ARTIST BIO

For decades American popular culture has resurrected the dying American Indian through Hollywood cinema, fashion trends and pop icons. Cowboy and Indian iconography are deeply rooted in America without recognition of the real history or the consequences of stereotypes. These sweeping generalizations are detrimental to the collective community and to the individual. Mainstream interpretations of what it means to be American Indian are misleading to the masses, which includes contemporary American Indian communities. The objectification affects the individual by leading one to doubt their inherited identity. I am a woman of complex ethnic background. Popular culture has given me false ideas of ethnicity and what it means to be a female. My art explores questions of identity, and the influence that heritage, gender roles, ideologies, family values and the crossing over of cultural and personal experiences has had on my development and understanding of self.

These works are an exploration of the conflicts between tradition and assimilation affecting Contemporary American Indians within the broader American culture. I am part German, part French, part English, part Choctaw, part Chitimacha and was raised in California with a strong influence of Hollywood idealism. I digitally manipulate photographs of the tribe's reservation, Hollywood imagery, mass produced Indian posters and of myself acting out cultural stereotypes of my heritage. Each print is then deconstructed and woven together into traditional Chitimacha basket patterns. The old forms of articulation with new forms of iconography create a collision, echoing the cultural experience in my life.

EDUCATION

Parsons School of Design, New York, New York
Masters of Fine Arts, Fine Arts, May 2005
Deans List, Scholarship Recipient: Chitimacha Academic Scholarship
California State University Chico, Chico, California
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, May 2003
Deans List, Scholarship Recipient: Chitimacha Academic Scholarship
University Study Abroad Consortium, San Sebastian, Spain, 2001
While abroad, I participated in a field study with Professor James Kuiper, analyzing the social environment of the city of San Sebastian and its artistic influences.

EXHIBITION LIST

"Introducing..." Fouts Elliot Gallery, Sacromento, California August 2005
"Primed" MFA Group Exhibition, Parsons School of Design
New York, New York, February 2005
"Five Civilized Boroughs" Group Exhibition, American Indian Community House
New York, New York January 2005
"Generations '04" Group Exhibition, A. I. R. Gallery
New York, New York, March 2004
Cascades Solo Exhibition, Cascades Gallery
Granite Bay, California, April 2003
BFA Solo Exhibition, California State University Chico
Chico, California, December 2002
BFA Group Exhibition, California State University Chico
Chico, California, October 2002
Juried Student Exhibition, California State University Chico
Chico, California, April 2002
Painting Group Exhibition, California State University Chico
Chico, California, October 2001
"No Judge, No Jury"”, 1078 Gallery
Chico, California, March 2001
Selected Student Works, Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento, California, March 1998

PUBLICATIONS

European Review of Native American Studies
Contemporary Native American art in the 21st Century: Overcoming the Legacy, Not yet published
New York Times, Listing of show, Primed, February 2005
Village Voice, Listing of Show, Primed, February 2005
Gotham Gazette, Native Americans in New York, New York, New York, January 2005
The Orion, California State University Chico, School Newspaper, Juried Student Exhibition, Chico, California, April 2002
The Orion, California State University Chico, School Newspaper, Aspiring Artist, Chico, California, November 2000