California Stars: Huivaniūs Pütsiv
Exhibition Dates
February 11, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Location Details
Klah Gallery
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Exhibition Dates
Location Details
Klah Gallery
California Stars: Huivaniūs Pütsiv explored the impact of multiple generations of First Californian artists. Loosely translated, Huivaniūs Pütsiv in the Chemehuevi language means “stars with us/around us.” It honored the illumination, and inspiration, that these stellar artists provided, influencing the Native American contemporary art field for more than six decades.
Showing in the exhibition were landmark First Californian artists who worked across varied media to develop richly layered work inspired by personal experience, spirituality, and traditions. They speak to the complexity of everyday life for Native Americans who are frequently forced to negotiate misrepresentation and encroachment on land, culture, and values. In so doing they emphasize questions of identity, Indigenous resilience, and social justice.
California today is the location of diverse Tribal communities, and the cumulative impact of extractive colonialism continues to have negative impacts. Nevertheless, successive generations of artists, ever-present in constellation, guide us towards a deeper understanding of the complexity of these issues. They invite us to witness and experience transcendence.
Since the 1970s, the Wheelwright Museum has had an important role in Santa Fe, and beyond, in bringing attention to established and emerging Native artists in solo shows and group exhibitions. California Stars/Huivaniūs Pütsiv created a dialog between iconic and lesser-known works from the Wheelwright Museum’s permanent collection with important loans and new works by Jacob Meders, Cara Romero and Liz Wallace devised especially for the exhibition.
Jean LaMarr Open Close
Pit River/Paiute
Born
1945
Judith Lowry Open Close
Hammawi Band Pit River/ Mountain Maidu/ Washoe/ Scottish/ Irish/ Australian
Born
1948
L. Frank Manriquez Open Close
Tongva/Ajachmem
Born
1952
Jacob Meders Open Close
Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria/Maidu
Born
1977
Jamie Okuma Open Close
Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock
Born
1977
Cara Romero Open Close
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe
Born
1977
Liz Wallace Open Close
Navajo/Washoe/Maidu
Born
1975
Rick Bartow Open Close
Mad River band of the Wiyot Tribe
Born
1946 - 2016
Frank Day Open Close
Maidu/Konkaw
Born
1902 - 1976
Harry Fonseca Open Close
Nisenan/Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese
Born
1946 - 2006
Frank LaPena Open Close
Nomtipom Wintu
Born
1937 - 2019
James Luna Open Close
Luiseño/Puyukitchum/Ipai/Mexican
Born
1950 - 2018
Fritz Scholder Open Close
Luiseño
Born
1937 - 2005
Billy War Soldier Soza Open Close
Soboba Band of Indians
Born
1949 - 2014
Curatorial Session via KSFR Nativescape radio interview with Jacob Meders Open Close
February 1, 2023
Nativescape host and curator of California Stars, Andrea Hanley (Navajo), will interview exhibition artist Jacob Meders, (Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria/Maidu).
Reflections on: Fashion with Wheelwright Museum Board Member Amber Dawn Bear Robe Open Close
March 11, 2023
Curator and art historian Amber-Dawn Bear Robe from the Southwestern Association for American Indian Arts (SWAIA) Fashion Show, reflects on the genesis of the event, which has seen the participation of luminaries of Native North American fashion like B.Yellowtail, Sho Sho Esquiro, Jamie Okuma, Loren Aragon, Patricia Michaels, Violet Ahmie, Orlando Dugi, and Yolonda Skelton to the runway each year.
California Conversations at the Wheelwright Open Close
April 8, 2023
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi Indian Tribe) and L. Frank Manriquez (Tongva/Ajachmem) interview each other on their work and their identity as First California women.
Reflections on: The James Luna Archive – Crazy Days at the Lazy H Open Close
May 27, 2023
Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer (Hopi/Choctaw) (MoCNA Curator of Collections) and Ryan S. Flahive (IAIA Archivist) as they discuss collecting the archive of performance and installation artist James Luna (Luiseno/Diegueno) at his home on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in California.
Reflections on: Rick Bartow with Charles Froelick Open Close
June 22, 2023
Charles Froelick the owner of Froelick Gallery will discuss his unique relationship with artist Rick Bartow. Froelick is an active member of the Portland arts community. Serving as a board member of the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts and the Portland Art Dealers Association. Charles worked with the Friends of the Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts, and both member and President of the Board of Advisors at the Portland Art Museum. He served on the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Public Art Advisory Committee in Portland.
January 11, 1987 – February 21, 1987
The Native American Arts and Service Organization sponsored traveling exhibit, Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar, and Sage-Contemporary Art by Native American Women.
The exhibition focused on Hopi weaver, Ramona Sakiestewa’s work and included traditional, contemporary, and commissioned pieces.