Many people of different cultures feel they have a kinship with traditional Native American arts. Some have supported native artists by presenting them in their galleries and museums. Others have recorded our songs, some have learned our dances. Many traditional designs have found their way to modern fashion. Some of this we look at with raised eyebrows, especially if we are talking appropriation. Then, there are collaborations between musicians such as Dave Amram and Floyd Westerman that combine the best of two different musical cultures. Indian people, in general, when presenting our art to the wider world, have done so through western mediums. We work in such media as film, video, print. We write books and perform plays...click here for more ...

Chiapas, the southern most state of Mexico, bordering Guatemala, is rich in natural resources which the Indigenous peoples have not benefitted from for over 500 years. Instead, they have been dying of curable diseases, lacking potable water, lacking education, and their lands have been taken from them. So, it was that on January 1 1994 the Indigenous communities of Chiapas, which had organized as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), with women as leaders, rose up in arms against more than five hundred years of oppression and continued genocide by the Mexican government. Before this Indian people were invisible. After a truce was called the EZLN never used their arms again, despite the massacre of forty-five men, women, and children in 1997...click here here for more...

When it comes to hard times, Native American artist Ellwood Printup, (Tuscarora/ Cayuga), has had his share. He has ventured forth in his life as a soapstone carver, trying to reach his personal goals, experiencing both good and bad times throughout. Sadly, a car accident changed this average and ordinary Native life when it left him paralyzed from the waist down. Printup had lay comatose for eleven weeks. His heartbeat flatlined on three separate occasions and he was resuscitated with a defibrillator each time. With his spinal cord severed, doctors prepared him for little hope in life other than living his remaining years out as a paraplegic. Now confined to a wheelchair with only the use of his arms, he would encounter many limitations. For the average person, this would surely mark the end of one’s life, hopes and dreams... click here for more ...

Desert Quotes | reviewed by Kimberly Musia Roppolo

Like the earlier two books in this series, Crow Quotes and Tree Quotes, Desert Quotes is a wonderful little gift book brimming with the knowledge gained by observing Mother Earth and her creatures. Illustrated by Eastern Cherokee artist Darrin Bark, whose work also graced Moore’s Tree Quotes and who contributed illustrations to Feeding the Ancient Fires: A Collection of Writings by North Carolina American Indians, a volume edited by Moore, the pages carry the reader to a peaceful desert vista, where he or she can “appreciate and understand the mysterious beauty and spiritual teachings of deserts.”... click here for more ...

Opportunities for Artists

Find out the latest on residencies, festivals, markets, fellowships, prizes, internships, classes, rehearsal spaces and much more... click here for more ...