HOPKINTON — Native artist Brooke Waldron — painter, potter and proud Seaconke Wampanoag/Narragansett — sat inside her Hope Valley studio one morning last week, turning her pottery wheel and talking about contemporary Native art.

On the wall behind her, a painting of a white horse, framed by an orange rectangle and centered in a rich purple background, hung on a white wall. On the floor nearby, an enormous painting — featuring half a dozen different-colored horses galloping under a starry, moonlit sky — was leaning against a wall.

“We are not just tipis and dream-catchers,” said Waldron with a soft smile as she trimmed the edges of a small clay bowl. “Native art is so much more … and we’ve got to reclaim our seat at the table.”

Contemporary Native art often goes unnoticed, Waldron said, “and our culture and representation continues to be profoundly underrepresented.

“Our narratives, stories and artistic practice is almost exclusively told in the past tense and is rarely exhibited in an equitable way.”

Waldron will talk more about Native art, and take questions from the audience, this afternoon at 4:30 at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick, where an exhibit of her work is currently on display at the Gamm Theatre Gallery.

The solo exhibit — paintings from “Those That Guide Us” — features 12 of Waldron’s newer works, paintings that “present a breadth of style and color,” according to installation organizers, who note that the “collection is steeped in Indigenous symbolism.”

Waldron, who explores the relationship between color, nature and traditional native symbolism and contemporary techniques, has a deep affinity for the natural world and for animals.

“Our four-legged relatives” are common themes in Waldron’s work.

Rabbits and horses appear in her paintings, feathers and ferns pop up in her pottery. Birds and eagles too.

Also an equestrian and riding instructor, Waldron, 33, grew up on a 118-acre farm in Exeter with her parents and an older sister, Kara.

“She’s my biggest supporter,” said Waldron with a smile, “along with my parents, of course.”

Waldron graduated from Exeter-West Greenwich High School before heading off to work and to study at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Waldron, who is employed by the Rhode Island Regional Indian Council and works in the subsidiary office in North Stonington assisting Native communities in career development, said she knew from an early age that she was an artist.

In high school, she said, she was positively influenced by her high school art teacher and friend, Elizabeth Lind, who helped her realize there was space for the art she was making.

“She was very encouraging,” said Waldron. “She made time.”

Waldron participated in her first exhibit — as a teenager — at the Hera Gallery in Wakefield. She exhibited at the Hera again years later. She has also exhibited at the South County Art Association, where she has taken many classes, and the Warwick Center for the Arts. 

In 2007, Waldron attended the solo exhibit of noted Comanche Artist Nocona Burgess at the Peck Gallery in Providence, an event that stays with her.

It was an emotional experience for Waldron who had seen Burgess’ work in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and had become what she calls “a fangirl.”

She said she feels a sort of thread that connects her work with Burgess’ work and “pulls on through.”

Burgess, who has earned widespread recognition for his bold acrylic portraits of historic American Indian figures, including his famous great-great-grandfather, Comanche chief Quanah Parker, is known for his modern depictions of Indigenous men and women from various tribal nations of North America.

According to his biography, Burgess “explores the cultural context, life story and identity of each sitter. In this way, the artist urges us to update our perceptions of Native people and consider the intriguing and often highly politicized place of Native American portraiture.”

It is a philosophy shared by Waldron, who said she’d like to be a sort of change agent for the way people think about contemporary Native American art.

Especially now, during the month of November, which has been designated as Native American Heritage Month.

Waldron said when she was approached about the idea for the exhibit by Lauryn Sasso, the Gamm’s institutional engagement associate who facilitates the theater’s art installations, she was thrilled.

“I’m honored to be there,” said Waldron. “They have been very welcoming and I’m grateful for the space.”

Sasso called Waldron’s use of color in her paintings “stunning.”

“She is an intelligent and unique talent,” said Sasso, who first saw Waldron’s work at an exhibit at the Warwick Center for the Arts.  

Waldron’s work is “really, really singular in the way she delves into and integrates Indigenous lore and symbolism,” added Sasso. “And her ceramic work is beautiful too.”

“The collection is steeped in Indigenous symbolism, a departure from the human form,” reads a statement from the Rhode Island Humanities about the exhibit. “The series invites the viewer to interpret the many lessons we can learn from self-reflection.

“Using animals as the north star of her focus, the artist creates a narrative that shares her own personal story while connecting with the audience in a familiar way.”

Now that she’s completed her “dream project” — the creation of her Hope Valley studio — Waldron is pondering her next steps.

Maybe she’ll open a gallery for Native artists, a place “for our stories to be told,” she said. 

“I’m in a constant experimental state,” Waldron added with a smile.

Waldron plans to participate in a Dec. 9 holiday event in Hope Valley, will have some pieces at the Village Art Studio and maybe she’ll be at a Christmas market or two. In the meantime, “Those That Guide Us” will be on exhibit at the Gamm through Nov. 26. 

For more information, visit www.grayhorsestudioart.com and www.gammtheatre.org.