On the second floor of West Pattee, nestled in the Music and Media Center, is a haven of art, culture, and history. An exhibit entitled Home: Contemporary Indigenous Artists Responding displays twelve indigenous artists’ pieces all based on the theme of “home.”
In the center of the exhibit is a tablet featuring information about the exhibit. There is an essay by Mark Mattson, the global partnerships and outreach Librarian. His essay touches on the relevance of indigenous history and home in our own state of Pennsylvania.
Kevin Slivka, an assistant professor of art education at SUNY New Paltz, wrote an essay that is also featured on the informative tablet. His essay allows visitors to read the background and genesis for what inspired these twelve artists. “Home is a sacred space comprised of intergenerational respect,” Paltz writes.
The art, which features many animal figures and abstract notions, all deal with the nebulous notion of what home is, what it was, and what it looks like.
The exhibit is organized by Melanie Yazzie, a professor of art at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Other contributors include Norman Akers, Neal Ambrose-Smith, Ivy Hali’imaile Andrade, Corwin Clairmont, Joe Feddersen, Alexander Swiftwater McCarty, Tony Ortega, Sue Pearson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, C. Maxx Stevens, Glory Tacheenie-Campoy and Melanie Yazzie.
-Brigid Hanrahan
psuunderground.com