still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper
- Special Exhibition
James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries
About The Exhibition
still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper is the first exhibition to highlight the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection of prints and drawings by Native American artists. In 2022, the creation of the museum’s Indigenous Peoples and Land Acknowledgment inspired a commitment to greatly strengthen its holdings in this important field. The title of this show comes from a poem on Indigenous survivance by Navajo poet Kinsale Drake and references the fact that the CMA land acknowledgment serves “not as an end but rather as the beginning” of an ongoing collaboration with our Native community members. The objects on view survey the ways in which Native artists have innovatively used various print and drawing techniques to explore their cultural heritage. This exhibition includes around 30 works created from the 1950s through today that showcase the unique histories and perspectives of Indigenous artists from a number of backgrounds and tribal affiliations. Featured are works ranging from a series of powerful woodcut portraits by T. C. Cannon (Kiowa-Caddo, 1946–1978) to a set of deeply symbolic color lithographs by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, 1940–2025). The presentation also includes work by multimedia artists, such as Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow, b. 1981), Kay WalkingStick (American, Member of the Cherokee Nation / Oklahoma, b. 1935), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingít/Unangax̂, b. 1979), Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations, b. 1954), and Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1983), among others, to shed new light on the importance of the graphic arts within their contemporary practices. Community voice labels by members of the museum’s Native American Advisory Committee, who have been involved in the museum’s efforts, highlight the local impact of this growing collection at the CMA.
Featured Art
Sponsors
This exhibition is made possible with support from the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Peta Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.