Native American Artist and Designer Ramona Sakiestewa to Give Public Talk at U.Va. on April 12

April 3, 2007 -- Featured in the "Collecting Heritage" exhibit of Native American Art at the U.Va. Art Museum, Ramona Sakiestewa, who is well known in the contemporary art world for her remarkable tapestry weavings and works on paper, will give an illustrated talk on Thursday, April 12, at 6 p.m. in Campbell Hall, room 160.

Her talk will include, but not be limited to, the trajectory of her career, the inspirations for her artwork — including the historic trails of the Southwest, the National Monuments in New Mexico and Arizona and the ancient cultures that inhabited those places — as well as her role as a woman and a native Hopi artist and designer.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the McIntire Department of Art's Arts Administration Course, and co-sponsored by the U.Va. Art Museum, the Women’s Center and the Native American Law Students Association.

One of the most influential Native American artists, Sakiestewa was born of Hopi ancestry and raised in the American Southwest. Her work has been positioned in a significant cultural and historical context as she has influenced state arts policy as a former chair of the New Mexico Arts Commission. She has written and lectured extensively about weaving, shown her work in solo exhibitions at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Sante Fe and the Newark Museum in New Jersey, and received numerous awards at the annual Santa Fe Indian Market. She has also been commissioned to weave the work of other artists including Frank Lloyd Wright and Kenneth Noland.

From 1994 to 2005 she served as a design consultant working to build the National Mall facility of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. She mentored the development team for the master planning of "Our Universes," one of three major permanent gallery themes for that institution. In addition to the National Museum of the American Indian, Sakiestewa's public art and design projects include the Tempe Center for the Performing Arts, Tempe, Ariz.; the America West Heritage Center, Wellsville, Utah; the Chickasaw Cultural Center, Sulphur, Okla.; "Enchanted Skies Park," a public observatory and astronomy center sponsored by the University of New Mexico; and Marriott Hotels in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, Calif.

Sakiestewa has lived and worked in New York City, Mexico City, Peru, Japan and China, and currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For more information contact George W. Sampson, project director, at (434) 924-7307, gws6n@virginia.edu; or Loree Spriggs, student director at (703) 851-235 or lbs5q@virginia.edu.

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