ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The Native American Art Exhibition is a long-standing collaboration and community building exhibition shaped and selected by First Nations guest curators. Each year the exhibition highlights work by First Nations artists, adult, and youth from local and regional tribes around the Pacific Northwest, and Native artists from around the country who have relocated to the region. The Native American Art Exhibition engages viewers and the community celebrating the art and culture of our indigenous community members while providing career opportunities to experienced and emerging curators, as well as those whose interests and aspirations lie in exhibition curation or cultural programming within their indigenous communities.

Past exhibitions have hosted as many as 30 individual artists and up to 50 pieces of small and large works ranging in contemporary and traditional media. 

GUIDELINES

The guest curator will:

  • Be involved in all aspects of exhibition planning and execution including contacting artists and selecting work, inviting performers, creation of didactics and labels, artwork handling/installation and take-down. 
  • Draw upon their scholarship and knowledge of regional Native arts and crafts to create and present a rigorous, professional, informative, and unique exhibition that is respectful of traditional and contemporary Native culture. 
  • Prepare a short statement about the curator’s selection process and exhibition as a whole. The statement will be included in the exhibition catalog and posted on the exhibition web page.
  • Organize artwork delivery in consultation with the Leonor R. Fuller Gallery Director on the SPSCC campus.
  • Offer brief comments at the opening reception to the community. 
  • Arrange for performances or events (artist talks, music, dance, or spoken word.).  See exhibition support below.

The exhibit will:

  • Highlight work by Native artists, adult and/or youth, from local and regional tribes, and/or Native artists from other locations who now live in the area.
  • Engage viewers and the community and celebrate the art and culture of Native community members.
  • The exhibition may include as few as 10 artists or as many as 30 to represent the curator’s vision.
  • The exhibition may be thematic in nature or open to broad range of materials, approaches, and concepts.
  • The curator may not include their own work in the exhibition.

If you think of anyone who may be interested and can share their contact information with me, please let me know. I am reaching out to several other individuals for submissions as well.

Thanks so much and take care,

Sean

Sean Barnes, MFA 

Gallery Director/Coordinator | Adjunct Faculty Art

The Leonor R. Fuller Gallery @ The Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts

sbarnes2@spscc.edu | (360) 596-5527

Visit us on the web: spscc.edu/gallery