Native American artists have only recently gained a spotlight within the mainstream art world. For centuries, Native art was siloed on reservations, at trading posts, and in Indian markets, with no dedicated Indigenous commercial galleries either in urban Indian centers like New York City, San Francisco, Tulsa, or Phoenix or in other areas with significant Native populations. But lately they are finding their way into major galleries and institutions from Miami to New York to Venice.
For Native American Heritage Month, we delve into art by 25 Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian artists. While not an exhaustive list, these artists represent a broad spectrum of artistic innovation spanning multiple generations and mediums, from foundational pottery to contemporary Ravenstail weaving. Shattering conventional ideas about fine art while honoring historical techniques and cultural knowledge, they underscore the vitality of Indigenous artists’ contributions to contemporary art and the ongoing need to ensure that their voices and visions are centered in mainstream art discourse. [...]
[...] Sara Siestreem(b. 1976)is a Hanis Coos artist based in Oregon. The Pratt MFA graduate’s works include ceramics, photography, weaving, painting, and installation. Skyline (2024)is a series of traditional Hanis Coos baskets cast in clay and topped in gold, evoking the commodification of Native culture by modern interior design. Minion (2024) is composed of four ceramic black and white ceremonial caps underpinned by cascading scarlet beads, referencing systemic violence against Indigenous women and girls. Un-ring Bells (2013) incorporates photographs and representations of oyster shells Siestreem found along the local Coos and Millicoma Rivers’ shores long after the extinction of local tribes, the effect of white settlement and industrial fishing. Siestreem’s work gestures at both the presence and absence of Native communities and their relationships with the land in modern American life.
