TahNibaa Naataanii is revitalizing Navajo weaving and strengthening community through practicing and sharing ancestral ways of weaving and pastoral lifeway processes.
INITIATIVE GOALS
Through the Mentor Artist Fellowship initiative, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation will:
- Foster a viable Native arts environment and livelihood
- Increase intergenerational transference of American Indian and Alaska Native artistic knowledge and cultural practices
- Further sustain artistic and cultural heritage within Native communities
- Meet our mission by promoting Native arts and cultural revitalization, perpetuation and appreciation within Native communities and the broader arts world
SHARING KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & CULTURAL WISDOM
An incredible wealth of cultural heritage and creative expression is held and maintained in Native arts and cultures. As our Native American elders pass—and with the integration of non-tribal worldviews in our Native communities—Indigenous people are experiencing a dilution of cultural wisdom. So, passing the fire between generations, particularly in Native arts and cultures, is of vital importance. Historically, Native artists and culture bearers dedicated their time, resources, and support to teaching the next generation by passing on technical skills, arts practice, and cultural knowledge needed to perpetuate visual and traditional arts in the community.
Yet in today’s fast-paced and overloaded modern world, mentorships can be resourcefully challenging. While even the most established Native artist faces challenges, emerging artists are especially vulnerable: pressed for time, resources, and support, their ability to advance their skills and attain necessary knowledge is often limited. Thus, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Mentor Artist Fellowship is focused on creating formal, structured opportunities for the transfer of knowledge, and supporting artistic rigor that furthers cultural perpetuation and creative development.
NACF Mentor Artist Fellowships will perpetuate the continuity of traditional practices, languages, and cultural expressions in Native communities, and provide an avenue for a new generation of artists to invest and strengthen their artistic voice in the evolution of contemporary visual arts.
HOW THE INITIATIVE WORKS
Following an open call for established American Indian and Alaska Native artists working in traditional or contemporary visual arts, Mentor Artist Fellows are reviewed and selected in a competitive process involving a peer review panel. Mentor Artist Fellows and their chosen apprentices are selected to participate in a 15-month program of routine and structured sessions. To demonstrate the experience and success of the mentoring, a completed joint mentor and apprentice art project is required at the end of the fellowship period and is to be shared in a community engagement event or activity.
2020 MENTOR ARTIST FELLOWS
April Stone
A self-taught traditional basket weaver, April Stone has been researching, practicing, and teaching the endangered art of Black-Ash weaving for over two decades.
Cliff Fragua
Sculptor Cliff Fragua is dedicated to advancing and perpetuating Jemez Pueblo traditions, values, arts and culture through his carvings and teachings.
Nathan P Jackson
Nathan P. Jackson is a highly-regarded artist and culture bearer within the Tlingit community and well beyond.
Gerald Clarke Jr.
Gerald Clarke Jr. expresses his Cahuilla perspective as a twenty-first century citizen of the world embracing the passion, pain, and reverence he feels as a contemporary Cahuilla person.
Jackie Larson Bread
Jackie Larson Bread began beading at a young age, influenced first by her grandmother’s work, and then later incorporated the artistic skills she developed over the years into the intricate, pictorial-style beadwork she creates today.
Earl Atchak
Earl Atchak is a traditional practitioner and an accomplished artist, who utilizes wood, ivory and other natural materials in his carvings, sculptures, and jewelry.
Brenda Mallory
Brenda Mallory is a contemporary mixed-media artist who creates prints, sculptures, installations and other artistic forms from materials which she often deconstructs in order to put them back together again.
Joe Feddersen
Joe Feddersen is a sculptor, painter, photographer and mixed-media artist known for creating artworks that reflect the landscape and his cultural heritage.
Nani Chacon
Nani Chacon is a painter, muralist and educator who focuses on community-engaged work in the public art sector.
Thank You Initiative Partners
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation is grateful to Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, The Ford Family Foundation, and to the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation for their support of the mentor program.
Partner with the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation to support a Mentor Artist Fellow in your state.
