August 2013
Steven J. Yazzie: The Mountain
Steven J. Yazzie’s work is about land, as a place of personal reflection, a framework for Indigenous cultural relevance, and a point of reference to changing politics related to urbanization. For the exhibition The Mountain, Yazzie recognizes place as an entity with multidimensional interpretations and has become an essential location for his creative investigations as a source of history, knowledge and power. The new installation includes sculpture, painting, digital photographic prints, and a multichannel video to build experiential entry points…
Find out more »January 2014
Tony Tiger: Full Consciousness of Being
Tony Tiger’s work speaks to a philosophy of contemporary Native soul. His work honors the truth and spirit of Native peoples’ endurance. In the mixed-media exhibition Full Consciousness of Being, Tiger’s context for expression arises from the totality of his personal observations related to intercultural experiences, while drawing on the critical influence Native people have actively contributed to historically and contemporaneously. About the artist Tony Tiger, an enrolled member of the Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma and also of…
Find out more »May 2014
Shan Goshorn—We Hold These Truths
We Hold These Truths features contemporary baskets made from paper that have been inspired by traditional techniques, shapes, patterns and functions of Cherokee baskets. Shan Goshorn examines and manipulates the material and authority of paper (and the written word) as a weapon aimed against Native Americans in the form of treaties, ancestry rolls, laws, restrictions, land allotment and more. By weaving baskets from a variety of reproduced historical documents, Goshorn’s work offers an opportunity to re-interpret penned history from an…
Find out more »August 2014
Mario Martinez—The Desert Never Left “The City”
Mario Martinez’s artwork always pays reverence to nature through the influences derived from his deeply rooted Yaqui cultural background and allure to Western Modernism. The visual density of his paintings in his solo exhibition The Desert Never Left “The City” reflect upon the magic and power encoded within the spiritual and natural eco-systems conceptualized from an ancient pre-Christian Yaqui belief system. In doing so, Martinez vibrantly conflates his enduring Sonoran desert memory and Yaqui culture organically and abstractly through his…
Find out more »January 2015
War Department: Selections from MoCNA’s Permanent Collection
All of the works in this exhibition have something to do with war, but depict very little gore or physical violence. The armed conflicts referenced in these artworks span 500 years, from the Spanish and Pueblo conquest, to World War II, Vietnam, Wounded Knee, the Mohawk and Oka Crisis, and present-day conflicts. This selection of works from the permanent collection examines the nuanced depictions of war and civil unrest in contemporary Native art. We tend to think of war as…
Find out more »January 2016
Lloyd Kiva New: Art
Lloyd Kiva New: Art features nearly thirty paintings by Cherokee artist Lloyd Henri “Kiva” New (1916–2002) completed between 1938–1995. New is best known for fashion design and the development of innovative concepts in cultural based education for Native people. Extravagant handbags, dresses, and modern design are calling cards of New’s art career, but his two-dimensional works are not as well known. The paintings, from his personal collection and rarely shown in a museum or gallery, exemplify how Lloyd “Kiva” New…
Find out more »August 2016
Gallery Sessions
Join IAIA Archivist Ryan Flahive, Artist Eliza Naranjo Morse, and IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) Member and Program Manager Andrea R. Hanley in the museum galleries as they discuss current exhibitions and best practices. Introduction conducted by MoCNA Chief Curator Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man. Download and view the .
Find out more »January 2017
Now is the Time: Investigating Native Histories and Visions of the Future
Recent works by IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) artists explore current themes and trends in contemporary Native American art, including Indigenous science fiction and visionary Native histories. Several of the works are inspired by Native abstract symbolism of the past and their futuristic aesthetics, while others respond to popular culture and investigate the role of Star Wars™ in American Indian art and culture. Performance art installations question the “art for art’s sake” concept of many past Western art movements, and instead, promote the…
Find out more »May 2017
New Acquisitions: 2011–2017
New Acquisitions: 2011–2017 highlights newly acquired work over the past six years from MoCNA’s Permanent Collection and demonstrates the museum’s commitment to collect works that are visionary and a testament to IAIA’s innovative spirit. The selected artworks complement each other through aesthetic, color, and form, but also share an expansive vision collectively.
Find out more »February 2018
Art & Activism: Selections from The Harjo Family Collection
This exhibition highlights works from The Harjo Family Collection. The major art collection was recently donated to the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and contains about sixty artworks. These works were purchased or gifted to Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Hodulgee Muscogee), an important American Indian activist, lobbyist, policy maker, and 2011 recipient of an IAIA Honorary Doctorate.
Find out more »August 2018
Expanding Horizons: Darren Vigil Gray
Expanding Horizons highlights new abstract landscapes by Darren Vigil Gray (Jicarilla Apache/Kiowa Apache). The works reflect Gray’s personal approach to the subject “landscape,” and his spontaneous painting method inspired by abstract expressionism and his inner self.
Find out more »February 2019
Dwayne Wilcox: Visual/Language
The exhibition examines Dwayne Wilcox’s (Oglala Lakota) own lived experience as an artist creating work that is linked to historic forms of narrative communication of his Lakota people and post-modernism in its powerfully ironic stance.
Find out more »May 2019
Reconciliation
Reconciliation responds to the transformation and last year's ending of “La Entrada” as part of the Santa Fe Fiestas. Recognizing the power of art to open dialogue toward reconciliation, the exhibition will serve as an expression of “post-entrada” creativity in Santa Fe and surrounding communities.
Find out more »August 2019
Reconciliation—Opening Reception
Reconciliation responds to the transformation and last year's ending of “La Entrada” as part of the Santa Fe Fiestas. Recognizing the power of art to open dialogue toward reconciliation, the exhibition will serve as an expression of “post-entrada” creativity in Santa Fe and surrounding communities.
Find out more »February 2020
Charlene Teters: Way of Sorrows
Way of Sorrows, a new installation by Charlene Teters (Spokane), addresses current issues such as forced migrations and the US-Mexico border crises, while asking questions about responsibility and identifying new myths.
Find out more »Charlene Teters: Way of Sorrows—Reception
Way of Sorrows, a new installation by Charlene Teters (Spokane), addresses current issues such as forced migrations and the US-Mexico border crises, while asking questions about responsibility and identifying new myths.
Find out more »June 2020
Tamara Ann Burgh and Luanne Redeye: FRAMED
The exhibition FRAMED investigates issues of self-representation and identity and examines the “American Experience” from a Native perspective through mixed media works.
Find out more »February 2021
Michael Namingha: Altered Landscapes
Altered Landscape series are abstract, photography-based works that juxtapose geometric shapes in bright neon colors against black-and-white aerial landscapes from the Four Corners region.
Find out more »March 2022
Community Mural Painting with Solomon Enos
Join artist Solomon Enos (Kānaka Maoli) for a public painting session at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA).
Find out more »July 2022
Matrilineal: Legacies of Our Mothers
Matrilineal: Legacies of Our Mothers presents the art of three generations of Mvskoke (Creek) mothers and daughters.
Find out more »August 2022
Gallery Tour with Matrilineal Guest Curator Laura Clark
Join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for a gallery tour with Matrilineal: Legacies of Our Mothers guest curator Laura Clark (Mvskoke Creek Nation) and artists from the exhibition.
Find out more »March 2023
2022–2023 IAIA BFA Exhibition: Beyond Reflections
The IAIA 2022–2023 BFA Exhibition: Beyond Reflections recognizes the talent and artistic devotion of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Studio Arts BFA students. Presenting a variety of media and motives for their artwork, Beyond Reflections captures the artists’ exploration of identity, mental health, social activism, culture, and curiosities of the world around us.
Find out more »March 2024
2023–2024 IAIA BFA Exhibition: Indigenous Presence, Indigenous Futures
Indigenous Presence, Indigenous Futures aims to show how IAIA’s BFA seniors honor the future as much as the past.
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