IAIA Together Apart
Keeping the IAIA community connected
#IAIATogetherApart on Instagram
Instagram posts that are tagged with the #IAIATogetherApart hashtag are posted here. (Only posts that are public will be displayed, private posts are hidden.) If you’d like to share images or videos, please post them to Instagram using the #IAIATogetherApart hashtag, and please follow Social Media Guidelines with those postings, too.
The pandemic has brought me much sadness, but also blessings. A couple months ago, my family had lost my aunt to Covid-19. When I first heard the news, I cried so many tears for my aunt. I always hoped she was doing well. It had been many years since I've last seen her. The memories of what she looked like, her voice, and smile echoed in my mind and crumbled my heart. I still really miss her as I am writing this. I deeply wish I can see her and hug her. Just seeing my family has brought me so much comfort, and so is living with my boyfriend. Family has never mattered so much more to me during times like this. All I can believe right now is everything will be okay. #iaiatogetherapart
The following letter is a submission from #IAIATogetherApart, set 50 years from now. To see more submissions or submit your own, visit togetherapart.iaia.edu.
Pandemic Letter—April 9, 2020, 1:42 pm, Anonymous
Dear Reader,
I am writing from a world in which there is no shortage of grotesque heaps of hurt. Assuming that hasn’t gone away, maybe you’re sick of being pat on the head. Maybe you’re sick of being at the receiving end of that hurt. Maybe you’re sick of having to explain why it hurts, or maybe you’re just sick. I take it you’ve heard of COVID-19. Perhaps you’ve been a witness to your grandparent or great-grandparent ranting and reeling about the effect it had on their lives, or maybe told the same stories by your parents. They were stories about how hard they had to work to keep their jobs, or how hard they had to work to educate their children by themselves with countless additional responsibilities. Maybe your elders would say things about how they needed to feel privileged that they had a job at all—from home or at risk. They needed to be grateful that they were slaves to capitalism at the desires of the rich. Maybe your grandparents were children when coronavirus initially began. Maybe your grandparents couldn’t graduate college or high school that initial year. They remember watching their parents struggle to provide, struggle to ration food, some not knowing where their money was coming from after being “guaranteed” their position, but laid off nonetheless. The other side of the coin could be stories of how they remember their parents going out, living as-is, shopping constantly, not wearing masks, or gloves, or caring. Maybe they remember losing someone—a parent, a friend, a child? Maybe they were isolated alone, or without resources. You didn’t live through it, but this is not the depression, 9/11, or the recession of yore. This is different. So much about this disease was unforeseen. It was merciless, fast, suffocating, and unpredictable.
(Continued in the comments)
Working from home has been a major test of patience for me. My son’s attitude reminds me of me more and more every day. Likewise, I am reminding myself of my mother more and more every day. What is going on? This feels like the Twilight Zone.
This kid keeps taking his diaper off and flinging it across the room. Have you ever had to clean human feces from the carpet at 9 am, and then have a zoom meeting at 9:15? If so, I’m right there with you. There is crayon scribbled on every surface of this house. You know, at first I told him to stop, but towards the end of the first week I just looked at him and said “don’t you want to go color on the walls some more?” just to buy myself a few minutes of silence. Don’t most two-year-olds nap? Not this guy! And he’s become obsessed with TikTok. Every five minutes it’s “Make a TikTok, Mama!? Make a TikTok!?” We’ve watched so many TikToks now that every now and then he opens the front door and screams “CORONAVIRUS!” à la Cardi B. He’s running through the living room screaming it as we speak. Somehow we’ve watched Cars two-million times in two weeks. Ka-chow! And I caught him eating an ant the other day—he squished it under his finger, stuck his finger in his mouth, then went in for more—and I didn’t stop him. I just sat there in my exhaustion and let it happen. But, hey, it’s protein, right? I guess we’re both coping by stress-eating—I’m already three string cheeses, a row of Oreos, and several fruit snacks deep today. I seriously can’t stop snacking! But I need to be better at practicing self control, because I already had to venture out to the store once this week to replenish our snack stock and while I’ve definitely feared for my life at a Wal Mart before, it just hit different this time, ya know?
It’s not all bad of course. We’re having fun and goofing around a lot, and most importantly I can tell he’s happy having me home. It’s just hard not really getting a break now and then and a bit isolating.
So check on your friends with kids, guys! We’re not ok!
#IAIATogetherApart
The #IAIATogetherApart website is now live! It was created to give voice to the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Community—a voice to help cope with the 2020 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on a community who largely relies on day-to-day physical interaction for learning, mentoring, and communicating. All IAIA Community members are eligible to submit their stories to the #IAIATogetherApart website, which includes staff, faculty, students, alumni, board members, parents and family members, other Tribal Colleges and Universities, AIHEC, and AICF. See togetherapart.iaia.edu/submit for criteria and guidelines.
Stories can be just that, a story, or perhaps a poem, a letter—from one word to 512 words. During this pandemic, the IAIA campus is absent of your voice in its classrooms, hallways, walking paths, dorms, office spaces, buildings, and Café, but don’t let that stop you from vocalizing—share your voice, submit a story to #IAIATogetherApart.
After you submit a story, post a photo or video using your story and the #IAIATogetherApart hashtag here on Instagram for a chance to be featured on IAIA’s social media.
#IAIATogetherApart was conceived and created by IAIA’s offices of Institutional Research (Dr. Bill Sayre, Anita Gavin, Jesse Morris) and Marketing and Communications (Jason S. Ordaz, Nicole Lawe). The website launched on Monday, March 30, 2020. For inquires, please contact togetherapart@iaia.edu.
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) Thesis Residency is this week, May 10–13, 2021, and brings together a diverse range of voices working in the literary arts. Please join the Master’s Thesis Candidates for the Spring 2021 MFACW craft lectures and readings, which will be live streamed throughout the week of the residency beginning today, Monday, May 10, 2021 at 10 am (MDT).
For a full schedule of readings and to watch the live streams, visit www.iaia.edu/2021-spring-mfacw-thesis-residency/.
“The long term goal of the iaia_mfa_cw is to promote Indigenous intellectualism and knowledge systems through the literary arts. Many of the mentors, visiting writers, and students participating in Thesis Residency are active in their home communities, which establishes a learning environment akin to the vision of Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee), founder of IAIA.”—MFA Program Director Santee Frazier (Cherokee)
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
Today we are joining illuminative in turning Instagram red to disrupt the #MMIW erasure. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans, and Two-Sprits—a movement that aims to give a voice to those whose voice was stolen—silenced yet again.
Via IllumiNative:
“Instagram has claimed a “global glitch” is responsible for the widespread disappearance of posts related to #MMIWG2ST, but full transparency must be provided for accountability and to assure those affected that this was not a targeted effort.
The erasure of these posts yesterday was a painful experience for the families affected by this violent crisis that has taken so many relatives from us and to everyone working to raise awareness. We ask that instagram take responsibility and investigate the removal of the posts.
Join us today in turning Instagram red to disrupt the #MMIWGActionNow erasure.”
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is pleased to share that usatoday 10best named the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) number three in the Readers’ Choice contest for “Best Art Museum” in the United States. A panel of relevant experts were selected by USA Today and partnered with 10Best editors—together they selected the top twenty nominees, and the top ten were determined by popular vote. We thank everyone who believes in MoCNA’s mission “to advance contemporary Native art through exhibitions, collections, public programs, and scholarship,” and took the time to cast a vote for us.
“MoCNA is pleased to be selected as the number three “Best Art Museum” in the United States by USA Today. As an agent of change and a place of discourse, MoCNA exemplifies the power of museums to bring awareness to issues facing Indigenous Peoples and to challenge misperceptions of contemporary Indigenous arts. To receive this recognition is particularly special, as we are a small dedicated staff working ceaselessly to advance contemporary Indigenous arts and cultures in all we do. Thank you to the committee and to USA Today.”—IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Director Patsy Phillips (Cherokee Nation)
The top ten winners in the category “Best Art Museum” are as follows:
1. Booth Western Art Museum boothmuseum—Cartersville, Georgia
2. Heard Museum heardmuseum—Phoenix, Arizona
3. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts iaiamocna—Santa Fe, New Mexico
4. National Museum of African Art smithsonian_africanart—Washington, DC
5. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art crystalbridgesmuseum—Bentonville, Arkansas
6. Detroit Institute of Arts diadetroit—Detroit, Michigan
7. Cleveland Museum of Art clevelandmuseumofart—Cleveland, Ohio
8. Kimbell Art Museum kimbellartmuseum—Fort Worth, Texas
9. The Art Institute of Chicago artinstitutechi—Chicago, Illinois
10. Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum—New York, New York
To learn more about the top ten “Best Art Museums,” visit www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-art-museum-2021/.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
Did you know that 84% of Native American women experience violence in their lifetime, and that the murder rates of Native women are more than ten times the national average? Today is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)—an epidemic which also includes Native American girls, trans, and two-spirit individuals.
Some available resources to learn more about #MMIW are sovereignbodies, niwrc, and csvanw.
No more stolen sisters.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
#MayTheFourthBeWithYou! Here is a throwback to a #StarWars inspired suit by past Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) Rory Wakemup (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe) rorywakemup.
For more contemporary Indigenous art on this #StarWarsDay, check out “Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future,” a past exhibition from the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) iaiamocna at www.iaia.edu/event/indigenous-futurisms-transcending-past-present-future/.
This exhibition highlights artworks that present the future from a Native perspective, and illustrates the use of cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life. The works in this exhibition create awareness about how cultural knowledge and tribal philosophies are connected to the universe, science, and the future.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is pleased to announce that Kimberly Parko, Professor of Creative Writing, has been named IAIA's 2020–2021 Faculty of the Year.
Professor Parko joined the IAIA faculty in 2004 after spending ten years as an educator in the Atlanta and Santa Fe Public Schools. She also spent two years as a humanitarian volunteer with the Peace Corps at the Mumias School for the Deaf in Kenya, East Africa. She holds a BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design with a concentration in painting and an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College with a concentration in poetry.
Professor Parko is a distinguished member of the faculty who is respected by her students and colleagues for her innovative, unique, and progressive mixed-genre/interdisciplinary modalities.
“Faculty of the Year is an honor awarded by the IAIA student body in recognition of the faculty member who has made the greatest contribution to student success and learning. Congratulations and thank you to Professor Parko for her tireless commitment to our students and the IAIA community.”—IAIA Interim Academic Dean Felipe Colón (Laguna Pueblo)
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
IAIA students, are you ready to journey home for the summer? The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Journey Home Internship is a paid summer internship that combines experiential learning with service to Native communities, and provides generous stipends for IAIA students to intern with tribal organizations during summer sessions. IAIA Journey Home Interns put their education to work—plus they learn how to serve their communities.
There are eight scholarships available for the 2021 Summer session, and the application submission dates are May 3—May 12, 2021. The paid internship provides the selected student with a total of $4,461.26 (after tax and tuition) for one 3-credit summer internship. The internship funds are distributed to the students in intervals throughout the length of the internship.
This internship is funded by an outside organization and has a number of restrictions. For more information about the IAIA Journey Home Internship and eligibility requirements, and to submit an application, please visit www.iaia.edu/student-success-center/career-services/#journey-home/.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is hiring, and currently looking to fill the Assistant to the Faculty position. The Assistant to the Faculty is responsible for providing a wide range of administrative support duties from the basic to the complex, related to the needs of the faculty in the Academic Division and designated academic program staff. The incumbent supports the mission, vision, and core values of IAIA, and plays a vital role in ensuring the continued success of the Academic Department.
For more information and to apply, visit www.iaia.edu/about/employment/.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
Next week, May 3–8, 2021, is Student Vaccination Week! During #StudentVaccinationWeek, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) will prioritize college and high school students up to age 22 to receive first-dose appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine. The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) encourages all students—regardless of age—to register for the vaccine, as our state works to reach a vaccination rate of 60 percent in order to safely reopen within the next six weeks.
Sign up to receive your vaccination at www.vaccinenm.org.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
Members of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) President’s Circle are cordially invited to an exclusive virtual President’s Circle Event, “Reflections with Dr. Martin,” on Monday, May 10, 2021 at 5:30 pm (MDT). President’s Circle members will receive an inside look into happenings at IAIA including commencement, renovations for the one-of-a-kind research center, and the new MFA Studio Arts (MFASA) program. They will also receive a behind-the-scenes look into Kathleen Wall’s (Jemez Pueblo) ’14 ceramics studio at IAIA. Kathleen Wall, IAIA alumna and 2020–2021 Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) “Native Living Treasure,” is the spring IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) and featured artist for the IAIA 2021 Virtual Scholarship Gala and Auction. President’s Circle members will be the first to see the pieces she has created for this year’s auction and hear her story behind the art.
The IAIA President’s Circle is comprised of donors whose individual annual support is $1,000 or more. Annual gifts from contributors in the President’s Circle help to fund the most urgent priorities established by the President and Board of Trustees. If you would like more information about how to join the President’s Circle, please contact IAIA Interim Institutional Advancement Director Suzette Sherman at (505) 424-2309 or by email at suzette.sherman@iaia.edu.
For more information about this event visit www.iaia.edu/event/iaia-presidents-circle-event-reflections-with-dr-martin/.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
Please join the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) for the 2021 Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 11:00 am (MDT).
The IAIA 2021 Commencement Ceremony will, once again, be conducted in a virtual manner in light of the continued COVID-19 environment, and will include a video presentation comprised of submissions by members of the graduating class—each student in their cap and gowns or regalia—as well as honor songs and footage of students, staff, and faculty. The program will also feature recorded and live-streamed speeches from the class Valedictorian, American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Student of the Year, MFA Creative Writing Program student speaker, Faculty of the Year, IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), IAIA Board of Trustees Chair Loren Kieve (Cherokee Nation), and the keynote speaker, noted artist, activist, and educator Charlene Teters (Spokane) ’86, who has been selected to give the commencement address. In addition to delivering the commencement address live from campus, Teters will also be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree during the ceremony.
Teters has a long-time association with IAIA, as she earned her AFA in 1986, and returned in 2000 as the Interim Dean of the Academic Division—she was later named the Academic Dean in 2015, and recently retired in 2020. Her education also includes a BFA from the College of Santa Fe in 1988, and an MFA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1994. Additionally, in 2000, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Mitchell College in New London, CT.
To live stream the event on the morning of commencement, visit www.iaia.edu/commencement at 11:00 am (MDT).
Charlene Teters (Spokane), Night Sky Dancer, 1985, oil on canvas, 55.5 in. x 32 in. SPK-40; Gift of the Artist, 1986; Courtesy of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM. Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz.
“Manifesting our Destinies,” the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) 2021 BFA Exhibition at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) is now open to view from April 23, 2021–October 10, 2021.
Co-curated by Joseph Maldonado (Ottawa/Chippewa) and Ethan Swearengin (Cherokee Nation), “Manifesting Our Destinies” highlights artwork that reflects the diverse backgrounds of this year’s IAIA graduating BFA students. The juried show presents the unique voices of emerging artists that share an interest in themes such as resiliency, self-empowerment, and societal acceptance. The artworks reflect how these artists have redefined their cultural heritage by blending contemporary art forms, techniques, and materials with traditional Native art influences.
The participating artists are Nicholas Begay (Diné), Leandra Chimal (Mescalero Apache), DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo (Taos Pueblo/Navajo), Jaycee Custer (Diné), Daniel Forest (non-affiliated Metis), Marissa Izarro (Fort Peck Dakota/Taino), Bryson Meyers (Chippewa-Cree), Jacob Olascoaga (Tlingit), Jen Tiger (Osage), Beau Tsa-toke (Kiowa), Krista Vanderblomen (Prairie Band Potawatomi), and Angelo Williams (Salt River Pima/Maricopa).
To purchase an admissions ticket and reserve your time slot, visit www.iaia.edu/mocna/mocna-visit/ or follow the link in the bio at iaiamocna.
Beau Tsa-toke beautsatoke, “Staff of Life,” 2021, colored pencil on antique paper (1917), 11.25 x 17.5 in.
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) invites our community to “Walk to Graduation”—a fundraising initiative created by the IAIA Alumni Association and iaiaalumnicounci to help raise funding for the IAIA Alumni Scholarship. The Class of 2021 has shown unbelievable resilience in finishing a degree through a global pandemic, and the “Walk to Graduation” fundraiser will run through Friday, May 28, 2021 in celebration of all that our graduates have accomplished. We know that scholarships are an essential resource for IAIA students, and we hope to pay it forward for future IAIA Alumni. During this fundraiser, participants will have the opportunity to create their own fundraising page, recruit team members, and compete in social and fitness challenges with other teams or individuals to show their progress through social media. The goal is to have fun as a community and help grow the IAIA Alumni Scholarship fund. Please join the IAIA community as we “Walk to Graduation!”
For more information about #IAIAGradWalk21 and to sign up, visit www.iaia.edu/walk-to-graduation/ or follow the link in our bio.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
USAToday 10best has named the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) one of the top twenty “Best Art Museums” in the country—now it is up to the readers to make the final decision. Our community already knows our museum is amazing, now let’s show the country! Individuals can vote once per day until polls close on Monday, April 26 at noon (EDT).
You can show your support and cast your Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 “Best Art Museum” vote for MoCNA now, just follow the link in the bio at iaiamocna.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
“A Retrospective of Change,” the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) 2021 Spring Senior Graduating Exhibition, is available to view virtually. Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and closure of the IAIA campus, “A Retrospective of Change” is the third virtual exhibition presenting graduating seniors’ work in the digitally-rendered IAIA Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery iaiabalzergallery. Utilizing the skills of faculty, staff, and students from across the campus to transform physical works into digital formats, graduating seniors are able to present their final projects in virtual reality, adding to the next generation of contemporary Native voices in art and broadening what it means to exhibit art.
“A Retrospective of Change” is a culmination of the students’ final semester, where they worked closely with advisors, faculty, staff, and colleagues to create and articulate their conceptually driven body of artwork. This exhibition represents a capstone to their course of study, as well as their academic experience.
Seniors
• Leandra Chimal (Mescalero Apache)
• Patrick Collins (Saginaw Chippewa and Okeechobee Seminole)
• Jaycee Custer (Navajo)
• Daniel Forest (Nonaffiliated Métis)
• Dean Little Hawk (Mnicoujou Lakota)
• Shelley Patrick (Muscogee)
• Marquita Robles (Navajo and Mexican)
• DeAnna Suazo (Diné and Taos Pueblo)
• Arcelia Teller (Navajo)
• Jen Tiger (Osage, Chickasaw, Euchee, and Delware)
• Isabella Villasboas
• Angelo Williams (Salt River Pima Maricopa)
• Jesse Wood
For more information or sales inquires, please contact Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery Director Mattie Reynolds (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) at (505) 428-5813 or at mattie.reynolds@iaia.edu.
View “A Retrospective of Change” now at www.iaia.edu/event/iaia-2021-spring-senior-graduating-exhibition-a-retrospective-of-change/, or follow the link in our bio.
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is hiring, and currently looking to fill the Facilities Director position. The Facilities Director oversees a range of facilities related functions including but not limited to managing the Facilities Department which includes maintenance and custodial staff, directing capital improvements, and overseeing campus security.
For more information and to apply, visit www.iaia.edu/about/employment/.
Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts
The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) has launched a second virtual museum experience. This VR experience is a three-dimensional digital replica of two exhibitions currently on view at MoCNA—“The Moving Land: 60+ Years of Art by Linda Lomahaftewa” (Hopi/Choctaw) ’65 and Michael Namingha’s (Tewa/Hopi) “Altered Landscapes.”
The virtual museum was co-created by MoCNA Senior Museum Education Manager, Winoka Yepa (Diné), and Lisa Hinson of 5D Media, who provided the high-resolution photographs used for this VR experience.
View the VR experience now at https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=Y2SGyJxe5qa. The link is also available in MoCNA’s bio at iaiamocna
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) College Catalog is the definitive resource for IAIA’s degree plans and block schedules, scholarships, policies, Title IX, the academic calendar, and much more. This year, the IAIA 2021–2022 College Catalog cover art features Jeff Kahm’s “Converse.” This catalog is dedicated to the memory of IAIA Assistant Professor Jeff Kahm (Plains Cree) MA, and to everyone in the IAIA Community who has suffered loss and hardship during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Download and view the IAIA 2021–2022 College Catalog at www.iaia.edu/catalog, or follow the link in our bio.
The Reconfiguring Histories Symposium is a project by Harvard Graduate School of Design students, IAIA Alumna Heidi K. Brandow (Diné and Kānaka Maoli) (GSD, MDes ‘21) and Divya Saraf (MDes, ‘21), and will be hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Forms of Assembly. IAIA and the IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts at IAIA are proud co-sponsors of this symposium, along with support from the Harvard University Native American Program.
This event will be online on April 28th, 2021, and will consist of three panel discussions. The symposium initiates critical conversations between artists, activists, and scholars working on museum discourse related to institutionalized knowledge with a focus on provenance, narrative, decolonial curatorial praxis, and community engagement.
The Reconfiguring Histories Symposium addresses unethical museum practice while highlighting restorative measures currently being utilized nationally and internationally among communities adversely affected by the legacy of inequitable and unjust collection practices.
Brandow and Saraf will moderate the discussions, and Panel 3 will feature IAIA Alumna Cara Romero (Chemehuevi).
The Symposium is free, but you must register. Please visit the link in our bio or this website for more information and to register:
https://www.reconfiguringhistories.com
On Thursday, April 22, at 4:00 pm, the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is hosting a virtual artist talk and tour with Michael Namingha (Tewa/Hopi) for a discussion about his exhibition "Altered Landscapes" on view at the Museum until July 4, 2021. This event is free, but you must register at the link in our bio, or in the bio of the iaiamocna account.
"Altered Landscapes" addresses the environmental impact of the gas and oil industry: drilling stations, refineries, gas plants, fracking platforms, pipelines, and chemical storage are all situated in a drilling site around Chaco Canyon, a national historic park sacred to the ancestral Puebloans. More than 40,000 wells are in operation on federally leased land across the 7,500 square miles large San Juan Basin. While 34,0000 acres of the Black Place and nearby Chaco are protected from drilling and fracking, an overground pipeline runs through the Black Place. An estimated 140,000 New Mexicans live within half a mile of a drilling site. While the risks of methane waste and related pollution have not been extensively studied, they include health conditions such as respiratory ailments. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, these issues are hitting Indigenous communities particularly hard. While other artists deal with these themes head-on, Namingha’s work is in contrast non-confrontational, even quiet, inviting viewers to contemplate the devastating effects of the oil and gas industries on ancestral lands.
mnamingha (Tewa/Hopi), "Altered Landscape #9", 2019, digital c-print face mounted to shaped acrylic. Edition of 3. Image courtesy of Michael Namingha.
Our Admissions office is hosting multiple free webinars in April for transfer and new students, as well as prospective students interested in Cinematic Arts and Technology. Please go to the link in our bio or to IAIA.edu/admissions/ for more info and to sign up!
Join us Wednesday, April 21, 2021 for a FREE lecture with Enrique Salmón, PhD. You must register to participate.
Dr. Salmón is from the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) tribe of northwestern Mexico and is the head of the American Indian Studies Program at Cal State University in East Bay, CA. He is the author of “Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity and Resilience”, “Iwigara” and many articles.
The belief that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath -- known in the Rarámuri tribe as “iwigara” — has resulted in a treasury of knowledge about the natural world, passed down for millennia by Native cultures. Ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón builds on this concept of connection and highlights 80 plants revered by North America’s Indigenous Peoples.
Additional info and the link to register can be found in the bio or at iaia.instructure.com/courses/3603
“The 2021–2022 academic year will be one of recovery and renewal for each one of us, our home communities, and the world. I want you to know that IAIA will do everything it can to protect your safety and support your academic and personal growth.” — Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), IAIA President.
The IAIA 2021-2022 College Catalog is now available to download. Go to the link in our bio or iaia.edu/admissions/college-catalog/
Photo by Jason S. Ordaz, before the pandemic.
Shelley Patrick (Mvskoke/Muscogee) will graduate this year with a BFA in Studio Arts/Sculpture.
shelleypatrickart ‘s mother, fifephyllis (Muscogee), went to school at IAIA the second year it opened, attending the high school program. Shelley grew up asking to hear all the stories from her art school and decided around the age of five that she wanted to attend IAIA too.
The "community mindedness, access to talent of all kinds, advice and teachings from amazing artists, resources galore, every thread of connection that IAIA has available to students and staff/faculty" are why Shelley loves IAIA so much.
After graduation this year Shelley would like to attend an MFA studio arts program, continue to work with and in art and Indigenous communities, and continue to contribute to the visual conversation that is Indigenous perspective-based art.
Shelley says about her mural on campus: "Mvskoke Mural is based on a visualization exercise I play with myself that involves placing our designs and patterns in place of real world visuals. I wanted to create a landscape scene from the water to the air. It is located in the southeast side of the Academic Building between the faculty lounge and the outside door (approx. 2 ft x 40 ft along the lower wall)."
You can see more of Shelley's art at shelleypatrick.com
Photos by Jason S. Ordaz.
Promoting Indigenous perspectives on sustainability is an important part of IAIA’s Climate Action Plan.
The Karuk Tribe’s Climate Adaptation Plan states:
“Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by the changing climate. While (it) poses serious threats for Karuk culture, sovereignty, and all life on earth, it is perhaps most productively viewed as an opportunity to assert and expand Karuk traditional practices, tribal management authority, sovereignty, and culture. Karuk people have long been part of the ecosystem. Climate adaptation is about restoring human responsibilities and appropriate relationships to the natural world, (using) a combination of western science and Karuk traditional ecological knowledge.”
#IAIAIClimateActionPlan
Photos by Jason S. Ordaz
VISIT THE COVID-19 PAGE
View the COVID-19 resource page on the IAIA website.