Ucross Exhibit Features Native American Visual Artists

The newest exhibition at the Ucross Art Gallery features four Native American artists, all who were recipients of the 2020 and 2021 recipients of the Ucross Fellowships for Native American Visual Artists. “Field Guide” was curated by Andrea R. Hanley, a member of the Navajo tribe.

Hanley, who serves on the Ucross National Advisory Council, has dedicated her career to the work of contemporary Native American artists and the Native American fine art field. She is currently the chief curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa) lives in Los Angeles, California, and was a Ucross Fellow in the spring of 2020. She creates sculpture, painting and multimedia works the juxtapose tradition craft and materials, such as willow and beads. “Shape, color and material form together to represent natural formations, color details and the monumental feeling of space,” Baker stated in the “Field Guide” brochure.

Anthony Hudson (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians) of Portland, Oregon, and was a Ucross Fellow in the fall of 2020. He is a multidisciplinary artist, whose art explores the treatment and narrative of Native peoples. He draws the viewer in through Pop Art, theatrical aesthetic and frequent dark humor.

Jessica Mehta (Cherokee Nation) of Portland, Oregon was at Ucross during the fall of 2021. Her artwork on display is “The Red C(h)airn Project,” and was created during her residency at Ucross. It features a monument of stacked chairs, upended and rendered useless. It is a sculptural expression of the Native American boarding school experience. In the brochure, Mehta said, “Every project I undertake, no matter the medium, addresses Native truths.” She added her own father survived, at least physically, the Indian boarding school experience.

Eliza Naranjo Morse (Kha’p’o Owingeh, Santa Clara Pueblo), lives and works on Santa Clara Pueblo land in New Mexico. She was at Ucross during the spring of 2021. Her mural, Stardust, is a combination of acrylic paint, brown earth gathered from the hills around Ucross, red earth gathered from Dine Reservation near Window Rock, Arizona, and mica earth mixed with clay gathered from Picuris and Kha’p’o hills in Northern New Mexico.

There is a time-laspe video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrQxwzFsWGY&t=57s showing Morse creating the mural, which is painted directly on the wall at the gallery.

Launched in 2017, Ucross’ Native American Visual Arts fellowship program was designed to support the work of contemporary Native artists and cultivate artistic leadership, capacity, and community building. The fellowship award has supported the work of Native visual artists at all stages in their professional careers.

“Field Guide” is on view at the Ucross Art Gallery, located at 30 Big Red Lane in Clearmont, Wyoming, through July 30. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On May 5, Ucross will present an artist talk at Sheridan College’s Kinnison Hall at 11 a.m., as well as an exhibition reception at the Ucross Art Gallery at 6 p.m. Both events will be free and open to the public. For more information, to view the exhibition’s brochure and to register for the May 5 events, visit ucross.org.