Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers

June 5, 2015 – Jan. 17, 2016

Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers joins work from the museum’s permanent collection with work on loan from private collections such as Crow’s Shadow Institute (Oregon), Melanie Yazzie (Colorado), and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The exhibition explores how printmaking has become a matrix for cultural and artistic exchange, the critical sites of engagement, and key figures. In recent decades, printmaking has become a medium facilitating global cultural exchange for indigenous artists. Historically, for tribal communities, paper has been used as a weapon of cultural dominance, manifesting dispossession of lands and forced cultural assimilation. For indigenous artists, using paper as a medium for artistic expression manifests paper as a tool for self-determination, fostering dialogue about culture and identity, contributing to cultural survival.

A public lecture and opening reception will be held 7-9 p.m. Thursday, June 4. Museum Association members and their guests are invited to a private preview at 6 p.m.

Read the press release here.

iTunesU

In conjunction with Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art organized an online course through iTunes U. The course addresses the following subjects through digital content: Cultural Practice, Gendered Roles, Landscape/Place, Sustainability, and Politics/Governance. The resources have been identified through the support of contributions from faculty across the University of Oklahoma working with museum staff. Visitors will engage with articles, podcasts, video and audio recordings, and websites, which provide access to information on these topics that are largely voiced by indigenous people working on these issues.

The exhibition continues through January 17, 2016 in the Ellen and Richard L. Sandor Photography Gallery. Please note that this online course will be removed from iTunes U at the close of the exhibition.

Related Programs:

Opening Lecture
Thu Jun 4, 7 pm
Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium
heather ahtone, Assistant Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art, FJJMA

Mapping Enter the Matrix
Within indigenous communities across North America, the medium of printmaking have become a conduit for artistic expression and cultural exchange. Curator heather ahtone will identify key printmakers involved and map the cultural and artistic spaces where printmaking studios been established.

Watch the opening lecture below!

Print-palooza
Sat Sept 12
12 pm Gallery Talk by heather ahtone, Associate Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art, FJJMA (Ellen and Richard L. Sandor Photography Gallery)
1 pm Panel Discussion (Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium)
2 pm Printmaking Demo (School of Art & Art History, 3rd Floor, Printmaking Studios)

Lecture
Thu Nov 5, 6 pm
Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium
Nancy Marie Mithlo, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Arts, Occidental College and Chair of American Indian Studies at the Autry National Center Institute

Talk Back/Back Talk: Native Art's Visual Re-mix
As a curator, teacher, photographic archivist, and critic, Mithlo explores how distinct identities are negotiated and how history is chronicled through the visualization of culture. Using images from Enter the Matrix, Mithlo will discuss how artists are creating images that promote self-determination and foster dialogue about issues of culture and identity that contribute to cultural survival.

Read the press release.

Gallery Talk
Tue Nov 10, 12:30 pm
Ellen and Richard L. Sandor Photography Gallery
Presented by W. Jackson Rushing III, Adkins Presidential Professor of Art History and Mary Lou Milner Carver Chair in Native American Art, OU School of Art & Art History
Rushing will lead a walking tour discussing selected works from Enter the Matrix.

Wendy Red Star (U.S., Crow; b. 1981)
Enit, 2010
Lithograph, 22 3/8 x 30 in.
Image provided by Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, courtesy of the Artist (c) 2015

Dennis Belindo (U.S., Kiowa/Navajo; 1938-2009)
Kiowa Blackleggins, 1990
Serigraph, 14 3/4 x 11 in.
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; Gift of Dr. and Mrs. R.E. Mansfield, 2003
Image courtesy of Artist's Estate (c) 2015.

Joe Feddersen (U.S., Colville Confederated Tribes; b. 1953)
Wyit View, 2003
Lithograph, 140 x 30 in.
Image provided by Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, courtesy of the artist (c) 2015.