A kaleidoscope of beads lights Juan Riaño’s stand as he lays out his handcrafts. One by one, the tricolor macaw birds, the threaded bracelets and the traditional wooden masks leave a piece of Putumayo, Colombia, on a busy West Campus intersection.

Between both ACL weekends, Juan Guillermo Riaño Florez’s Indigenous jewelry and photograph prints appeared along South Congress Avenue and in the shade of San Antonio Street outside the University. Riaño, the lead singer of Condormulticolor, said he travels between states selling handcrafts from different regions of Colombia, making a stop in Austin on his way to New York City. 

“I took photographs of our heritage in the coffee area related to the nature, to the architecture and to the traditional parades,” Riaño said. “(Colombia) is full of culture. It is full of happiness, color, youth and people.”

Colombia’s culture spreads across 32 states, referred to as “departamentos” in Spanish. Riaño said he makes his handcrafts in Putumayo where tribes use ritual practices to connect with spirits and nature, like drinking the Ayahuasca plant brew. Riaño himself hails from the Quindío department, “the land of the Gods” in native Quechua language, known for its coffee, he said, and nested in the Andes mountains. 

“I come from a place that is remote in Colombia, full of farmers,” Riaño said. “There are cultures everywhere that you can meet, find and preserve.”

Last month, Condormulticolor released a music video for their latest single, “Primera Fila,” in which Riaño roller skates in a Guacamaya bird costume with golden wings through the city. Growing up in the ‘90s, he said the rock scene originally influenced him, but that changed as he grew older. 

“When you are young, you want to be alternative, disruptive, punk, electronic,” Riaño said. “But when you grow up, you start to recognize your own territory to preserve symbols. If I don’t work to preserve my heritage … I don’t have roots.”

Santiago Melo, a biology freshman and international student from Colombia, said Bogota serves as a hub for native artists because of their migration during the war, and each style differs depending on the region. 

“One uses different colors, the other tries to embody different animals or textiles,” Melo said. “A famous one is from the Wayuu tribe in Guajira, and they make very beautiful bags that are called Mochila Wayuu.”

Melo said one of Colombia’s largest art festivals is in his hometown, Bogota, called the Expoartesanias. The festival helps people reach artists in more inaccessible areas, he said.

“It’s the roots of Colombia,” Melo said. “Showing that to other countries is very important. It’s also very beautiful.”

Computer science freshman David Mendieta lived in Bogota for 19 years before coming to UT. The galleries of arts in Bogota, he said, depict both violent and life-affirming art. 

“A lot of Colombian art you will find (revolves) around violence because it’s our past,” Mendieta said. “However, Colombian art is not all about that. It’s also about life, about happiness, about colors.” 

This Diwali, celebrate by appreciating the incredible trove of Indian treasures in your own backyard. While Indian art can be found in the region and in diaspora the world over, New York City has some of the top places to appreciate it of anywhere.

The Rubin Museum

The Rubin was founded by Don and Shelley Rubin, collectors of Himalayan and South Asian Art. Don’t miss the incredible deities that encompass the broader expanse of Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet at their Chelsea location. Uptown, another good option is the Asia Society Museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met’s exhibition on Ganesha opens on the 19th in tandem to ancient Buddhist sculpture, which reveres an India before today’s iterations of Hinduism. They also have an incredible collection of Indian miniature paintings displayed in previous exhibitions, and a continuously impressive Asian art wing with religious iconography from South India.

DAG Modern

This Indian transplant is a contemporary gallery with museum-quality works from the postwar period. Their exhibition catalogues could rival textbooks! Contact the gallery to see what’s on. For Indian and Pakistani art in dialogue, try Aicon Gallery downtown as well.

Navin Kumar Gallery

This Madison Avenue gem is an insider’s best kept secret. From Indian contemporary to miniature painting, the Kumar family in unfailingly ethical and scrupulous, with a rich roster of collectors dating back to Independent India. By appointment only.

Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Sundaram hails from the famous Tagore family. He is a relative of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet who wrote both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems. Although Sundaram presents an East-Meets-West roster rather than a conventional Indian presentation, his curations speak to the fabric of an evolving Indian identity. The current showcase in New York is by artist Olivia Fraser, whose family was instrumental in the creation of what is known as the Fraser Album, a collection of images of colonial India. Fraser is married to author William Dalrymple, celebrated for his extensive writings on the history of the East India Company.

Peabody Essex Museum

A quick trip from New York, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts quietly has one of the best collections of Indian contemporary art in the world, thanks to Chester and Davida Herwitz. Who needs witchcraft when you can have Indian art?

Museum of Art and Photography (MAP)

The newly opened MAP museum in Bengaluru has an excellent online viewing platform, and recently launched an art course run by Rubin curator Dr. Beth Citron. If you can’t leave for India, let India come to you.

Reeve Union 221 was packed with University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students getting creative Friday afternoon as they made clay turtles as part of Native American Heritage and Honoring Month (NHHM) events sponsored by Inter-Tribal Student Council and the Indigenous Studies Program.

Cynthia Thomas, a ceramics artist and teacher at the Oneida Nation School, led the activity, sharing her lessons, wisdom  and gifts with the campus community.

Up next for NHHM is an evening of music and good messages with Wade Fernandez, a Menominee international touring music artist and educator, Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. in Reeve Union 306.

Check out the full calendar.

Seeking to broaden interaction with local Indigenous history and culture, four Cannon Beach nonprofits have joined together to organize the Gathering, a weekend of art, music, storytelling and food in celebration of Native American Heritage Month.

According to Watt Childress, a Tolovana Arts Colony board member, the idea came from an informal gathering among friends, talking about corn.

“I guess I’m the one who brought corn into the conversation,” said Zoe Swain, a chef with Mesoamerican heritage. “Corn is such an essential part of so many different cultures. From there, we started discussing how art and music, like food, connects people across diverse backgrounds and nationalities.”

That conversation expanded into a vision of an event to celebrate various aspects of Native American life and culture.

The event kicks off on Friday evening with The Blackbird Band — who incorporate flute music into a rock fusion set — and musician and storyteller Quiltman at the Coaster Theatre Playhouse.

The celebration continues on Saturday, with presentations at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum by Indigenous artists Ceara Lewis, Ravenwolf and Brad Mix.

“I’m intimidated, but excited to be involved,” said Ravenwolf, who has recently revived his artistic career after a hiatus and will be presenting his paintings that he refers to as prayers. “I am grateful for this opportunity. A fire has been lit.”

The weekend concludes at noon Sunday with a luncheon at Tolovana Hall, where Swain will introduce her “decolonized fry bread,” followed by a poetry reading from Astoria author Cliff Taylor and storytelling led by Marisol Quintana.

“Watt gave my healthier version of fry bread that decolonized name,” Swain said, laughing. “I’ve experimented with making a healthier fry bread by baking, not frying, and using masa (ground corn) instead of wheat flour. I’m glad the whole corn thing that began as an observation has grown into a celebration including so many different people and ideas.”

The event is a partnership between the Tolovana Arts Colony, Coaster Theatre Playhouse, Cannon Beach History Center and Museum and the Cannon Beach Arts Association.

“Our community has long been a gathering place,” said Andrea Suarez-Kemp, development manager of the museum, who uses her Taino roots as she works to expand exhibits and programming for Indigenous people. “Here’s a chance for us to use the power of hospitality and friendship to connect people more deeply between cultures.”

Arterior is more than just a portmanteau word. It is what Native Krea, a social impact startup, has ventured to deliver – blending art with architecture. The startup intends to bring various artists under one platform and provide a global reach.
“We compose and manufacture art and art-related products by bringing together native artists,” says S Shanmuga Raja@ Shaan Raj, founder, Native Krea.He says the art that decorates the interiors of most buildings is too generic – scenery, portraits. “But the field is vast. Visuals can be from concepts and stories from our rich heritage, culture, literature and history,” he adds. A visual artist, heritage researcher and storyteller, Shanmuga Raja founded Native Krea in 2019.
Backed by a round of angel investment and a grant from TANSEED, he and co-founder Srivaishnavi Saravanan have been trying to fill the gaps left by engineers and architects. “We are integrating art with a multitude of things to usher life into buildings through stories, paintings and art works,” says Srivaishnavi. Office space in general is templated, cubicles that are lined up uniformly and to suit the available space.
To add value, promoters may end up hanging a painting or installing a sculpture. Not much else. “We break the barrier and create a difference, both in already built or yet to be built space. Unlike engineers and architects, artists have no boundaries and they fill the gaps,” she says. “We strive to tell stories through our art. Our core principles are authenticity, unique story-telling, and skilled artistry with Indian artists at the forefront.
We believe that true art speaks volumes without saying single word. Our art has a purpose. Our artists have vision and our team has the drive to take our tales of tradition, culture and ethnic artistry to the global stage,” says Srivaishnavi. She says the novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ reached a wider audience in the present generation thanks to the two-part film series. But the novel ‘Velpari’ has a stronger storyline than ‘Ponniyin Selvan’.
“Someone down the line had given us the image for Thiruvalluvar. Likewise, based on the characterization, we are working on giving images to various characters in ‘Velpari’. Srivashnavi says Indians may live wherever work takes them but when it comes to festivals, they connect to their roots. “We need to take this culture to the next generation through iconic visual form as miniatures, 2D murals and art among others.”
Native Krea undertakes work for private companies, buildings and even individuals. Startup TN has asked Native Krea to redo the space in the hubs at Chennai, Madurai, Erode and Tirunelveli within the protocol established for government offices. Fame TN’s office in Chennai’s Guindy too has received the touch from Native Krea artists. “We want to be a one-stop point for art and the A to Z knowledge base for art and create a global base for artists,” says Shanmuga Raja. About 170 artists from across India, including around 40 from Tamil Nadu, have joined hands with Native Krea so far.

First Nations Film and Video Festival showcases short films directed by Indigenous artists First Nations Film and Video Festival showcases Indigenous films

After two years of renovations, the National Museum of Women in the Arts has reopened its galleries of art created exclusively by women and nonbinary artists.

Displaying six exhibits, expanded gallery space, improved accessibility features and a new library and research center, the museum reopened its doors Oct. 21. The $67.5 million project worked to ensure the longevity of the historic building that houses the museum’s collection.

“The National Museum of Women in the Arts brings recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities by exhibiting, preserving, acquiring and researching art by women and by teaching the public about their accomplishments,” said Emma Filar, the NMWA’s communications and marketing manager. 

The relevance of NMWA has been a topic of conversation for many in the D.C. art scene, who wonder if a museum solely dedicated to female artists is necessary since the museum originally opened during a period when women were barely allowed in other galleries. Filar said the NMWA is still critical for promoting female voices in the arts both through its galleries and by serving as a space to facilitate conversation.

“NMWA continues to bear a responsibility to amplify women’s voices,” Filar said. “The museum’s singular stance has already made a difference in raising the discourse around gender inequality in the arts, and we are poised to make even greater strides in achieving equity in the future,” she added. 

Just a block away from the Metro Center station, the building’s recognizable flatiron architecture is highlighted by the corner of New York Avenue it sits on. Walking in through the main doors, visitors are greeted by a grand ballroom with marble staircases framing either side of the room, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and intricate tile work across the floor. 

Structuring my visit in reverse, I began exploring the fourth floor and worked my way down to the first. Directly outside of the elevators on the fourth floor, visitors are met with one of the inaugural special exhibits, “Hung Liu: Making History.” The exhibit honors Liu, who passed away in 2021, and displays a series of portraits featuring distinct drips of paint, vivid colors and scenes of laborers in China. 

The pieces were compelling; they didn’t give themselves up immediately. I was particularly intrigued by “La Ran-Butterfly,” which included small clay sculptures attached to a painting of a woman’s side profile, her pink earring and hairpiece standing out against the muted cream-colored background. 

“‘Weeping’ paintings and prints by Hung Liu — featuring signature paint drips, layers of color and cultural symbols — pay homage to overlooked figures in history, predominantly vulnerable women and children from the artist’s native China,” Filar explained. 

The fourth floor also houses “Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella,” another special exhibit featuring 25 engraved copperplates created for King Louis XIV in 1675. The plates depict a dramatic wartime scene from an Italian frieze, with men on horseback charging toward their foes yielding swords and shields. 

Completely black and white, the texture in the piece comes from various types of shading. Neighboring LRC is another special exhibit, “Holding Ground: Artists’ Book for the National Museum of Women in the Arts.” “Holding Ground” showcases the work of book artists invited by the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, based in the museum, to create works inspired by NMWA’s importance to them. 

“We like to say we are both a museum and a megaphone, sharing the contributions of women artists but also calling for gender equality across the arts,” Filar said. 

“The Sky’s the Limit” occupies much of the second floor and is perhaps the most daring of the four new special exhibits. The exhibit is a series of contemporary sculptures that expand past classic gallery frames and display pieces that suspend from the ceiling. 

Featuring works by Sonya Clark, Beatriz Milhazes, Cornelia Parker, Mariah Robertson, Shinique Smith and Joana Vasconcelos, the exhibit’s intricate, large-scale sculptures like one of a woman sitting in a chair high on the wall with a dress and branches below her that stretch down to the ground were a stand-out of my visit. It’s not often that viewers get to see art from every angle, above and below. 

“The contemporary sculptures in this exhibition dangle from the ceiling, cascade down walls and extend far beyond their footprint on the gallery floor,” Filar said about the pieces chosen for the exhibit. “They illuminate how artists use scale and the allure of materials for maximum impact.”

I spent a lot of time wandering the exhibit, circling each piece and noticing the drapery of the fabric in Alison Saar’s “Undone” or the placement of each wax-dipped silk flower in “Untitled #1273 (The Age of Innocence)” by Petah Coyne. The exhibit’s lighting casts shadows across the walls and floors, adding an extra layer to the already complex themes of each work. 

The final special exhibit, “In Focus: Artists at Work,” is a documentary-style short film that details the processes of eight artists whose works are featured in NMWA. Located on the first floor, the film is meant to greet visitors as they enter the museum. 

In between the special exhibits, scattered throughout each floor, are various galleries and collections. Guerrilla Girls’ witty posters advocating for space to be made in museums for women artists, Judy Chicago’s vibrant, geometric “lifesavers,” Faith Ringgold’s large-scale depiction of Josephine Baker and Niki de Saint Phalle’s iconic “Pregnant Nana” are showcased in these collections. These spaces exhibit works created by notable artists concentrating in different mediums but with a shared mission to create art that questions the traditional views of a patriarchal society. 

Leaving the museum, I turned to take one last look at the grand ballroom. The museum’s open floor plan allows visitors to see to the second level, where my eyes were trained. I thought of the various portraits of women who frame the second-floor balcony — Frida Khalo, Louise Bourgeois, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the museum’s founder — and I felt a profound sense of empowerment and gratitude for a space that puts women artists in the spotlight. 

The lack of space for women in the art scene makes NMWA special. It feels like a space that holds limitless possibilities for the future of women in art. While the relevance of the museum may still be a topic of debate, the expansive, mixed-media collection made NMWA’s goals of promoting female voices in the arts clear.