“Custer Had It Coming!” showcases Native Nations resistance
By Dan Ninham The Hook and Ladder theater and lounge venue in Minneapolis, MN was the location of the “Custer Had it Coming!” event on June 26th. It was held on the anniversary of “Custer’s Last Stand” on June 25-26, 1876. The theme of the event was to encourage an audience “to celebrate Native Nations […]
News Briefs – March 2022
Thomas Stillday awarded 2022 FPF Cultural Capital Fellowship Bemidji, MN – Watermark Art Center has chosen Master Beader and Exhibiting Artist Thomas Stillday (Red Lake Nation – Obaashing Community) for the 2022 First People’s Fund “Cultural Capital Fellowship.” The First People’s Fund (FPF) fellowships are designed for artists and culture bearers who are deeply rooted […]
Native artists make big splash within Twin Cities public art projects
By Lee Egerstrom The COVID-19 pandemic and continuing outbreaks of variant strains hurt artists about as much as any group of creative entrepreneurs but Twin Cities public works projects are helping keep three Native American artists toiling in their fields. In early December, the City of Minneapolis held an open house at its new Public […]
George Morrison to be honored with new stamp series
By Dan Kraker/MPR News Celebrated Minnesota artist George Morrison – who was born in a Native American fishing village along the North Shore of Lake Superior in 1919, but whose art career took him around the world – will be featured on a new stamp series to be released next year by the U.S. Postal […]
Artist, inspired by Hip-Hop, collaborates on mural at the Tweed Museum
By Brad Hagen Jonathan Thunder, multimedia artist and member of the Red Lake Nation, has described his work as “…a story line that reflects my personal lens as a filter to the social, political, environmental and spiritual climate around me. Thunder attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and […]
Tom Jones’ Strong Unrelenting Spirits Exhibit opens at Bockley Gallery
Bockley Gallery will have an exhibition of Native artist Tom Jones’ work from his recent portrait series Strong Unrelenting Spirits, shown earlier this year at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM. Each of the nine digital photographs on view is a vivid exploration of Jones’ Ho-Chunk identity. His subjects look directly into […]
Artist blends traditional Ojibwe designs with contemporary styles
By Brad Hagen Native Americans are often rendered invisible to the wider population due to stereotypes and misconceptions about who we are, factors that are a direct result of the settler-colonialism that has taken place across Turtle Island. To many, we are either feathers and buckskin, or we simply do not exist at all because […]
Denomie exhibit: when reality and imagination combine
By Deborah Locke When you think of American Indian art, what comes to mind? Feathers, buffaloes, eagles, red and green peppers, a powwow dancer, a cradle board baby, a woman in a shawl with a shy smile? They are nice perhaps, but do they make you think? Jim Denomie, an Ojibwe enrolled at the Lac […]
“Horse Nation” artwork about as good as art gets. Anywhere.
By Deborah Locke Sometimes I have trouble telling you what is really good. That’s because so much of Indian Country is amazing, and if I come off as consistently thrilled, I lose credibility. Still, the last year of writing reviews for The Circle confirms two things. First, great art moves you long beyond the time […]
Horse Nation Exhibit: interviews with a few of the artists
By Deborah Locke The idea for the Horse Nation of the Ochethi Sakowin exhibition originated with Lakota filmmaker and artist Keith BraveHeart. Below is an interview with Keith and several other artists included in the show. See Horse Nation article for a review of the exhibition. KEITH BRAVEHEART What is your personal connection with horses? […]