native arts 2012
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
golden anniversary MoCNA celebrates 50 years of IAIA with a standout exhibition
A rich and multilayered history provides the context for 50/50: Fifty Artists, Fifty Years, opening on August 16 at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA). The exhibit commemorates the half-century birthday of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), which the museum is affiliated with. When putting together this exhibition featuring work that was completed at IAIA, MoCNA Curator of Collections Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer says she “looked at each [of the last five decades] and ended up showing 10 artists per decade to give a crosssection.” Opened in 1962, IAIA—which notes that it’s “the only four-year degree fine arts institution in the nation devoted to contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts”—was initially a high school. The school’s first art director, appointed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was the Cherokee artist and designer Lloyd Kiva New, who, from the start, promoted the idea of artistic innovation. “The future of Indian art lies in the future, not the past,” he said. “Let’s 40
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see that the young Indian realizes the values of his great and wonderful traditions as the springboard to his own personal creative ideas.” The basis of IAIA’s extensive permanent collection, which comprises 7,500 works, is threefold. “For the last 50 years, the institute made a real effort to collect from the [academic] program,” says Lomahaftewa-Singer. As a result, she adds, “we can show career paths of artists.” (Cases in point: Richard Ray Whitman, Tony Abeyta, T. C. Cannon, Kevin Red Star, and Doug Hyde, all of whom have work featured in the show.) IAIA’s archives also grew as instructors acquired visual aids for their students, such as basketry, weavings, and other pieces of traditional Native art. Later, IAIA began reshaping its collection to Above: Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Our Vietnam Neighbors, oil on canvas, 49 x 37". Opposite: Linda Lomahaftewa, Untitled, mixed media, 20 x 15".
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
IAIA’s first art director, Cherokee artist and designer Lloyd Kiva New, promoted the idea of artistic innovation. 42
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encompass a broader spectrum of work, which meant obtaining pieces from artists who weren’t affiliated with IAIA, such as painters Helen Hardin and Pablita Velarde. According to Lomahaftewa-Singer, 50/50 represents a departure for MoCNA. “At the museum, a lot of exhibits show what is current,” she says. “This is more historical. There are works in each decade that speak to the times,” she adds, citing a piece by Anthony Gauthier that addresses the U.S. Bicentennial, a psychedelic piece by Raymond Hamilton, and “trendsetting” beadwork by multimedia artist Marcus Amerman. One of the most exciting elements of the show is what Lomahaftewa-Singer describes as “peers looking at each other”—the sense of lateral influences that young artists receive from fellow students hailing from different tribes, different parts of the country, and different cultural backgrounds. 50/50 is laid out in reverse chronology. Visitors begin by encountering work from the present and make their way backward to reach an end that also points toward the future. And while the show “is not really linear,” Lomahaftewa-Singer says, it is an apt echo of the exhibit’s theme: continuity—“the sustainability,” she adds, “of who we are as a people.”—Eve Tolpa 50/50: Fifty Artists, Fifty Years, August 16–December 31, reception August 16 beginning at 5 pm, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 108 Cathedral Place, iaia.edu/museum Below, left: Doug Hyde, Man of Time, wood, 14 x 7". Below, right: Kevin Red Star, Untitled, mixed media, 30 x 40". Opposite: T. C. Cannon, New Mexico Red, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 37".
“50/50 demonstrates the sustainability of who we are as a people,” says MoCNA Curator of Collections Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer
a brief history of IAIA Since it first opened its doors in 1962, under the management of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, IAIA has seen its scope and influence grow exponentially over the last 50 years. Originally an arts-centered high school located on the campus of Santa Fe’s Indian School, in 1975 IAIA became a two-year college offering associate’s degrees in studio arts, museum studies, and creative writing. In 1986 IAIA expanded its mission further when it became one of the country’s three sole Congressionally chartered colleges. Six years later IAIA moved its Museum of Contemporary Native Arts to downtown Santa Fe, and in 2000 it relocated its college to its current 140-acre location about a 15-minute drive from downtown. Today IAIA offers bachelor of arts and bachelor of fine arts degrees, and its campus comprises numerous state-of-the-art buildings.
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