Fascinating focus on Native American art in Each/Other
Renowned Native American art by Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger
Every One, 2018, Ceramic, social collaboration, spectacular beaded curtain Memorial, with
over 4,000 hand-made clay beads, Cannupa Hanska Luger
Native American Art
The exhibition aptly named Each/Other at the Denver Art Museum was devoted to the creativity, ingenuity, and inclusiveness of Native American art by two renowned artists, Marie Watt (she from the Seneca tribe) and Cannupa Hanska Luger (he a Sioux).
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When I was in kindergarten, a group of dancers from a Navajo reservation performed for us.
Their colourful feather headdresses, beaded suede outfits and rhythmic chanting to the drum’s beat completely mesmerized me.
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The whole experience felt very new and thrilling, yet strangely familiar at the same time.
Silver beads and hand embroidery decorate a wall hanging – a beautiful example of collaboration
I was so taken with these incredible people, I asked my mother to part my dark brown hair in the middle, plait it in two long braids and buy me a pair of moccasins.
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Thinking this was a short-lived phase, she went along with my requests. Even when I asked for a small, leather-topped drum, she complied. Little did she know this “phase” was far from over.
This Is Not A Snake and The One Who Balances, Ceramic, fiber, steel, oil drums, concertina wire, ammunition cans, trash, found objects, 2017-2020, Cannupa Hanska Luger
As I grew older, I found books in the school’s library full of detailed descriptions and photographs dedicated to the Sioux, Cheyenne, Zuni and Chippewa tribes and absorbed every word and image with great interest.
It was then I confessed to my classmates that I was part American Indian.
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Whether or not they believed me is not important. The point is, my attachment to these extraordinary people remained strong throughout high school and after.
Tribal names
It was in university when I discovered to my incredulous horror that the really bad navigator, wrong-way Christopher Columbus, believing he had reached his intended country, India, gave these beautiful and unique people their absurd moniker.
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I was determined to refer to them henceforth by their more rightful name — Native Americans — or specifically, by their individual tribal names.
She-Wolf sculpture, covered in 700 hand-embroidered bandanas sent from all over the world, Marie Watt & Cannupa Hanska Luger
After all, America, which curiously got its name from yet another explorer, Americus Vespucci, had been their home for thousands of years.
They must have had their own name for the land that was all their own. But sadly, we will never know.
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So, when I heard there was a special Native American art (or, ironically, as they also use “American Indian” to describe themselves because so many still refer to them that way) exhibition opening at our award-winning Denver Art Museum, I was delighted.
Hand woven blankets donated from around the world form a towering totem of togetherness
So off we went. As it turned out, the entire show, aptly named Each/Other was devoted to the creativity, ingenuity and inclusiveness and Native American art works of just two renowned artists, Marie Watt (she from the Seneca tribe) and Cannupa Hanska Luger (he a Sioux).
Native American Artists Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger
There may have been fierce rivalry between tribes in the 1800s, but these two artists are the personification of mutual concerns and close collaboration in the twenty-first century.
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Luger is best known for applying his artistic talents to organize a brilliantly staged protest event, when scores of Native Americans protested a proposed oil pipeline that would be laid right through the middle of their precious ancestral land.
A symbolic painting of the Protest against an intruding oil-pipeline project
through American Indian land, Cannupa Hanska Luger
He had each of the protesters carry a life-size mirror facing outward.
They then walked slowly, gradually forming a wide circle, with the mirrors, which reflected their adversaries, a phalanx of menacing looking armed officers aligned against them, their own frightening images staring straight back at them.
Marie Watt’s hand appliqued invite to join her inclusive Sewing Circle
It made a very powerful statement. It must have helped, because it was not long before the authorities decided to have the hurtfully intruding pipeline project cancelled.
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Among other endeavours, Marie Watt uses her art to hold sewing circles to bring diverse people together and into dialogues around the making and significance of everyday handcrafted objects, such as blankets.
A Patchwork Quilt created by the women of Marie Watt’s Sewing Circle
Watt placed an enormous pile of these donated blankets to create a towering totem; each blanket tagged with the name of the person who either made it or simply brought it to the group.
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Both indigenous artists collaborated to build a mammoth seated wolf-like creature, entirely covered in colourful bandanas donated by Native Americans from across the country, who hand-embroidered positive messages on each one — a perfect example of collaboration and why the exhibition was named Each/Other.
Close-up of the mammoth She-Wolf sculpture, covered in 700 hand-embroidered bandanas sent from all over the world, Marie Watt & Cannupa Hanska Luger
One of the most arresting installations was a huge, beaded curtain bearing the image of a Native American.
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It was created by Luger and is composed of strings of over 4,000 hand-made clay beads, each bead commemorating the life of a missing or murdered indigenous woman, girl or LGBTQ.
These two socially engaged artists certainly presented quite a different kind of image than the expected norm.
This Is Not A Snake and The One Who Balances, Ceramic, fiber, steel, oil drums, concertina wire, ammunition cans, trash, found objects, 2017-2020, Cannupa Hanska Luger
No beaded moccasins feathered headdresses, or buckskin clothing was on display.
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But a thought-provoking selection of powerful statements, Native American art in support of togetherness, inclusion and collaboration.
Each/Other Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger Exhibition
While I was impressed with everything these two activist-artists created the images that will remain are the towering fabric totems, the mammoth beaded curtain and the silent, non-violent, mirrored protesters whose quiet actions helped to get their desired results without saying a word.
Still a lot to learn from ingenious indigenous ancestors
As I believed ever since I was in kindergarten, and later, when I read about Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Custer’s Last Stand, we have a lot to learn from our resourceful, intelligent, talented, ingenious indigenous ancestors.
Text Sandi Butchkiss / Photos Cliff Shaffran
