Institute of American Indian Arts - Making History: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

MAKING HISTORY

University of New Mexico Press / Albuquerque

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

Institute of American Indian Arts

Edited by Nancy Marie Mithlo

Foreword by Robert Martin

Thank you to the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation
and the Institute of American Indian Arts for funding support.

2020 by the University of New Mexico Press

All rights reserved. Published 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

NAMES Mithlo, Nancy Marie, editor.

TITLE Making history: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Institute of American Indian Arts / edited by Nancy Marie Mithlo; foreword by Robert Martin.

DESCRIPTION First edition. | Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

IDENTIFIERS LCCN 2020013742 (print) | LCCN 2020013743 (e-book) | ISBN 9780826362094 (paperback) | ISBN 9780826362100 (e-book)

SUBJECTS LCSH: Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. | Institute of American Indian Arts. | Indian artStudy and teachingUnited States. | Art criticismStudy and teachingUnited States.

CLASSIFICATION LCC N6538.A4 M35 2020 (print) | LCC N6538.A4 (e-book) | DDC 704.03/97dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013742

LC e-book record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013743

COVER ILLUSTRATIONS front Bill Soza War Soldier (Cahuilla/White Mountain Apache), Self-Portrait, 1968, oil on canvas, 21 in. 21 in., MoCNA Collection, MS-22 (Photo by Addison Doty). spine Janet Nipi Ikuutaq (Nunavut, Baker Lake), Fighting over the Dead Seal, Edition 10/14, 1997, woodcut on paper, 21 in. 25.5 in., MoCNA Collection, CAN-27 (photo by Jason S. Ordaz). back Jeff Kahm (Plains Cree), Converse, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 90 in. 90 in., MoCNA Collection, CAN-43 (photo by Addison Doty)

TITLE PAGE ILLUSTRATION : Raymond Winters (Hunkpapa Sioux), Giant Symbols, 1971, oil on canvas, 96 in. x 60 in., MoCNA Collection, S-124 (photo by Addison Doty).

DESIGNED BY Mindy Basinger Hill

DEDICATED TO CHARLES A. DAILEY (19352019)

FOR LIGHTING THE FIRE

/ Robert Martin

/ Nancy Marie Mithlo

/ Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer and Ryan S. Flahive

/ Poem by Alex Jacobs

/ Nancy Marie Mithlo

/ John Paul Rangel

/ Suzanne Newman Fricke

/ Lara M. Evans

/ Patsy Phillips

/ Jessie Ryker-Crawford and Stephen C. Fadden

/ Charles A. Dailey

/ Nancy Marie Mithlo and David Warren

/ David Wade Chambers

/ Poem by Elizabeth Woody

Osiyo! It is a privilege and honor to welcome you to this publication, Making History, a first-time collaboration between the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and the University of New Mexico Press. IAIA, established in 1962, is celebrating its fifty-eighth year as the birthplace of contemporary Native art. We continue to build on this legacy and illustrious history, which led to the emergence of a Native arts movement and a truly unique institution. It is at IAIA where Native students take pride in their heritage while their artistic creativity is nurtured and encouraged to flower. We are pleased to participate in the creation of this publication, a groundbreaking contribution to the field of contemporary Native art.

The United States Congress acknowledged our prominence when it chartered the IAIA in 1986 as the only federal college charged with responsibility for supporting and fostering scholarship and research in Native arts and cultures. In essence, Congress acknowledged that Native arts and cultures are this countrys only Indigenous art and cultural forms, a contribution of tremendous importance to the richness of the United States.

IAIA offers certificates and associates and bachelors degrees in Studio Arts, Film, Creative Writing, Museum Studies, and Indigenous Liberal Studies. In 2013, we expanded our mission to include an MFA in Creative Writing, which has graduated ninety-five students since the program was launched. Moreover, IAIA is the only institution of higher education in New Mexico offering fine arts degrees accredited by both the Higher Learning Commission and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

IAIAs enrollment has grown to more than five hundred students, representing an average of one hundred Indigenous nations from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With enrollments generally decreasing at colleges across the country, IAIA continues to be a very attractive choice for students interested in a world-class contemporary Native arts education. Our growth is due to a combination of factors, including expanded academic programming and new initiatives in recruitment and retention.

In addition to the MFA, a performing arts program that was eliminated in the 1990s due to severe budget reductions reemerged in 2014 as a minor. At the same time, IAIA launched a successful fundraising campaign to build a $9.5 million Performing Arts and Fitness Center, which opened in January 2018. This newest building on campus will enhance IAIAs ability to expand academic programs in both performing arts and in fitness, thus permitting the college to create the first bachelors program in performing arts in the country offered exclusively from an Indigenous perspective.

A new IAIA student success initiative, the 15 to Finish Program, created financial incentives to encourage students to complete their degrees in a timely fashionfour years instead of five or more. Senior-year tuition and a book-fee waiver are awarded to students who maintain satisfactory progress over four years by completing fifteen credits per semester.

In establishing strategic partnerships with Walt Disney Imagineering, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, the Stagecoach Foundation, the Santa Fe Institute, the University of New Mexico Press, and others, IAIA provides its students with expanded opportunities for scholarships, internships, artist-in-residence programs, and employment.

The aforementioned affords the context for IAIAs compelling mission to empower creativity and leadership in Native arts and cultures, and is manifested in more than four thousand alumni who have achieved success as prominent artists, writers, museum professionals, scholars, filmmakers, professors, attorneys, tribal leaders, and business entrepreneurs. Our distinguished alumni include Roxanne Swentzell, recipient of the 2016 Heard Museum Spirit Award; Dan Namingha, recipient of the 2016 Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures Living Treasure award; Jody Naranjo, recipient of a 2018 New Mexico Governors Award for Excellence in the Arts; and Terese Mailhot, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Heart Berries, just to name a few. We are proud to recognize also the first Native American United States Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, as an IAIA alumna.

The writers of Making History have been educated by or have contributed to IAIA as educators, artists, and art professionals. Of special note is Nancy Marie Mithlo, PhD, a renowned professor and Native American art historian and scholar, who is both the editor of and a contributor to this book. This publication is the product of Dr. Mithlos visionary leadership, energy, and passionate commitment to the field of contemporary Native art.