Native American Heritage Month: Stanley Museum of Art features important works of Indigenous art

Don Smith, an artist of Cherokee descent, was named "Lelooska" when he was formally adopted by Nez Perce tribe and later as "Gixken" (chief of chiefs) by the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of British Columbia. Smith's house screen is based on an identical image painted on a cotton sheet in the British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. As a master storyteller and sculptor, Smith used his house screen as a backdrop in performances during which he and others were often masked and dressed in full regalia. (House screen in Kwakwaka'wakw style, 1963, museum purchase, 1972.52.) Submitted Photo

2022 Native American Heritage Month Gallery

Parfleches are Native American containers made of rawhide typically embellished by painting, incising, or both. Historically used to contain items like household tools or foods, parfleches were made in pairs and hung from saddles. This pair features bold,

Artist Richard Zane Smith, an enrolled member of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, bases his basket-like vessels on ancient Pueblo pottery. (Front: Edge and Flow, 2012, Stanley Education Partners, 2019.55. Back: A Boy and His Snake, 2012, Stanley Education Pa

Navajo chief blankets were both worn and traded. Prized for their utility and high quality, the blankets were also valued for their exceptional beauty. This wool third-phase blanket features a design with nine diamonds. (Third-phase Chief’s Blanket, c.189

$This group of 37 Southwestern ceramics, some dating to the 19th century, includes pots by three generations of Hopi-Tewa artist Nampeyo of Hano’s family. This installation of Pueblo ceramics represents a fraction of these growing collections, which contin$

In graduate school, Truman Lowe (or Wakajahųkga) perceived unlikely continuities between his plastic assemblages and the artistry of Ho- Chunk family members—especially his father, who crafted handles for baskets made by his mother. Wood, particularly pe

In the 1950s, Indigenous activists fought to excavate and relocate petroglyphs and pictographs to prevent their loss from the federal government’s dam construction on the Columbia River. Wasco, Yakama, and Warm Springs artist Lillian Pitt’s stoneware mask

This round basket with lid and coiled basket were made by unrecorded Akimel O’odham (Pima) artists. Located in the Sonoran Desert, the O’odahm are renowned for coiled vessels made from grasses so tightly woven they could be used to hold water or prepare f

Soul Catcher, by Tlingit artist Preston Singletary, is a translucent glass sculpture that takes the title, form, and style of bone and ivory amulets worn by shamans among the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast. This sculpture has two heads j

A 19th century wool Navajo blanket (L) and an undated Mesquakie skirt with intricate ribbonwork (R) flank American Indian No. 4 (1972) by American (Luiseño) artist Fritz Scholder. These works are on display now in in Homecoming, an inaugural exhibition of

By: Elizabeth Wallace | 2022.11.09 | 12:53 pm

Anita Fields lecture

The UI Stanley Museum of Art will present the Jeanne and Richard Levitt Lecture featuring Anita Fields from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in the Main Library’s Shambaugh Auditorium.

Born in Oklahoma, Fields is a contemporary Native American multi-disciplinary artist of Osage heritage. She is known for her works which combine clay and textile with Osage knowledge systems.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

To celebrate Native American Heritage Month, the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art pulled together a shortlist of objects created by Indigenous North American artists for us to learn about. These works are among the nearly 300 historical indigenous objects that are part of the Stanley’s permanent collection.

Nearly three-quarters of this collection is from the Southwest and consists largely of Navajo-style jewelry and textiles and Pueblo-style pottery. Other highlights include an important collection of ledger drawings and finely beaded vests, dance aprons, moccasins, bandolier bags from the Great Plains, California basketry, and an exquisite Meskwaki-style ribbon-appliqué skirt.

Modern and contemporary Indigenous artists represented in the collection include Nampeyo of Hano, Maria Martinez, Don “Lelooska” Smith, Fritz Scholder, Truman Lowe, Lillian Pitt, Preston Singletary, and others.

Many of the works in this photo gallery are part of Homecoming, the Stanley’s inaugural exhibition of art from its permanent collection.

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Stanley Museum of Art

visual arts

Native American Heritage Month

Indigenous art