“Unceded Ancester #15” is one in a series of “Unceded Ancesters” collages by artist Jamie John. Photo courtesy of the artist.
By Pat Stinson/staff reports
In observance of Native American Heritage Month, the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Naaminitigog (Manistee) will present “First Americans”, an art show featuring contemporary works by Native American artists residing in Anishinaabe Aki (Michigan).
The Nov. 9-Dec. 30 art exhibit is dedicated to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American federal cabinet member. While in Congress, she focused on issues such as environmental justice and missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.
“First Americans” is the Ramsdell’s first art show devoted solely to featuring artwork by Native Americans. Forty works by nine artists will be displayed in RRCA’s Hardy Hall. Featured artists are Suzanne Cross, Marcella Hadden, Judy Jashinsky, Jamie John, Cecelia LaPointe, Michelle Lucas and George Martin. Pieces by Native artists Shirley Brauker and Daniel Mena will be on loan for this event from Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City.
The Ramsdell show includes mixed media, collage, paintings, ceramics, carvings, beadwork, poetry and photography. A presentation of the short Native American Opinion Podcast video, “The Real Story of Thanksgiving,” will be shown during the exhibit.
The public is invited to a free reception for artists in the Ramsdell’s gallery, 6-8 p.m., Nov. 13.
“What’s special for me is, this is only the second time I’ll have been able to meet other Native American artists,” said artist Judy Jashinsky. A member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe, she added that a majority of her work is exhibited “far away.”
Most of Jashinsky’s works in the local show are painted on wood, a method she said, for her, speaks to her Native American heritage. She paints with graphite, Prismacolor colored pencils, oil and acrylic. Perhaps one of her most provocative works, “Great Grandmother,” is the title of two portraits of the artist’s matriarch. In one, she wears clothes from the white man’s world. In another, she wears clothing she might have worn had she not attended an Indian boarding school.
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“Great Grandmother,” by artist Judy Jashinsky. Courtesy photo. -
“Great Grandmother,” by artist Judy Jashinsky. Courtesy photo.
Artist Jamie John works in a variety of media, often creating collages. An Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, John is a two-spirit Anishinaabe and Korean artist whose work in “FIRST AMERICANS” is part of the artist’s “Unceded Ancestors” series.
John said the works are “collaged images of ethno-photographs,” many taken by 19th century anthropologists who described Native Americans as a vanishing race, “which we know is not true.”
“If you do (an online search of) Native Americans, the first images you see are of Native Americans walking their long walks to lands they have no connection to or, in many cases, people who have attended boarding schools,” John explained.
“The idea that the Native American or Indigenous have vanished rather than been removed or taken out of the conversation, it’s something I’m curious to investigate with these collages … the act of making (them) is almost like reversing this act of removal from place,” John said, adding that materials in the collages are handmade, such as black-and-white doodles, ink, watercolor paper and acrylics.
Beadwork artist Michelle Lucas is a tribal member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and a member of the Turtle Clan. She has sold her pieces for almost 30 years. She said she is excited to exhibit her work for the first time in an art show.
To see works by all the artists, visit the Ramsdell during gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12-5 p.m.; Wednesday, 12-7 p.m.; and Saturday, 12-3 p.m. Registration for the exhibit is free.
The Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts, at 101 Maple St., Manistee, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is located on the ancestral land of the Anishinaabek.
To learn more about the show, go to RamsdellTheatre.org. For more about Native American Heritage Month, visit https://www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/
