SACRAMENTO, Calif.— California State Parks announced the launch of a new program, Arts in California Parks, to help make California’s parks more inclusive and welcoming. Through this new program, artists, culture bearers, and California Native American tribes will be eligible to receive funding to create artwork throughout state and local parks. The public is invited to chime in on the development of the program through a survey at ArtsinCaliforniaParks.org, and to participate as visitors or collaborators.

“The Arts in California Parks program will help cultivate curiosity and awe for park visitors through thought-provoking and emotional experiences,” said California State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “The program will lift up and support artists, and create connections to culture, the community, and the world we live in.”

The program represents an exciting collaboration between State Parks, the California Arts Council, and Parks California, and is one of the many efforts underway as part of State Parks’ Reexamining Our Past Initiative. Initiated by a one-time $25 million general fund allocation that extends through 2027, the program will fund projects in both state and local parks that offer perspective on California’s past and present and help promote community connections.

“We are proud to launch the Arts in California Parks program with Director Quintero and California State Parks,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Jonathan Moscone. “Thanks to the leadership and vision of Governor Newsom and our State Legislature, California’s arts and creative workforce will have paid opportunities to help transform our state parks and connect the arts and nature.”

Artists, culture bearers, and California Native American tribes interested in creating public art in California state and/or local parks are encouraged to join the new Arts in California Parks Artist Directory, a tool designed to help facilitate the co-creation of project proposals between park entities and creative partners. The directory is a resource that will support relationship building and collaboration by allowing park staff to connect with artists and/or organizations based on location, art medium, and more.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with California State Parks and the California Arts Council to design and manage this new program. Art brings tremendous cultural and social value to public parks by adding meaning to our spaces and uniqueness to our communities,” said Kindley Walsh Lawlor, president and CEO of Parks California. “Art in nature has the power to inspire people to feel more connected to place. Through community engagement and supporting local artists and art organizations, this new program is an exciting opportunity for everyone to create lasting memories in parks.”

Opportunities for creatives and communities to collaborate with park entities on funded projects will be announced in 2024, under two distinct sub-programs. The Local Park Grant Program, which will fund projects in local parks through a competitive grant program, will launch in 2024 and is anticipated to include three funding cycles. The State Parks sub-program-initiated pilot projects in 2023 and will fund additional projects in State Parks in summer 2024 and summer 2025.

More than 20 pilot projects are underway within state parks, including performances, events, and installations.

An advisory committee offering diverse geographic, multicultural, interdisciplinary, and organizational perspectives is being formed to guide the development and implementation of the program. With guidance from the advisory committee as well as community and artist participation, this program will increase the capacity of California’s parks to nourish, educate, and inspire individuals and communities.

Additional information on the new Arts in California Parks program and related opportunities is available online at ArtsinCaliforniaParks.org.

Here is a list of events for Native American Heritage Month both on the George Washington University campus and in local D.C. venues. Most of them are free. Learn how Indigenous growers and food practitioners are using ancestral foods and land management; learn the significance of bead work in various Native cultures; hear from alumni Robert Maxim (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Kathy Baird (Sicangu Lakota/Oneida) about their experiences as GW students and as leaders in their professions; take a trip to the National Museum of the American Indian for their Honoring the Jingle Dress and more.

Nov. 2, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Hesperus National Forum

1300 I St. NW
Free
Hesperus National Forum celebrates Native American Heritage Month and the contributions of Native American and Alaska Native veterans.

Nov. 3, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Native American Arts

Library of Congress
10 First St. SE
Free (also other days and times through Dec. 6)
This small, curated display for National Native American Heritage Month honors creative work by Indigenous artists from various tribal nations. It highlights work promoted by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in association with Native galleries and museums in 1970, and Plains Indian and Pacific Northwest painting and drawing, featuring the tradition of Ledger Art and the work of women artists.

Nov. 4, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cooking Up History: Indigenous Food Knowledge & Healthy Ecosystems

American History Museum, Wallace H. Coulter Peformance Plaza, 1 Center
Free, but ticketed
Guest chef Mariah Gladstone (Blackfeet, Cherokee) will share how Indigenous growers and food practitioners are using ancestral foods and land management to sustain and strengthen their communities and their surrounding environments.

Nov. 4, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Celebrating Native Culture through Beadwork

The George Washington Museum and The Textile Museum
Free
Artist Melanie Bender (Choctaw/Apache), an artisan specializing in creating beaded jewelry, will be leading a beadwork demonstration at the GW and The Textile Museum. GW community members will be able to learn the significance of bead work in various Native cultures and create a product of their own!

Nov. 9, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Public Square with Matika Wilbur

Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library
901 G St. NW
Free
Join the library for an exciting author talk with Matika Wilbur in recognition of Native American Heritage Month.

Nov. 10, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Dance and Drum Peformance from the Rappahannock Tribe Dancers

Kogan Plaza
Free
The Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia will allow members of the GW community to experience local Native culture for themselves by coming to perform traditional dances and a drum performance in Kogan Plaza. The event is free for all to come and watch!

Nov. 11, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Honoring Native Veterans

American Indian Museum
Fourth Street SW
Free
Recognize and honor the military service of Native Americans on Veterans Day 2023. Events include family activities; a presentation about the National Native American Veterans Memorial by the memorial designer, Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma), and curator Rebecca Trautmann; special hospitality for veterans; and a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial, preceded by the presentation of colors by the Kiowa Black Leggings Warrior Society.

Nov. 13, 7 p.m. The Indigenous History of Thanksgiving with Professor Silverman

Phillips Hall 415
Free
GW Professor of Native history David Silverman will be joining us to discuss his book, “This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving,” and dispel misconceptions about the holiday.

Nov. 14, to Dec. 1 Acornucopia!

On View: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday (closed Nov. 20-26)
Panel Discussion 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Gallery 102 Smith Hall of Art
801 22^nd Street NW
Free
Social Practice graduate student Shawn Shafner presents an exhibition and series of public programs highlighting the multipurpose food source, the acorn! The exhibition offers a sensory wonderland of acorn experiences, interactive instructions for turning this ubiquitous nut into nutritious food, and invites audiences to aid in reforestation efforts by donating native acorns through our partner at Tomorrow’s Trees. Click here to learn about the upcoming Acornucopia! events and how to get involved.

Nov. 15, 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Welcome to a Native Place

American Indian Museum
4^th Street SW
Free
Enjoy tribal songs from Alaska to Florida with Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) in the Potomac Atrium. At the end of the 30-minute presentation, visitors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to the museum and Indigenous culture, past and present.

Nov. 16, 6 p.m. Centering Indigeneity: A Talk with GW Alumni Robert Maxim and Kathy Baird

Multicultural Student Services Center
Free
Students for Indigenous and Native American Rights (SINAR) will moderate a discussion between Senior Research Associate at Brookings Metro Robert Maxim (Mashpee Wampanoag), and Kathy Baird (Sicangu Lakota/Oneida), chief communications officer at The Washington Post to discuss their experiences as Native students at GW and as professionals.

Nov. 18 11 a.m. Learning about Indigenous Peoples

Mt. Pleasant Public Library
3160 16^th St. NW
Free
Celebrate Native American Heritage Month by learning about the First Nations Peoples[rm2]  who have always lived here. The library will have events and activities all afternoon: puppet shows, bean planting, a short lesson on the Piscataway people whose land we reside upon and a story time featuring books by Indigenous authors.

Nov. 18, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Nature Walk

Departs from Smith 102
Free
Participate in a nature walk with local forager Bohai Vasilopolous.

Nov. 24, 10:30 a.m. A Trip to the NMAI to Honor Jingle Dress

American Indian Museum
4^th Street SW
Free
Celebrate Native American Heritage Day with us by joining Students for Indigenous and Native American Rights (SINAR) for a trip to the National Museum of the American Indian for their Honoring the Jingle Dress event. We will meet at the Foggy Bottom metro at 10:30 and head over to learn about the jingle dance and see some beautiful performances!

Nov. 29, 7 p.m. SINAR x FFS: Film Screening of “Lakota Nation vs. the United States”

University Student Center 307
Free
SINAR and the GW Foreign Film Society will be hosting a screening of the documentary “Lakota Nation vs. the United States.” Professor David Silverman will lead a discussion following the film regarding its contents and conflicts facing Indigenous people today.

Nov. 29 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Acorns: From Forest to Food

Seva Teaching Kitchen
1810 K St. NW
Free
An acorn pancake tasting and a panel conversation about the cultural, culinary and ecological value of oak trees and their seeds.

November is national Native American Heritage Month. The University of Arkansas community is invited to celebrate alongside our Indigenous students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members in honoring the culture, contributions, and triumphs of Indigenous people past and present.

The Multicultural Center partnered with the Native American Student Association, Indigenous Employee Resource Group, University Recreation, and community partners representing the United Keetoowah Band, Kiowa Nation, Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Nation, Osage Nation, and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to plan a variety of events to honor the month.

The Multicultural Center will kick off the monthlong celebration Friday afternoon, Nov. 3, at the Razorback Gardens. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. and music will be provided by fiddler, Nokosee Fields starting at noon, followed by a social game of stickball on the UREC Sports Complex fields beginning at 2 p.m. across Razorback Road. All experience levels are welcome to come play stickball and observe.  

On Nov. 16, the university welcomes back local Kiowa artists Brooke Benham, Jay Benham, and their production team for the performance of “Big Yellow Car,” a performance art piece and conversation with the artists in the Union Theater. That night will also be the opening of the “We Are Still Here” art exhibit in the Kittrell Gallery. Native American and Indigenous artists are encouraged to submit works of art. For more information, please contact bkiele@uark.edu (Bethany Kiele, assistant Curator Multicultural Center – Arts & Culture). 

Cultural experts representing the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will be visiting campus Nov. 20 for a showcase event featuring cultural dance and materials. The guests will share their performance on campus in the Union Ballroom during the lunch period, and then again at halftime of the women’s basketball game, tipping off at 7 p.m. Stretching into December the World Languages department and Multicultural Center welcome basketmaker Lena Stick, who has been designated a National Treasure by the Cherokee Nation for her craft.

The Native American Student Association will be sharing a full calendar of events, flyers, and weekly reminders for events on Instagram @uarknasa.These can also be found at the Multicultural Center website, multicultural.uark.edu. If you would like your Native American Heritage Month event included please email nasa@uark.edu or share through Instagram.

According to an investigation by CBC’s The Fifth Estate, musician and icon Buffy Sainte-Marie may not be who she claims to be.

Anishinaabekwe musician ShoShona Kish and Cree writer Michelle Good join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to share their reactions and reflections following the latest reports about the trailblazer’s ancestry.

We’ve included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today’s episode now available on YouTube:

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Elamin: ShoShona, you’re speaking to us from Spain. You’re at a global music conference with Indigenous musicians from all over the world, including many from this country. If you don’t mind taking me to that moment for you, when you first heard that this story was going to come out.

ShoShona: I think that for all of us — perhaps this hit really hard for me — I think my first feeling was panic on behalf of our community, because Buffy has been such a North star for us in so many ways. I think that we’re all moving in the world, in some way, as beneficiaries of the work and trailblazing that she’s done. So, I think that it really shook me up. A friend of mine asked me how is this hitting, and I was like, “I think it’s somewhere around an eight on the Richter scale for me.”

Elamin: Oh, wow. Panic is an interesting word, because it evokes a sort of full body response in a way — the idea that all of your senses have to respond to this thing…. Michelle, how do you feel taking all of this in?

Michelle: You know, when the whispers first started just before the release of The Fifth Estate story, the only way I could describe how I felt was heartsick because as we’ve heard, Buffy is Buffy. She’s this icon. She’s a woman who broke down barriers for Indigenous people, as well as being somebody that we could look to as an example and as encouragement that we, too, could strive and succeed in whatever areas that we chose, in a world that tries to reject us regularly and historically. And I continue to feel heartsick and sad in many ways. Sad mostly for our people, but also sad for Buffy in the sense that, what has moved her to make these decisions over the course of her life? She’s 82 years old…. Did this have to come out at this time? Did it have to come out in this way? Who is benefiting from this approach to, basically, deconstruct this very important person?

But the one thing that I really want to say is that I think people are responding as though the whole thing was a lie, that all of the feelings I had about Buffy are now debunked or taken away, and they’re not. When you stood in a concert with Buffy going wild with her amazing music and her amazing presentation, your feeling was real. You don’t have to give up that feeling that you had. You don’t have to give up your admiration for the talent and for the encouragement that she gave Indigenous people. Now, Buffy has some work to do in terms of sorting all of this out, but we don’t. We can still have those feelings. We don’t have to choose to be hurt by this.

WATCH | The Fifth Estate investigates Buffy Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous ancestry:

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Elamin: I’m hearing from both of you, I think, this struggle in navigating that in this particular instance, is this something that you would want to know versus not want to know? And I think on balance, to me, one would do the story, because if one comes to you and says that one of the North stars of Indigenous artistry in this country, their claim to Indigenous ancestry raises some questions — that’s worth investigating. I think in terms of the approach, I’ve heard from a lot of Indigenous people who’ve said they feel that the approach was not the right one. I’m aware that we are on CBC, but I’m not even necessarily speaking for the corporation here. I’m just curious myself about how do you treat something that has this magnitude in a sensitive way? How do you feel it should have been approached?

ShoShona: Well, I think that I’ll preface this with a teaching I’ve received from my mother and has evolved in my own ability to understand it. But the word for “truth” in Anishinaabemowin is debwe. And what my mom says is that you cannot have facts without kindness and call it “truth.” I think that this has such great consequence for us as a collective, as Indigenous people and as Canadians. I would have expected The Fifth Estate to not treat it like tabloid television. I felt like I was watching TMZ or something. I didn’t see the objectivity; I didn’t see the different points of view, the different paths of facts presented in a way that would allow the audience to assess and decide for themselves. What I saw was this exposé, and I felt like it had very little sense of responsibility to that which I would hold The Fifth Estate to in terms of investigative journalism. I was offended.

I think that I’m not interested in having a conversation about whether Buffy is Indigenous, honestly, because she was adopted in cultural protocol by the Piapot First Nation. We are sovereign nations, and we can decide our own citizenship. So maybe we’re talking about whether Buffy was honest with us about her origin stories, but we’re not talking about her Indigeneity because that part is very clear, and leadership from that community and her family from that community have made that clear to us.

Michelle: I find I have to disagree with that point just a little bit, no offense. I agree 100% that this is a deeply nuanced situation. Buffy was adopted into that community according to Cree protocol. I’m Cree; I live just next door. And that is valid, and important and true — but that doesn’t make her Indigenous. And that’s a point that Jean Teillet makes in The Fifth Estate, and it’s something that I’ve given a lot of consideration to. It makes her adopted; it makes her a valid, complete and total member of that community. But it doesn’t change whether she is Indigenous or not. If in fact she has no Indigenous blood, she’s not Indigenous — she’s adopted.

In my recent book, Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada, I do an analysis of pretendianism and how to maybe give it consideration in light of community protocols. I found this wonderful analogy drawing on the notion of indigenous plants. The Audubon Society defines an indigenous plant as a plant that existed in North America prior to European colonization. They also define a naturalized plant as a plant that has been welcomed into the ecosystem without doing any harm. And then they define the invasive species, which are the species that have come and are destroying the ecosystem. And so in following that analogy, the adoption of Buffy makes her naturalized — makes her welcomed, makes her a part of the ecosystem — but does not make her Indigenous. And I think that’s really challenging, and an expression of how nuanced this question is, because she can’t be simply rejected as having a place in the Indigenous world because of those protocols and because she was welcomed and adopted according to those protocols. But it doesn’t make her Indigenous. And as Jean Teillet said, could she have done this without having done it in redface? And I think that’s an important question. But I also think, is the question really answered? Has she had the opportunity to say, “This is why I signed the marriage certificate”? How many of us have just signed something because we needed to get something done? I think more information needs to come forward, and I felt that The Fifth Estate fell down by not having her present in the conversation.

Elamin: I do have to say that Buffy Sainte-Marie is refuting The Fifth Estate’s allegations, and it’s my understanding that The Fifth Estate reached out to Buffy and they did not receive a comment back. And so when she released that video, that was the first time that she was responding to some of the content that was in this. Michelle, that analogy is really powerful.

I’m going to ask both of you a question. You both know Buffy personally. Let’s imagine she’s listening to this conversation right now. Is there something that you want to tell her that you’re comfortable saying here?

Michelle: That’s definitely a tough question. I guess I just want to say that I wish her peace and some way of coming through this that is not hurtful to her or to the Indigenous population.

Elamin: ShoShona, what about you?

ShoShona: Well, I think that I would say, Buffy, we love you and your legacy is safe with us.

Michelle: Yes.

Elamin: I think that is a perfect place to leave it. ShoShona, Michelle, I appreciate both of you being here.

You can listen to the full discussion from today’s show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.

About Postcolonial Love Poem

“Americans prefer a magical red Indian, or a shaman, or a fake Indian in a red dress, over a real Native. Even a real Native carrying the dangerous and heavy blues of a river in her body.”
— Postcolonial Love Poem

A finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry and winner of the 2021 American Book Award and Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Postcolonial Love Poem is the “exquisite, electrifying” (Publisher’s Weekly) second collection from Mojave American poet, educator, MacArthur fellow, and language activist Natalie Diaz. “In a world where nothing feels so conservative as a love poem, Diaz takes the form and smashes it to smithereens, building something all her own” (LitHub). In doing so, Diaz claims the autonomy of desire, countering the violent erasure of indigenous imagination. “No doubt one of the most important poetry releases in years” (New York Times Book Review). “With tenacious wit, ardor, and something I can only call magnificence, Diaz speaks of the consuming need we have for one another,” writes Louise Erdrich. “This is a book for any time, but especially a book for this time…. Be prepared to journey down a wild river.”

Learn more about this book, and how to unpack the words of Diaz with a discussion guide from the NEA.

About the Author
Natalie Diaz, is a queer Mojave American poet, linguist, educator, and former professional basketball player, Natalie Diaz grew up on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation in a two-bedroom house with four brothers and four sisters, a Native mother, and a Spanish, Catholic father. “We held to many truths all at once,” Diaz wrote in a statement for the Poetry Society of America. “Each seemed to strengthen the possibility of the other, rather than cancel it out. In my house, we never had to choose between the numerous parts of ourselves—we were all of those things, at the same time, sometimes in a noisy collision, sometimes in an easy weave.”

About the Instructor
Katerina Jeng (they/she) is a poet, community leader, and weaver of the sacred into the everyday. They are here to help guide humanity into a new paradigm world through humble service that is abundantly joyful, pleasurable, and free. Katerina’s writing explores love and power, and is inspired by their identity as a queer, neurodivergent, Filipina-Taiwanese-American femme; as well as the work of artists and activists of color who have come before them.

Katerina is currently a fellow at Lighthouse Writers Workshop; has been celebrated in People, PBS, CBS News, HuffPost, and Talks at Google; and earned their bachelors of arts in English and music at Cornell University. Their debut poetry collection, Gospel of a Whole Sun, will be published in May 2024 by Andrews McMeel. You can follow Katerina on Instagram @katerinajeng.

Minneapolis artist Dyani White Hawk was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes referred to as the “genius grant.”

White Hawk grew up in Madison, Wis., and now lives in Minneapolis. She is known internationally for her bold, colorful beadwork — a practice she learned from her community as a teen — and abstract painting.

Her art draws on her Lakota heritage and challenges many tropes and myths championed by Western art history.

MPR News senior arts reporter Alex V. Cipolle recently sat down with White Hawk in her busy studio in the Casket Arts building in northeast Minneapolis. It was filled with her team of friends and family as they prepared for a November exhibition in Los Angeles. White Hawk will also have her first career survey at the Walker Art Center in 2025.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How does it feel to be labeled a genius?

White Hawk: [Laughs] That part of it is strange. The foundation itself asserts that that’s not the label that they use, because I think they see that as a somewhat narrow definition of the value or worth of what intelligence looks like in different people. But it’s like this colloquial thing that people have taken on, and so we’ve had a lot of good jokes with my family, friends and loved ones about that label.

That particular word itself is not something that I’m hanging on to too tightly; I’m more grateful for the apparent values that drive the work of the MacArthur Foundation — that’s what I see as reflected by the cohort of peoples that are in the 2023 group. It’s a phenomenal group of people doing really important, really passionate, values-based work. 

The process for choosing MacArthur fellows is anonymous. Were you surprised? How did you find out?

Yes. 100 percent surprised. The way that the foundation works is they work really hard to make sure that the folks that are under consideration don’t know. So yeah, I was definitely surprised.

I was in Buffalo, N.Y., with my husband and our two daughters. We were traveling. My oldest daughter was going to try out — she plays lacrosse. We went to Starbucks and I got a phone call and I thought it was spam. So I was rude [laughs]. She told me she was from the MacArthur Foundation and I apologized.

I went out onto the patio because they asked if I could speak somewhere, privately. My family was watching me from the window, and then I started crying. And I could tell they were concerned, so my husband came outside and just very silently and carefully placed a coffee next to me and then silently went back inside.

They tell you, you’re only allowed to tell one person and you’re sworn to secrecy for the next four weeks until they make the announcement. I had to break that rule because I was with my husband and my two daughters. We all hugged and celebrated and cried some happy tears.

So when the awards were announced, what was it like?

There was just this tremendous outpouring of celebration, and congratulations in response. I was so humbled and grateful for all that, because it means the world to me, that people feel good about it.

I’m really making the work for others — I’m making it for myself, without a doubt, because it feeds me in a way that I need. As an artist, if you’re gifted with this thing — we all have a gift — and when you’re using that gift, you are your best self. When you are your best self, then you can be your best family member, you can be your best partner, you can be your best mother, you can be your best daughter, whatever that is.

I 100 percent do the work because I have a drive and a need to, but what I want the work to do when it leaves is for the people; it’s for community. So, seeing people respond so positively to the announcement made me feel so good, because it was just like, okay, the work is doing what it’s supposed to do.

You describe your art as drawing on your Lakota and urban Native heritage, as well as modern art, mostly the field of abstract paintings. You often reference abstract painters like Mark Rothko and Marsden Hartley. What stories are embedded in your work?

First and foremost, honoring the legacy of Native art, of Indigenous art on this continent. I speak specifically from my own history, though. So I speak from the history of Lakota art forms. So I’m reflecting on the tremendous legacy and impact of Lakota women on our national artistic history.

So my studio practice is really grounded in painting and beadwork. Aesthetically and stylistically speaking to the history of beadwork and porcupine quill work and Lakota art forms. And also to the history of abstract easel painting.

Through that, I’m also able to speak to hierarchies within the field of art and art history that have devalued the history of my ancestors, that have devalued the worth of their artistic contributions that have positioned the quote-unquote invention of abstraction within the hands of European and European American men. Which is simply not true. Abstraction is a human practice, and abstraction was being practiced here, by my ancestors and by other Indigenous women, and other Indigenous artists, well before these lands were colonized.

We’ve been taught a hierarchy that places one group of people at the top and others on a ladder going downward. It’s unfortunate, and I think it creates a lot of loss in what we could be celebrating, how we could be growing stronger together and creating healthier, more thriving artistic spaces and communities.

A lot of my work is meant to create opportunities for conversations to allow us to really critically think about how we’ve told our stories so far, and how we want to choose to tell them going forward. It’s my hope that we collectively choose to tell our stories with more honesty, and really dig into the complexities of those histories. 

Do you see a shift starting to happen in the art world? I’m thinking about you winning this award. And about how the U.S. State Department just chose artist Jeffrey Gibson, who is of Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, to be the first Indigenous artist to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale. As well as all the renowned Native artists across the Twin Cities and the state.

We’re definitely seeing a shift. I will say, though, that that shift is in its infancy within my lifetime of practicing, within my lifetime of education. The fact that Jeffrey Gibson is the first Native artist to represent the U.S. is a huge, hugely important step.

The fact that Indigenous artists have been in the last few Whitney biennials, those are early moves, you know. So, there is a wave of support that is happening now, but it is in its infancy. There have been patterns of support in the past that have come and gone. So my hope is and I feel like, this is different. I hope this is different.

How do we make sure that we’re advocating for the support and honoring of Native arts in a way that is meaningful, substantial and sustainable? It can’t just be a trend, it can’t just be like: This is what’s hot right now. Or everybody’s telling us that we need to include these people, so we’re going to do it for a minute and then we’ve done our work. I do believe though, especially with the younger generation, that they’re the folks that are going to be continuing to advocate for that value system.

After winning this award, you expressed a lot of gratitude to the tribal colleges you’ve attended, both Haskells Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M. Tell me more about that.

Those places are so transformative and influential. The schools are taught from an Indigenous perspective. So they’re teaching U.S. history and art history, from an Indigenous perspective. Because of that, we’re learning the full history of tribal-federal government relations, policies and legislation and the way that the U.S. government has addressed, treated and responded to Indigenous communities over the history of this continent since colonization. We’re also learning art history centered from an Indigenous art history. So we’re learning about art history of Native people across the continent, not from a Western art perspective. 

You grew up around Madison, Wis., and went to school in Kansas and New Mexico. You now live in Shakopee, Minn., and have a studio in northeast Minneapolis. Why have you based your art practice here?

My mom has lived here for over 20 years. So this has been a home base for that long. We decided we were going to move here full-time because there is thriving arts community. Hats off to Minnesota for legislation to support art, you know, right in our laws. It’s something that’s unique to this place and reflected in the wealth of our artistic community here considering we’re not on the coasts.

And there is a strong Native community here. There’s a large Native population here. So the fact that you can be within community, both in the arts and culturally, and then it’s a seven-and-a-half hour drive to the [Rosebud] reservation.

Geographically, it’s Dakota homelands, and we’re Lakota, but even within the community that we come from on the Rosebud Reservation, there are connections to Dakota folks from this area. Geographically our peoples moved around back then anyway. So we’re on extended homelands for sure. I feel at home here, 100 percent, and have for a long time.

In recent years, you’ve brought a team into your studio to help complete larger, more dynamic works. For example, the beaded “Wopila|Lineage” piece for the 2022 Whitney Biennial, which is eight feet by 14 feet. About 20 people helped create the piece. Tell me about this studio practice.

It’s evolved over time. For many years, it was just me and my studio and me building my practice.

So I really thought about that for a long time, because there’s a lot of really negative history in the art world of what a studio looks like, how it operates, and how it treats the people that work there. That is not something that I’m interested in participating in whatsoever. I thought a lot about: If I was going to do that, if I was going to bring people into my practice with me, what do I want that to look like? How do I want that to operate?

And then I realized that we already have models within our community for collaborative work. If you go to a powwow and you see somebody’s full dance regalia, chances are multiple family members, or multiple people or friends, helped create a singular outfit, right? So many hands helped create one particular ensemble of beauty.

What I have decided is that within my studio, I want my value system as a Lakota woman, my personal value system, my cultural value system, to guide the choices in how the studio operates just the same as it guides my choices on what I make and why. In my studio now, we are an entirely BIPOC team, and all but one person that works here is Native. A lot of them are my family. 

It’s community, and that’s something that’s really important to me, because there isn’t a whole lot of opportunity to work in an artist studio. And there’s not a whole lot of opportunity to do something that’s culturally rooted and get paid for it. 

So with the MacArthur award comes an $800,000 grant to be distributed over the next five years. How is that going to impact your practice?

I don’t know yet. It’s really early to understand that. But what it means is, it’s a gift of stability for the next five years, which is a really beautiful gift.

Hopefully, it’s a gift of freedom to dream a little bigger. When you have stability, you are more open to dreaming; you don’t have to work to hustle to figure out how you’re going to pay the bills, or how you’re going to pay the people. Then your mind, your heart is allowed to open up and be like, Okay, what can we do? What’s possible, as opposed to what’s necessary?

This artwork by artist John Pepion will be on exhibit at the Community Fine Arts Center from November 3 – December 29 as part of GROUNDED art exhibition.

Wyo4News staff, [email protected] [PRESS RELEASE]

ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING — GROUNDED, a strategic and timely art exhibition organized by ArtSpirit, the arts initiative of Episcopal Church in Wyoming, and CARAVAN, a global arts non-profit, will be showcased in Rock Springs, Wyoming at the Community Fine Arts Center from Nov. 3 – Dec. 29, 2023 as part of its multi-year international tour, with a unique opening program and reception on Nov. 3 at 5:00 p.m. with special speakers, participating artists, an Indigenous drum circle, and the cedaring of the artwork to which all are invited.

The art exhibit, GROUNDED, curated by acclaimed Northern Arapaho artist Robert Martinez, brings together 15 premier and emerging contemporary artists from 8 Indigenous American tribes, traditionally based in and around the Great Plains. It is an artistic exploration that seeks to inspire our imaginations about our need to be “grounded” in our relationship with all of creation: the earth and its wildlife, each other, and ourselves. 

The creative work of this inspiring group of artists serves as a visual representation of the worldview, wisdom, and learnings of their ancestors. Grounded in the interconnectedness of the sacred, the natural world, and one another, Native American traditional beliefs see everything on the earth as living in a relationship. Their spiritual wisdom is therefore essential to developing a “sacred harmony” between all peoples and the earth.

The artists were invited to participate based on the artist’s previous work and their ability to express the exhibition’s theme through the lens of their heritage and cultural worldview.

This exhibition seeks to enable the artists to share their culture, heritage, and sacred traditions to help us heal our world and foster wholeness among all peoples.

The public is invited to see this exhibit and the permanent collection on display at the CFAC at 400 C Street in Rock Springs. Hours at the center are Monday – Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 12:00 – 5:00 p.m. For more information about the exhibition and associated programming, contact Genie Osburn, Communications Manager for The Episcopal Church in Wyoming: [email protected].