Explore The Stories And Figures Of Native American Art In Our New Exhibit, Indigenous Arts

The Verde Valley Archaeology Center and Museum’s newest exhibit, Indigenous Arts, is a comprehensive inter-tribal exhibit that highlights the talents of Native American artists both past and present, and from the American Southwest and beyond.  

This all-encompassing exhibit features over 40 works on loan from the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA) permanent Indigenous Arts collection. This collection contains a diverse variety of Native American art forms ranging from contemporary pieces to those dating as early as 1000 years old. The collection primarily focuses on work created by Indigenous artists from the American Southwest, with some pieces extending in origin throughout the United States and Canada. 

TMA has a dedicated gallery to display the work in this collection that is refreshed each year with different artworks using a community-based exhibition practice. This is seen in TMA’s collaborative and intersectional approach towards the research, display, and interpretation involved in its curation. The gallery consists of a committee of representatives of Indigenous communities who serve as community curators that work with museum staff to recommend pieces and write exhibit texts. 

The Indigenous Arts gallery focuses on the stories and artistic achievements of Indigenous individuals and communities through the exploration of themes such as cultural resilience, sovereignty, the environment, and socio-political issues. 

VVAC’s exhibit is an intersection of art from this collection with a primary focus on the American Southwest, specifically works by Hopi, New Mexico Pueblo peoples, and Apache. The artworks and cultural items on display range from works on paper to pottery, and hand carved Katsinas. 

The exhibit as a collective body of work highlights the unique heritages and traditions of individual Indigenous artists and Tribes, while working together to convey unifying themes that link all of humanity. The works touch on themes that know no boundaries, complementing one another while spanning different cultures, time periods, and locations. 

“There are artworks and cultural items of varied traditions and different tribal affiliations reflected in VVAC's installation,” said Monica Buckle, VVAC’s Executive Director. “However, there's a common thread that connects Native Americans and Indigenous people, which is reverence for the land, existing in harmony with all living beings, and honoring the traditions of those who have walked before.” 

Buckle also served as a Community Curator for TMA’s Indigenous Arts Gallery and an Arizona Humanities Scholar for the development of TMA's exhibit, Enduring Legacies: The James T. Bialac Indigenous Art Collection. 

A large portion of the exhibit are works on paper from TMA’s James T. Bialac Indigenous Art Collection. James T. Bialac (1928–2022) was a collector and supporter of Indigenous arts who gathered over 4,000 works in his lifetime. 

The collection consists primarily of 20th and 21st century paintings, prints, and other works on paper. A lawyer by trade, Bialac purchased his first artwork, a painting by Diné artist Robert Chee (Hashke-Yil-Cale) in 1964, instilling a lifelong passion for collecting art while creating long lasting relationships with and supporting Indigenous artists. 

“Mr. Bialac was an advocate for emerging Native American artists, he bought everything from established artists to studio art from artists in high school,” said Buckle. “He wanted to support and encourage any Native American artist, regardless of their skill set or technique, and to encourage them that they can pursue a livelihood and a profession in the arts.” 

Prominent names in contemporary Indigenous art from the Bialac collection are on display, including Pablita Velarde (Santa Clara Pueblo), Fritz Scholder (La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians), and Woody Crumbo (Potawatomi). 

“The collection itself tells a beautiful story of how one man cared deeply for Native American and Indigenous artists,” said Buckle. “That dovetails to VVAC because our archaeology collection is a gift from The Paul Dyck Foundation Research Institution of American Indian Culture. Paul Dyck was ahead of his times in wanting to preserve the Ancestral Hopi cultural material located on his Rimrock ranch, and preserve it here in the Verde Valley so it wouldn't be sent away to different museums out-of-state, and that it could be preserved in perpetuity in its rightful home. It's wonderful that we have Paul Dyck’s legacy of conservation and preservation, and then we have Mr. Bialac, who was also devoted to ensuring the cultural continuity of contemporary Native American Indigenous artists and their artistic endeavors.” 

Women are at the core of the community in most Native American Tribes and this is subsequently reflected in their art. Many Tribes are matrilineal societies where kinship is traced through the female line. In Hopi culture for example, everything belongs to the woman and her children inherit her lineage and clan. The woman is not only the owner of the home, but also a teacher, caretaker, and keeper of seeds among other important familial and societal duties. 

Maria Poveka Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Pablita Velarde (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Joan Hill (Cherokee) are some of the accomplished Indigenous women artists whose work is on display in the exhibit. Pablita Velarde was a painter known for her paintings of traditional Pueblo life done in Flat Style with pigments sourced from the earth. She helped to open the door for Indigenous women to pursue successful careers in the fine arts while reinvigorating Puebloan art in her community. 

Maria Poveka Martinez, a potter from San Ildefonso Pueblo known for her distinct black-on-black pieces, shared her knowledge with the women in her pueblo and neighboring pueblos, revitalizing a traditional artform while providing economic opportunity for craft makers in her community. 

The exhibit explores the importance of spirituality and ceremony, most notably by the wall of Hopi and Zuni Katsina dolls that greet attendees upon entering the exhibit space. Katsinas are spirit beings that serve as intermediaries between the Hopi and their deities. They carry prayers and often represent the spirits of plants, animals, places, and forces of nature. 

VVAC collaborated with Makwesa Chimerica, a traditional Hopi Katsina carver from Mungapi. Chimerica contirubuted a descriptive wall text, which serves to contextualize Katsinas for non-Hopi visitors.  

“Being here in Hopi territory in the Verde Valley, it's a privilege that we can welcome these Katsinas to the museum and have them on view,” said Buckle. “We have numerous Katsinas that have specific ceremonial functions within the community, and it's really fun for visitors to learn more about the Katsinas' calendar cycle and the coexistence of Katsinas and the Hopi people.” 

Multiple paintings in the exhibit depict Katsinas, including the Crow Mother Katsina and a traditional mixed Animal Katsina dance. 

“Peyote Bird” by Woody Crumbo touches on the spiritual link to plants and the ceremony of the Peyote Religion. Hallucinogenic plants have played an integral role in the religions of Native Americans, including Sacred Datura. 

Venturing beyond the Southwest, the works of Joan Hill and Woody Crumbo represent the contemporary Indigenous art that came from the Bacone College, with paintings often referred to as originating in the Bacone Style. Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma was the first university to offer degrees in art to Indigenous students and quickly became a hub for Indigenous artistic and cultural practices. The Bacone style of painting drew upon the traditional Flat Style technique and has greatly impacted the canon of contemporary Indigenous art. 

Additionally, a display case of pitchers and contemporary polychrome vessels symbolizes the sacredness of water and relay the ongoing creation and significance of traditional Native artforms.  

This exhibit was made possible by the tremendous generosity and support of the Tucson Museum of Art and its staff: Christine Brindza, Senior Curator, Glasser Curator of Art of the American West; Rachel Adler, Collections Manager and Registrar; Marianna Pegno, Director of Engagement and Inclusion; and Christopher Gordon, Interim Director & CEO/CFO/COO.

“I encourage everyone coming through VVAC to also visit the Tucson Museum of Art,” said Buckle. “It's an exceptional cultural institution that recently celebrated their centennial.” 

The installation of this exhibit was made possible by the support of VVAC’s staff, board of directors, and dedicated volunteers: Monica Buckle, Executive Director; Ed Goodwin, Board President; Jerry Morris, Exhibit Preparator; Leslie Koshland, Associate Curator; Scott Koshland, Technician; Alyssa Smith, Curatorial Assistant and Public Relations Coordinator; Lynette Kovacovich, Curatorial Assistant, Betty Goodwin, Museum Associate; Claudia Clark, Museum Associate; and Makwesa Chimerica, Traditional Hopi Katsina Carver. 

The exhibit is on public view until early September 2025.