathering place for the Lenape. Manhattan, which comes from the Lenape word Manahatta for the place where we get the wood to make the bows, is their homeland.

“The area would be completely different from today,” Alan Michelson, a Manhattan-based Mohawk artist and a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, told Unreserved. “So you might get, you know, a mixture of different kinds of fish and different kinds of animals.”

“And then there was singing and drumming, and it was probably a really nice, sheltered place to feast on oysters.”

New York City has one of the largest urban populations of Indigenous people in the United States, but that history has been largely hidden — and artists, researchers and community leaders are working to shed light on it.

Michelson is among them. 

The Indigenous history at Collect Pond Park has long been covered by pavement. But in 1990, Michelson introduced his temporary installation, Earth’s Eye, at the park, which traced the contours of the once vibrant and important pond. 

“When we go down there, we’re just basically walking on what used to be a pond. It’s sort of a grave, you know?”

‘It still is our homeland’

Walking through the city, alongside its concrete skyscrapers, Brent Michael Davids, a Munsee-Lenape and Mohican composer, says he feels a deep connection to New York’s Lenape roots.

“I see it all as, you know, Lenapehoking. It never stopped being Lenapehoking.” 

Lenapehoking translates to “Lenape homeland,” which encompasses all of present-day Manhattan and part of Long Island, and stretches into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Lenape were violently displaced from the area over the course of 400 years. Today, the Lenape diaspora includes five federally recognized nations in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ontario.

Davids was inspired by his colleagues at Lenape Center, an advocacy group based in Manhattan, to write Lenapehoking, a song about Lenape presence in New York City.

“We were thinking, you know, what would it be like for a Lenape person to come back to the city?” said Davids, who is a co-director of Lenape Center.

“Most people, I’m not even sure they’re aware Lenape are still around.” 

Mohawk ironworkers help build NYC

Though colonization forced many Lenape out of Manhattan in the 1600s, there’s a misconception that Indigenous people didn’t exist in the city as it developed, says researcher Allan Downey. 

“American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries held that these spaces, like New York City and other urban environments, were antithetical to Indigenous existence and largely void of Indigenous presence,” said Downey, a member of Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation and an associate professor of history at McMaster University.

“But we know that’s not true.”

Indigenous people have had an indelible impact on the skyline of New York City, helping to build it into the metropolis it is today. 

Mohawk ironworkers, for example, were instrumental in the construction of landmarks like the Empire State Building, United Nations headquarters and World Trade Centers.

“When we look at the New York City skyline, I think it could be a kind of a triggering device to recognize the contribution and presence of not only Indigenous peoples, but the ways in which they articulate their identities, their self-determination, their nationhood and their sovereignty,” he said.

Part of that contemporary history of Indigenous presence includes Little Caughnawaga (the anglicization of Kahnawake), a community formed by the Mohawk ironworkers in the borough of Brooklyn throughout the 20th century.

As they gained work in New York City, they invited their friends and family to join them, Downey said.

“From the late 1920s into the 1950s, what we see is approximately 700 Indigenous, Kahnawake individuals specifically, end up moving into this community,” he said.

WATCH | Indigenous history in an iconic photograph:

How Indigenous ironworkers helped build New York City’s skyline

7 days ago

Duration 1:10

Allan Downey reveals the hidden Indigenous story behind one of the most famous photos in American history — one that helps us understand the NYC skyline. Downey is a member of Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation and a professor of history at McMaster University.

They weren’t only ironworkers. Indigenous women, who moved there on their own accord, were employed in factories, hospitals and on Wall Street.

A Presbyterian Church, where Sunday school was taught in Mohawk, and several taverns became hubs for the community, helping them find jobs and connect with their family by phone outside the city.

While gentrification largely pushed the community’s blue collar workers out, Mohawk ironworkers continued shaping the city’s skyline for decades to come.

“It’s this incredible story about how nationhood kind of moved and became redefined in a new area, a new space,” Downey said.

Indigenous advocacy

Near Times Square, the American Indian Community House (AICH) aims to be a hub for Indigenous people in the city today.

“It’s an exciting time. You know, we’re trying to be more visible in [the] United States in general, and to have a space in Midtown … it’s helpful for us and our people to know that there’s a place to go to, that they can be around the community.”

Tarrant grew up at AICH, or H as she calls it. The organization was founded in 1969 and today serves over 70 tribes. Programming hosted by AICH teaches Native American history and culture — things Tarrant says weren’t taught in school — and the events are open to all, not just Indigenous people.

“We do a lot of advocacy and awareness of Native Americans,” she said, noting the large population of Indigenous people in New York City.

“So, you know, we are here, but it’s hard to be seen when you’re less than one per cent of people here.”

They’re also working with school districts in New York City to gather data about Indigenous students during enrolment. “That way we know who these Native students are,” said Tarrant, who hopes to support them through AICH. 

Ultimately, she hopes to bring a public kitchen and performance programs back to AICH, while also creating new programs to help young people develop technology skills.

“My hope for the community house … is to have a space that is centrally located, that is a drop-in centre basically, that people can just come by and use the space how they need it.”

‘We’ve managed to hang on’

In the decades since Earth’s Eye at Collect Pond Park, Michelson’s work has been exhibited in galleries like the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art PS1. 

Through his art, Michelson continues to uncover the city’s Indigenous history.

“I really love New York as it is, but I can’t help but think of it as it was,” he said. 

“An Indigenous presence has been attempted to be completely erased. But, you know, we’ve managed to hang on.”

This story is part of a travel series from Unreserved called Unmapped. The series invites us to look for the Indigenous presence in some of the most iconic travel destinations around the world. Meet the people who are nurturing community and raising the visibility of Indigenous pasts, presents and futures.

Indigenous art forms come in many forms. Crafts, music, dance, rituals, and whatnot. Unfortunately, overtime, these artforms lose their special place in the hearts of people. The artforms that are important for preserving traditions and connecting communities to their roots, are facing setbacks in the face and competition of mass-produced goods. Protecting these expressions is important to maintain cultural identity, share knowledge and resist cultural erosion.
Here we list 7 simple ways everyone can contribute towards protecting our indigenous and authentic crafts.

T. Lulani Arquette (left), outgoing president and CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and Shyla Spicer, the group’s new president and CEO. Photos courtesy NACF.

The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, a national group based in Portland, has hired a new president and chief executive officer following a nine-month search. Shyla Spicer (Yakama) will take on the dual post, replacing founding President/CEO T. Lulani Arquette (Kanaka ‘Ōiwi [Native Hawaiian]), who is leaving after 15 years.

Spicer, who grew up in Portland, has been executive director of the Suquamish Tribe in Washington state, and has worked in global marketing, technology, and supply chain operations at Nike. She has an MBA degree from the University of Portland, has been on the board of the Portland tri-county area’s Regional Arts and Culture Council, and is a board member of the Chief Seattle Club.

The search committee that chose Spicer was led by NACF Board Chair Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation; former U.S. Poet Laureate) and Board Treasurer Raymond Foxworth (Navajo Nation), with the firm Koya Partners LLC.

“I am honored to join the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, an organization that has been a beacon of support for Native artists,” Spicer said in a news release. “I look forward to building upon the incredible legacy left by Lulani Arquette and working collaboratively to amplify the impact of Native arts and cultures.”

Arquette, who has a theater background, is leaving NACF to pursue her own creative projects. She’ll be available for consultation through April to help ensure a smooth transition. “I’m thrilled that Shyla has joined NACF as the new President/CEO,” she said in the new release. “Her friendly, thoughtful approach and careful listening skills have already benefited staff, board, and colleagues in positive ways. … I truly believe Shyla’s numerous talents and skills will greatly contribute to Native arts and cultures, Indigenous artists, and our communities in wonderfully new and impactful ways.”

The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, which had been based in Vancouver, Wash., moved to Portland in 2021 when the Yale Union contemporary arts center disbanded and deeded its building at 800 S.E. 10th Ave. to NACF: Robert Ham wrote for ArtsWatch about the transfer here. The group is in the midst of remodeling plans, which Spicer will help carry through.

Sponsor

The NACF supports artists and American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities in a variety of ways, from early-career support for Native artists to mentorships, retreats, project grants, and more. In its 15 years it’s supported nearly 400 artists and arts organizations in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

It also presents exhibitions, such as 2023’s show by Native Alaskan artists exploring violence against Native women and other cultural issues, Protection: Adaptation & Resilience, which Beth Sorensen wrote about here. And in 2022 it published The Larger Voice, an anthology of work by Native writers, which was edited by poet Rena Priest (Lhaq’temish [Lummi] Nation), who at the time was Poet Laureate of Washington state.

Dale Claude Lamphere’s tribute to Native peoples also celebrates the beauty of the Great Plains.

She stands with her back to the wind and her face to the morning sun, and the diamonds in the star quilt she has wrapped around her shine like pieces of the night sky. She is Dignity of Earth and Sky, sculptor Dale Claude Lamphere’s celebration of Dakota and Lakota women and the Plains world they inhabit. 

The 50-foot-tall sculpture of fabricated stainless steel stands just off Interstate 90 on the east bluff of the Missouri River near Chamberlain, South Dakota — the very heart of one of the two states named for the Dakota and Lakota people. 

“A gentleman came to me and wanted to do something to acknowledge the Native nations we have here in South Dakota,” says Lamphere, who has a studio at the edge of the Black Hills near Sturgis, South Dakota. “He wanted it to be Native and a woman. Beyond that, there were no instructions.”

Dignity wears a garment patterned after a two-hide dress of the 1850s and holds an outstretched quilt with 128 stainless steel blue diamond shapes designed to flutter in the wind.

Lamphere, who is white, was hesitant. Appointed South Dakota Artist Laureate in 2015 (a post formerly held by the late great Dakota artist Oscar Howe), he has been criticized when he has occasionally done pieces that feature Native people. 

Lakota artist Dwayne Wilcox, who is also a South Dakotan, says Lamphere is a talented artist, bar none. But, he says, creating monumental pieces on behalf of Native Americans seems to satisfy South Dakota’s need to acknowledge Native Americans while letting the mainstream culture handle the memory. “This is a hot topic in the South Dakota Native art world for the simple fact we don’t have that kind of skill or finance to sculpt such a large-scale project,” Wilcox says. “I don’t see a project of this magnitude ever being offered to us because of the financial burden it would bring to the artist.” 

Lamphere acknowledges there’s a dilemma. “There’s a movement today, and rightly so, that Native artwork ought to be done by Native people,” he says. But then he thought about what could be done if he accepted the commission.

“As I began exploring the subject, I realized the design 

possibilities of a star quilt were really exciting. A star quilt is a very important symbolic element in their culture. When a child is born, they wrap them in a star quilt, with the understanding that they have come down from the stars, and so the star quilt makes them feel more at home. And as they go on in life, whenever there’s a significant accomplishment, they give them a star quilt to honor that occasion.”

So he began to draw using the star quilt. “Then I contacted a Lakota friend of mine and wrapped her in a star quilt and went out on a windy day and began to design the sculpture.”

After five or six drawings, Lamphere moved on to a small clay maquette, and then eventually to a larger clay maquette. “It was 5 feet tall, and the ultimate work is 50 feet tall, so it made an easy translation.” The finished sculpture weighs 12 tons. It’s made of hundreds of pieces of stainless steel, including 128 diamonds for the quilt. 

He ended up using three Native women for models: one in her 50s, one at the threshold of her 30s, and one a teenager. “I didn’t want to represent any one Native person but rather distill the essential characteristics and elements of their countenance and movement,” Lamphere says. 

He also contemplated the location and placement. “I always consider the environment when working on these large-scale works,” he says. “In our Great Plains region, the prevailing wind is from the northwest, so I placed the back of the piece to that direction. I like to show as much interaction and integration with the environment as possible, so the dress is windswept, and the wind and sun can move through the piece. The diamonds are offset and there’s a slight bit of movement to them so it’s really part of the environment. As I came to consider what colors to use in the star quilt, I picked up the colors of the water and the sky that are immediately adjacent to the piece.”

Honoring the Lakota and Dakota people, the 50-foot stainless steel statue Dignity stands on a bluff along I-90 near Chamberlain.

Lamphere suggests the name of the piece has a lot to do with the sweeping expanse of land and sky and the great river of the Plains that provide the context here on the east bluff of the Missouri.

“Initially, the working title was Of Earth and Sky. It was something rooted to the earth and yet of the waters, of the sky. But then the Dignity name was mentioned by the donor, and it stuck. It seems to me to speak more fully of the real wholeness and beauty of the Great Plains area. There is a dignity to the earth and the sky in this area that’s hard to miss.”

Lamphere, now 76, grew up in the ranch country of western South Dakota and has always paid attention to the land in his art. “The common element that runs through my work is the lyric line that I see in the mountain and prairie environment and the intersection of prairie to mountain, and the grasses, the flora of our Great Plains area. The wind is always blowing to some degree, so I study the movement of the grasses and the structure of them. These inform my work. Every piece is moving in some way, has a gesture to it, a sweep to it. Those are largely just echoing the environment in which I live.”

Work on Dignity of Earth and Sky began in 2014, and the piece was dedicated in September 2016. After a 53-year career making more than 60 large-scale pieces, life-size or bigger, Lamphere says Dignity has generated the greatest response by far.

“I’ve received more positive feedback on this sculpture than on any other work,” he says — and that includes an audience he’s particularly eager to please.  “I’ve been fortunate that it’s been very well-received by Native communities. I’ve heard it referred to as ‘the Statue of Liberty for Native people.’” 

Even visitors from other countries are taking note. Peter Zsolt Fekete, a native of Hungary who worked for a time as a researcher at South Dakota State University some years ago, saw the Dignity sculpture when he revisited the state in 2018. 

“When we stopped, it was near to evening time,” Fekete says. “It was a late sunset, and the colors were amazing on this robe that she was wearing.” 

Noting South Dakota’s history of conflict with Native Americans — it was the site of the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre of December 1890, for instance — Fekete says seeing Dignity was a positive surprise. 

During the day, Dignity’s star quilt — symbolizing respect, honor, and admiration in Native American culture — glitters in the sun. At night, LED lights cause the diamond shapes to glow.

For Lamphere’s part, a non-Native artist can only try to grapple with the West’s history of conflict. “The kind of oppression that the Native communities have felt over the decades, it’s been a very difficult thing,” he says. “I don’t think we as white people really understand the generational trauma they’ve gone through. I tried to be empathetic to that.” 

Katlyn Svendsen of Travel South Dakota says tourists and state residents alike have been struck by the elegance of the piece since it first took its place beside Interstate 90. “Certainly, since the installation, it has grown in popularity, and has become a notable icon for South Dakota,” Svendsen says.

As of July 2017, South Dakotans can even opt for a license plate design that features Dignity instead of the usual Mount Rushmore.

Though there are parts of the piece he might have liked to work on longer, Lamphere believes Dignity succeeded in ways that are not solely to do with the artist.

“In a sense I try to get out of the way. I try to be a human mechanism to make the sculpture manifest itself. If it’s a human form, I try to enter into the spirit of what I’m trying to create.” For Lamphere, the best creative activity is when the artist just becomes a conduit for something that needs to be said, something that wants to come out.

“My intent,” Lamphere says, “is for the sculpture to stand as an enduring symbol of our shared belief that all here are sacred and in a sacred place.”

This article appears in our February/March 2024 issue.

Visit Dale Lamphere online at lampherestudio.com.

See Dignity of Earth and Sky at the Chamberlain Interstate Welcome Center at mile post 264 (accessible by travel in both directions on I-90). See his Arc of Dreams spanning the Big Sioux River in downtown Sioux Falls.

From tales of Native peoples to pop culture icon, a chance to reconsider Bigfoot’s place in region

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – What does Sasquatch — also known as Bigfoot — represent to you? The unknown? Adventure? Mystery? (Probably not a museum exhibit, but think again!)

Sensing Sasquatch is a major new exhibition opening March 2, at the High Desert Museum, examining the primate-like, reclusive and elusive being in the context of the High Desert region. The exhibit will be on view through January 12, 2025.

Native peoples of the Plateau have long known about, encountered, depicted and told stories about Sasquatch. Sensing Sasquatch will explore Sasquatch’s past, present and future in the High Desert region through an Indigenous lens.

Works by five Indigenous artists will be on view, including: Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D. (Nez Perce, Cayuse), HollyAnna CougarTracks DeCoteau Littlebull (Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Cree), Charlene “Tillie” Dimmick (Warm Springs), Frank Buffalo Hyde (Nez Perce, Onondaga) and Rocky LaRock (Salish).

“Sasquatch has captivated people in the region and, indeed, throughout the world,” says Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D. “However, what many people don’t know is that Native Americans have had deeper relationships with Sasquatch throughout time.”

“Rather than the popular, mainstream view of Sasquatch, this exhibition will show Sasquatch as a protective entity for many Indigenous peoples of the High Desert,” says Whitelaw. “The exhibit will reflect the reverence that Native peoples have for Sasquatch and will be centered on Indigenous art, voices and storytelling.”

The original word for Sasquatch is “Sasq’ets,” which comes from the Halq’emeylem language of Coast Salish First Nation peoples from southwestern British Columbia. Sasquatch is bipedal and much taller than a human. Sasquatch’s habitat is often associated with the wet rainforests of the coastal Pacific Northwest, but Sasquatch also lives beyond the green, lush climate. In the High Desert region, Sasquatch strides among the dry canyonlands, Ponderosa pine forests and shrublands.

Popular depictions of Sasquatch can be found everywhere across America. Sasquatch is emblazoned on everything from T-shirts and road signs to beer cans and traveling mugs.

Before entering the exhibition, there will be an homage to the pop culture icon that Sasquatch has become, but visitors will be asked to leave these ideas and perceptions behind to consider another side of Sasquatch’s story.

Outside the exhibition, a “bring-your-own” sticker interactive will encourage visitors to reflect on the popularity and kitsch of mainstream Sasquatch representations. Visitors will place their stickers on the back of a car that’s driving away into the distance — symbolically transporting away their Sasquatch stereotypes and entering into a new realm of experience and insight.

Visitors will be introduced to the Indigenous Plateau of the High Desert and the arid forests and canyonlands where Native peoples have long come into contact with and exchanged stories about Sasquatch. They will see representations, stories and artwork about Sasquatch and how they vary between tribes and across regions.

A contemporary carved mask by Rocky LaRock (Salish) will show visitors that knowledge of Sasquatch is both ancient and contemporary. A digital language map will show the various names for Sasquatch across the Indigenous Plateau and beyond.

The question of whether or not Sasquatch exists is irrelevant to the exhibit’s theme since in many Indigenous traditions, Sasquatch is a bona fide living, breathing, sentient being. Indeed, for many tribes across North America, Sasquatch is regarded as an elder, a relative and a spiritual guide who appears to deliver important message to humans. So when Sasquatch suddenly comes into view and interacts with humans, it can be a life-changing experience.

Sasquatch as a conscious being with the agency to communicate with humans will be shown in direct opposition to the popular view of Sasquatch as shy and who runs and hides when humans approach. Phillip Cash Cash’s (Nez Perce, Cayuse) commissioned a 13-foot-tall “Bigfoot Rattle,” made of cottonwood, that Sasquatch would use.

Cash Cash is an artist, writer, endangered language advocate and linguistic anthropology scholar, with doctorates in linguistics and anthropology. As a fluent Nez Perce speaker, he works with communities and professional organizations on projects of cultural advocacy, identity and communication.

Many Indigenous people say that a Sasquatch encounter is a blessing. In turn, many Indigenous peoples have sought to protect Sasquatch’s anonymity and prevent human access to its wilderness habitat. HollyAnna CougarTracks DeCoteau Littlebull’s (Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Cree) commissioned “Protector” sculpture — will depict Sasquatch as a protective “big sister” — not a predator but one who deserves respect and safeguarding.

CougarTracks is an avid hunter and gatherer, grew up on the Yakama Indian Reservation and considers herself “a protector of KwiKwiyai, or Bigfoot. Bigfoot is considered the protector of all living things.” As a contemporary and traditional artist, CougarTracks has many creative pursuits – illustration, animation, saddle making, beadwork, storytelling and writing.

Other art will show visitors that Sasquatch is a being that exists in the past, present and future. Sasquatch has appeared in Indigenous artworks and stories for thousands of years and this continues today. 

Frank Buffalo Hyde’s (Nez Perce, Onondaga) commissioned large-scale futuristic Sasquatch painting with 3-D relief elements will illustrate the perception of Sasquatch as an interdimensional enigma who lurked in the forest for millennia to a modern being that continues to live among humans in the present. Buffalo Hyde attended the Santa Fe Fine Arts Institute and Institute of American Indians Arts in New Mexico. His artwork, he says on his website, combines modern culture and technology with Indigenous themes and tradition.

Sensing Sasquatch will include a yearlong series of associated public programs at the Museum that will explore and reflect on the past, present and future of Sasquatch as seen through an Indigenous lens.

Sensing Sasquatch is made possible by Bigfoot Beverages, the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, Bend Magazine, Brooks Resources Corp., Central Oregon Daily, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Old Mill District, the Visit Central Oregon Future Fund and The X 100.7 FM with support from Travel Oregon and Waypoint Hotel. Learn more at highdesertmuseum.org/sensing-sasquatch.

ABOUT THE HIGH DESERT MUSEUM

The High Desert Museum opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert region. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association’s Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

MOAB, Utah — Utah State University Moab has announced an initiative to commission a Native American-inspired work of art to be prominently displayed in its newly constructed academic building. The work of art will celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the surrounding area and contribute to the vibrant tapestry of the Moab community.

In a concerted effort to support and showcase local talent, USU Moab is asking any and all artists residing in the region to submit proposals of their artistic vision for the project for consideration. USU Moab is eager to invest in the creativity of someone who calls the area home, further fostering a connection with the local community and contributing to the flourishing arts scene in Moab, according to Kristian Olsen, senior associate vice president at USU Moab.

“We are honored to be a member of the Moab community and recognize the importance of embracing and celebrating the rich cultural diversity that surrounds us,” Olsen says. “This project reflects our commitment to not only acknowledge the history of this land but also to actively contribute to the cultural fabric of Moab by supporting local artists and promoting their work.”

As part of its commitment to acknowledging the history of the land it occupies, USU Moab has recently adopted a Land Acknowledgment. This acknowledgment recognizes and pays tribute to the Native American communities that have resided on the land for generations. In a thoughtful integration of art and heritage, the commissioned work will find its place beside the Land Acknowledgment, creating a meaningful and harmonious display.

Those interested in learning more about how their artwork can be considered may reach out to USU Moab at 435-259-7432.

Local artists are encouraged to submit their proposals to Samantha Campbell (samantha.campbell@usu.edu) by May 1.

Located in the outdoor recreation paradise of Moab and boasting one of the greenest buildings on any USU campus, Utah State University Moab offers students the personalized attention and small class sizes of a small-town college with the resources of a large university. With programs such as Nursing, Elementary Education, Recreation Resource Management and Social Work, technical education in Health Professions, Automotive and Business, and degree options ranging from associate to doctorate degrees, USU Moab offers programs that help fuel local economies and empower individuals and their communities. Learn more at moab.usu.edu.