Zimmerli Celebrates Native American Artists With “Indigenous Identities”

The museum's latest exhibition features 97 artists who represent more than 50 Indigenous nations and communities throughout North America

The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University-New Brunswick stands within Lenapehoking, the historical territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

The past melds with the present in February when the Zimmerli hosts Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always, described by Zimmerli officials as one of the largest, most comprehensive museum exhibitions of contemporary Native American art, featuring more than 100 works across a range of media, from beadwork and jewelry to video and painting. (See the slide show below.)

Guest curator Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation who has curated more than 30 exhibitions.

Guest curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation who has curated more than 30 exhibitions, Indigenous Identities runs from Saturday, Feb. 1, through Sunday, Dec. 21, at the Zimmerli, 71 Hamilton St., New Brunswick, N.J. Admission is free.

Zimmerli Director Maura Reilly has known Smith for more than a decade.

"We've often spoken of the dearth of large group exhibitions of contemporary Native American art," Reilly said. "So, when I was hired as Zimmerli's director, one of my first calls was to Jaune to ask her if she'd like to organize such an exhibition with us."

Reilly said a crucial mission of the Zimmerli "is to offer a platform for underrepresented artists, especially those who are typically left out of museum discourse. This exhibition allows the Zimmerli the unique opportunity to promote artists who are long overdue for widespread recognition."

She added, "Working with Jaune has been extraordinarily rewarding. It's always a pleasure to be in the presence of artistic genius - and Jaune has that in spades."

Indigenous Identities features the work of 97 artists who represent more than 50 Indigenous nations and communities throughout North America. The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, photography, ceramics, beadwork, weaving, jewelry, sculpture and videos. The art includes loans from artists, museums, galleries, collectors, foundations and museum collections.

"The show is about Indigenous identities - of which there are innumerable," Reilly said. "There is not one Native voice, but a plethora - an infinitude of voices - and 97 of those voices will be on view at the Zimmerli."

Raven Manygoats, a doctoral degree candidate at Rutgers, helped curate the exhibition.

Assisting on the curation of Indigenous Identities is Raven Manygoats, a doctoral degree candidate in the Department of History at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences who researches Native American women's activism in the late 20th century. Manygoats, who hails from Flagstaff, Ariz., and works as a graduate assistant at the Zimmerli, is a member of the Diné (the traditional name for the Navajo people).

"It is a massive show," said Manygoats, who helped prepare for the exhibition by writing label text and contacting artists, among other tasks. "It's going to bring a really large Indigenous presence to Rutgers campus, which is very important. I hope visitors will see the diversity of experiences for native folks in this day and age. And I hope it will spark more curiosity in people to learn more about Indigenous history, contemporary issues and also just to enjoy really beautiful art."

In addition to helping curate Indigenous Identities, Manygoats curated an exhibition called Hope With Humor: Works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith from the Collection, which is on display in the Machaver Gallery from Jan. 22 through Dec. 21. Organized in conjunction with Indigenous Identities, Manygoats said the exhibition of Smith's artworks brings together prints and paintings by the artist from the Zimmerli's permanent collection that honor Indigenous survival and resilience with both wit and optimism.

"Jaune is filled with a lot of wisdom," Manygoats said. "She has so many stories to tell and share, and she's a real pillar in the Native art community."

Manygoats will moderate an interdisciplinary roundtable from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, with Joe Baker, an artist, educator, curator and co-founder of the Lenape Center in New York City, and Lou Cornum, an assistant professor of Native American studies at New York University.

A number of events tied to the exhibition also are planned:

• An opening reception will be held at the museum from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1. Artist Neal Ambrose-Smith, son of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who assisted with the exhibition and whose work appears in it, will discuss Indigenous Identities with John Hitchcock, an artist, musician and a professor of printmaking in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, the Zimmerli hosts an "Evening for Educators: Indigenous Identities." Local K-12 and Rutgers educators are welcome to build their community and take guided tours of Indigenous Identities with museum staff and a pedagogical workshop led by Nicky Kay Michael, a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Lenape) and the former interim president of Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla., where she was the executive director of Indigenous studies and curriculum.

• SparkNight, a free monthly art party at the Zimmerli, will celebrate Women's History Month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at the Zimmerli. The event will include performances, artmaking, music and pop-up tours that highlight contributions of Native American women artists featured in Indigenous Identities.

• Art Together, a drop-in art workshop for families led by Zimmerli teaching artists, will celebrate Indigenous Identities. The event will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at the Zimmerli.

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