We Ask Leading Museum Curators About What’s Going On In Their World
Chief Curator
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505) 982-4636, www.wheelwright.org
What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
Feminisms at 516 ARTS, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, running September 26 to January 2, 2021. I curated this exhibition, featuring artists of various cultures broadly from the West, whose creative possibilities use “feminism” in its most expansive meaning. Artists include Natalie Ball (Modoc/klamath), Desert Artlab, a collaborative featuring April Bojorquez (Rarámuri) and Matt Garcia (Chicanx) in collaboration with Shawna Sunrise (Diné/kewa), Haley Greenfeather English (Ojibwe), Elisa Harkins (Muscogee Creek/ Cherokee), Luzene Hill (Eastern Band Cherokee) and Marie Watt (Seneca) to name a few. Works are far-reaching from a diasporic experience, politics of body, resilience, self-determination and land. Artists approach their process and practice in video, performance, installation and, two- and three-dimensional works, all connected to current cultural, political, historical and semiotic climates.
What are you reading?
I’ve been re-reading Creative Trespassing by author, creative consultant, and one of the funniest women I know, Tania Katan. Tania is an inspiration and the book is filled with chapters on her wildly imaginative ideas which resulted in public programs, new experiences and interventions including her famous and super successful Arm Wrestling for Art, a fundraiser at the Scottsdale Museum of Art. The book includes lessons and guidelines for using creativity to live your most fantastic life. Sections like Keep Making it Strange and Sneak Art in Unlikely Spaces make me love this book.
Interesting exhibit, gallery opening, or work of art you’ve seen recently.
The Wheelwright recently accessioned several sculptures by Navajo artist Charlie Willeto (1897-1964). Willeto, a folk-art master, is the first Navajo to carve figurines out of wood, and his art practice was deemed revolutionary. At that time, Navajos considered wood carving in this fashion a traditional taboo, only associated with traditional healing. However, as a Navajo healer, it could be said that art as medicine was a philosophy that Willeto embraced. Willeto’s works are in public and private collections, like the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and the Museum of International Folk Art. During the pandemic, we organized the collection, now on display, and we are hopeful the public can see these wonderful pieces soon.
What are you researching at the moment?
I have been researching an important Navajo family of artists. The Abeyta’s, a father, son, and two daughters—narciso (1918-1998), Elizabeth (1955-2006) Pablita (1953-2017) and Tony (born 1965)—whose story began in 1918 and continues to the present. The devastating effects of the pandemic on the Navajo Nation has proven even more crucial in organizing and documenting the work of this family whose members were and are masters of their fields. I intend to offer an innovative way of telling their story within Navajo culture. More interestingly, the family’s place and connection to historical times in the Native American arts and culture, is a key element to understanding the larger Native American art field, and artists’ roles in times of conflict and of tribal self-determination.
What is your dream exhibit to curate?
An exhibition that surveys the contemporary Navajo arts movement. There have been exhibitions that offer broader and different views of Native American Fine Art field. However, I am interested in organizing an exhibition with specific contemporary Navajo art innovators like DY Begay, Harvey Begay, Shonto Begay, Clifford Beck, Esther Belin, Razelle Benally, Sherwin Bitsui, Heidi Brandow, Raven Chacon, Nani Chacon, Lorenzo Clayton, Radmilla Cody, Vincent Craig, Mamie Deshchillie, the Discotays, R.C. Gorman, Cheyenne Harris, Patrick Dean Hubbell, David Johns, Hosteen Klah, Blackhorse Lowe, Christine Mchorse,
Mary Morez, Eric-paul Riege, Ryan Singer, Luci Tapahonso, Will Wilson, Charlie Willeto, The Wingate Valley Boys, Emmi Whitehorse, XIT, Beatien Yazz, Melanie Yazzie, Steven Yazzie, and the list goes on and on.