Home

"This 'right to opacity,' as Édouard Glissant terms it, takes a significant twist in 'Indian Theater,' albeit perhaps unfortunately tucked away in the didactics. Labels for both Beau Dick’s (Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation) mask Yagis (ca. 2005) and a display case of vinyl recordings of Native songs and music discuss work not meant for general consumption [...]"

"Among them: Svava Tergesen — a Vancouver artist who lends an unsettling eye to vintage-style food photography — and Marcy Friesen, a Saskatchewan artist of Swampy Cree/Welsh heritage. Her beadwork captures elements of contemporary life, while subverting traditional utilitarian forms (e.g. moccasins and mittens)."

"Assembled in just the past few years, under the leadership of former gallerist Zach Feuer, the Gochman Family Collection now numbers more than 400 works. 'It is already one of the deepest collections of contemporary Native art,' said curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), who serves as one of five curatorial advisers to Gochman and Feuer. 'The way that I speak about it is that it’s a good thing and also reflective of the fact that collectors and museum curators really haven’t been acquiring in the way that they should.'"

“Baerg's Tawâskweyâw collection, which translates to ‘a path or gap among the trees,’ incorporates themes of community, urban migration and language revitalization, among other topics central to Indigenous identity in North America, according to his portfolio.

Given Rutgers' history as an institution built on Indigenous land, Siggillino said it is important for the University to interact with Indigenous creatives and recognize their contributions to society. Programs like those by Co-Cureate are made to structurally and systemically support this mission, he said.”

"The title of the exhibition being the Cree word for “I, me, mine,” Friesen reflects on her upbringing and family history, using her beadwork – and humour- to transform everyday objects and blur the barriers between art and artist. Filled with vibrant colours and cheeky references, NINA furthers Friesen’s practice of creating works highlighting artisanal craftsmanship beyond traditional spectrums of beauty and utility."

"The tome highlights the remarkable diversity of media and cultural influences across the continent, from fashion artist Jamie Okuma’s intricately beaded designer boots to Dana Claxton’s elaborate Headdress portrait series to Northwest Coast artist and Chief Beau Dick’s expressive masks."

"Hopkins selected solo and two-person exhibits to explore hidden histories and the malleability of history. “The artists in the Focus section use materials to manifest histories—whether sedimented or surfaced, place-based or familial, learned or reclaimed—and to conjure specific futures,” Hopkins wrote in her curatorial statement."

"Ontario-based Inuk artist Couzyn Van Heuvelen exhibited some of his foil balloon pieces, inspired by the Inuit seal-skin floats used to hunt marine animals. These works are typically filled with helium, but the fair prohibited it, worried that the artworks would drift up into the convention center’s impossibly high ceilings, thousands of dollars lost forever. 'They told us: ‘Pop them or get out,' said Fazakas Gallery owner LaTiesha Fazakas. 'So we blew them up ourselves using straws.'"

“This weekend at the Santa Fe Indian Market Fashion Show,  designer Jason Baerg (Métis and Cree) and collaborator Melanie Monique Rose (Métis Nation of Saskatchewan) will unveil their latest collection: Sisopekinam: Medicines Lead Us Forward. The pair harvested roots, flowers, and other plants native to their homelands in Saskatchewan and used them to press into cloth. The collection is in collaboration with the fashion brand Ayimach Horizons.”

"The Center for Curatorial Studies’ Hessel Museum of Art presents the first major exhibition to center performance as an origin point for the development of contemporary art by Native American, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Alaska Native artists. Curated by leading scholar and curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 traces the history of experimentation that emerged in the late 1960s and continues to inform the practice of Native artists today."

"Van Heuvelen is an Inuit artist who was born in Iqaluit and now lives in southern Ontario, and this powerful sculpture combines a keen sense of contemporary art with a respectful homage to the traditions of Inuit carving. Displayed on a series of sharp-edged white forms that evoke shards of ice, the sled seems trapped in a melting ice field, graphically reflecting the effects of climate change on traditional hunting grounds."