Arts Briefs | ‘Transitions’ by Dewa at ART123 Gallery

Posted by Navajo Times | May 11, 2022 | Arts |

GALLUP

ART123 Gallery downtown is opening its second in a series of four guest-curated shows, “Transitions” by Zuni artist Dennis Dewa, on May 14.

“Transitions” examines the causes and perils of global warming and imagines the brighter future that is possible with radical changes to our means of energy production and ways of life.

“I want the community to see and understand that climate change is real and how we can move forward by fully transitioning to renewable energy,” Dewa said.

The artist is making space for that conversation by creating an immersive one-room art installation. A mural done “in the round” will cover all four walls of the gallery, interweaving black and grey silhouettes of the machinery of the fossil fuel industry with Zuni symbols representing the elements.

“I want visitors to be moved,” Dewa said. “I want them to be more aware of the environment they are living in, and I hope they will make the positive changes and choose the best way for our future and our children’s future.”

“Transitions” will open on Saturday, May 14, from 7-9 p.m. (during ArtsCrawl), with a virtual preview earlier in the day at 11:45 a.m. live-streamed on the @gallupARTS Facebook page.

Dewa will give a guest curator talk on Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m., in-person at ART123 Gallery and simultaneously broadcast on Facebook.

“Transitions” runs through June 4.

Commercial paid casting call

PHOENIX — Holt Hamilton Films is looking for a Native American parent (ages 23 to 32) with a baby (1 to 5 months old) for a safe baby sleep campaign.

Without sleep props, the baby needs to sleep on their back in a crib. The film schedule hopes to film around baby’s regular nap time.

The film location is in the Phoenix area and will be one day (TBD) during the week of June 6. Payment is $1,500 per talent ($500 session, $1,000 usage fee). Travel expenses will not be covered.

Email current photos (one of a parent, one of the baby, one of the parent holding the baby), contact information, and how the baby can fall asleep to holthamiltonfilms@gmail.com. Small photo files are required.

The submission deadline is Wednesday, May 18.

Forge Project names 6 fellows for 2022

HUDSON VALLEY, N.Y. – The Forge Project, a Native-led art, culture, and decolonial education initiative on the unceded homelands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok in Upstate New York, announced the six winners of the 2022 Forge Fellowship.

They are Catherine Blackburn, Dene; Laura Ortman, White Mountain Apache; Rainer Posselt, Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans; Sara Siestreem, Hanis Coos of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians; Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation; and Ilgavak, Peter Williams, Yup’ik.

In its second year, the Forge Project’s 2022 cohort of six Indigenous individuals represent a broad diversity of cultural practices, research, and geographics to honor Indigenous pasts and build Native futures.

Each Forge Project fellow will receive $25,000 toward their practice and have full access to the Forge Project site, libraries, and collection of contemporary art during a three-week fellowship at Forge.

Catherine Blackburn is an artist and jeweler who uses personal narrative to speak back to colonial histories.
Laura Ortman is an experimental musician and vocalist working with everything from the electric guitar and piano to the Apache violin.
Rainer Posselt is a public and mental health worker whose background in youth work and food sovereignty initiatives inform explorations of historical trauma.
Sara Siestreem’s combines painting, photography, printmaking, weaving, and large-scale installation with work in education and institutional reform.
Tania Willard’s notions of the contemporary and traditional as applied to Indigenous art, probing intersections between Indigenous practices and land-based pedagogies.
Ilgava, Peter Williams is a culture bearer, artist, designer, and filmmaker whose hand-sewn works repurpose hide and skin from self-harvested traditional foods, bridging worlds of Indigenous art, fashion, and subsistence.

Forge Project’s annual fellowship launched in 2021.