INDIGENOUS ARTISTS GALLERY OPENING
Band member Steve Premo stands before some of his paintings on exhibit at the "Dreaming our Futures" Indigenous Artists Gallery at the Regis Center for Art in Minneapolis.
By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor Photos by Bradley Roache Jr.
Mille Lacs Band Elder Steve Premo is a highly respected and well-known artist in and around the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation. His work has appeared as murals on the walls of the Government Center as well as Meshakwad and Makwa Cinema, to name just a few. His work has adorned many t-shirts, banners, and billboards, and has been featured in many galleries across the state. And he is currently one of 29 Indigenous artists showcased in a new gallery in Minneapolis.
The Katherine E. Nash Gallery is hosting a group exhibition of 29 Indigenous painters, the inaugural program of the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts. The exhibit opened on February 3 at the Regis Center for Art in Minneapolis with a reception and panel discussion led by Brenda Child. Artists showcased included Band member Steve Premo along with Frank Big Bear, David Bradley, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Andrea Carlson, Avis Charley, Fern Cloud, Michelle Defoe, Jim Denomie, Patrick DesJarlait, Sam English, Carl Gawboy, Joe Geshick, Sylvia Houle, Oscar Howe, Wanbli Mayasleca (Francis J. Yellow Jr.), George Morrison, Rabbett Before Horses Strickland, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Roy Thomas, Jonathan Thunder, Thomasina TopBear, Moira Villiard, Kathleen Wall, Star WallowingBull, Dyani White Hawk, Bobby Dues Wilson, Leah H. Yellowbird, and Holly Young.
The exhibit is curated by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe), Northrop Professor of American Studies, University of Minnesota, and Howard Oransky, Director of the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, with Christopher Pexa (Bdewakantunwan Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation), Associate Professor of English, Harvard University.
"George was a professor at the U of M, so it fell in line that they make a center devoted to him, his studies, and his contributions to the art in the United States," Premo said. "He wasn't just an artist from Minnesota, he was part of the abstract expressionists running around at the time like Andy Warhol, Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp — they all knew him in New York at the time. And then he came back to Minnesota. It is not a building, it is more of an idea."
Child put together some ideas and collaborated with Howard Loranski and things came together. "She started with painters and from there she is thinking of music, dance, writing, could be sculptures — all Indigenous," Premo said.
Premo estimates that in the opening two days, between 400 – 500 visitors had viewed the show.
"It is an honor to be included in an exhibit like this," Premo said. “There is just an incredible lineup of people in the show.” He has three pieces in the show and also designed the logo for the art center.
The exhibition premiers at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (January 16 – March 16, 2024), then travels to the Rochester Art Center (April 24 – July 21, 2024) and continues to the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (September 3 – December 27).
MORE ABOUT THE CENTER
Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Ochethi Sakowin Artists and Knowledge Keepers is the inaugural exhibition of the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts at the University of Minnesota. This new study center in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota — an interdepartmental collaboration between the University of Minnesota Department of American Indian Studies, Department of American Studies, and Department of Art — supports the creation, presentation, and interpretation of Indigenous art in all its forms and makes no distinction between the fine arts and Indigenous traditional arts. Future plans for the Center include the Morrison Center Distinguished Visiting Artists program, related graduate seminars and undergraduate courses on the development of museum exhibitions on American Indian topics and artists, and student internships in conjunction with the Minnesota Museum of American Art, which will allow students to develop expertise working with works by George Morrison and other American Indian artists held in that collection.
A guest at the opening of the Indigenious Artists Gallery experiencing a painting by one of the 29 Indigenous artists at the exhibit.