Welcome to the August edition of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Newsletter. This edition includes recent news and past, current, and upcoming happenings at IAIA. For questions, comments, or feedback, please contact IAIA Interim Director of Marketing and Communications Jason S. Ordaz at jason.ordaz@iaia.edu.

Bidding is now open online for the IAIA 2021 Virtual Scholarship Event and Auction, and 100% of the funds raised from this auction will go to support scholarships for IAIA students—a vital resource that could be the determining factor in whether or not they complete their degree. This piece, Create Our Future—Honor Our Past, by Featured Artist and IAIA alumna Kathleen Wall (Jemez Pueblo) ’14, as well as the entire auction art collection, can now be viewed in person at the public art preview. The public preview is being held on the IAIA Campus in the Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery, 1–5 pm, Tuesdays through Fridays, until Friday, August 13.

The IAIA Virtual Scholarship Event and Auction will take place Wednesday, August 18, at 5:30 pm (MDT), and bidding closes at 7:30 pm (MDT). Visit www.iaia.edu/bid to view and bid on items, and together we can help our students by providing much needed scholarship support.

If you want to support student success right now, make a donation.

Students and graduates know first-hand that it is hard work staying in school—semester after semester, year after year. IAIA students are part of a unique Indigenous legacy formed by resilience and unity, and together they are Many Nations, One Family.

IAIA Alumna Nami Okuzono (Japanese) ’17 said she wouldn’t be where she is today without the help and support from the IAIA Community.

“The IAIA Community—faculty, staff, peers—were really supportive. But I have to say that the Learning Lab tutors were instrumental. The tutors were good listeners, and they helped me—daily. That’s what kept me going.”

—IAIA Alumni Nami Okuzono (Japan) ’17

If you’re a student who has taken time away from IAIA or you know one who has, now is a great time to re-enroll. Contact Dean of Students Nena Martinez Anaya at nanaya@iaia.edu to enroll. Need financial aid assistance? IAIA provides an extensive listing of over 50 scholarship opportunities on the Financial Aid page—plus, financial aid advisors are available to help. Students who register for Fall 2021 will be entered in a sweepstakes lottery for a $50 Visa gift card and five winners will be chosen randomly.

Read the full story.

Join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for the annual IAIA Recent Graduate Art Market, held August 21–22 alongside the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Indian Market, under the museum’s portal, from 7 am–5 pm daily. IAIA recent graduates will be showing work in this year’s Art Market, and proceeds from booth fees will go to the Academy for Technology and the Classics’ (ATC) Native American Club.

Participating artists include Anangookwe Wolf (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, Fort Peck Assiniboine) ’19, Beau Tsa-Toke (Kiowa) ’20, Brenda Hill (Tuscarora) ’20, Carmen Selam (14 Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation) ’17, Chad Yellowjohn (Shoshone-Bannock, Spokane) ’19, Charine Gonzales (San Ildefonso Pueblo) ’21, Charletta Yazzie (Navajo) ’17, Donna Martinez (Acoma Pueblo, Taos Pueblo) ’17, Emily Peck ’19, Faithlyn Seawright (Chickasaw, Choctaw) ’20, Frank Andrews (Colville Confederated Tribes, Diné) ’18, Golga Oscar (Yupik, Inuit) ’20, Jacob Olascoaga (Tlingit) ’20, Leandra Chimal (Mescalero Apache) ’21, Nicole Lawe (Karuk) ’16, Nicole Mitchell Lefthand (Navajo) ’20, Nika Feldman ’21, Terran Last Gun (Piikani) ’16, and Tina Sparks ’19.

Pick up a copy of the official Santa Fe Indian Market Booth Guide to learn more about IAIA’s long history with SWAIA in the featured article, Where Native Artists Emerge—IAIA’s Art Market.

Live music is back in Santa Fe, and IAIA is sponsoring a show for the Santa Fe Plaza Concert Series titled Native Showcase which features local Indigenous bands Lindy Vision and Sihasin. Additionally, select Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) Alumni will read poetry and fiction during the event. This free show will take place at the Santa Fe Plaza, located in the heart of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday, August 16, at 6 pm.

Lindy Vision is an indie rock trio from Albuquerque, New Mexico, formed by sisters Dorothy Cuylear (Jicarilla Apache, African American), Natasha Cuylear (Jicarilla Apache, African American), and Carla Cuylear (Jicarilla Apache, African American). Called “one of the most vital and promising bands in the state” by Luke Henley of the Santa Fe Reporter, Lindy Vision is heavily influenced by bands like The Clean, David Bowie, T.Rex, Radiohead, and The Strokes.

Sihasin, formed by siblings Clayson Benally (Diné) and Jeneda Benally (Diné), is an indie punk rock band from Black Mesa on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. As brother and sister, they were born into the heart of a political land dispute in which a fence separated them from their traditional homeland and family.

Photograph of Lindy Vision photo by Cougar Vigil

To celebrate the generous donation from MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, MoCNA is breaking new ground in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with an unprecedented new community-based gift. Taking a cue from MacKenzie Scott in her June 15 blog post, “Generosity is generative, sharing makes more,” MoCNA is paying it forward by offering free admission during August, a month when Santa Fe celebrates Native American art and culture. Museum visitors will be able to explore new exhibitions, like Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology, and participate in engaging public programming—all free of charge.

Admission tickets can be reserved online, ahead of entry at www.iaia.edu/store, or in-person at the Museum Store.

MoCNA Director Patsy Phillips (Cherokee Nation) says, “MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett’s generous gift allows us to give back to our community. In addition to free admission for August, we are strategically planning for the Museum’s future which will build upon ways to provide further opportunities for our constituents.”

After nearly a year-and-a-half, the IAIA Library has reopened the book stacks for browsing and will return to regular functioning hours for the Fall 2021 semester. Following the campus closure in March 2020 due to the global health crisis, the library had a modest reopening last summer. This reopening included closing off the book stacks, decreasing hours, offering curbside pick up, delivering books to students in quarantine, and transitioning to offer more services online. During this transition, they provided virtual reference with a librarian via live chat and Zoom, developed a digital document delivery service to supply students and faculty with materials, and expanded the online collections, including new video streaming services and three new e-book platforms. Their reach to students had an unexpected increase, and reference interactions—specifically research help—practically doubled.

As for the reopening, the library is thrilled to welcome students back and will continue online reference in addition to returning to in-person referencing. They urge students, as well as the community, to utilize the resources offered. With the recent reopening of the IAIA Campus, the library is open to the public as well. Only students can check out materials and access online resources off-campus, but visitors are welcome to access the library databases and materials in person.

Library hours are Mon–Thurs from 8 am–8 pm, Fri from 8 am–5 pm, and Sun from 12–8 pm.

In light of the evolving pandemic and spread of COVID-19 variants, the IAIA Board of Trustees has instituted a 2021–2022 COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate. This mandate requires that all students and family members living on campus, attending in-person classes, or utilizing campus facilities complete this form and provide either:

We have designed a quick and easy form to enter and submit your proof of vaccination or exemption. Failure to submit this form before August 13, by 5 pm, will result in disenrollment from in-person classes and denial of access to campus facilities.

Individuals who submit an exemption, are between their first and second vaccination dose, or are within the two week post second dose immunity building window, will be required to wear masks indoors at all times and provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test weekly.

If you are a student who is unwilling or unable to fulfill this IAIA Board of Trustees mandate requirement, please contact your advisor to discuss the wide range of remote course options, including online, hybrid, and hyflex courses.

The IAIA New Freshman Summer Bridge (NFSB) students are helping to document the biodiversity on the IAIA Campus.

The NFSB is a free, three-week, on-campus program available to incoming IAIA Freshmen for Fall 2021. Students establish skills for college readiness, leadership, and creativity—earning three credits in the process. A significant component of the bridge program includes educational workshops and classes regarding climate change from an Indigenous perspective, including working on projects in the gardens and greenhouse with the IAIA Land-Grant program.

One such project was a BioBlitz event to catalog the plant, animal, geological, and ecological makeup of the IAIA Campus. Students came together on a walk across campus to record, identify, and take an inventory of various species using smartphone apps. This inventory is part of a larger initiative for the Land-Grant program to assess and map the landscape. The data collected from this event will help the school be more specific about where to plant for erosion control and biodiversity and create a record for future generations.

The closing reception for The Moving Land: 60+ Years of Art by Linda Lomahaftewa—which gathers together more than sixty years of Linda Lomahaftewa’s (Hopi, Choctaw) ’65 artistic production—took place on Friday, July 16, in the Allan Houser Art Park at IAIA MoCNA.

If you missed the exhibit, the Virtual Museum is now available to view. This virtual replica of IAIA MoCNA is the second VR space co-developed by MoCNA Senior Museum Education Manager Winoka Yepa (Diné) and Photographer Lisa Hinson of Five D Media. It features Lomahaftewa’s The Moving Land along with Michael Namingha’s (Tewa, Hopi) Altered Landscape series.

After seven years of service to IAIA, Interim Dean of Students Paul Moore (Chickasaw) resigned to focus on his artwork. Paul, who earned a BFA in Studio Arts from IAIA in 2007, worked in numerous positions throughout the years. He served as a Studio Arts Technician, Retention Specialist, Assistant Registrar, Registrar, Adjunct Professor, and later as the Interim Dean of Students. As Interim Dean of Students, he played an integral role during the challenges that IAIA faced during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

On Wednesday, July 7, IAIA Staff and Faculty came together to share stories (and hugs) with Paul, and IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee) honored him with a blanket during the farewell ceremony on campus.

With Paul’s departure, IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin decided to reevaluate the departmental structure in Student Life and Student Success.

“In reassessing the Dean of Student’s position, we decided that appointing someone to an interim role for a third consecutive year was not in the best interest of the college and the students we serve. During this process, we realized we had a well-qualified and experienced internal candidate in Nena Martinez Anaya, which also would provide an opportunity to restructure Student Life and the Student Success Center to allow her to move into a broader leadership role. This reorganization will permit us to take advantage of Nena’s wide range of experience and expertise and facilitate cooperation and collaboration between these two areas that significantly impact the student experience.

In addition to Nena assuming the Dean of Students position, the Director of Admissions Mary Silentwalker (San Felipe Pueblo/Navajo), will take on additional responsibilities for the retention program, where her new title will be Associate Dean for Admissions and Retention. Additionally, Housing Director Leslie “JR” Romero (Cochiti/Hidatsa) will assume added supervisory duties for student activities and the daycare center, resulting in a change in title to Associate Dean of Students.”

—IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin

Please welcome IAIA Artist-in-Residence artist Ken Williams Jr. (Northern Arapaho/Seneca) ’07 who will be in residence through August 30.

Ken Williams Jr. is an award-winning beadwork artist and collector of Indian art. Williams manages the Case Trading Post at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including “Best in Show” at the Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market, and was a 2010 SWAIA Indian Market fellowship artist. His work is held in numerous public collections, including the National Museum of Scotland, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Arts, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Heard Museum, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), Montclair Art Museum, Utah Museum of Natural History, Utah Arts Council, New York State Museum, as well as many private collections.

In the spring of 2007, Williams graduated from IAIA with a Bachelor of Arts in Museum Studies. At IAIA, he studied traditional beadwork with Teri Greeves (Kiowa). He has since continued to expand his practice, creating innovative beaded designs, particularly in the form of elaborate fancy bags.

Photograph courtesy Ken Willams Jr.

The IAIA Campus Bookstore will be holding a student design contest for a single production run of 100 t-shirts. One of the five finalists’ work will be chosen by an expert panel of artists and professionals from the IAIA Community. The winner will have their work promoted on a unique, limited-edition t-shirt focused on highlighting the artist, their work, and their future.

The theme for the 2021 t-shirt design contest is “When IAIA Goes Mask Off”—what is your hope for the IAIA Community after the COVID-19 Pandemic has passed? How do you think the IAIA Community should celebrate when we can see each other’s faces, gather, shake hands, hug, and breathe freely together again? What can you achieve at IAIA with this freedom of connection again?

For more information about submissions, please contact bookstore@iaia.edu.

Continuing Education is committed to providing comprehensive training and adult education for the advancement and growth in workforce skills, lifelong learning, and empowerment through community-based learning opportunities.

Continuing Education is always looking for interesting course ideas and opportunities. If you would like to suggest or teach a course, please contact continuinged@iaia.edu or submit a “Suggest a Course” or “Teach A Course” proposal at www.iaia.edu/ce. If you are an IAIA Alumni or member of the IAIA community and you are interested in teaching, please submit your ideas.

If you missed a webinar last semester, some recent webinars are posted to the IAIA Continuing Education web page.

If you missed MoCNA’s monthly announcement on July 15, you can still view the August Exhibitions and Public Programs newsletter on the Constant Contact website. The newsletter features recent news, happenings, exhibitions, public programs, new offerings from the IAIA Store, and much more.

The Museum is open Monday and Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 am–5 pm, and on Sunday from 11 am–4 pm. The Museum remains closed on Tuesdays. Face coverings are recommended.

Tickets can be purchased online ahead of entry or in-person.

IAIA is looking to hire driven individuals who believe in and support IAIA’s mission, “To empower creativity and leadership in Native Arts and cultures through higher education, lifelong learning, and outreach.”

IAIA offers competitive salaries and an outstanding benefits package for regular full-time positions, which includes, medical, dental, vision, term life, long term disability, short term disability, a 403B investment plan, and Employee Assistance Program.

To see available positions, view the Employment page.

Save the date and attend the annual IAIA Open House on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. In usual fashion, the Open House features exhibitions and demonstrations of all types, with open studios and classrooms, allowing guests to discover more about IAIA’s mission, programs, and community. This year includes a mixture of in-person and live-stream events, all of which will be broadcasted from the IAIA Campus.

If you could not “attend” in 2020, visit the Virtual Open House page to view over 40 presentations.

IAIA Alumna Vivian Carroll (Cherokee) ’20 hasn’t been idle during the past year. Her play, Dust and Disobedience, is one of five short plays that will be presented through video-on-demand from August 13–22. Native American Voices is produced by The Adobe Theater in association with Two Worlds. Also, she will be appearing in one of the Native American Voices’ plays, Breakfast Brunch.

The Spring issue of Yellow Medicine Review contains three of her poems. A sonnet, Squeezing Out Truth, won second place in Oprelle publication’s poetry contest and will be featured in their anthology, Rise Up. Additionally, her essay will appear in Nonwhite and Woman, an anthology of micro-essays, in Spring 2022 by Woodhall Press.

The following contains information about recent happenings and news within the IAIA community.

Upcoming and ongoing Happenings at IAIA and MoCNA.

Current and upcoming Exhibitions at MoCNA.

Additionally, you can view the IAIA Community Calendar, which includes community-only happenings, as well as important dates from the Academic Calendar. (IAIA Community: If you would like to subscribe to the IAIA Community Calendar, please send a request to jason.ordaz@iaia.edu.)

For questions, comments, or feedback, please contact IAIA Interim Director of Marketing and Communications Jason S. Ordaz at jason.ordaz@iaia.edu. All photographs by Jason S. Ordaz, unless otherwise noted.

Offering undergraduate degrees in Studio Arts, Creative Writing, Cinematic Arts and Technology, Indigenous Liberal Studies, Museum Studies, and Performing Arts, MFAs in Creative Writing and Studio Arts, along with certificates in Broadcast Journalism, Business and Entrepreneurship, Museum Studies, and Native American Art History. The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is the only college in the nation dedicated to the study of contemporary Native arts. The school serves approximately 500 full-time equivalent (FTE) Native and non-Native American college students from across the globe. IAIA is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.