Pathfinder: 40 Years of Marcus Amerman
Exhibition Dates
The first major retrospective of Amerman’s work features beadwork, multi-media work, and a newly-commissioned film by Anna Hoover.
A prolific, multimedia artist, Marcus Amerman (b. 1959, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) burst onto the Native American art scene in the 1980s. Born in Phoenix, and growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Amerman received his first degree in Fine Art at Whitman College, Walla Walla (WA), where he focused on painting and sculpture. Close to his Hopi extended family, Amerman attributes his artistic growth to the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe. It was at IAIA that he alighted on fashion, then beadwork and performance as fertile forms of expression.
This major retrospective explores the breadth and the influence of Amerman’s work, ranging from early fashion to painting, to found-object sculpture to collaborative work with Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Preston Singletary (Tlingit). In particular it provides an insight into the development of his distinctive style of beadwork, a form of photorealistic beaded portraiture, or photobeadilism.
In Pathfinder his artistic journey is charted from his first work Iron Horse Jacket – a portrait of a young Brooke Shields on a biker jacket made in 1982 – to his most recent commission The Klah, which was created for the Wheelwright Museum in late 2023 and honors the memory of our founder Hastiin Klah.
For Amerman creativity is the plan but bravery is the execution. From this philosophy comes Amerman’s drive to experiment: his embracing of artistic collaboration and engagement with the material world; his love of imagery and the desire to connect through creativity with ancestral knowledge. In this major retrospective, we highlight Amerman’s lasting impact on, and contribution to, the American art canon.
All my art is deeply rooted in fear. I think it’s “all just Art to me”. All my creativity is about communication without words. I arm myself with different mediums and avenues of creativity for my war on stereotypes. And my desire to illuminate my culture and peoples. It’s a scary thing to not put materialism and commerce as a primary artistic motivation. It’s antithetical to this society. My work is eventually about communicating with the “other” world and being directed by the wishes of my ancestors. That’s what gives me confidence in my creativity, feeling their presence and feeling like I’m doing the right thing in collaboration with them. It’s not a lack of fear as it is “going beyond” the fear with the power of love and the mission of “Cosmic Justice”.
— Amerman 2023
Currently On View
Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry.
Art in public spaces, including murals, can serve as a vehicle for dialogue about history, describe relationships, and depict the resilience of the community in the hope to create equity, agency, and healing.
Admission: $10.00
Free for Museum Members, Native Americans, children under 12, students with a valid ID, veterans and active military.
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