Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art

Selected Press

The Four Oranges: New Indigenous Art Exhibition Charts New Course for the Montclair Art Museum

Montclair Local: Weaving History and Change: ‘Interwoven Power’ at Montclair Art Museum

Artists

Newly commissioned works are by Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂), Holly Wilson (Delaware Nation), Eric-Paul Riege (Diné), Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag), and Brandon Lazore (Onondaga Nation)/Jack Johnson (Akwasasne Mohawk). Additional artists represented are Mary Kawennatakie Adams (Akwasasne Mohawk), William Benson (Eastern Pomo [Clear Lake]), Brittany Britton (Hupa), Barbara and Joseph Cerno (Acoma Pueblo), Shan Goshorn (Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band), Kennetha Greenwood (Otoe-Missouria), Rebecca Haff Lowry (Delaware Tribe of Indians), Elizabeth Hickox (Wiyot/Karuk), Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota), James Lavadour (Walla Walla), Truman Lowe (Ho-Chunk), Nadia Myre (Algonquin, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation), Tonita Peña (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), Meghann O’Brien (Haida/Kwakwaka’wakw), Kevin and Valerie Pourier (Oglala Lakota), Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Fritz Scholder (Luiseño), Sarah Sense (Chitmacha/Choctaw), Jay Simeon (Haida), Rose B. Simpson and Roxanne Swentzell (Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh [Santa Clara Pueblo]), and Lu Ann Tafoya (Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh [Santa Clara Pueblo]), as well as numerous historical artists who were known to their communities.
 

Education and Public Programming

Native educators are working with MAM to create educational materials, trainings, and programs for students and teachers, community leaders, and the general public as an integral component of this exhibition. For school audiences, an elementary school curriculum based on NJ State Learning Standards enhances learning in the galleries for group tours. Family engagement includes studio programs taught by Indigenous artists and gallery guide activities. In addition, public talks and events with artists, collaborators, and contributors to the exhibition are scheduled throughout the year.
 

CREDITS

Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art is curated by Laura J. Allen, MAM Curator of Native American Art, in collaboration with:

Collaborators

• Alme Allen (Karuk/Yurok)
• Pimm Allen (Karuk/Yurok)
• Todd Caissie (Osage Nation)
• Haa’yuups (Nuu-chah-nulth)
• G. Peter Jemison (Seneca, Heron Clan)
• Nikole Pecore (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians)
• Will Riding In (Pawnee and Santa Ana Pueblo)
• Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo)

Current MAM Native American Art Advisory Council Members

• Christina Burke, Principal Consultant, Burke & Associates Curatorial
• Lucy Fowler Williams, Associate Curator and Senior Keeper of American Collections, Penn Museum
• John P. Lukavic, Curator of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum
• Sherrie Smith-Ferri (Dry Creek Pomo/Bodega Miwok), Retired Director, Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House; Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Dry Creek Rancheria

Former MAM Native American Art Advisory Council Members

• heather ahtone (Chickasaw Nation/Choctaw), Director, Curatorial Affairs, First Americans Museum
• Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo Nation), Curator of Native American Art, Portland Art Museum
• Joe Baker (Delaware Tribe of Indians), Executive Director and Co-Founder, Lenape Center
• Pamela Hearne Jardine, Ph.D., Curator Emerita of Native American Art, Montclair Art Museum (in memoriam)
• Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation), Artist and Professor Emerita, Cornell University

Exhibition Design / Ciné Ostrow

Graphic Design and Display Font / Sébastien Aubin (Opaskwayak Cree Nation), OTAMI - ᐅᑕᒥ

Contributors

• The Arkeketa Project
• Lisa Brooks (Choctaw Nation), Lead Curriculum Developer
• Allison Chacon Perez
• Phil (Joe Fish) DuPoint (Kiowa Tribe)
• Farrah Fornarotto
• Jhon Goes In Center (Lakota)
• Rebecca Haff Lowry (Delaware Tribe of Indians)
• Tyler Heneghan
• Ilegvak [Peter Williams] (Yup’ik)
• Franky Jackson (Dakota)
• Holbrook Lawson (Delaware Tribe of Indians)
• Tess Lukey (Aquinnah Wampanoag)
• Michelle McGeough (Métis/Cree)
• Mark McGoey
• Golga Oscar (Yup'ik)
• christian reeder
• Ulysses Reid (Zia Pueblo)
• Annabel Richards (Cherokee Nation)
• Cory Ridgeway (Nanticoke Lenni-Lanape)
• Maeha Ridgeway (Nanticoke Lenni-Lanape)
• Urie Ridgeway (Nanticoke Lenni-Lanape)
• Povi Romero (Pojoaque Pueblo, Cochiti Pueblo, Santa Clara Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh), Programming and Curatorial Coordinator
• Christopher Smith
• Amanda Thompson
• Brian Zepeda (Seminole Tribe of Florida)
• Pedro Zepeda (Seminole Tribe of Florida)

MAM Curatorial Staff

• Gail Stavitsky, Chief Curator
• Osanna Urbay, Chief Registrar and Exhibition Designer
• Katherine Woodward, Assistant Registrar
• Alexandra Lebovitz, Curatorial Assistant (through July 2024)

Many thanks to all the additional colleagues who have informed and supported the exhibition development. This list continues to grow. 

FUNDING CREDITS

Lead Sponsor

Sponsors

Visionary Legacy Patrons

The Jennifer Ley and Kit Skarstrom Indigenous North American Art Fund

Supporters

In-kind support generously provided by Ken Harrison and EdgeKraft LLC, MC Hotel, Susan Brady and SBLD Studio.   

All MAM programs are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Museum members.

^{Lead Image:}

^{Nadia Myre (Algonquin, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, b. 1974). Detail of Sharing Platform (New Technologies), 2018. Ceramic, stainless steel, 46.5 x 46.5 x 9.5 in. Museum purchase, Acquisition and Rand Forum Funds, 2016.6. Image: Mike Patten/Courtesy of Art Mûr.} 

^{Full Image Credits:}

^{Installation view of Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art. Photo: Jason Wyche/Montclair Art Museum.}

^{Rose B. Simpson and Roxanne Swentzell  (Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh [Santa Clara Pueblo], b. 1983 and 1962). Detail of Untitled (Timeline Necklace), 2019. Ceramic, glaze, leather, wood, string, mud beads, wire. 24 x 252 x 9 in. Museum Purchase, Acquisition Fund, 2023.5.  Image: Brian Wagner/Courtesy of Hood Museum of Art.}

^{Elizabeth Hickox (Wiyot/Karuk, 1872/5–1947). Lidded basket, ca. 1912–13. Myrtle, conifer root, beargrass, maidenhair fern, porcupine quills. (Bottom): 5 x 8 1/4 in. (Lid): 3 x 5 ½ in. Gift of Mrs. Henry Lang in memory of her mother, Mrs. Jasper R. Rand, 1931.86ab.}

^{Installation view of Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art with Rebecca Haff Lowry's (Delaware Tribe of Indians, b. 1972) Cape of a Matriarch (2021). Photo: Jason Wyche/Montclair Art Museum.}

^{Artist once known (Yurok), Necklace, 1875–1900. Dentalium shells, pigment, glass beads, cotton cloth. 21 x 3 ½ x ¼ in. Gift of Mrs. Henry Lang in memory of her mother Mrs. Jasper R. Rand, 1931.289.}

^{Artist once known (Lakota). Possible bag, 1875–1880. Buffalo hide, glass beads, metal, horsehair, sinew. 13 ½ x 21 5/8 in. Gift of Mrs. Henry Lang in memory of her mother, Mrs. Jasper R. Rand, 1931.460.}

^{Installation view of Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art, with Holly Wilson's (Delaware Nation, b. 1968) What Was, What Is, What Will Be (2024). Photo: Jason Wyche/Montclair Art Museum.}

^{Sarah Sense (Chitmacha/Choctaw, b. 1980). Detail of Present State of the English, 2022. Woven archival inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle bamboo paper, Hahnemuhle rice paper, beeswax, artist tape. 40 x 40 in. Museum Purchase, Acquisition Fund,  2022.22.}

^{Installation view of Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art, with Eric-Paul Riege (Diné, b. 1994) jaatłoh4Ye’iitsoh [17–18] + [][][][] (2024) on the left and Rose B. Simpson and Roxanne Swentzell's (Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh [Santa Clara Pueblo], b. 1983 and 1962) Untitled (Timeline Necklace) (2019) on the right. Photo: Jason Wyche/Montclair Art Museum.}