Knowing Native Arts

Knowing Native Arts brings Nancy Marie Mithlo's Native insider perspective to understanding the significance of Indigenous arts in national and global milieus. These musings, written from the perspective of a senior academic and curator traversing a dynamic and at turns fraught era of Native self-determination, are a critical appraisal of a system that is often broken for Native peoples seeking equity in the arts. Mithlo addresses crucial issues, such as the professionalization of Native arts scholarship, disparities in philanthropy and training, ethnic fraud, and the receptive scope of Native arts in new global and digital realms. This contribution to the field of fine arts broadens the scope of discussions and offers insights that are often excluded from contemporary appraisals.

Written by scholars actively producing Native art resources, this book guides readers--students, educators, collectors, and the public--in how to learn about Indigenous cultures as visualized in our creative endeavors.

Artists : Norman Akers, Marcus Amerman, Arthur Amiotte, Rick Bartow, Susie Bevins-Ericsen, David Bradley, Lorenzo Clayton, Karita Coffey, Jim Denomie, Joe Feddersen, John Feodorov, Yatika Starr Fields, Nicholas Galanin, Richard Glazer-Danay, Bob Haozous, Edgar Heap of Birds, John Hoover, Frank Buffalo Hyde, G. Peter Jemison, Peter B. Jones, Tom Jones, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Jean LaMarr, Frank LaPena, Kapulani Landgraf, James Lavadour, Linda Lomahaftewa, George Longfish, Erica Lord, Judith Lowry, Jason Lujan, James Luna, Mario Martinez, Alan Michelson, Douglas Miles, Kay Miller, Shelley Niro, Lillian Pitt, Jolene Rickard, Diego Romero, Mateo Romero, Tanis Maria S'eiltin, Susie Silook, Rose B. Simpson, Preston Singletary, Duane Slick, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Bentley Spang, C. Maxx Stevens, Roxanne Swentzell, Charlene Teters, Gail Tremblay, Anna Tsouhlarakis, Kade L. Twist, Kay WalkingStick, Denise Wallace, Marie Watt, Richard Ray Whitman, Will Wilson, Steven Yazzie.

In this path breaking study, anthropologist Nancy Marie Mithlo examines the power of stereotypes, the utility of pan-Indianism, the significance of realist ideologies, and the employment of alterity in Native American arts.

Knowing Native Arts brings Nancy Marie Mithlo’s Native insider perspective to understanding the significance of Indigenous arts in national and global milieus. These musings, written from the perspective of a senior academic and curator traversing a dynamic and at turns fraught era of Native self-determination, are a critical appraisal of a system that is often broken for Native peoples seeking equity in the arts. Mithlo addresses crucial issues, such as the professionalization of Native arts scholarship, disparities in philanthropy and training, ethnic fraud, and the receptive scope of Native arts in new global and digital realms. This contribution to the field of fine arts broadens the scope of discussions and offers insights that are often excluded from contemporary appraisals.

Blackfoot Ways of Knowing is a journey into the heart and soul of Blackfoot culture. In sharing her personal story of "coming home" to reclaim her identity within that culture, Betty Bastien offers us a gateway into traditional Blackfoot ways of understanding and experiencing the world.

This companion consists of chapters that focus on and bring forward critical theories and productive methodologies for Indigenous art history in North America. This book makes a major and original contribution to the fields of Indigenous visual arts, professional curatorial practice, graduate-level curriculum development, and academic research. The contributors expand, create, establish and define Indigenous theoretical and methodological approaches for the production, discussion, and writing of Indigenous art histories. Bringing together scholars, curators, and artists from across the intersecting fields of Indigenous art history, critical museology, cultural studies, and curatorial practice, the companion promotes the study and dissemination of Indigenous art and stimulates new conversations on such key areas as visual sovereignty and self-determination; resurgence and resilience; land-based, embodied, and nation-specific knowledges; epistemologies and ontologies; curatorial and museological methodologies; language; decolonization and Indigenization; and collaboration, consultation, and mentorship.

"Women have long been the creative force behind Native American art, yet their individual contributions have been largely unrecognized, instead treated as anonymous representations of entire cultures. 'Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists' explores the artistic achievements of Native women and establishes their rightful place in the art world. This lavishly illustrated book, a companion to the landmark exhibition, includes works of art from antiquity to the present, made in a variety of media from textiles and beadwork to video and digital arts. It showcases more than 115 artists from the United States and Canada, spanning over one thousand years, to reveal the ingenuity and innovation fthat have always been foundational to the art of Native women."--Page 4 of cover.