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Current
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Kennedy Museum of Art Hosts Renowned Native
American Artist/Activist
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ATHENS,
Ohio – Native American artist and activist
Charlene Teters, members of Ohio University’s
Native Peoples Awareness Coalition student
organization, and other local Native American
activists were treated to a special viewing
of the Kennedy Museum of Art’s (KMA)
exhibitions on Easter Sunday. The visit was
part of Teters’ scheduled appearance
to Ohio University where she spoke about racism
in her lecture, “Racism, Mascots and
native Americans” at Baker Center.
Teters is the Hugh O. La Bounty Chair in the
Department of Interdisciplinary Applied Knowledge
at California State Polytechnic University
in Pomona, California. She is a member of
the Spokane Nation who regularly speaks out
about Native American stereotypes used in
the media and in sports. Teters is also a
graduate of the Institute of American Indian
Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has
gained regional recognition for her artwork
which includes multimedia installations that
focuses on stereotypes of Indian people in
pop culture and media. Teters has exhibited
her work in the U.S. and internationally.
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Charlene
Teters |
“This
exhibition shows living artists using the
same traditional techniques but with a modern
edge,” she says, referring to a pictorial
weaving that portrays current everyday life
on the reservation and at trading posts and
also to a traditional pottery bowl with a
current scene etched into it. “When
museums show items made far in the past, it’s
as if Native Americans fell off the face of
the earth,” Teters says. “In many
ways, this exhibition brings Native Americans
to the present and humanizes the culture.”
Exhibitions like “Talking Back”
also helps to create dialogue where one might
not have existed, Teters says.
“The fact that ‘Talking Back’
was a student-curated exhibition tells me
that it created dialogue with in the classroom
about Native American stereotypes and that
this institution supports the purpose of that
dialogue. We certainly want to create dialogue
about the issue of Native American stereotypes
in any community, especially ones that might
be resistant to change,” Teters says.
Visit Teters’ website at www.charleneteters.com
for more information about her activism and
artwork. |
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