SAR Announces 2023-2024 Native Artist Fellows
Michael Namingha (Ohkway Owingeh/Hopi), “Altered Landscape#1”, 2019. C-print face mounted to shaped acrylic, 35″ x 35″ x 1 “. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The School for Advanced Research is pleased to announce the 2023–2024 cycle of Native Artist Fellows. Each year the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) at SAR offers three residential fellowships to support the work of both established and emerging Native artists.
The program provides artists with time to explore new avenues of creativity and invites them to grapple with ideas that advance their work and strengthen their existing talents. While in residence, artists may access the IARC’s expansive collection of Native artwork for research and study. This year’s artists include a multidisciplinary painter, a basketry and jewelry artist, and photographer:
Heidi Brandow
2023 Ronald and Susan Dubin Native Artist Fellow
Heidi Brandow (she/her) is a Diné/Kanaka Maoli artist who prioritizes Indigenous perspectives in the creation of ethical and sustainable forms of artistic expression.
Her multidisciplinary practice, which typically prioritizes painting as a medium, takes influence from architecture and design – with principles such as collaboration, material, and the built environment. Most recently, Brandow has been drawn to micaceous pottery. Over the past year, she has spent time honing in on micaceous clay as a medium by working with Pueblo elders and learning the fundamentals of working and building with clay.
While in residence, Heidi will explore 3-dimensional forms through continued engagement with wood carving and clay.
Read more about this artist here.
Heidi Brandow (Diné/Kanaka Maoli), “Language”, 2022. Wood, gesso, plaster, acrylic, paint, graphite, resin. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Heidi Brandow will be in residence from June 15, 2023, to August 15, 2023.
Michael Namingha
2023 Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow
Ohkway Owingeh and Hopi artist, Michael Namingha (he/him), is a versatile photographer who combines new and old techniques to create a commentary on the rapidly changing landscape of the American West.
Michael’s works contain images with abstracted compositions, often incorporating color psychology and skewed perspectives to convey a larger message about surrounding environmental issues.
A curator for the exhibition, Grounded in Clay, Namingha’s early research for the exhibition led to an intense curiosity to learn more about his family’s artistic legacy. While at SAR, he will work on a project that further explores it through a photo-screenprinting sand process and oral histories.
Read more about the artist here.
Michael Namingha (Ohkway Owingeh/Hopi), “Altered Landscape 12”, 2021. C-print face mounted to shaped acrylic, 28″ x 38″ x 1″. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Michael Namingha will be in residence from September 1, 2023, to November 30, 2023.
Carly Feddersen
2024 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native Artist Fellow
Carly Feddersen (she/her), an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, is an early career artist with a concentration in jewelry and traditional Plateau twined basketry.
While at SAR, Feddersen aspires to gain deeper understanding of Indigenous techniques for in-the-round design and pattern making on cylindrical objects by researching baskets and pottery from the IARC collection. She will create a series of twined baskets that feature traditional Syilx patterns and storytelling elements intertwined that are simultaneously contemporary and traditional in their references.
Read more about the artist here.
Carly Feddersen (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), “Coyote and the Shoo Mesh Bow”, 2022. Waxed linen, 5 3/4″ x 6 3/4″. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Carly Feddersen will be in residence from March 1, 2024, to May 31, 2024.
Learn more about the IARC Native American Artist Fellowships