Re-riding History

January 26 - Feb 26, 2017

In 1875, the United States war department arrested seventy-­two American Indian leaders who were forcibly taken from their homes in Salt Fork, OK, and transported to St. Augustine, FL, where they were imprisoned from 1875-­1878 under Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt at Fort Marion. Pratt developed the “Kill the Indian. Save the man.” assimilation methods of control that defined a century of government policy, most famously at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Assimilation as a term and a political strategy is defined as the total eradication of one culture by another culture by force.

Seventy-­two artists were asked to respond to the experience of imprisonment by creating an individual work on paper in the same dimensions as the historic ledger drawings made at Fort Marion from 1875-­1878. The artists selected include Native American, non-­Native and descendants of those imprisoned.

http://www.reridinghistory.org/.

The Art of Ho-Chunk Basket Making

The art of black ash basket making has been an economic source of income for the Ho-Chunk people since the late 1800s. Many families would make their baskets all winter long in order to sell to tourists at roadside stands in the summer months. These once utilitarian baskets soon became prized art objects that were enjoyed by collectors from all over the world. This exhibition presents an array of historic and contemporary Ho-Chunk baskets from the collections of JoAnn Jones, Tom Jones and Michael Schmudlach.

John Hitchcock, “Protectors”

Panel: Social Justice in Native American Today 2-4 p.m.

Reception: Friday, Febuary 17th, 6-8:30 p.m.