A recently installed gallery of southwestern Indigenous art at SLAM features a watercolor by Tonita Peña (Pueblo of San Ildefonso, 1893–1949). Alexander Marr, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Native American Art, will explore Peña’s art and her role in histories of Native American modernism. The sole woman among the first Native easel … Continued

Join Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art, and artist Norman Akers (citizen Osage Nation) in discussion to introduce the exhibition Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration.  Akers explores issues of identity and culture, including Osage myths, place, and the dynamics of personal and cultural transformation as a Native American artist. He will discuss his … Continued

The annual Donald Danforth Jr. Lecture on Native American Art will be given by Joe D. Horse Capture, vice president of Native collections and the Ahmanson Curator of Native American History and Culture at the Autry Museum of the American West The relationship between Native communities and museums has been a challenging one for decades. … Continued

Join Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art, to explore works of art included in the first section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk will introduce how the confluence of the three most powerful rivers in North America—the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio—and the major trade and migration routes have profoundly … Continued

Join Amy Torbert, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of American Art, to view works of art included in the second section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk will present the surprising variety of works of art created, collected, and exhibited in the St. Louis area during the 19th and early … Continued

For more than 50 years artist Oliver Lee Jackson has created complex and layered images in which figurative elements emerge from abstract fields of vibrant color. Twelve of Jackson’s paintings, drawings, and prints are currently on view at SLAM. The exhibition traces Jackson’s aesthetic evolution and demonstrates his significance as a highly experimental artist working … Continued

Join Amy Torbert, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of American Art, to consider works of art included in the third section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk will explore the commercial objects designed and created by the dynamic communities of makers in the confluence region. For millennia artists, designers, and … Continued

Join Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art, to encounter works of art included in the fourth section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk brings together objects created by regional artists in the 20th century who sought the camaraderie of like-minded makers. Whether united by artistic styles or social views, and whether … Continued

To the Western eye, geometric patterns of repeating triangles or lozenges have little meaning. In this program Cory Willmott, professor of cultural anthropology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, will take us on a journey through the spiritual cosmos in Anishinaabe art and reveal its significant symbolism in the geometric motifs woven into textiles in the exhibition Woodlands: Native American Art from St. … Continued