Heights I, AP 2/2, Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’07, ’18, patinated bronze and wire, 85 x 16 x 9.5 in., courtesy the artist, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz

On Thursday, August 15, the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) held a dedication ceremony for Heights I, a sculpture created by IAIA alumna and Board of Trustees member Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’07, ’18. The patinated bronze and wire sculpture is on loan from the artist. It was installed on the southeast side of campus, near the roundabout at Entrance 1 and along the pathway leading to the Dance Circle.

During the ceremony, which was attended by several people including IAIA trustees, IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), thanked Simpson for loaning her sculpture to IAIA and also for funding its installation. “We really appreciate that,” Martin said, noting that “it came from New York, so it had quite a distance to travel.”

Beverly Wright Morris (Aleut), chair of the Board of Trustees, also thanked Simpson for “gracing our campus with this wonderful sculpture,” adding, “She looks wonderful here, so maybe she’ll have a nice, long stay.”

Heights I, an 85-inch-tall, figural sculpture, is Simpson’s first bronze edition—one of two artist’s proofs. In listing a couple of “fun facts” about the piece, Simpson said “it was a big stretch for me, because I have never allowed other people to make work for me, and so having work turned into a bronze was a really big deal.”

While the sculpture is part of a series, Simpson decided that each one would be unique—if only for its accessories. “The way that I compromised the outsourcing of hands on my work was that I would make all the earrings individually,” she said. “And so, me and my daughter traveled to UAP, which is the foundry in upstate New York, and made all these wax earrings. Each piece has a very individual set of earrings that I made [and are] different, even though it’s a series of bronzes.”

While Simpson initially thought she might install the sculpture in front of her studio in Santa Clara, New Mexico, she eventually determined she “wanted it to be in a place of influence and a place of sharing and a place of dialog and a place of … seminar about who we are and where we’re going.”

And, Simpson added, “I think of IAIA as a special place—for me and my journey.”

Simpson has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts from IAIA. She earned a second MFA—in ceramics—from Rhode Island School of Design, and also studied at the University of New Mexico and Northern New Mexico College. Her work is in the collection of many prestigious art museums, among them the Guggenheim in New York City and the Hirschhorn in Washington, DC. She has had solo exhibitions in New Mexico, Massachusetts, Nevada, Georgia, California, and Pennsylvania, and her work has been included in group shows at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and numerous other art museums. An installation by Simpson, Strata, is currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art.