Drop-in to visit IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) artists Marwin Begaye, Ian Kuali’i, Monte Yellow Bird, Sr., Meghann O’Brien, and Wayne Nez Gaussoin in their studios. Learn about their processes, techniques, tools, ideas, and cultural influences.

Free and open to the public.

Wayne Nez Gaussoin

February 19–April 18, 2018

Wayne Nez Gaussoin

Wayne Nez Gaussoin (Navajo/Picuris Pueblo), the youngest of three sons, of renown Jeweler Connie Tsosie Gaussoin. Following a family tradition, his mother and older brother David, have taught him basics of silversmithing. He has since taken courses at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, finished his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and has currently completed a Master of Fine Arts with a Minor in Museum Studies from The University of New Mexico.

Gaussoin’s interest in art not only focuses on jewelry, but also includes media such as sculpture and installation art. His style merges his own design from modern influences and incorporates traditional ideas and techniques. Gaussoin similarly sustains the integrity of the past while building a new future in his work. Each work is thoughtfully rendered, representing artistic purity while creating a new global arena of Native creativity and expression. His artistic works are likewise experiential and expressive. Such ideas are displayed in his traditional techniques in tufa casts to his multimedia installations.

He continues to sell his work through selected juried art shows, such as the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, and galleries nationally and internationally. He also has participated in lectures and artist-in-residencies for both his jewelry and sculpture work. Gaussoin also has an extensive background in teaching jewelry and art theory, where he was last teaching foundations as a TA at the University of New Mexico. Also, his recent experience of being accepted into the Land Arts of the American West program at the University of New Mexico has highly influenced his current direction of work where he plans to explore the ideas and relationships between pop culture and his own tribal traditional mythologies.

Marwin Begaye

March 15–April 12, 2018

Marwin Begaye is an internationally exhibited printmaker, painter, and nationally recognized graphic designer. As Associate Professor of Painting and Printmaking at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Visual Arts, his research has concentrated on issues of cultural identity, especially the intersection of traditional American Indian culture and pop culture. He also has conducted research in the technical aspects of relief printing and the use of mixed media, particularly in printmaking processes. His work has been exhibited nationally across the US and internationally in New Zealand, Argentina, Paraguay, Italy, Siberia, and Estonia. He has received numerous awards, including the Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition Fellowship, First Place at the Red Earth Festival, Best in Category in Contemporary Painting at the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, Best of Category in Graphics, and, most recently, Best of Division in Graphics at the 2017 Santa Fe Indian Market. Begaye has been featured in many publications and is represented by Exhibit C in Oklahoma City, Rainmaker Gallery, Bristol, England, and Indian Summer Gallery in Saugatuck, MI. Begaye lives in Norman, Oklahoma, as a captive of his wife’s Chickasaw Nation community.

Monte Yellow Bird, Sr.

March 24–April 26, 2018

Monte Yellow Bird, Sr. is a member of the Arikara/Hidatsa nations and better known in the art world as Black Pinto Horse. He is devoted to a positive expression of the harmonic balance between humanity and nature. A descendant of prominent Arikara and Hidatsa chiefs, Son of the Star and Youngbird, he is driven by the importance to maintain, educate, and share the traditions and memories of family visually through mixed media and ledger art.

Black Pinto Horse is best known for Ledger Art or Warrior Art, a historic, transitional expression from the 1800’s demonstrated by Northern and Southern Plains tribes. As a child, he was first influenced by the family’s first black-and-white TV, drawing images of the Vietnam War.

An IAIA Alumni in the late 70’s High School program, he went on to attend NDSU, majoring in History Education and receiving his BFA from Minot State University. In addition to academic studies, Black Pinto Horse has invested over 35 years to youth and communities across the country from public art projects, classroom teaching, mentoring, and martial arts instruction.

In 2017, Black Pinto Horse traveled to Abu Dhabi, chosen as Master Artist at the Art Hub. He has won multiple awards at major markets such as Autry Museum in Los Angeles, Heard Museum in Phoenix, SWAIA in Santa Fe, and the Eiteljorg in Indianapolis. In August 2014, he was awarded the SWAIA Residency Fellowship in Santa Fe.

Ian Kuali’i

March 24–April 26, 2018

Ian Kuali’i (Native Hawaiian/Apache) is a full-time multi-disciplinary artist born in Orange County, California, raised on Maui, Hawaii. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. The cultural revolution of Hip Hop initially influenced Kuali’i’s style and subject matter and eventually he moved New York City where he began his East Coast pilgrimage to the roots of the graffiti art movement. In time, he connected with legendary graffiti artists such as, Mare139 and Doze Green, under whom he served as an apprentice for seven years. Kuali’i developed his artistic style under Doze Green’s mentorship.

While trying to simplify his technique as a graffiti writer, Kuali’i discovered stenciling and realized that he appreciated the “cut” more than the spray, thus finding his preferred medium—hand-cut paper. He describes his creative practice as “the meditative process of destroying to create.” His portraits, journal entries, and scenes are carefully rendered from a single sheet of paper using only an exacto knife. His work is a balance between the rough and the delicate, exploring ideas of modern progress, biodiversity, and the foundation of personal history. He has been working on fine-tuning his direct cut method on large-scale public mural work and also experimenting with new technology such as laser cutting and 3D printing. Kuali’i is working to incorporate Hawaiian traditional arts, such as tapa-making, as part of his art practice, creating a hybrid of traditional and contemporary.

Kuali’i has created one-of-a-kind, site-specific art pieces for events and programs at Honor the Earth, Wall\Therapy, UrbanArt Biennale 2017, Universal Pictures, deYoung Museum, National Museum of Mexican Art, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Friends of Miami Marine Stadium.

Meghann O’Brien

March 7–May 1, 2018

Meghann O’Brien (Cape Mudge/ Kiusta/Haida Gwaii/Irish) is a Northwest Coast weaver working in the traditions of basketry, Yeil Koowu (Raven’s Tail) and Naaxiin (Chilkat) textiles. She is descended from the Kwakwaka’wakw village of Weḵaʼyi Tʼsakwaʼlutan (Cape Mudge), the village of Kiusta, Haida Gwaii, and Dublin, Ireland. Her name in the Kwakwala language is Kwaxhi’laga—“Smoke Coming Out of the Top of the Big House, Welcoming People to Feast and Potlatch.” In the Haida language she carries the name of her maternal great grandmother Ruby Simeon, Jaad Kuujus—“Dear Woman.” O’Brien has apprenticed under master weavers and traditional teachers Kerri Dick, Sherri Dick, and William White. Her artistic process is one of devotion to the highest expression of the art form, preferring to allow the weaving to find its own place in the world once completed. Her work is distributed between public and private galleries, museums, collectors, family, chiefs, dancers, and ceremonial people. She travels globally to lecture and demonstrate.