Indigenous Art Experts to Give Symposium as Mcllroy Family Visiting Professors

Dyani White Hawk, 2019, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

She Gives (Quiet Strength V)

The School of Art, Art History Program and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art welcome all to join Thinking, Making, Writing: Indigenous Studies and Art History in the Museum, Classroom, and Community, a mini-symposium made possible by the Mcllroy Family Visiting Professorship in the Visual and Performing Arts program.

The virtual mini-symposium is this Thursday, April 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The event will feature Philip Deloria as keynote speaker and a roundtable discussion with artist Dyani White Hawk, curators Wanda Nanibush and Georgiana Uhlyarik and scholars Amy Lonetree and Sascha Scott.

Based on their own processes and practices in museum exhibitions, university classrooms and communities, the speakers will reflect on interdisciplinary approaches to Indigenous art.

"We are excited to bring together this incredible group of thought leaders as part of the McIlroy Visiting Professorship to examine ways that museums and educational institutions can help shape how Indigenous art and history are positioned within the larger cultural context of the Americas," said Gerry Snyder, executive director of the School of Art. "Conversations like these are critical to deepening our understanding of how access, power and sovereignty influence both Indigenous studies and art history."

Mindy Besaw, curator for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, echoed Snyder's sentiments.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with the University of Arkansas to host these remarkable thinkers," she added. "As Crystal Bridges deepens our commitment to Indigenous art, we are conscious of the role in colonization that museums have played, and look forward to thoughtful conversations to facilitate a space of measurable change."

The mini-symposium will open with Philip Deloria's keynote lecture, Art/History, Spirit/Aura: The Work of Culture in the Age of Museal Production. 

Deloria is a Leverett Saltonstall professor of history at Harvard University, where his research and teaching focus on the social, cultural and political histories of the relations among American Indian peoples and the United States. 

Following the keynote lecture, the roundtable discussion will address the ways the disciplines of Indigenous studies and art history can influence and reshape one another.

"The art history program is fortunate to be able to bring together this group of distinguished speakers as we work with our colleagues at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to develop a Master of Arts in arts of the Americas," said Jennifer Greenhill, endowed professor of American art. "This roundtable participates in a larger movement within art history to decolonize the institutions in which we work and the discipline of art history itself," Greenhill added. "Phil Deloria, Dyani White Hawk, Amy Lonetree, Wanda Nanibush, Sascha Scott and Georgiana Uhlyarik are true leaders in this effort, in addition to being creative and inspiring individuals." 

The speakers work across disciplinary boundaries and with communities, asking poignant and pressing questions in the interest of truth telling—in their art practice, curatorial projects and scholarship. Greenhill shared that many of them already regularly collaborate with one another, so in a way this will be a gathering of friends and colleagues talking about complex issues that animate their everyday conversations.

All are invited to attend Thinking, Making, Writing: A Mini-Symposium on Indigenous Studies and Art History in the Museum, Classroom, and Community from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., April 29. Guests need to register for the event and will receive the webinar link upon registration.

About the McIlroy Family Visiting Professorship in the Visual and Performing Arts: The professorship, established in the university's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, supports the teaching and work of professional artists who impart highly specialized knowledge essential to students' artistic, educational, and career enrichment and of value to the community at large. It was made possible through the philanthropy of Hayden and Mary Joe McIlroy and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.