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- By Neely Bardwell
This month in Indian Country, there is a unique array of events for the community to enjoy. There are powwows, an event honoring Native veterans, a chance to discover your ancestors, and several art-centered events. Consider heading to New York for a powwow, or Missouri for multiple advocacy based art exhibitions at the museums!
Here is Native News Online’s weekly round-up of arts, culture and entertainment offerings around Indian Country.
Bear Mountain Powwow
Jully 22 - 23, 2023
Bear Mountain, NY
The Bear Mountain Pow Wow is a full contest Pow Wow that is organized by the Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council located in the Northeastern part of the country. Attracting over 500 Native American artists, educators, singers, dancers and performing groups from across the Americas, the event is open to everyone. There will be over 40 artist booths selling crafts, jewelry, food and more.
If you’re wanting to learn more about the Native communities living in the tristate area, representatives from Lakota, Navajo, Mohawk, Seneca, Cherokee, Aztec, Mayan, Samoan, Hawaiian and many more will be there.
To buy tickets, please click here.
Finding Native American Ancestors
July 22, 2023, 2 - 3 pm CDT
Fort Worth, TX
If you’re interested in learning about your family tree, this Fort Worth History Center will aid you in how to get started researching your family tree and finding Native ancestors using available record resources in Ancestry Library Edition, the National Archives, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. There will also be help in ascertaining when Native ancestry may have entered the family tree.
National Gathering of American Indian Veterans
July 21-23, 2023
Wheaton, IL
Presented by the Trickster Gallery, the National Gathering of American Indian Veterans at Cantigny Park honors veterans and military personnel of all cultures, eras, and branches in a Native way. There will be powwow-style dancing and performances to honor our veterans.
Art and other items from veteran artists and other traditional vendors will be available for purchase. This event is free and open to the public and anyone who would like to join us in honoring all those in the United States military.
Friday Evening there will be a Community Feast and on Saturday there will be the National Gathering of American Indian Veterans Conference. To conclude the event, on Sunday there will be brunch and a concert.
Exhibition - Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass
July 20, 2023 at 10 am
Wichita, KS
The groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind exhibition Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass celebrates Native artists working in a dynamic medium. The show features 115 works of art by 29 Native American artists and four Pacific Rim artists. It also includes work by legendary glass art innovator Dale Chihuly, who worked with artist and educator Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee) to set up the first hot shop at the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1974.
The pliable, translucent material of glass is ideal for Native artists looking to re-interpret traditional stories and express contemporary issues affecting tribal societies. The artworks on view include totems, animal sculptures, ceremonial regalia, baskets, and masks, all of which honor past artistic traditions while exploring contemporary concerns. Vessels and baskets traditionally made of grass or clay, for instance, are now beautifully rendered in glass.
The exhibition includes artists who were the first Native Americans known to blow glass and create glass art, including Larry Ahvakana (Iñupiaq), Carl Ponca (Osage), and Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo). It also features the second generation of Native glass artists, such as Dan Friday (Lummi), and others who have established careers in other media but have also designed glass.
Exhibition – “Savages and Princesses: The Persistence of Native American Stereotypes”
Open trough August 11, open 10 am - 4 pm
Miami, MO
The public is invited to view the free exhibition Missouri's American Indian Cultural Center at Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park. This exhibition brings together 12 contemporary Native American visual artists who reclaim their right to represent their identities as Native Americans. Images and styles are created from traditional, contemporary and mass culture forms. The exhibition intends to counteract the disappearance of Native portrayals using humor, emotion or shock to help the audience question stereotypes. It embraces Native Americans’ power to replace stereotypical images that permeate the current pop culture landscape.
Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
July 21, 2023, 10 am - 9 pm
St. Louis, MO
Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s, is the first ticketed exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum to focus on modern Native American art. Expanding the narrative of mid-century abstraction, the exhibition highlights groundbreaking paintings, sculptures, textiles and works on paper that challenged stereotypical expectations of Native American art during the postwar era.
Artists featured include Fritz Scholder, Lloyd Kiva New and Linda Lomahaftewa. This exhibition deepens the knowledge of the audience by highlighting many women artists whose work remains largely unknown even among specialists.
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