Join IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) artists RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen (Okanogan/Arrow Lakes) and Cliff Fragua (Jemez Pueblo) for free dinner in the Academic Building on the IAIA campus from 5:00–5:30 pm, followed by a tour of the artist’s studio space from 5:30–6:30 pm. Free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Lara Evans at levans@iaia.edu or Erin Cooper at erin.cooper@iaia.edu.

RYAN! Feddersen

RYAN! Feddersen

February 11–March 11

RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen (Okanogan/Arrow Lakes) specializes in creating interactive murals, site-specific installations, and immersive public artworks that invite audience engagement. She completed a BFA at Cornish College of the Arts in 2009, then remained in Seattle, working as an artist, curator, studio assistant, and arts administrator until recently relocating to Tacoma, Washington. Feddersen grew up in Wenatchee, Washington as a part of a creative family with multiple cultural perspectives. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, from the Okanogan and Arrow Lakes bands, and of mixed European decent. Utilizing traditional Plateau storytelling applied to contemporary issues, historical research, and digital tools, Feddersen creates material applications which interrogate official histories, examining how our thoughts have been formed by the information we have been taught. She explores creative strategies to activate participation through interactive materials, crowd sourced content, and social practice. These approaches enable her work to start conversations about a broad spectrum of subjects by offering opportunities for interaction and introspection. Feddersen recently received a National Fellowship in Visual Art from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and completed permanent public artworks Synecdoche for the Burke Museum, Antecedents for the University of Washington, and NEXUS for the city of Tacoma’s Prairie Line Trail. She has created large-scale interactive installations and site-specific pieces throughout North America, working with Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4culture, Regional Arts and Culture Counsel, ArtsWa, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, City of Tacoma, Alternator Centre, Missoula Art Museum, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Washington, Wellin Museum, the College of New Jersey, Northeastern University, and curated exhibitions for the New Burke Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, and Center for Contemporary Native Art at the Portland Art Museum.

Cliff Fragua

Cliff Fragua

February 21–April 21

Cliff Fragua (Jemez Pueblo) is a sculptor and stone carver. He is the only Native American sculptor to have a work installed in National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol. It is the second of sculptures representing the State of New Mexico and the 100th and last of these works to be added to the collection. The sculpture is of Po’Pay, a great Pueblo leader during the late 1600s who united the Pueblo people and defeated and expelled the Spaniards in what is now New Mexico. Born and raised on Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, Fragua is an enrolled member of the tribe. He began studying painting and sculpture at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He found sculpture was his calling. Following this, he attended the Pietrasanta Stone Workshop in Pietrasanta, Italy, where he did further studies on stone carving. An inspiration began while he was there and observed the technique of stone lamination, which is now a hallmark specialty of Cliff’s work. Cliff has monumental works installed in public spaces and collections throughout the United States. His works has received awards and recognition throughout his career. Currently, Cliff works and carves at the Singing Stone Studio, his studio in Jemez Pueblo.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of any type of auxiliary aid or service to attend this event, please contact IAIA’s ADA Office at least seven calendar days prior to the event or as soon as possible at adaoffice@iaia.edu or (505) 424-5707.