Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with 30 Outstanding Contemporary Artists!
Featuring Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kay WalkingStick, Kent Monkman, Jeffrey Gibson, Wendy Red Star & more!
November is Native American Heritage Month!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again . . . Here at The Epicurean Vagabonds, we strongly believe that every month should be a celebration of all cultures (and we hope that our podcasts and our Mid-Week Libations reflect that ethos), but we also wanted to take a moment to celebrate this month with a curated selection of contemporary art created by Native American, First Nations and Indigenous artists.
Below are 30 exceptional artists, one for each day of Native American Heritage Month. Take a look at their powerful work, check out their official websites/galleries/shops (where you can often purchase original artwork or prints), and let’s celebrate these artists all year round!
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation)
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith at Garth Greenan Gallery / Instagram / Artsy
Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
Official Site of Kay WalkingStick / Artsy
Kent Monkman (Cree)
Official Site of Kent Monkman / Instagram / Artsy
Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee Nation)
Official Site of Jeffrey Gibson / Instagram / Artsy
Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke)
Official Site of Wendy Red Star / Artsy
Julie Buffalohead (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma)
Official Site of Julie Buffalohead / Instagram / Artsy
Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena)
Official Site of Kali Spitzer / Instagram
Toonoo Sharky (Cape Dorset/Kinngait Inuit)
Toonoo Sharky at Dorset Fine Arts / Cape Dorset Inuit Art / Galerie d'Art Inuit Images Boréales
Gail Bird (Kewa Santo Domingo Pueblo/Laguna Pueblo) & Yazzie Johnson (Diné Navajo)
Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird at The Owings Gallery
Lukas Avendaño (Zapotec Muxes from Istmo de Tehuantepec, Oaxaca)
Lukas Avendaño: Reflections from muxeidad (at the Siwar Mayu Project) / Instagram
Robert Davidson (Haida and Tlingit)
Official Site of Robert Davidson / Instagram
Carla Hemlock (Kahnawake Mohawk Nation)
Carla Hemlock at Craft in America
Jody Folwell (Santa Clara Pueblo)
Official Site of Jody Folwell / Jody Folwell at King Galleries
Teri Greeves (Kiowa)
Official Site of Teri Greeves / Instagram / Craft in America
Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip)
Official Site of Matika Wilbur / Instagram
Darwin Cruz (Ch’ol Maya)
Darwin Cruz at MUY Gallery / Instagram / Artsy
Growing Thunder Collective: Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty, Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty & Jessa Rae Growing Thunder (Dakhóta/Nakoda)
Growing Thunder Collective on Instagram
Tony Abeyta (Diné)
Official Site of Tony Abeyta / Instagram / Artsy
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi)
Official Site of Cara Romero / Instagram / Artsy
Preston Singletary (Tlingit)
Official Site of Preston Singletary / Instagram / Artsy
Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation)
Official Site of Raven Halfmoon / Instagram / Artsy
Will Wilson (Diné)
Official Site of Will Wilson / Artsy
Alexander Swiftwater McCarty (Makah)
Official Site of Alexander Swiftwater McCarty / Instagram
Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota)
Official Site of Dyani White Hawk / Instagram / Artsy
Starr Hardridge (Muscogee)
Official Site of Starr Hardridge / Instagram / Artsy
Marianne Nicolson (Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nations)
Official Site of Marianne Nicolson / Instagram
Natalie Ball (Modoc/Klamath)
Official Site of Natalie Ball / Instagram / Artsy
Chris Pappan (Kanza/Lakota)
Official Site of Chris Pappan / Instagram / Artsy
Melissa Cody (Navajo)
Melissa Cody at Garth Greenan Gallery / Instagram / Artsy / Textile Society of America
Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit)
Official Site of Dempsey Bob / Dempsey Bob at Equinox Gallery
Tell us in the comments which of these artists inspire you!
Also, don’t miss seeing the work of many of these artists (and many more!) in this current exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.!
The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans (curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith!) — September 22, 2023 – January 15, 2024
“Curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), this exhibition brings together works by an intergenerational group of nearly 50 living Native artists practicing across the United States. Their powerful expressions reflect the diversity of Native American individual, regional, and cultural identities. At the same time, these works share a worldview informed by thousands of years of reverence, study, and concern for the land.
Through a variety of practices—including weaving, beadwork, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, performance, and video—these artists visualize Indigenous knowledge of land/ landbase/ landscape. Together, the works in The Land Carries Our Ancestors underscore the self-determination, survivance, and right to self-representation of Indigenous peoples.” [Source]
And if you can’t make it to D.C. for the exhibition, you can buy the book!
Wow! Jeffrey Gibson's work immediately jumped out to me.