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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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Meet VOICES Artist Robert Martinez

We love Robert Martinez’s work and we think you will too! Make sure to wander by the Windows (Laguardia and West 3rd Street on view 24/7) to see his work along with the rest of the artists in VOICES, up through September 10th!

ps. he’s got some really cool work available for sale on his website, make sure to check it out!

“Chicken Hawk” Graphite & Acrylic on Vintage Map image

What was life like growing up in Wyoming? We've read that the West and its people are a major influence for your work, as is your native heritage. Can you tell us a bit about that; some specifics or examples perhaps?

Well, as can be expected, Life in Central Wyoming and on the Wind River Reservation gives a person a unique outlook. We’re the least populated state in the USA & home to 2 Tribes; the Northern Arapaho & Eastern Shoshone, Though we get a lot of traffic from people out of state (let’s say on the way to Yellowstone Park) “WE” always think of ourselves as a bit different. Our neighboring states are similar but if you're from Wyoming, you’re “from Wyoming”. It’s a bit difficult to describe and both more simple and more complicated than you might think.

Take for example my Heritage; I’m Northern Arapaho, Chicano and some Irish/French in there too. I identify with my tribal identity more as I was raised more around my Arapaho Family, but I'm also comfortable in modern settings around non-natives. My work is like that; seen through one (particular) lens but “seeing” more than one thing at time creating a mixed scene. Most people are very conservative here, but they also see value in the contemporary.

Our Elders speak to us about learning our traditional language and our culture, but then will visit with you about the latest show on Netflix or complain about the upgrade app changes on their new smartphone.

It’s that Mix of Past & Present, Traditional and contemporary that I find interesting.

“Be Goode” Graphite & Acrylic on Vintage Map image

The works included in VOICES appear to be drawings done over historic maps. Can you tell us a bit more about them; what these maps are and what inspired the series?

I went to Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design and studied the “classic” way of composing and painting. I’d sketch an idea, get the shading/ tones and composition they way I wanted, then transfer that to canvas and paint. But then I’d end up with a nice drawing and a painting of the same image. I’d usually sell the painting but ended up keeping the drawing… until I hit on the idea of creating “Ledger Drawings” from some of other notable Ledger Artists like Don Monteleaux, Terrance Guardipee, and the work of Chris Pappan.

Ledger Art came from the tribes of the plains. In the late 1800’s as we were being pushed on to reservations and the buffalo were being hunted to extinction. Tribal artists couldn’t make our traditional “Winter Count” or commemorative art on tanned hide. So we traded or were given ledger books that were already filled out. We would disregard the background, writing and lines, then draw or paint over them. It became a tradition that continues to this day.

There are some great Contemporary Ledger Artists like the three I mentioned earlier and also: Dwayne Wilcox, John Pepion, Holly Young, and Joanne Growing Thunder.

My work on documents, maps or other paper backgrounds with printed text/images is my contribution to the “Ledger” genre, however, I USE the background imagery in my work. I find that using a particular map or page of text that resonates with the figure I might create on it makes for a better piece with added layers of meaning.

“Bad Mamma Jamma” Graphite & Acrylic on Vintage Map image

Your work grapples with historic themes and cultural myths as they relate to current topics, often juxtaposing imagery that makes visual statements on today's issues. Can you tell us a bit more about how the past and the present inform your subject matter, and what themes you're currently thinking about through your work? We love that mentoring emerging artists means so much to you! Did you have any mentors growing up that inspired this focus and the need to continue to give back? If so, can you tell us who some of them were/are, or else some of your favorite mentees? It would be awesome to know more about what arts education has meant to your life and career!

I’m a mix of different cultures and carry with me a mix of different traditions, and I live in a place in which the past and present mix daily. It’s that same “mix” that I find so interesting in the people I know and in the art I create. Much of my current work in aimed at adjusting peoples expectations of who Native People are and what “Native Art” is.

Why is it that if I create an image of a Native person on a map of Wyoming, that it’s labeled as “Native Art”? Is it because I’m Native? Is it because the figure’s Native? Why isn’t it just called a realistic portrait? Why isn’t it just ART? If a Non-Native (ie: White) artist created a similar piece but of a non-native figure, what would that be labeled as? It’s these kinds of questions l try to ask or bring out to the viewers.

I didn’t really have any Art-type mentors growing up, however, I did have very supportive parents and a hugely supportive family. As I began to get out into the Art World I found that older, more established artists were a wealth of information and a huge influence on how I conduct myself as an artist. Artist like everyone I’ve already mentioned: Jackie Sevier, Eugene Ridgebear Jr,, Bunky Echohawk, Roger Broer, Emil Her Many Horses and then there are my contemporaries whom I continually talk with: John Pepion, Ben Pease, Louis Still Smoking, Bruce Cook, Gill Scott, Charlie Her Many Horses and others.

I have to say at least 95% of my success has come from advise or tips from other individual artists. That fact has pushed me to give back to my community and to other emerging artists. I try to help as much as I can, from answering questions, giving tips, or to teaching them a bit more about the business side of being a Native Artist (Thanks to First Peoples Fund! Google them!) through Native Artist Professional Development workshops.

#nyuvoices #nyukimmelwindows #nativevoices #nativeartist #wyoming #historicmaps #drawing #contemporaryart #nyu

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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Meet Jeremy Dennis, Indigenous Fine Art Photographer and tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation

Jeremy Dennis, Sky Woman, 2017, On view in NYU Kimmel Windows through September 10th, 2019

We've read you grew up on the Shinnecock Nation Reservation and this has, in part, informed your interest in creating the project On This Site. Can you tell us a bit about the process and project as well as how your upbringing and indigenous identity informs the art you make? We see, also, that this project resulted in a book that we'd love to read! Where can we find this?

On This Site began in 2016 in association with Pennsylvania State University and with my mentor Lonnie Graham. We received a $10,000 grant from the non-profit Running Strong For American Indian Youth, co-founded by Oglala-Lakota Native Billie Mills. We were one of ten chosen during their arts and culture year to develop a project that would uplift our home tribal community and encourage youth participation in the arts.

For my project, I proposed the idea of a site-specific historical project called On This Site that involves documenting and preserving significant indigenous sites throughout Long Island, New York. These sites include sacred sites, historical sites, and archaeological sites - along with our contemporary history.

To complete this work, I visited many historical societies, libraries, and visited the Smithsonian collections in Washington, D.C. to gather texts and references to create a database. From there, I digitized, filtered, and transcribed the texts relating to the indigenous people of Long Island. That gave me a great 'to-do' list of histories to include in the project and offered a great way to represent my community. I use various maps to keep track of where the historical sites are located, and after about a dozen or so are located in an area, I plan a trip to photograph them. Only when they are researched, photographed, and on the web-archive is when I share them with the public; so there are many sites still to be released!

The current project can be seen at www.jeremynative.com/onthissite and there are books available on that site as well!

When you speak about assimilation and tradition, we're curious how these concepts play out in your life and work. What misconceptions, if any, have you or those in your community experienced as an indigenous artist/person? Can you tell us a story about how these two factors have resolved or created tension that you've explored through your art?

In relation to the On This Site project, much of the motivation behind that work relates to assimilation and tradition - trying to weave through what makes us unique, our contributions, and moments that make us proud of who we are.

I think the biggest misconception for indigenous communities is the idea that we are long gone or a vanished people. By sharing our past, I hope to change peoples minds about what they know about indigenous people.

A feeling of resolve and tension are both felt in regard to indigenous history - that is something I am interested in exploring in my current work. Having been able to interact with the public in educational and artistic formats, I've observed a strong calling for our unique voice and perspective, but have also witnessed tension when it comes to colonial reconciliation.

Stories—Indigenous Oral Stories, Dreams and Myths sounds like such an amazing project! Can you tell us about your favorite myth/legend explored in this series? Stories includes images inspired by so many great stories. One of the many elements that make the series so compelling is that there is a story for every moral and life lesson. After telling the stories behind so many of the images, I think my favorite is Choknanipok (The Man of Flint), which is a creation story about two brothers, one who is large, evil, and made of stone, and the other who resembles a heroic human. They fight over a long period of time. The younger brother fights with a bow and arrow, slowly chipping away at his older brothers body. Eventually, he triumphs, and the shards of the older brother are scattered everywhere - explaining the origin and explanation behind why flint is so commonly found. On Long Island, I swap flint for quartz because that is the more common stone.

Choknanipok (Man of Flint), 2014

What's next for you in the coming year that you're really looking forward to and where next can we experience your work?

I am excited to work again with the local Parrish Art Museum for a group exhibition with a theme of storytelling planned for June of 2020, along with a project led by indigenous artist Cannupa Hanska Luger called Settlement, which is a radical Indigenous-led performative encampment in which Indigenous artists from across North America will occupy Plymouth’s Central Park in the United Kingdom for four weeks from July 6-August 7, 2020 during the quadricentennial commemoration of the Mayflower voyage.

Glooscap and The Baby, 2014

#jeremydennis #nativeamericanart #nativeartist #fineartphotography #supportindigenousartists #nyuvoices #nyukimmelwindows #oralhistories #storytelling

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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VOICES reopens!

Just in time for our nation’s birthday, VOICES re-emerges at NYU Kimmel Windows. On this 4th of July, we’re reminded of whose land we occupy and acknowledge this history. It’s with this sentiment in mind that we celebrate the 2nd viewing of VOICES: Indigenous Storytelling and hope you’re able to spend some of your summer days visiting with the artwork along LaGuardia Place and West 3rd Street. VOICES remains on view 24/7 through September 10th, 2019.

Some new works have been added to the exhibition, so even if you’ve seen it once, it's definitely worth coming back by to see these additions! Oh, and stay tuned, we’ve got some exciting plans for the closing for the exhibition, which will coincide with welcoming NYU’s students for the academic school year this September!

Speaking of NYU, we’re excited to share with you this great video of featured artist Nadema Agard, who is also a cherished Alumna! Nadema (Winyan Luta/Red Earth) whose work features in a window along LaGuardia Place, graduated from NYU in 1970. We’re so honored to have her incredible paintings (Earth Mother and her Children of the Four Directions and Grandmother Moon and Her Corn Moon Daughters) on display and hope you enjoy hearing from the artist herself about her life, work and process.

vimeo

View of Nadema’s work on display (LaGuardia Place, just north of West 3rd Street)

#nativevoices #nativeartist #NYU #nyuvoices #femaleartist #publicart #ARTINPUBLICPLACESNYU

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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Reception for VOICES | Indigenous Story Telling

Thanks to all who came out to this very special night celebrating the artists of VOICES! We had an amazing evening full of art and storytelling, how appropriate! Just a few more days left to see the first showing of VOICES-- the exhibition will reopen in July for the rest of the summer, so stay tuned for updates on a closing event for this wonderful and rewarding project.

From left to right; Sparrowhawk, Tashina Lee Emery, Jeremy Dennis, Nadema Agard Winyan Luta Red Woman, Everton Tsosie, Krystyna Printup, Pena Bonita, and Co-Curators Emily Rogers and Larissa Pecego.

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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VOICES | Spotlight on the artist: Sparrowhawk

Included in VOICES are several works by Sparrowhawk, who was kind enough to share more about his artistic process with us. Stop by to see the work in person 24/7 along LaGuardia Place just south of Washington Square Park.

The artist will be performing live at the artist reception which is open to the public on April 17th, from 5:30-8pm, 566 LaGuardia Place, where he will create live-action-portraits (of fellow VOICES artist Tashina Emery) and you REALLY don’t want to miss this!

Sparrowhawk Transcendental Story Artist bases his life and art in accordance to his own saying;

“Aspirations, Visions & Dreams are only Illusions until we are brave enough to give them Shape & Form into Reality.”

He brings roots and primordial traditions into the art of our time with Paintings & Sculptures aka “tangible illusions,” and Transcendental Story Telling performance. Sparrowhawk’s sources of inspiration and muses come from the petroglyphs, philosophies, and stories of his ancestors and the energies of every unique soul he meets.

For more up-to-date content from the artist, be sure to check out: www.vimeo.com/TheSparrowhawk

For information on Sparrowhawk’s work, all for sale, make sure to get in touch!

I've read a little from your Bio about Transcendental Story Telling; could you explain what the art of story-telling means to you and how you see its importance to artmaking and society?

My job here is to produce Paintings/Sculptures...and the rest of the story is to be interpreted by the viewer individually...

I like hearing the many interpretations of my work... I paint, they interpret... however, the behind-the-scenes stories of each piece is reserved for the buyer. When they buy a piece, they also get the story behind it and it’s calligraphically handwritten on parchment paper by the same artist and they will decide to share the story or not. Mystery and confusion give these “tangible illusions” great value.

We love the two paintings and see that you reference Ancestral Icon: Ńü t͡ʃakíyüt and Ancestral Icon: ßįkúwæńøk in their titles. Can you tell us a bit more about what an ancestral icon means and what story is told through these two portraits?

The Ancestral Icons are portraits of ancestors who we will never meet in the flesh, but their works in prehistoric times still influence our lives. Of course, the symbolism and the rest of the story on the canvas is reserved solely for the buyer.

The four corn people sculptures are amazing! What materials do you use to make them and what, if anything, do the materials represent for the work's meaning?

The corn people are made with materials that once held, conducted, or created Life, once again, the story/meaning behind these are reserved for the buyer! Buy the piece, buy the story.

I know you'll be performing live at the reception for VOICES, can you tell us a little bit about what's in store for that?

I’m delighted to be performing live at reception for VOICES, while I’ll be tapping into yours (Pamela) and [fellow VOICES participating artist] Tashina’s cosmogonies to create a to create a Sparrowhawkian Transcendental Story Icon of your faces. Expect a unique storytelling experience with paint, mysterious voices, animalism, ambidexterity, androgyny and nice abs! Or don’t expect anything, and simply imagine walking into an unknown art cave and prepare to have a similar experience like our ancestors had in prehistoric times. After all, in the words of our buddy Dr. Blair Stonechild, “Prehistory is Indigeneity!”

#nativevoices #VOICESNYU #indigenousart #supportindigenousartists #nativeartist #nativeamericanart #publicart #ARTINPUBLICPLACESNYU

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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VOICES | Spotlight on the artist: Krystyna Printup

Krystyna Printup is a Brooklyn based artist, curator and designer whose work investigates her identity as an Indigenous woman and the issues surrounding ideal representations of the Native American community.

We recently spoke with her about her art and artistic inspiration for the work included in VOICES and we’re so happy we did, boy did we learn a lot!

Make sure you take the time to see her paintings on West 3rd Street, 24/7 through May 5th and then from July 1st through September 10th. She’ll be at the reception on April 17th 5:30- 8pm so come by and meet her in person then!

I've read your work deals with representation and identity; Where did you grow up and how do you feel that contributes to the person/artist you are today?

I am a Native New Yorker! (with the emphasis on Native ) Growing up within one of the largest cities in America the clash between who I AM versus what was expected to be as a "Native" has always been an internal struggle. My work has always been around my own personal journey with my identity as an American Indian, Native, Native American - what ever you would call it- and my constant battle with how to be apart of both worlds. As a native who was raised in a city I was automatically confronted with stereotypes because of the expectation on what an "Indian" is supposed to be like/ look like. I was not from the country, I didn't know how to hunt, drive a car, swim, and not to mention my lack of any connection to mother nature. I didnt talk native, or live on the rez with my dads family, in fact aside from a couple Powwows Ive attended my culture was taught from the pieces shared via books, mentors, my non native mother and the annual visits upstate to visit my father and my native side of my family. I felt that if I grew up in the country or in a more rural area that people would of been easier to accept me as Native because of the cultural assumptions society has created on what IS native-ness. In my current work I am exploring identity but this time thru the lens of the observer. Im using my own assumptions to create a painting based on a persons looks rather than history.

Who are the two Chief's portrayed in your pieces? Their gaze and posture are so powerful. Do they have more of a story to tell?

My portrait paintings are inspired by real people from found photographs. I have always been drawn to the simplicity of the early 1900's photographs and the cold, hollow and soulless stares the people are often depicted as having. I feel a connection with these people in the sense that they are being displayed in a manner expected by the viewer yet there is no follow up on the voice of the person. You view the photo and create your own assumptions of character the same way people my whole life viewed me with certain expectations. When you view my works I want the pieces to speak, I want there to be a haunting feeling that you are connecting with a person who I have painted.

What materials did you use and can you speak a little about your artistic process?

I work in gouache and watercolors on either paper or canvas. I like how easy it is to travel and move around with gouache and the soft fluid effects you can achieve when painting. I enjoy the constrictive unforgiving ability the material has on the canvas, that I am unable to come back to a painting to fix it, or change it, once a mark is made. All my pieces are done in either one or two sittings. Its about the aggressive marks that I make in a manner I can compare to the act of beating a drum, it feels wild and somehow its very controlled. I never create a sketch or layout a plan prior, I just jump right into painting. I work from a visual reference in black and white, and allow my own assumptions to take control.

When did you first know you were an artist and what does creating art mean to you?

I have always been a creative of some sort throughout my life. I studied fine art at F.H LaGuardia High School( the famous FAME schooll) and followed that with going to Pratt Institute to study drawing. My voice did not begin until I was free from peer influence and had my own space to grow. Ironically looking back at art I made as a child it is strangely similar in material and subject matter to what I paint today. Creating work is second nature, I cant imagine myself not painting. There has been times when I go through what I call my "blank period" where my artistic self is just blank, and I stop creating for a certain block of time. Maybe its my creative clock restarting or something like that, but all I know is when I do snap out of the "not in the mood to painting" funk I come out with a new collection of work. If you look at my website my work is broken into different titled categories or what I like to call periods. Sometimes its a couple works large and other extend by the dozens. Currently im in the Seeing Red period and its been almost three years in this period and I am not sure when this era will end. I never do. But all I know is that its been the most powerful collection yet.

What are seven things that inspire you in life and in art-making?

- Vintage Portraiture Photography

- Americana and the Wild West era

- the stereotypes of native iconography/ appropriation

- Tuscarora bead work and souvenir crafts

- Artists like Francis Bacon, Picasso, photographer Edward Curtis

-Social Media

As a member of the Tuscaroras Tribe (Turtle Clan) of New York, Printup's SEEING RED paintings are an exploration of Native Americana in modern America thru the lens of her cultural exposure. Presenting to the viewer as a collection of gouache paintings that act as a snapshot of her own histories. Referencing cultural objects and artifacts mixed with images pulled from social media, Printup documents her memories as a visual memoir paying homage to her American Indian heritage.

Printup’s HOMELAND paintings are an exploration of Native Americana thru the lens of her own identity growing up as an urban Indigenous woman. Printup references found photographs and historical documents for her vibrant depictions of both fiction and non- fiction narratives. Printup’s signature bold and expressive lines pay homage to what she feels “is symbolic to the act of a beating drum” a display of aggression, energy, and unity.

#nativevoices #VOICESNYU #nativeamericanart #supportindigenousartists #indigenousart #painting #NYU #ARTINPUBLICPLACESNYU

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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VOICES | spotlight on the artist: Janice Toulouse

We recently had the chance to dive deeper into the life and artistic process of Ojibwe artist, painter and instructor Janice Toulouse, whose breathtaking painting Migizi Kwe - Eagle Woman is featured in VOICES (on view 24/7 along West 3rd street through May 5th, and from July 1st through September 10th).

Thank you, Janice, for telling us more about yourself and for sharing your work with our community! Make you see this and the rest of the amazing exhibition in person, photos don’t do it justice.

Can you tell us a little bit about where you grew up and what life was like on Serpent River First Nation? In what ways, if any, has your surroundings informed the artist you are today?

I was born in the1950‘s in our house on Genaabaaging - Serpent River First Nation where I lived for the first 6 years of my life. My spirit name is Shingwauk Kwe, from my hereditary Chief’s family name. Memories of walking the trails in the woods amongst the wild animals whom I was never taught to fear. Picking blueberries on the same bush as the bears. Hearing my mother and grandmother speaking Ojibwe while cooking traditional foods on the wood stove. Only recently is the water drinkable again since our lands and waterways were polluted in the 50’s by Algoma Uranium Mines. My homeland is the root of the artist I am today.

We love Migizi Kwe - Eagle Woman; It's so powerful to see and I'd love to understand the work's meaning a bit more. I've read that the subject of the piece came to you in a dream and you were compelled to complete the painting in dedication to Indigenous women survivors of sexual abuse. Can you tell us a bit more about how the symbolism of your dreams informs your art and what the Eagle means to you?

“The eagle is sacred they carry our healing prayers to the creator. The symbolism of my dreams are gifts from the creator that I was born with. It was a long healing journey of traditional ceremonies to be able to interpret the symbolism of my dreams. This informs my art by emphasising images with strong meaning that I need to share I with the public.”

I've read you are most interested in revising history from an Indigenous perspective. Can you tell us a bit about specific histories you are currently focused on and ways you would like for those histories to be revisited and understood?

Indigenous people have been on Turtle Island since time immemorial our teachings and stories have ancient connection to this land. In 1998 I was part of a collaborative 4 year art project conceptually revising historical landmarks across Canada and the USA as a form of repatriation. Currently I am painting a large work similar the background in Migizi Kwe - Eagle Woman, combining abstraction and geometric star forms from our origin teachings. My ancestors studied the stars before proceeding in decisions for the people. The inspiration came by watching the stars each night where I am working in the countryside.

I'm curious about the intersection of nature and spiritual beliefs in your art and what inspires you. Could you tell us about some of the things that inspire your artistic process?

Nature is my inspiration, spirituality connects with nature. My artist process is either fast paced gestural painting or a slower painting process that involves research to commemorate Indigenous women to achieve the respect we merit. My art tells a story of nature, history, and memory. The stories are teachings, they come with the inherent depth of knowledge that all Indigenous cultures possess.

Janice Toulouse, is an Ojibwe artist painter and instructor, born and raised on Serpent River First Nation, Northern Ontario. She lives in Canada and visits often in France. She has exhibited her art internationally for 38 years. She earned an MFA from Concordia University, Montreal. She taught painting and contemporary Indigenous art at Emily Carr University of Art in Vancouver for 20 years. Her art practice is to share her visual art and stories on her life as an Anishinabe kwe. Toulouse’s artistic vision is focused on the revision of history from an Indigenous perspective. Her artworks investigate the parallel history, nature and spiritual beliefs that exist in our visual culture. She paints abstract gestural paintings and portrait works that honour the First people of North America. Her artworks have been shown internationally in Canada, U.S.A, and Europe. Toulouse is a recipient of several awards, among them Canada’s 150 Indigenous Artist Reveal Award in 2017, and the National Museum of the American Indian award and residency in New York for her project “From Manhattan to Menatay”.

#publicart #ARTINPUBLICPLACESNYU #indigenousart #supportindigenousartists #painting #NYU #nativevoices #VOICESNYU

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thekimmelwindows-blog · 5 years

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V O I C E S | spotlight on the artist: Tashina Lee Emery

Tashina Lee Emery, Ojibwe is currently working on her MA in Arts Politics in Tisch’s Art and Public Policy program where she will graduate later this year.

Enrolled in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of Baraga, MI, Misanaquadikwe is her Native American name: The one who can clear a cloudy day. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Tashina (hint, she’ll be at the exhibition’s reception on April 17th 5:30-8pm in the Skirball Performing Arts Center Lobby, and so should you!), you’ll see what a perfect name this is for Tashina; she truly radiates the sun.

Her artwork, Anishinaabekwe, is featured in V O I C E S @nyukimmelwindows and we had the chance recently to sit down with the artist to learn a bit more about what inspires her creative process. Check it out!

Who are the women you have portrayed in your piece and what informed/inspired you to select these 7?

Mikah and Aubree. Jailyn. Sydni. Ginger. Shani. Jeanne. Victoria. Seven humans. Seven bodies. Seven physical places in life moving at once. I obscure through layers the magic of tradition, a sacred secrecy to withhold but instead asserting the wonders of existent real women and their roles in raising villages. The thick and heavy central role of the woman’s strength on the reservation that I witnessed. I celebrate their resilience to generations of trauma, now bearing the weight on my shoulders from my mother. I validate the vigor carried by blood from the collective power of the women who surround me. Glorifying my optimism through the delicate and intimate chiffon silk marking a statement of survival, the ones still here. My work shares the tenacity and superpowers of legacy. Drawing questions of the decisions we make today and how it will affect the future seven generations.

Where did you grow up and how do you feel that contributes to the person you are today?

I grew up on a small reservation of the shores of Lake Superior, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan. I was raised traditionally and always had a house full. My mother raised villages, she took in anyone in need. Rez life was always something I wanted to escape growing up. Any opportunity, I took it, the more I left, the more I want to return. The more I return, the more I want to leave. However, I love my home. The awareness from a distanced perspective gives me the vigor for a healthy community, my people deserve.

What materials did you use and can you speak a little about your artistic process?

The silks transparency, the soft touch of see through that flows following the bodies fluid movements. I created seven chiffon pieces to hold the seven women of my inner circle of strength and struggle, woven elegance and damage.

I had invited all the woman in my immediate family during Thanksgiving break to spend the day in Zeba, MI with me, bringing back memories of were my mother and aunties grew up. Originally there was supposed to be a few more chiffon pieces. My cousins, aunties, sisters, and mother dressed across from deep frozen waters of Lake Superior. We did our makeup together and I made sure to bring an immense collection of my own jewelry, which anything they wore they were able to have after. An offering for their time and help in my project. My poems and short proses adorning the woman who raised me and the future generations we too, will one day effect.

My stories come from the hardships I bared, the trauma that my family has. I disguise the complex narratives of hurt and hope with stacked layers, to beautiful burden the viewer. The reader is forced to look deeper. A strategic transparency the viewer will have to work for.

You include what appears to be handwriting in the some of the pieces; who's writing is this and is there more of a story to how and why you've chosen to incorporate this in places?

My mother’s handwriting was such an important piece, representing a thread between all the pieces. The Ojibwe floral layer is the bond between the women, but my mother’s words, some in Ojibwe, are the realistic spots creating a decolonized version of the map, a fabric framework of place. A bit of her being, reclaiming her voice.

What are seven things that inspire you in life and in art-making?

My home. The thick woodlands, and the crystal lake Lake Superior shores. My reservation right near the water's embrace. I vow to surround myself again with the trees and water.

My mom. She is my best friend and her stories however horrific come with a tinge of humor, happiness, and hope.

Indian Country. The social movements and political progressions excite me. I am honored to witness the privileges my ancestors fight so hard for coming into fruition.

My nieces. I try to crave out terrain that one day, they can one day exceed expectations too.

Raw natural materials, their carried stories. I cherish the traditional medicines, the plants, and the decolonized memory and making.

Healing. I come from a Tribal Public Health background and the practices of other first Nations is power. Culture is medicine.

Traveling. The mobile Native or body of color has been a new fascination, especially coming from a reservation enacting my dual citizenship, a double consciousness.

Below are detail images of the installation along with translations of their accompanying poems; be sure to swing by and see the works in person!

Nieces - Mikah and Aubree - Panel 1

Beautiful Baby.

I look at the light skinned dark babies, the babies born mixed, the mothers who hold shades lighter, the black haired mothers who protect their redheaded daughters.

The worlds purposeful intentions, reminding us that difference is okay, humbling our mothers, my mother. This beautiful baby, we created in our body’s came out into harsh world, the very not memory of the past colonization, not our light skin, not only the light hair. Not the colonizers wounds, it’s a reminder to love one another. To find new forms of securities, new love, new radical change.

I watch a mother of dark complexion cradle her little lighter joy and embraced the baby’s new warmth, she holds the entire world in that little girl. Her eyes didn’t look like her mothers but she loved her to the moon, I traveled to witnessing her joy.

Nieces - Mikah and Aubree - Panel 1

Bright Pink Fuel.

Bright pink, yes, our favorite color! The colorful toes were adorned in glittered, glamorous, tall, jeweled heels walked through the cold, dark rain. The studded emeralds were the only pieces in color in the gray, murky video as they moved closer towards us, with sass. Then, guess what the fabulous feet did? They brought forward one beautiful foot in slow motion, swung the tattooed leg with just enough force to smash the window, glass in front of them. The glass's sharp edges bursting everywhere.

Be careful where you step, but good thing the feet had heels on.

I see the power in the person wearing those heels, a fight in heels is a tougher work then most. A similar work you’ll have, as women of color, your heels is the shade skin you wear. The height of the stem should empower you. Stand up straight, walk with vigor and purposeful, with finesse. The heels you wear are adorned with jewels of your ancestors carrying you as you sustain them. Please know those heels come with baggage, the pain, the ache in your foot, feel that with every step you take and use it as bright pink fuel.

Cousin - Jailyn - Panel 2

Baamaapii.

Baamaapii. adv tmp temporal adverb - later, after a while, eventually. In Ojibwe, we do not have a “goodbye”. What a beautiful reminder that the permanence of leaving or being gone is unrestricted and open ended to possibilities. We also view death as “passing on”, no one “dies”, but “passes away”, just moving on until we meet again. As a wanderer, these notions of the “see you later” are comforting. I learned very young, my home will always be there - the fresh cold water of Lake Superior, the dark woodlands, the dirt tireless roads, and the vast open fields to roam.

I take my passion, my dreams, the unknown with me to New York City. I left my appreciation, with cooked dinners and movie nights with my mom. I left my joy with my nieces and sisters spending days at the beach. I left my strength with the women in my family, to carry on the raised villages. I left my future with the hardest worker and most compassionate boy, my best friend.

My values of family and my rural home, are so ingrained that I have a innate need to settle and have a family. The reservation calls my name even 1,137.2 miles away. The content lifestyle of the midwest is seducing because it was all I ever was exposed to, it was the norm. I can’t stop moving, I need to explore. The unknown captives me more, but I known in the back of mind I can have it all. My autonomy is so strategic, that I will prove you can be a found soul. Baamaappii.

Cousin - Sydni - Panel 3

Speak or fashion or eat or adorn and repeat.

“Decolonize” has been such a buzz word it’s on fire, the trend game is so strong. Do not get me wrong, we need the framework, decolonization seeks revolutionary change and a sense of peace we all need. Decolonize, a mindful act, has always been an unspoken truth for Native communities, an existing way of life but now it is law. A term to police each other, another quantum to test my blood. A verbiage to see my percentage of authenticity, but guess what I’m not prefect. Strip down bare, bring fire to everything, live in this past world, listen carefully to every word you say. How dare I accuse someone for not wanting to suffer? Not assimilation, but to live a life our ancestors fought to be apart. Yes, I will be educated. Yes I will speak and write in english. Yes, I will shop online. Yes, I will move in and out of the reservation. But, I do everything with my values of my mother and her’s before her.

I hate the word, but I’m not saying to not purse practices, change the agenda, but bring awareness to use words that aren’t even ours. Maybe I’m writing for myself to digest the words of criticism, of hate, of intolerance or unawareness. Decolonize is a tool or maybe a truth to get some where new, but it should never be a way to beat someone up. “If you don’t speak or fashion or eat or adorn and repeat in decolonization, then your Native authenticity is lacking.” More ways of classification, as taunting as measuring my relations to my people, my community and my land. Yes, there is a difference between decolonize and pride, one doesn’t force you to follow along in the boasting of Nativeness.

I’m not the colonizer.

Cousin - Sydni - Panel 3

A part in my heart where no trust lives.

On Saturday morning at 3:21 am, I called the police with an almost calm voice and simply but accurately stated ", I recently had a home invasion with assault." How bleek, I had no emotion, but I spoke in their words so they could hear me.

My face was marked with blood and burned with stinging pain along my eye and a few intense deep scratches on my cheeks. I felt woozy so I sat down with my phone in my hand, numb. I sat alone.

I had already outlined the situation in my head. Trying to replay the events in my head, trying to label and fully understand what happened, trying to remember how to start and finish. I was there, but I couldn’t grasp time anymore. I'm trying to wrap my freshly onset of dizziness, but I was blurry from the outside deep down within, the world flew out softly and left me shuddering on the floor of my living room.

I sat in my house empty. Sending a photo to my best friend first, labeled should I call the police?

I am mad, I am pissed, I have rage. I have a part in my heart where no trust lives. No home or shield that will protect me. The part that reminds me to lock my doors twice. I sit back and observe everyone. I want them to know they ignited a tiny fire and it is a reason to speak even louder, to scream next time. I want accountability. I want justice. I want that if she was a guy, she'd be a prisoner. I want credibility. And this isn't acceptable.

But survival you do alone, when breathing becomes essential. I’m not saved or healed, but I breathe. Take deep breaths.

It is not with the cloak of physical wounds I carry, but the adusatity you have of boasting about the events. The fact that you claim the victim. How does the idea come to your head that you “win”? That you even want to “win”.

My case wasn't taken seriously, so I sparked flames. I couldn’t break the cycles of hurt, because hurt people, hurt people. I am broken, but the fight of a shattered person is effective when saving other shattered people.

Cousin - Ginger - Panel 4

A cloud that dropped everyone to their knees.

I braid the hair of the bridesmaids, and ending with the little flower girls because the restless toddlers couldn’t sit long enough. Their pearl crowns in place, the small crowded house seemed to get louder with anxiousness. My aunty in all white, her voice shook as she entered the room, she held her phone. Already she was the center of attention, we paused everything for the bride, we grew silent listening to the beautiful text her son had just sent. He wished he could be there and was sorry he wasn’t able to see her beauty on her big day. He was called out to a wildfire in Utah at 3 am the night before. The ceremony was near, I was helping with last minute highlight, adding more or less creme blush, we choked on hairspray, sipping wine and beer to ease the excited tensions. I was the last to be ready, the bridal crew escaped leaving me behind while I applied my last touches of peach shadows, hands shaking applying my matte liquid wings. The primer, creme foundation, and the powder setting, can not forget the setting.

The world went blurry, the bride was limp, numb to the news. The alcohol that was just setting in, did not ease the pain I saw and couldn’t digest. Everyone’s shock was a slight buzz, a cloud that dropped everyone to their knees. The disbelief traumatized everyone. His sisters, my sisters screaming out, “he is gone”. She sharply snapped, yelling at my optimistic skepticism. She wanted to punch me with the truth. She could have and I still wouldn’t have listened. The police arrived to confirm.

The trauma of that evening broke my whole family, broke my community. The firefighters never made it outside of Minnesota. Two years have gone by and there is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of the Jimmy, James Frederick Shelifoe Jr. Again, we met at my mother's house to struggle together and we still do.

It wasn’t the day after when the world stopped, it wasn’t the weeks after when a being who was presence no longer existed, it wasn’t the months after where every meal around a table meant Jimmy wasn’t there.

Sister - Shani - Panel 5

Lineage.

My lineage stems from strong powerful women, the strength of wounds that still need healing. The endurance, the resilience mirrored in their our young. They say a higher power, gives you only what you can handle. The generations of women in my life handled what can only be told in stories surrounded by laughter, because you wouldn’t be able to hear the truth in seriousness. My mother comes from broken parents, split in half by trauma. My grandfather beat my grandmother into suicide. His drinking came from the abuse he received himself and so on. At 11 years old my mom and her siblings fended on their own in homes of a broken community - Bridgette, Cathy, Jerry, Jim, Vicki, Miino, Baghi, Wausa, Waba, Allen, and Steve. They carried the heaviness of loss entering this already harsh world.

The pain and hurt has descended to my shoulders, and that’s just the pain I witnessed. Dare I even go back further? Do I want to know? What I do see is the baggage on my cousins, their little ones. We are normalized to the hurt, content with the struggle of barely making it through. That is all we ever known. Three of my uncles are currently incarcerated, more than half addicted to numbing the pain, three have passed on because some couldn’t “handle what the higher power gives you”. The damaged but tenacious beings who now are raising kids. I would ask my mom how do you handle losing a sibling, more than one because, at my age, I didn’t know how to grip the hurt, pain and hate that comes from the loss of a young soul, we were supposed to be the generation of stopped cycles. She never really responded but, just lead the way, just kept moving. It was like an initiation to the club. I have learned loss at age 5 years old. My mother lost her younger sibling and my cousin became my sister.

Now take this hurt, times the built up tonnage by *1,130 and trap it in one place called reservations.

How are you not mad? How do I accuse someone of not wanting to suffer? Because sometimes, I am so heated that I want to fight. I want to break walls, punch, kick and scream - but I don't I use my words and stories. Stories you can only tell in laughter.

*The # of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Members Enrolled residing in Baraga County

Mother - Jeanne - Panel 6

Degree of Holiness.

My cousins tease that my mom is a Catholic saint, our lack of Christianity didn’t deter us from labeling her a powerful being having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness or closeness to God. We did, however, know she was the Native version of a saint, she was a Native Saint.

My mother has an exceptional degree of holiness, a likeness and a closeness to the Creator. She always has, she'd tell us stories of when she was little, she'd sing in the woods as if that was further confirming her sainthood. I think it’s funny, her Ojibwe traditional knowledge is most prominent but I see subtle hints of the colonizer she adapted in her own reclamation. I wonder what my people, called prayers or messages to the Creator before Columbus. Even the Ojibwe word Anama'e, which means prayer translates to “church, Christian”. But the act, the ritual, the modern day ceremony of her prayer creates her own resistance through her blend of worlds.

She offers her Asemaa, tobacco, usually from her fresh pack of Seneca's because Marlboros are now too expensive. She closes her eyes holding them shut, with the same tension as she holds the small grains of the whitewashed Kinnikinnick, smoking herbs. The "old Indian way" would have maybe Bearberry leaf, Mullein leaf, Deer's Tongue, Osha leaf, Red Sumac leaf, and Spearmint leaf in their mixtures. Although now most First Nation’s natural resource departments harvest their own real traditional sacred tobacco, the plant Nicotiana Rustica, successfully and unsuccessfully. But she acts on the call of prayer, which is spontaneous and always urgent. She introduces herself, connects herself to the land, and connects herself to her role and community. I see her mumble the thoughts, the wishes, the needs of my people. I can even hear her inner voice ending each phrase “in a good way”. I give her, her space as she mends those around me.

“Aunty Jean, can you pray about my Dad he is in the hole again.” “Mom, can you pray for my Cats they keep peeing in my bed.” “Can you have your mom pray for me as I go into this final nursing exam.” “Aunty Jean, can you pray for my rez car, I about to bring it to the shop again.” “Mom, can you pray for my IUD procedure Friday.”

This is my meeting place, where my Ojibwe tradition encounters contemporary western society.

Then, the ritual starts again. My mother introduces herself. Nindizhinikaaz Namid Migizi. My name is Dancing Eagle. Nindonjibaa Baraga. I am from Baraga. Mikinaak Nindoodem. My clan is Turtle. She continues sharing her courage with me to do the same.

Mother - Jeanne - Panel 6

Because you are my daughter.

I have never been so filled with anxiety. I see mixed messages on every social platform. My brain is constantly talking to itself and all I’m trying to do sleep for the two hours I have left before the new day starts. For the first time at least since I can, remember I feel like I’m constantly questioning my own work, and my own authenticity, why am I the one allowed too be here, to create? Am I stressed because I’m not apart of my Native community? Or is because I’m the only Native dealing with this new place by herself?

Is this what rewarding risk taking feels like?

Decolonize has always been an unspoken truth, but now it is law. If you don’t speak or fashion or eat or adorn or repeat in decolonization then your Native authenticity is lacking. The new classification is as taunting as blood quantum, measuring my relations to my people, my community and my land. Yes, there is a difference between decolonize and pride, one doesn’t force you to follow along in the boasting of Nativeness.

I have never questioned myself more since coming to NYU, so I asked my mom why do I get to do what I do?

“Because you are sweet and because you are my daughter.”

Aunty - Victoria - Panel 7

Fucking Tough.

Learn to be fucking tough, does being an artist mean I have to be tough? Which I thought I was.

I’m just as valid in my own way, my work is valid and means shit, I need to represent it as is, fight for it, that's my toughness.

I’m just as right as you and I accept you.

Recognize the conversation you now play with everything to the past? Do I have to respond or is it okay to just be? “I have to be tough, I have to be tough, I have to be tough, I have to be tough” I grow thicker skin, the more I say it.

Aunty - Victoria - Panel 7

Deviant.

The second you don’t feel the fear, you’ll see the future so clear. I’ll keep telling myself that.

And what if my change I try to push, comes before they are ready, is there a better time? Maybe it’s not timing, but it’s more about the process, the way you teach and not scare. Because if you change in a Native American community, then we are gone, we are extinct. The second I’m deviant, an artist, when I break the rules or go against tradition, prove, maintain, and represent I’m still Native. How can I create conditions to change, formation.

Aunty - Victoria - Panel 7

Through Exhaustion.

Both of these worlds, want to refer to me in the trapping past or always a near future, but never the present here and now. I appreciate the challenge, but to be apart of the conversation I physically, mentally and wholeheartedly beg, strive, fight to represent my past with integrity then, I do the exact same to represents the future. Through exhaustion, tirelessly because if I don’t, who will. My nieces and my own children will one day have too, and that makes the urgency even more. I tell myself to grow thicker skin, I need to be tough.

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V O I C E S

Indigenous Storytelling

The show remains on view from March 24 to May 5th, and July 1 to September 10, 2019 and is visible 24/7 in the window vitrines along Laguardia Place and the corner of West 3rd Street.

Opening Reception: April 17th, 5:30-8pm

Lobby of the Skirball Performing Arts Center: 566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012

Voices features Native American and Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island, also known as North America. This exhibition showcases the work of artists who aim to express their personal stories in terms of both personal identity and contemporary social life in North America. Originally conceived by graduate students in the Museum Studies Program at NYU, the exhibition grew in scope and vision to include 11 Indigenous and Native American artists in a collaborative project that is an exercise in creativity and exploration. It is not intended to present an exhaustive view of Indigenous art and curation, or the Indigenous experience in general. Instead, it presents an opportunity to share artists’ narratives in the medium of photography. The exhibition offers artists the opportunity to share their own stories on their own terms, without having to relate to a prescribed motif.

We designed this exhibition to allow each work to speak for itself, and for artists to share their own stories. We encourage viewers to engage with each piece individually and really take in the artist statements and stories that are attached to them.

We hope VOICES inspires you to think about your own narrative and your own relationship with the occupied territory you live on.

About the Artists:

Jeremy Dennis

is a contemporary fine art photographer and a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. In his work, he explores indigenous identity, assimilation, and tradition from the lens of a millennial.

Dennis was one of 10 recipients of a 2016 Dreamstarter Grant from the national non-profit organization Running Strong for American Indian Youth. He was awarded $10,000 to pursue his project, On This Site, which uses photography and an interactive online map to showcase culturally significant Native American sites on Long Island, a topic of special meaning for Dennis, who was raised on the Shinnecock Nation Reservation. He also created a book and exhibition from this project. Most recently, Dennis received the Creative Bursar Award from Getty Images in 2018 to continue his series Stories.

In 2013, Dennis began working on the series, Stories—Indigenous Oral Stories, Dreams and Myths. Inspired by North American indigenous stories, the artist staged supernatural images that transform these myths and legends to depictions of an actual experience in a photograph.

Residencies: North Mountain Residency, Shanghai, WV (2018), MDOC Storytellers’ Institute, Saratoga Springs, NY (2018). Eyes on Main Street Residency & Festival, Wilson, NC (2018), Watermill Center, Watermill, NY (2017) and the Vermont Studio Center hosted by the Harpo Foundation (2016).

He has been part of several group and solo exhibitions, including Stories, From Where We Came, The Department of Art Gallery, Stony Brook University (2018); Trees Also Speak, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY College at Old Westbury, NY (2018); Nothing Happened Here, Flecker Gallery at Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY (2018); On This Site: Indigenous People of Suffolk County, Suffolk County Historical Society, Riverhead, NY (2017); Pauppukkeewis, Zoller Gallery, State College, PA (2016); and Dreams, Tabler Gallery, Stony Brook, NY (2012).

Dennis holds an MFA from Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, and a BA in Studio Art from Stony Brook University, NY.

Frank Buffalo Hyde grew up surrounded by traditional Native American art. He had artists on both sides of his family and his parents met at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). From an early age, however, Hyde knew he wanted to make his own mark.

When he did eventually decide to embrace the visual art world — after playing in a rock band and trying his hand at writing — it was with the overt intention of making his audience think twice about the way they see Native Americans. Case in point: Hyde called his first show at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is the Buffalo Show and filled it not only with his namesake animals, but with buffalo soldiers, the character Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs, and an image of buffalo wings.

Hyde’s satirical, pop-culture-soaked, take-no-prisoners approach puts him in a unique place among Native artists. He has called out celebrities like Gwen Stefani for wearing feathers and depicted traditional ceremonies complete with a row of mobile phones caught in the act of documenting — or perhaps stealing — the dancers’ images. He knows his work will make some audience members uncomfortable. In fact, he hopes it does.

The artist has said: “When working on a piece, I tap into the universal mind. The collective unconsciousness of the 21st century. Drawing images from advertisement, movies, television, music and politics. Expressing observation, as well as knowledge through experience. Overlaping imagery to mimic the way the mind holds information: non linear and without seperation. I don’t need permission to make what I make. Never have...no artist should.”

Nadema Agard/Winyan Luta/ Red Woman (Cherokee/Lakota/Powhatan), lives and works in New York City. She was educated at New York University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Art Education and Columbia University, Teacher’s College, where she received a Master of Arts Degree in Art and Education.Her watercolors, pastels acrylic on canvas pieces, incorporate soft sculptural forms and mixed media. Her work as an artist has an individual style and a cosmic subject with a global agenda from an Indigenous perspective. Her work also combines traditional Indigenous sacred feminine iconography and spirituality with traditional Western European media. Part of the New York City contemporary Native art scene for more than 35 years, she has shown her work at the Gallery of the American Indian Community House and has been part of Native artists groups like Riders With No Horse and American Indian Artists, Inc. (AMERINDA). Nadema has shown in over 60 group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally since 1979.Agard’s pieces are in the collections of Amerindian Circle, Native American Contemporary Art Collection of the University of Wisconsin, American Indian College Fund, Locus Media Gallery, and those of private collectors throughout the world.She was recently profiled as an artist in the publication entitled, No Reservations: New York Contemporary Native American Arts Movement by David Bunn Martine.

Janice Toulouse is an Ojibwe artist painter and instructor, born and raised on Serpent River First Nation, Northern Ontario. She lives in Orangeville, Ontario and visits often in France. She has exhibited and presented her art internationally for 38 years. She earned an MFA from Concordia University, Montreal. She formerly taught painting and contemporary Indigenous art at Emily Carr University of Art in Vancouver for twenty years. Toulouse’s ongoing artistic concern is revising history from an Indigenous perspective. Her artworks investigate the intersection of written history, nature and spiritual beliefs that exist in her visual culture. Toulouse’s multimedia artworks have been shown nationally and internationally in Canada, U.S.A, France, and Italy. Toulouse is a recipient of several awards, Indigenous Artist Reveal Award in 2017, and the Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian award and residency in New York for her project “From Manhattan to Menatay”.

Krystyna Printup (New York, 1983) is a Brooklyn based artist, curator and designer whose work investigates her identity as an Indigenous woman and the issues surrounding ideal representations of the Native American community. A member of the New York Tuscarora Turtle Clan, Printup references her tribal history throughout her paintings, sculptures and design work referencing American Indian folk art, pop culture stereotypes, and objects of everyday life which are then combined with her own traditions. She has exhibited at Marianne Boesky gallery; Mehr Midtown Gallery; Schafler Gallery; White Box Gallery; The Hole; Year 08 Art Fair: London and at the Whitney Biennial 2017. She is a winner of the Art for Progress Artist search and a recipient of the Norwood Arts Club Founding Members Arts Award & membership. Printup’s most current project was with The Company Store as a featured artist for their inaugural Fine Art Collation launch and is one of the feature 60 contemporary artist of NYC on the Art collecting app ARTFARE. Printup attended F.H LaGuardia High School for art in New York City. She received a BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and a MLA from StonyBrook College, Stony Brook, NY.

Pena Bonita: Born and raised in the southwest, Pena Bonita now lives in New York City where she received her MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York in 1995. Bonita began her artistic career as a visual artist and began photography at age eight with an uncle in her grandmother’s attic, with a Brownie camera. Her work is reflective of Native American values and experiences. She has exhibited and lectured extensively throughout the United States and Canada. In 2004 she was a recipient of the National Foundation Book Award for her short story, Lotto Baby. Her work is held in numerous collections including the Thunderbay Museum, Thunderbay, Canada; Whoopie Goldberg; Colgate; Beth Israel Medical Center; and Long Island University.

Everton Tsosie www.tohsnez.wix.com/fireart is an abstract figurative artist-painter who lives and works in New York, NY. A native of Albuquerque, N.M., his work is contemporary and features a Native American style to his audience. He is a descendant of the Great Navajo Tribe hailing from Whitehorse Lake, N.M. He works with oils and acrylics on the canvas. He envisions an abstract quality with line and gestural strokes and brings a authentic-modern Native American perspective to his artwork.

Navajo singers, social gatherings, everyday drama, whether abstractly or naturally, his paintings and drawings conveys creations brought to the modern world with strong colors evenly spread by contour and irregular lines. As the artist adds, “ I work from experience in life and absolutely find it striking how drama can be expressed on a plain canvas with abstraction or naturalism. I love how my authenticity discloses to America that Native Americans are still here and creating!”

Tsosie began his artwork since childhood and has had his first show at La Mesa Elementary in Albuquerque. Since then he grew up with a love of the arts and went on to graduate from the University of New Mexico with a BFA in an emphasis towards painting and drawing.

One of the exhibitions he has been in is Time and Space are None of Our Business in Downtown Albuquerque at the CFA Gallery. He also has created a book cover for Native American Author Sheila A. O’Quirke titled Taking Back the River.

American Indian Community House Window

The mission of American Indian Community House (AICH) is to improve and promote the well-being of the American Indian Community and to increase the visibility of American Indian cultures in an urban setting in order to cultivate awareness, understanding and respect.

AICH is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization serving the needs of Native Americans residing in New York City.

AICH was founded in 1969, by Native American volunteers as a community-based organization, mandated to improve the status of Native Americans, and to foster inter-cultural understanding.

AICH membership is currently composed of Native Americans from 72 different tribes. Native American migration between urban centers and reservations demonstrates the inter-relatedness of all Native Americans, and from this reality emerges the recognition that our issues and concerns are truly shared.

Sparrowhawk: Sparrowhawk Transcendental Story Artist, bases his life and art in accordance to his own saying; Aspirations, Visions & Dreams are only Illusions until We are Brave enough to give them Shape & Form into Reality.

He brings roots and primordial traditions into art of our time with Paintings & Sculptures aka “tangible illusions,” and Transcendental Story Telling performance.

Sparrowhawk’s sources of inspiration and muses come from the petroglyphs, philosophies and stories of his ancestors and the energies of every unique soul he meets. www.vimeo.com/TheSparrowhawk

The show remains on view from March 24 to May 30, and July 1 to September 10, 2019 and is visible 24/7 in the window vitrines along Laguardia Place and the corner of West 3rd Street.

Robert Martinez was born in Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation in the small city of Riverton. He grew up a part of many different cultures as his lineage is Spanish, Mexican, Scotts Irish, French Canadian and Northern Arapaho. He graduated Riverton High School at 17 and through a scholarship, attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts specializing in Painting & Drawing and minoring in sculpture. In 3 years and at age 19, he became the Youngest Native American to graduate from RMCAD at that time.

As he was brought up in the center of the reservation, his native heritage remains a constant inspiration and source of ideas for his work. Living in among the hard-working people of the West and experiencing their issues also deeply influence his creations.

The past and present resonate strongly in Wyoming and those historical and contemporary chords echo throughout his pieces.

Much of Robert’s current work uses the historical imagery, myth’s and stories of the West & Arapaho Culture combined with modern themes to create images that have a statement on the issues of today. Using intense vibrant color and contrasting shades of light and dark, he paints and draws striking forms that are confronting and engage the viewer.

His paintings and drawings have been shown across the Nation and have garnered noted acclaim. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Red Cloud Heritage Museum, Plains Indian Museum at the Cody Center of the West, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

A strong supporter of Education and of the Arts, Robert devotes time to helping and mentoring emerging artists on his reservation in Wyoming and the western region. He gives back to the community by speaking about art topics, giving workshops, and demonstrates his style to schools, agencies and art groups.

VOICES was Co-Created By: Emily Rogers ‘19 Gallatin, Larisa Pecego ‘19 GSAS

Exhibition Design by: Pamela J. Tinnen

Organized by: Art in Public Places and the Emerging Curator Project, NYU

With Support From: New York University Museum Studies Department, Jane Anderson, Eugenia Kisin, The American Indian Community House, the Native American and Indigenous Student Group at NYU.

VOICES is part of NYU’s Art in Public Places initiative, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and is the first iteration of NYU’s University-wide Emerging Curator Incubator Project, which awards funding and exhibition space for annual exhibitions conceived of and executed by our graduate students.