Virtual | Listening to Native American Voices: Reimagining & Honoring a Diverse Heritage

3pm PT/ 4pm MT / 5pm CT / 6pm ET

In this 4th and final program in ArtTable’s Monuments and Memorials series, we shift our attention to those memorials that bear witness to Native American heritage, through their own voices. By exploring Native American memorials and sites, we will learn how they honor and preserve cultural memory in the United States. This series continues to ask: whose stories are we telling and who is telling them? Join us for a discussion with artists Malynn Foster (Coast Salish of Squaxin Island) and Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), as well as attorney Shannon O’Loughlin (Citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). Foster and Genia will each speak about their artistic practice, as well as reimagine, re-contextualize, or otherwise address the general conversation around public monuments and memorials. O’Loughlin will bring our focus to some sites of memory that are sacred to Native Americans, sharing the need to protect and preserve them. The presentations and discussion will be followed by a Q&A session. In the previous three programs in this series, we looked at “old stories and new narratives through other lenses” with Harriet Senie, Alison Saar and Marisa Williamson, with a special focus on creating sites of public memory, particularly for the disenfranchised, as so eloquently expressed by Judy Baca and her “Great Wall of Los Angeles.” The series included a fall walking tour in Harlem to view the sculptures honoring Duke Ellington, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass. Admission

• ArtTable Circle Members– Free
• All other ArtTable Members – $10
• Non-Members – $15
• Members may bring an additional guest for $5

Not an ArtTable member? Join today!     Can’t make the program at this time? Register anyway to receive a recording after! Please note that this program will offer automatic closed captioning services. If you require additional accommodations, please email programs@arttable.org. ArtTable is a 501.c.3 organization. All programs are non-refundable.

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About the speakers

Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and community organizer specializing in Native American and Indigenous arts and culture. Her work in these areas focuses on amplifying the under-recognized presence of native peoples in the arts, sciences, and the public arena. Erin earned an M.S. in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT and an M.P.A. in Tribal Governance from Evergreen State College. She also studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts. In recent years, her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally including at Boston’s Urbano Project, the Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica, The Museum of Northwest Art, and the International Space Station. Public commissions have come from the Tufts University Art Galleries, the Minnesota Historical Society, the City of St. Paul, and the City of Seattle. Also in the public realm, Erin was named artist-in-residence with the City of Boston (2020-2021) and co-founded, “Centering Justice: Indigenous Artists’ Perspectives on Public Art,” with the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Public Art Team. Shannon O’Loughlin is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and the Chief Executive and Attorney for the oldest non-profit serving Indian Country – the Association on American Indian Affairs. Throughout its 99-year history, the Association has provided national advocacy on watershed issues that support sovereignty and culture, while working at a grassroots level with Tribes. The Association’s vision is to create a world where diverse Native American cultures and values are lived, protected and respected. Shannon has been practicing law for more than 20 years and is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. In 2013, she was appointed by Secretary of the Department of the Interior to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee. In 2015 she was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first Native American to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee within the State Department. Shannon received a B.A. in American Indian Studies from California State University, Long Beach. She then received joint M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arizona in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. Malynn Wilbur-Foster is a Squaxin Island tribal member, raised among her people near the Skokomish and Squaxin Island reservations where she has lived most of her life. She works in a variety of media , including weaving, painting, jewelry, and carving both stone and wood. Malynn is always looking for new ways to tell the stories of her people fusing tradition and technology. Since 1998, her work has been shown in galleries and featured in books. It has also entered collections of the Seattle Art Museum, Burke Museum, and Washington State History Museum. Additionally she has collaborated on a number of commissioned works in the Seattle area, with family members and friends. 2020 brought a significant new commission: Malynn is now collaborating with Tamela LaClair and Kimberly Deriana, as a team, known as the MTK Matriarchs. They have been selected as the artists for the Salish Steps, part of the Seattle project re-imagining the city’s waterfront. Representing both local tribes and Urban Natives, they are working with the design team, developing a permanent artwork to elevate the importance of indigenous culture and history to this very public site. Malynn has received grants for her achievements in both art and for being an indigenous knowledge keeper.   Thank you to ArtTable members Cathie Behrend, former Deputy Director of New York’s Percent for Art Program and founder of VenturesinVision, and Lori Shepard, Independent art advisor, for organizing this program series.

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Images:

1. Erin Genia, “Acoustic Tipi.” Courtesy of the artist.
2. Erin Genia, courtesy of the artist
3. Shannon O’Loughlin, courtesy of the speaker
4. Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, Courtesy of the National Park Service
5. Malynn Wilbur-Foster, courtesy of Sam Jones of Quinn/Brein Communication
6. “Seal Roost,” woven by Malynn Foster