Native American and Indigenous Heritage

These stories celebrate the cultural achievements of Native American, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian artists.

The screen depicts four people on a video call with each other.

Art and Activism: Environmental Protection and Contemporary Indigenous Art

Join featured artists and the curator of the exhibitions “Water Memories” and “Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” for a conversation exploring the significance of water to diverse Indigenous peoples and Nations in the United States, as expressed through historical, modern, and contemporary art. Delve into the artists’ artistic processes while examining the ongoing work to protect water and land, aesthetic activism, and the unique challenges contemporary Indigenous artist-activists face.

Portrait of several Native American veterans

A Salute to the Artistic Legacy of Native American Veterans

Celebrating National Native American Heritage Month in Watson Library
Georgia O'Keeffe's painting, "From the Faraway, Nearby" with an imaginary mule deer skull and antlers levitating over a rather generalized desert landscape

Revisiting “O’Keeffe Country”

Two Indigenous scholars discuss what—and who—the artist omits in her depiction of New Mexico
Amber-Dawn Bear Robe Headshot

Indigenizing Fashion with Amber-Dawn Bear Robe

The curator and art historian reflects on the significance of representation in the world of fashion.
Indigenous American climate justice activist Xiye Bastida shouts into a megaphone in front of a large-scale protest

The Importance of Reciprocity

Climate justice activist Xiye Bastida’s perspectives are brought to bear on Thomas Cole’s iconic landscape painting The Oxbow.

Thomas Cole's landscape painting "The Oxbow

Reexamining the Wilderness Aesthetic

What’s missing from Cole’s environmentalism is the idea of justice
Southwestern landscape

Contemporary Native American Art Books

Watson Library celebrates Native American Heritage Month with books by and about Indigenous artists
Joe Baker poses in front of a painting

Committing to the Beauty of Lenape Art

How Joe Baker reclaimed a historic artform in order to assert his Lenape identity.
Mopope Eagle Dancer

Native American Art Books

Watson Library celebrates Native American Heritage Month with books by and about Indigenous artists
Portrait of a queen regent trampling a captive carved into a stelae, or large decorated stone slab, of Maya origin. The sculpture is installed in the Great Hall at the Museum.

Set in Stone: Maya Rulers in the Great Hall

Newly installed, these sculptures celebrate the role of Maya artists in the creation of iconographies of power.
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