 Good evening Welcome to the Longmont Museum. We're a center for culture in northern Colorado where people of all ages explore history Experience art and discover new ideas through dynamic programs Exhibitions and events. My name is Justin Beach. I'm the manager of the museum Stewart auditorium, and I curate public programs Who's here for the very first time in the history of their own lives? Oh, wow newbies Well, I like to say that your not your lives will never be the same There's you know pre-Longmont Museum, and there's post-Longmont Museum. You're in that post period A lot of us remember those days. Heady days. Anyway, I would think all the folks who make our programming possible the scientific and cultural Facilities district the Stewart Family Foundation the Friends of the Longmont Museum are many donors and of course our museum members Do we have any museum members with us? I Had a feeling just had the sense that we had members in the audience. Thank you We simply can't do all that we do without you. So thanks If you're interested in finding out what it means to be a member grab one of those people who raise their hand or stop By the front desk or pull me aside, and I'm sure we'll tell you just about everything you ever needed to know Tonight's program is being offered as part of our Thursday nights at the museum series every Thursday evening We offer a little something for everyone tonight. It's a panel. We offer films Performances concerts you name it This particular program is being offered in conjunction with our current Exhibition duality, and it's a real blockbuster. I hope You've all seen it. Who hasn't seen it yet. Oh Well, you're gonna have to check this out It's really kind of a blockbuster exhibition. I totally recommend it. Tell your friends Um, what else tomorrow actually not tomorrow, but next week next Thursday. We have a great Indigenous poetry reading feel featuring Adrienne Crizzo Crisosto Apache and Manny lowly they're all fantastic poets. That's next Thursday More information in our newsletter. Feel free to grab one on your way out the door without further ado I'd like to welcome The curator of exhibitions here at long the Longmont Museum Jared Thompson and our panel and our panel Here they are So late to thank you all for coming tonight. My name is Jared Thompson. I'm the curator of exhibitions here at the Longmont Museum I've worked with Greg on a duality exhibition. Unfortunately. He could not join us tonight But what we were trying to do with this goal is bring other voices into our gallery Instead of having museum curators decide what the community sees we want to bring artists in and For the interpretation for this gallery We wanted their voices on the walls instead of a white Curator interpretation of the art. So we actually did interviews with them. So All of the gray labels are actually from those interviews On the exhibition closes May 21st, so please tell your friends and family about it So I'm really honored to have these artists with us On the far end is Daniel Seawalker So she's hunk papa Lakota and a citizen of the standing rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota She's an artist writer activist and boy mom of two based in Denver, Colorado Her visual artwork often incorporates the use of mixed media and experimentation while incorporating traditional Native American materials scenes and messaging her artwork pays homage to Her identity as a Lakota woman and her passion to redirect the narrative to an accurate and insightful representation of contemporary Native America while still acknowledging Historical events alongside her passion for creating visual art Danielle is a freelance writer and recently published her first book titled still here a past to present insight of Native American people in culture She's also very dedicated to staying connected and involved in her native community and currently serves as co-chair for the Denver American Indian Commission Danielle has also been working on a personal passion project since 2013 with her longtime friend called a red road project focus of the work is to document the words and photographs What it means to be Native American in the 21st century by capturing inspiring and positive stories of People and communities within Indian country. She does have a show coming up in Amsterdam at the Strat Museum So if you're in Amsterdam, definitely check it out She's doing a show at History, Colorado in October and she's also curating an all-women indigenous show at artworks in Loveland That also in opens in October, so she's probably busy Next we have JC BL He grew up in the Four Corners area of New Mexico Receives his BFA in printmaking from the University of New Mexico. He's now based in Denver, Colorado In addition to co-curating exhibitions producing events including an annual indigenous arts fair BL frequently travels to Collaborate with fellow artists and commissioning organizations throughout the Southwest on murals and other projects BL's connection to his her Aboriginal Culture is grounded in his artistic practice His personal identity background and pride is who he is and where he comes from have always been at the heart of his work The alls career is an artist as an artist began with the discovery of street art and graffiti Using a combination of spray paints and acrylics He celebrates the fusion of technology with indigenous culture primarily in paintings and murals The alls work is deeply influenced by music while the combination of traditional indigenous Ideologies with his Buddhist practice is Equally important to his art making through which he strives to illuminate core concepts and convictions the laws of movement unity and impermanence He is a artist in residence at the Red Line Contemporary Art Center So check out the website. They will have shows coming up featuring his artwork Chelsea Kaia is next to me. She's a you and Apache and also Irish descent born on the northern Ute reservation as an artist. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado She is a passionate activist for native rights awareness and sustainability She earned her BFA at Watkins College of Art and design in Nashville, Tennessee Today she learns traditional practices of pine needle weaving beating porcupine quilling Buffalo hunting and hide work Incorporating her interdisciplinary skills to meld the perspective of culture and artistic practice Storytelling has always been an integral part of her upbringing. Storytelling is a connection to her relations community past and hopes for the future Even objects that just carry belongings such as hide bags become cultural carriers that bring knowledge by creation and carriers of visual Storytelling adapting traditional materials and techniques to engage a mindful space for honoring subjects that discuss resilience mental health System reformation and means of healing traditional work becomes more than tradition. It becomes cultural experience Chelsea presents human forms often mask to have ambiguity if it's her world their world or for viewers to reflect themselves in our world She believes reflecting the human condition is an important connection To reignite nature-based relationships between cultural and physical environments So she is upcoming show at the Penta mentee gallery in Philadelphia opening in May I'm pleased give a round of applause for our panelists So we're gonna start with a slide show with each artist. Chelsea's gonna begin So I am also a red line resident artist Newly added in November, so I'll be there for the next two years So you can really easily find my studio if you're ever in the area This is recent work. This was at the annual red line resident artist show and I Really wanted to experiment with not only the newly found space that I had for my red line studio, but also being able to have the Opportunity for a gallery space to experiment a bit more with what I usually do, which is beadwork So my sculpture work if you look at the detail is a metal armature and in between the two metal armatures are woven porcupine quills tacked on to deer hide so I really wanted to Experiment and have a project where I'm really focusing on Natural specific ways to dye quills which ones are compatible as well as present quills as this like main factual statement of the design because I feel like a lot of Quill work is kind of presented in a traditional way that you see behind like glass and museums with a barrier and then You know, you don't really get to like physically see it and I was actually encouraging people to kind of like Swipe their fingers across it and that's what happens with my work a lot. I actually encourage Tactile touch and interaction. I also make bags a lot So I mean like I encourage people to wear them and I wear them myself So it just kind of becomes this like You know once you once you start touching things and once you're able to interact with it I think you're able to kind of make a connection to it a bit more That you usually aren't able to in a gallery and you process your own porcupine quills, correct? Yeah, so my latest Quill project I completely used from a harvested porcupine this past Fall and it's just we call it roadkill gold It's it quite literally is a race in our tribal area to get to the porcupine first And I got it. So I was really really happy because I became it's it's once I get Into kind of these motions of working it really becomes like a communal family thing So and also a community thing. I mean I Donated a lot of quills recently to Teach some quillwork classes to a native community members So just even being able to like have an abundance and then you know offering it in gratitude to community of just even wanting to learn the skill work because it's so difficult and it's so Laborious and hard to work with that if anyone has a passion for it I'm like here is everything like let me encourage it as much as I can because It does take a type of person to learn it So this piece I Also process a lot of I'm I mean I'm a hunter I'm a hide worker and then I'm an artist so I Really have been reflecting With my pieces, you know like that reconnection to hide work and this piece is actually based off from documentation of me holding a giant bison heart that took up like my whole torso and I based I just really love that image of Me processing it but also kind of like this cradling Factor that I was doing while I was holding it and I just Looked at it and then Created this piece off from that documentation. So that's been really fun to kind of Incorporate like my photography Documentation video work back into like my beadwork pieces because they're obviously so different I didn't include the photo because like I like busted like I was like Five days into a camping trip with like no shower and just dirt roads. So It's not a cute photo, but it created this so it honestly, it's It's really amazing to be able to have a full process So this piece is Yoko which which is a coyote and youth and I work a lot with like creation stories and I think You know kind of adapting them into like coyote is like a very significant important part of a lot of Native storytelling And I really and a lot of the baseline is like there's this coyote. It's curious It's mischievous and then there's like these noble like obedient native people that are like ideal and then like me as a teen I'm like but that coyote is more relatable Being mischievous and being curious and you know disrupting and you know making issues for everyone I kind of related to that a bit more and So I adapt the coyote head and figure a lot in my work As a mask that I never do kind of anamorphic things I do more of like it's a mask and then a person underneath Because I really want to know and be able to storytell myself and explore the world as a woman Embodying coyote and so she's lightly caressing the old-style beadwork which is Apache you know that like diamond grid and then She's kind of exploring the world naked and just being free and Being expressive and I think that's you know a theme that you'll find a lot in my beadwork Yeah, the same with this I definitely try with my beadwork to You know Judd out figures play With dimensions, I think beadwork can kind of be presented flat sometimes So just kind of putting in a little more dimension work and then still working with that coyote figure and Then I also do a lot of sculpture work. So a lot of experimenting with like sculptures This is a piece that was that friend of a friend And I do a lot of like dual figures But always kind of like a traditional material presented as well, so we have the coquem scarf Do you have a preferred media or do you like I have been Gravitating into hide work just because of the process of it like the labor of it like whatever is The worst thing for my body is super labor is that's like what I want to do And it's a lot of work But I think because it's so much labor and so much love and then also handling this like beautiful animal There's like so many connections that it creates for me that it Is is just like taken over my life right now, but I think it's a good thing and Then this is the piece in the gallery show so The epitome of the coyotee head porcupine quills The actual hide of the bag so the construction is a antelope that I processed this past fall And I really wanted to keep like the natural Edges of the hide and then if you like pick up the bag, which I don't think you can right now Don't touch the artwork at this gallery, but um If you pick it up and you turn it around There's like the natural holes that I made during the process of making the hide I use bluebird flower bags in my to line my purse purses just because it's like the the native thing to do as well as It's the same flower that my grandma used so it's like a familiar material that I handled that Directly I know, you know my relatives have handled so that lines the inside of the bag as well as My antelope, so it's just it's kind of one of the first of its series where I'm using The natural hide that I've done and made and then utilizing it in my bag So it's a really special piece to me just for that Yeah, and you got a grant to build a permanent smoke shed, right? Yeah one of the first pieces Mm-hmm It was really important for me for my practice to have something that brings me back to my reservation and back to my family And for me, that's also hide work. So my smoke shed is on my grandpa's property And it like sits smack dab in his garden And it's really nice to spend space Spend more time there again So it's like a really special connection to be in his place again Cleaning it up and then tending to it and having like active Activeness there again. So yeah and Then this is me there as well. So this is me processing the bison hide that we got this year And yeah, I mean the the grant has been amazing. I'm really grateful for the native arts and cultural foundation It's a really amazing foundation. So yeah, they support a lot of artists Thank you. Yeah So now we're gonna move on to JC We're there I'm not a hunter. I just drive to the art store get all my stuff. I'm not as cool as you You know super easy just get in the car over there. I Don't win porcupines quills though Like Not a whole lot of roadkill besides squirrels. She make like a pouch or something. Yeah, this light's super bright to Creator not yet Not yet I'm JC that lights really bright, but I'll talk about my art So yeah, this is just a graphic design piece that I made for show that Chelsea curated So it was just a request of designing this poster. It was a limited edition poster that I made it was actually a graphic I started like a year ago or something But yeah, it's just like an offering of blessing with the sage bundle and just kind of paint homage to the spirit world creator Yep, so and yeah, and this one here is another graphic design. So I started out as a graphic designer worked as a Managed a silk screen and embroidery shop for years, but also learned how to really get into my artwork through screen printing So a lot of my work that I generated at that time was digital so I use a lot of Adobe illustrator and Still to this day I do that's my main job but this particular piece I designed in a collaboration with the company called bandits and It's a bandana actually being sold at REI right now. So after this get in your car REI you see a porcupine pick it up for Chelsea, you know, you can wrap it up in the bandana Then yeah, there you go. So yeah, and then this stuff is What I used to do I promise I won't paint your house But if you want me to I will Graffiti is what I started doing as a kid when I was in third grade And it's what got me into art and my good friend Randy Sabah He says graffiti saved my life. So and I think he's right because that's kind of what I did So this was done pretty recently. So Do continuously try to stay loose have fun not take my art too serious because I can and I will and So yeah, just kind of participate in doing some little bit of graffiti. So something like this Do you like draw it out on the wall first or is it more freeform? Are you gonna tell the cops? No This one honestly was like freeform like I just was like I just called my friend I was like hey man, like I want to go paint something. Let's just go paint and so it was like, alright Let's do this. So yeah, I was just kind of like on the spot. He came up with the color scheme I was like, okay, I'll do that. So and that's this is what happened This one is a particular piece. This is the serious stuff. I do so this is a kind of a my communication of what the four worlds mean to the Navajo people and And it's a combination of those different worlds Represented by each one of these canvases each one of these canvases is about maybe six feet wide by five feet tall I oriented them in the cardinal directions, but also incorporated this basket design Which also has a lot of significance in our culture and tradition as Navajo people So this is a pretty thoughtful piece and I'm really happy with it because again just like the graffiti This was like something I just did and was like I didn't have it planned out a lot of my work As you'll see as we progress a lot of it's really clean and straight edge I still like to paint very clean, but this was really freeform and being really more expressive of my application and technique So that way I'm not like Fill in tight. I wanted to get loose and this is just the detail of one of them So this is the turquoise world Chelsea was talking about the coyote. This guy, you know, don't mess with them No bueno so this guy is jumping into this blue world, you know because he escaped and This particular world was ran by the sparrow people which is a sparrow on the bottom right corner and And then, you know, just kind of the turquoise arrowhead with the turquoise feather just again for ceremonial purposes really thinking of that and paying homage to my What is it my father's side of my family so just really paying Respects to them for what they have done for me and helped me Accomplish within my art and then the lotus flowers just to again a signifier of my Buddhist practice when I Let's see when was this? 2013 ten years ago That's when I decided to get my life together so I decided to like not drink alcohol anymore and chose to be Find something find community to help me get myself on the track because I knew that I couldn't do it myself Even though it's a self-will thing. It was up to me to try to make that happen And that's when I decided I'm gonna go make art and and try to change things and Recreate this will which is a representation of what I Was in the previous slide So that's what that is and then this speaks to that even more. This is a sand painting That I created in my studio at red line if you guys are ever in Denver Chelsea and I have a studio there for the next two years and Shout out to Louise and the whole crew there for really supporting us and allowing us to be there for the next two years And so if you guys are ever in Denver drop by but yeah This is a piece that I collaborated with my friend porphyria help me Get this done. We've made it happen in seven hours It was a hurtful seven hours and then a hurtful four days, you know, so we really did go to ceremony on this one You know so this is just kind of like an extension of Continuing tradition when it comes to Navajo culture You guys probably all know about the rug weaving the sand paintings and the jewelry that the Navajo people are most recognized for For me, it's more or less like I I seen that stuff traditionally done And I seen it done as a commercial product to be sold and to maintain households so I Just kind of was like I wanted to do something different as you see like I don't I I get bored with certain mediums at the same time like I want to be able to speak in different ways and this is one of the ways that I have chosen to do so and Again, this is just the representation of kind of like a circle of life. You can see it. It looks like it's rotating and just becoming like this portal a portal to the self and And allowing people to experience that and if you've gone to the one in here in the gallery go and check it out I'm not like Chelsea though. Don't touch it. Yeah Chelsea likes people touch your stuff. Not me. So yeah, we've had a lot of children enjoy touching juicy sand painting here, unfortunately Yeah, you know, I've been thinking about it and it's and it's a and to me It's like it's very important to me It has a lot of significance and that's what I'm saying some of my art is very serious Some of it's very playful. Some of it's just like whatever. Let's just get it done But I think with these in particular it holds a lot of power for me There's a lot of communication that's happening within these like sand paintings that I recognize as portals and And and and to me also it's a signifier if people want to touch it Then to me that's also communication of how as native people we have to kind of protect ourselves And to clam up and not share these things because people can't respect it So it's more or less like it's a conversation as well How outsiders view these works and they view it as art And to me, yes, it is art, but it's also very Ceremonial in its purpose and and it's a guide or I like a compass and so for me It's more or less like how do we Try to communicate and share who we are as native people without being Obstructed on even more so If you think about it with colonialism like it's it's it's about that it's like, okay We want this and I'm just going to do whatever I want And even though we built the fence You know We tried we tried but yeah, and this is a naiwat So you guys know where it is down the road It was commissioned by the city of naiwat to produce this work And it's just my interpretation of naiwat. I'm not a rapaho. I'm not from this area I'll be straight up, but I was glad that they asked Danielle participated in that little mural Project as well. So this was just me kind of communicating And and celebrating the arapaho people who lived here way Before any via any one of us came here. So it was more or less like how do I celebrate them? Respect them and show them like yes. I'm not of your culture I'm not of your background, but I'm willing to help communicate that in whatever way I possibly can This was all done with spray paint too. Wow Um, this is a print. So I went to school for printmaking as he said earlier. So this is all a linoleum print Um, so I'm trying to get back to that You know people ask me about buying prints of my paintings, but to me it's like I can't do that because I went to school for like ever to make prints. So I might as well make it Um, so and again just like chelsea said I like to torture myself too and make things really hard So that's what I do, you know So yeah, this is just the print. So if you want one you can buy some, you know This is another mural I did in denver. Um, this is a Again the sand hill crane sand hill crane travels along the plat river here in colorado They hang out down near the the sand dunes in southern colorado near alamosa. So it was more or less like Um Acknowledging the animal life the natural environment with this crane But also recognizing it as a water bird because in native american church culture The water bird has a huge significance and holds a lot of power Again because it's recognized with water We all need water to survive and a lot of my work is a conversation about the protection and the conservation of water And um, so like that's why I painted this and I'm really grateful and it's in a really nice place In denver. So go check it out on colfax Um, this one here is I did at the dairy art center in boulder. It's another mural painted by hand with a brush The crane mural was done by hand with the brush too. So this was just kind of a My piece in recognition of missing and murdered indigenous relatives And um, I normally don't paint in Relation to different issues that affect native people Because I feel like what I'm trying to communicate is the beauty of the culture and the strength and the power of the culture And and I want to focus on that and and allow people to experience that even though like yes, these things happen Um, I want to just be able to jump in there every so often and peek in and then jump right back out So this was my um reference in relation to that But I think you know missing and murdered indigenous relatives kind of starts with our planet And how we treat our planet our mother our first and foremost mother Um, so that's kind of where I kind of stem this project from and what it communicated for me Was relation to recognizing mother earth and how we treat her first and foremost is how we're going to respect and treat our women So This one is done in bolder at twitter Um I don't know how you guys feel about twitter Kind of touchy, you know Sorry, I did it, but this was before all this stuff went down Um So, yeah, I I actually try to go back there one day. They wouldn't let me in Oh Yeah, I know it was like bro. I'm just like right there. I painted that Yeah, so Anyway, that's kind of what that was. I painted that guy there at twitter And then these are kind of other pieces I painted for a show I had up at csu and fort collins. Um, I think that's it, right? Yeah, so you can see these are very geometric very expressive Kind of in relation to graffiti with the color usages and stuff. So yeah, nice I think I've talked way too much. Okay Daniel Hello Um, I'm sort of in the middle of what chelsea and jc. Do I do I work with porcupines? I work with animal hides. I do murals. I paint on canvas. So I do a lot We're all very multidisciplinary and just watching these two and their work. I get so inspired That's what inspires me is like my peers or other artists. I get so inspired. I'm ready to go to my studio and paint now um So I do a lot of um, I'm working. I've been working on a series now for almost two years and this was this is one of them um, and it's It's very expressionistic for me. It was it. Um, these came to me from a dream. I had and if the duality, um I think Cover shot or catalog photo is also a piece of mine. It's the two women and um The one I with the scribbles on the face is kind of the signature of this series I've been working on and it was based on a dream. I had this one is called ryaqa and it's um That means hostage and I do create a lot of um pieces Centered around issues jc is the beauty and I'm like, no, we're gonna go right into it And I'm gonna bring these issues to light because we need to talk about them. So I um did this one based on Prisoners native americans have one of the we're one of the highest populations that are in prison Despite us being the lowest population percentage in comparison to the rest of the u.s. So I wanted to sort of Bring to light this the hair um is made from letters that I wrote Back and forth to Leonard peltier if anybody's familiar. Is anybody know who Leonard peltier is? So, um, he's a considered a political prisoner. He's like I am And so I wanted this piece to be kind of centered around that and um My father was imprisoned at one point and that really had a huge impact on my life So I wanted to kind of do this piece in homage of that Um, this is a mural that I did in Denver. Um, one thing I really love about Uh doing mural pieces is I kind of do it differently than my studio practice I do these very kind of bold Colorful murals that are more centered around what's happening in the piece versus about the detail or the skill of the work So a lot of I get a lot of questions about my murals like why doesn't your people have faces or you know Why is there lack of detail etc? um, and it's it's really kind of goes back to um Something called winter counts from my tribe where The way we documented we didn't have a written language up until just very recently and it's still kind of controversial Teaching a written language because we always taught orally, but the way that we documented our histories was by drawing So we're just naturally A kind of an artistic community and people. I'm not professionally trained. I'm a self-taught artist I come from a family of um self-taught artists and so um I do a lot of work based on those winter counts, which if you look at it We're historically done on deer hide or buffalo hide And they're very very simplistic drawings. Some may say oh that looks like stick drawings But really it's about what's going on in that piece and what's what the story is Versus about the skill of the the person that created it So a lot of my work is based on it's kind of a contemporary version of what we call ledger art or winter counts And I wanted this piece is called still here And it's really to show that we're still here. We can you know, wear our traditional regalia Hop on a skateboard wear a baseball cap with our moccasins. We very much live in this duality or two worlds, right? So that's a piece in in denver by the central market. This is another mural that I did That is all about our ancestors that we are our ancestors And we have to acknowledge that and sort of pay that forward and then you know one day we will become ancestors So we have to leave this human earth better than we found it for our future generations I love working in schools I actually am lined up to do a few more murals in schools coming up and this one was done in north high school It's one of the high schools in denver. That is the highest population of brown kids Including indigenous children and I you know, they they asked me if I'd be coming willing to do a mural And I said absolutely a hundred percent So I did The cafeteria and on those there's different poles or pillars in the cafeteria and there's four sides the four sides Have geometric designs and also bigger than life figures kind of going back similar to those figures You saw in the other mural that depict those children whether they're Two-spirited or lgbtq is a colonized version would say Or they're proud athletes or graduates, etc I wanted it to be reflective of those that student body and have them be proud I reflect back in my childhood. I never saw public art that referenced me my culture What I looked like things that I was proud of and so I wanted to kind of pay that forward for those kiddos This is a More recent piece. I did it's called not today cowboy And it's part of that series with kind of that one eye realistic eye and then sort of this two-dimensional flat rest of the piece And it really is all about storytelling similar to what you know, these two artists next to me storytelling is a big part of our cultures and I always grew up. I grew up in North Dakota. I'm from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota and we had A lot of I grew up with a lot of stories about The cowboys that came and colonized that area and a lot of them would take Native women as wives sometimes multiple wives and They would have or they would have children with them then leave them and kind of discard these women So I sort of wanted to flip the narrative and have this this native woman be like no no no no I'm in charge and you know, I'm taking back this narrative. So not today cowboy Another piece that I did recently is this is called uncle giving directions And it's based off old old photographs really really inspire me I could sit all day and just look at old photos and this is based off an old photo Of uh an elder and I sort of made it my own and depicted it in my own way and added long braids And it's kind of a running joke in our in not many of our cultures that we point without pointing So we like, you know, you know, it's very invasive to be like, hey, look at that So we you know, we point with our lips Over there, you know or so I wanted to sort of do this with the braid that he's sort of giving directions with his braid This piece is about boarding schools and if anybody's familiar with that It's something something that's come up more in a in a general public way The last few years than ever so before it's not new to any of us sitting on this stage Um, I don't know one native person that hasn't been affected by boarding schools Whether it was our parents our grandparents that had to attend these schools But this one's called you can't have our braids and it kind of reflected back to a time when my grandma who was a boarding school student Um at a catholic school in south dakota told me she barely ever spoke about her experiences There was super painful But she told me that at one point they had they when she first got there they scrubbed her with lye and then um They cut her hair and so because I remember when I was a little girl She was um just this cute little old lady and I'd be like grandma what you know You still braid your hair in two long braids and she said yeah, I'll always Have long braids because when I went to school they cut my braids So I sort of did that piece in remembering that conversation I had with her This one is called erasure and it's sort of a um Kind of my art is very much my diary. I haven't started showing my art publicly until 2020 So I'm sort of recent to this but I've been creating art since forever And this one is really about the censorship that we as native people often face in media in Agencies and public Places were so I'm so grateful today to be on this stage and be sharing the space with you all like I would say maybe a Generation ago you wouldn't really see native people up here like this talking in such a freeform way Because of the censorship in the erasure and so that's what kind of what this piece is about This one is um of a he's my adopted uncle. His name is Patrick kills crow. He's a resident of denver He's an elder in my community and also from the same tribe that I am And I just love him so much and I was felt so compelled to paint a portrait of him in the way that I do Um, and I remember him looking at it being like what's that? A lot of people don't understand or they question like kind of my aesthetic, but again, this is my diary This is much more different than my mural work my studio work is so much more intimate and just free flowing but He's such a sweetheart and he's you know in his 70s and still has a full-time job He doesn't drive you realize on people to you know Get a he gets a cab or whatever But he is so passionate about helping other elders in our community in denver That he drives food boxes to his peers when I'm like you're an elder yourself People should be coming and bringing you a food box But that's what he does and I just adore him so much I wanted to honor him in the only way that I know how and that's by painting him Similar to um the stories that these two have about coyote We have somebody called dear woman and that's somebody you definitely don't want to cross I grew up with stories about dear woman and how she sort of lurks at powwows and you know When a man is asked to dance with a woman asked a man to dance You got to like pull up her skirt a little bit make sure there's no hooves under there Because she sort of is known to keep men in check and So this is my interpretation of dear woman Another mural that I did I did this in honor of pride month in Adams County and I'm one of the Organizers or leaders of bay balls if anybody's heard of bay balls It's an all-women non-binary mural festival. And so I'm part of that organization And last year we did one in Adams County. We did pride and we paired up with Artists that were that are identify as LGBTQ or two-spirited and I wanted to paint this one in honor of that This one is my this was my second mural I ever did So I've only paint I've only started doing murals since 2020 and since then I've done probably 25 murals This was my very second one. I did and it's at the Denver Indian Center And I did it during COVID. So thank you So we're gonna save about 15 minutes at the end of this for audience questions So if you guys want to think of some questions before that So I'm gonna ask you guys a couple questions What challenges have you faced as native artists in predominantly non-native art world? I mean the Ethics of How I create my materials comes up a lot Um, mostly from people that are genuinely curious, but I've also gotten some, you know, slight comments From like vegans or something Which I'm like, I totally respect your lifestyle, but I also would appreciate the same The truth is is like, you know, we do hunt the animals But how we do it and how we respect them and how we bless them is so much more ethical and The way that I am able to track this animal. I'm able to Then take care of this animal live off of this animal for us the year And then turn this animal into artwork is way more of an ethical lifestyle than like the industrial system of like How we normally get our meats, which is like such a system and no love where care goes into it um, and it There's so many blessings that go into You know the the whole process of what I'm doing, you know, blessing the animal before we even touch it Blessing the animal like while I'm working on it cleansing my studio, you know There's just so many layers of like respect and love that I love to show um The animal that I'm working with and uh, I think it's like a barrier of like Not a lot of people know this process. They don't know the labor that goes into learning Hide work. They don't know like the love and respect that we have for this animal So there's like a lot of barriers that kind of People put up so it's kind of it's something that I'm loving challenging and showing people And breaking down those barriers and especially in the art world. I mean there's that it's Once you start talking about hunting in the art world, it's just kind of It's like an interesting conversation. So yeah, jc or daniel or any challenges you'd like to discuss All right, here's one. How do you decide when a piece of art is finished and what criteria do you use to evaluate your work? I'll answer that question. I don't know Um, I'm a perfectionist. I'll be straight up like Um, I want my stuff to look really clean. I want it to be presentable Um, I think it has to be with how I was raised and how I what I was taught by my mother and my father And um, and just the care and respect for what I produce Um, I I feel like if anything were to ever happen, I want it to have like that essence of who I am And um, and I think you know the perfectionism does get get to me where I don't know when something's done Um, because I want it to be great. I want it to be amazing So it's like you just keep pushing yourself to keep going there and and I think when it comes to perfectionism Um, it's not a bad thing because you're always pushing yourself And and for me, that's how I view it. Um, some people may think I'm crazy or I'm nuts. Um, but Maybe I am that's fine. But uh, I think like For me, it's it's more or less like Again the care and and the effort and the energy and the spirit that I put into my work is is how I want it to be felt and seen So and it's really hard to say when something's done for sure All right, danielle, how do you balance your personal vision with the expectations and demands of the art market and your audience? Can you repeat that like three more times? So how do you balance your personal vision? With expectations and demands of the art market and your audience Yeah, that's a good question. I when you asked a question about the challenges we face I kind of was thinking about this and this is probably a more suitable answer for this question I recently was asked to be part partaking in a show that was like about western art And I was like, okay, and I they were like, can you send us some samples of your work? And so I did and they were like, this is not western art And I'm like, well, how do you define western art? Or a native art? I'm native american therefore. This is native art. This is part of what we I guess western art. So I You know, I always stay true to my vision I always stay true to who I am as an artist and I will never ever I don't take commissions very rarely unless maybe a mural it's different but I get asked a lot about commissions for paintings, etc I never take commissions because I always um, I don't want to have to live up to somebody else's expectation on what They want I want to create what I want what makes me feel good And uh, and then put it out into the universe. So I kind of just approach it that way All right, this question is for any of you How do you guys balance using traditional indigenous art forms with exploring new and contemporary techniques? I um I always always think about the traditional art forms, whether it's quill work working with beads or leather Even like hand dyeing things using berries or like natural dyes Or making my own paints or pigments But I also love to balance and bring it into the 21st century and like of today. So I a lot of my colors I have a very occurrent palette So it's a very contemporary way that I like to approach my work is very colorful and lots of like contemporary colors So I would say I sort of mix that with mine So you're Chelsea you want to add anything? um, I would definitely agree with that like I think um, I was native arts artists and residents at the Denver art museum and part of my opportunity there Was to be able to go into the collections and like actually handle like really old beadwork for my tribes and part of my main factor and wanton goal of Doing that is not only documentation like seeing the stitch work how it's assembled and you know just like admiring the designs and stuff but also being able to document it and bring um color palettes Into my work and then represent it in My work and have kind of make goals of like trying to find a specific type of greasy bead or you know there's there's so many ways that um We adapt and I think You know, it's it's so amazing to be able to traditionally do Uh work and skill work that we haven't been able to and that Even my parents weren't able to but now I'm able to you know, just like fully embrace it And so that's like my main mindset is like I get to learn all this traditional work I it's such a privilege and it's such an honor to be able to Study works um and then bring them into my dialect and be able to reflect it. Um how I do as artists so It can just be in the simplest ways, but it can also be um in very gestural meaningful ways like that so we have Time for about one more question then we'll open it up to the audience So JC, how do you maintain your creative energy and motivation over time? I don't know Um, I think it's it's a balance, you know, because I have a I have a day to day job too But I'm a graphic designer for an organization called indian collective. So work nationwide and um In canada and south america with various tribes from all over So um a lot of that feeds my creative process Even though it takes away from my creative process in my studio at times I still feel like what i'm generating is Is significant and important just as much as the work that I create because i'm helping my people in that way and um If you guys haven't heard of them look them up. They're awesome and um, and I think you know for me It's it's it's more or less like um really taking the time Um, I I like to work all the time Which is bad and um because I don't know how to take a break and just chill out And um, so But I think you you know for for me, it's more or less like I I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing So it becomes a sanctuary it becomes a vibe and it it is fun And and then sometimes you just go on a different level So it's more or less like hitting that vibration and staying consistent with it and just allowing yourself the time and space to work with it But to remember to just kind of chill a little bit. Um, which is the hardest part Um, yeah, so I I'm sure these guys can relate because that's how it is and I think You know, um time management Yes, is a thing But what is time? You know, I don't know So but yeah, so like yeah, that's what I do I just I just try to just vibe out as much as possible Do any of you ever suffer from like creative blocks and do you have techniques to kind of get through those? I Don't get artist block. Um, I think there's like several ways that artists can do that to make sure that they don't Which is mostly having just like multiple forms of Uh expression so like if I'm not into beating I'll go to my sketchbook work or Even like then I can like translate into Like a poem or I'll go out to take photos like that is all part of a process and that can be adapted into Your foundation and your practice like there's no Reasons rhymes really to like get stuck in your head when there's like Technically so many options in our modern day to like be able to adapt and express And that is such an important part about being like A full-time artist being a creative constantly Having creatives around you being in a constant mindset. You have to be able to continue on and move on from an idea if it's not working out or Just have in general like I have so many projects lined in front of me more so than I'm like getting done But I think like just generating that constant content of Expression it's just like such an important way not to get stuck and it's such a Valid way to continue on in our career and make sure it's like solid and stable Do you see your Daniela you want to add anything? I definitely have like at least five paintings sitting in my studio unfinished that I have been sitting there for probably a few years That I got a block from but kind of like which helsey said I I'm a writer as well. So I'll like write a book or I'll write it or I'll Do a sketch or hey, I maybe have a mural project coming up so it's just a matter of like keeping moving and like flowing between different mediums and Getting it out in different ways All right, we're going to open it up to the audience for questions Anyone have a question they'd like to ask Yes So I had my residency already so a new resident is coming in and I mean the main part of my benefit was exploring the collections as well as um, you know Figuring out how to interact with visitors. Um, the challenges in that way, but the new wing is amazing I mean, there's like whole collections of families ancestral pottery all the way to like contemporary times. Um, that's Roxanne and Rose Simpsons families like Pueblo pottery heritage and that's just like Such an amazing display that you're not going to be able to see represented anywhere else like in america or in the world so it's just like amazing to be able to like reflect on Uh lineages as well as uh Ancestrally culturally like the tribes that I come from so it was amazing to go in there and look at palates look at designs look at You know how stitching is made so like I was looking at cradle boards and seeing Turning it around in the back and then looking at the stitching and that was um A main thing. I mean just even the construction of how items are done is kind of um Visually lost sometimes so it's really nice to go in there and have the opportunity to look. Um, Yeah, my residency was basically continuation of what I do at red line Um with the barrier of not being able to bring in animal products So that was a weird thing. Um, so I mostly focused on what I was saying with not getting artist blocks So I'm like constantly giving myself um imagery sketches color palates. Um and gathering this collection this atlas of Work influence from the art museum to be able to fuel my Studio at red line and ideas that are going to happen um in the future and later on so It was all it was all relevant and I was doing very different things in both studios But yeah, now I'm just full time at red line. Um, and I'm able to use my quills and my hides There so that's good Any other questions? Yeah So the question is how How many quills do you get off a porcupine? Well, mine My porcupine People kept running it over. So it was like mostly Like the lower back half of it So I was able to harvest from like the underbelly and the tail Which is like actually probably like the best quills as well. So I was able to gather that half and that supplied like 40 people Learning basic quilling and like giving them a small amount as well as making the sculpture pieces Up there and then I still have Pretty decent sized box of them and that's just from Like a basically a quarter of the porcupine But danielle was able to harvest a whole porcupine from the Denver It was a zoo the zoo. Um, so they donated the whole porcupine To um danielle and she also hosts quillwork classes. So I I think there's like 30 000 like yeah For there's between 30 and 40 000 quills on a porcupine And do you just pull them out like what's the process? Yeah, you have to sort of let it rot So like in chelsea's case, it was already rotting But yeah, when I when I found out that that quill the resident porcupine at the zoo had passed away I immediately called my contacts at the zoo and I was like, what are you going to do with it? Can I have that the quills and they they were like, well, it might have already went to the I found out that they incinerate the animals, which is so sad to me And I explained, you know, what I was doing and the quillwork projects and things that I've been working on with the community and They let us come in and I We were taught or I had an elder come in and lead that class Or the the process of harvesting the quills But we had to let the body rot for a few days because then the quills come out much more smoother Any other questions Yes Yeah, and we're going to donate a piece. We're working as a community to create a piece together that we're going to donate back to The zoo using his quills Yeah in the back So how do you see denver evolving as a center for native art? Well, I actually just visited like santa fe and albuquerque for the first time A few months ago to participate in like greg deals Or not greg deal Um, man, I'm sorry, jeffrey gibson Um, and one of his performances and it was um, such a beautiful contrast like jeffrey gibson is an idol to me and uh Seeing the contrasts of like this forced narrative that also like santa fe and albuquerque sometimes puts on native folk Um, I think denver has a good uh You know idea of like we don't want to force that narrative on native folk. Um, we want to create these spaces For them to express themselves How they do and what they do and the skill work that they work in Um, but that's not to say that it's like all pgk And I think there's still some strives that we can make as an art community to um You know include native artists without like the native part like we're just artists And I think like danielle and jc were commenting on that as well like we also just want to be um, you know How we are an artist and not just in native exhibitions, but for now like I will take every opportunity um to be in native exhibitions to show that representation But hopefully eventually it's not just designated like you're in this niche Stay in there, you know I feel like santa fe and albuquerque is so heavy southwest influenced as a tribe from the north I love denver being sort of the crossroads of indian country as we call it Where we have a lot of tribes from the north and a lot of tribes from the south and we're sort of this melting pot So you see a lot more um A wide array of different native american and indigenous artworks and art forms Where south I feel like in santa fe and all that it's so heavy pottery and jewelry Which I absolutely love but you get a bit more of a broader mix up here Any other questions So yeah porcupine quilling is More like weaving you don't actually um, you know Penetrate the quill with like needle and thread. You're kind of weaving the quill in between the thread spaces that you make um, and I always call it kind of like when teaching it or something like I call it more porcupine weaving than um Anything because it's more about the stitching that you're doing underneath with the thread and then weaving the quill It's really hard and that's part of the barrier of teaching quill works It really has to be in person because describing it in words is um Really weird because it involves like me putting it in my mouth and flattening it and then you know like It's just it sounds like a weird process, but it's such a beautiful process And then dying it um my rule of thumb is they really love acid baths. So um They love like that vinegar and they like soak it up and then um, usually if it is if silk is adapted to it then porcupines will also Be compatible with whatever works on silk because they're both like animal products. So That's usually my rule of thumb if I'm like trying different brands is like is it compatible with silk? So there's like dies that way, but there's also natural dies Which is such a longer process of just like boiling the ingredient to extract like the dye And then doing the whole like process with the quills So it's like an extra like two three hour process when you're doing it naturally But there's um such a variation in color when you do it naturally that it's almost It's so much more worth it To where you know synthetic dies, it's like That solid color and then no variations Because it's a product at that point, you know the dye is so there's a bit more beauty in the natural The natural dies interacting with quills All right, so we got time for maybe one or two more questions. Anyone else have a question? Yes JC are you going to start working with Between us he should be I don't know. I haven't seen one on the side of the road yet, you know I think you should do a mural of a porcupine It's funny. He'll come into red line and he'll find quills like scattered throughout red line from my studio And he'll bring it back in my studio and hand me a single quilt. I'm like, thanks Yes, I found one I guess I mean, I don't I don't have all the knowledge of what that would entail and For the people my ancestors But I think for me, it's just a continuation of those geometric shapes to me. I just see it as as dimensions and And for me to incorporate into my works is just an extension and continuation of that And and I do think of it as sacred geometry too But more or less it's it's it's for me. It's like simplifying forms and being able to communicate in this way that's Not as like realistic, you know, because I can paint realistically But I'm not gonna, you know, like for me, it's like might as well just take a picture And so it's more or less like style for me now How do I continue these geometric shapes and give these figures or portraits a dimension? And and and just kind of again pay respects to rug weavers because that's kind of just what they did and And so for me like when I paint I see it as weavings. So a lot of my canvas is I don't stretch until after I'm done with the painting But I'm learning that's not the right thing to do So Even though I like it Because it's just it's beautiful because I let the paint drip off the canvas and it just looks great So when I wrap it around stretchers, it doesn't have that energy like the expression that I'm looking for So but yeah back to the question. I I I don't know, you know a good question. So seriously But um, yeah, I'm being serious because to me it could mean anything to somebody else And I can only speak for myself and and that's just how I speak is through those shapes For me, I would say yes um Because and that's why I took on buddhism Because I read a book about the comparison of tibetan buddhism with navajo culture And how those stories kind of correlated in the different the the way the Geographically the environments were structured and how they related to that environment And how their stories of creation and their different gods kind of were very similar to ours as navajo people And so for me like I felt like there was a connection there um, and um, so like And and that's why again the the the sand paintings it's speaking about impermanence And that's what buddhists talk about too is the impermanent nature of our existence. And so like that's kind of what I'm Latching on to and trying to replicate within my work But also just kind of speak from it from my identity as a navajo person So we are out of time, please give a round of applause for these amazing artists And again the show is open until may 21st Please tell your family and friends to come check it out and thank you so much for coming Thank you. Thank you