CONTEMPORARY
Celebrating, supporting, and magnifying
the voices of groundbreaking Native
contemporary artists.
Supporting Native Contemporary
Artists
Each Fellowship, the Eiteljorg Museum honors a selection of fellowship artists (Fellows) and an invited artist for their contributions to the world of Native contemporary art. Support includes: monetary grants, purchasing art for the permanent collection, and sharing their art and stories worldwide.
Expanding Contemporary Native Art
Impact
Each Fellowship builds on 20+ years of
increasing awareness and appreciation for
Native contemporary art.
Facilitating Powerful
Conversations
Conversations are the foundation for impactful contemporary art, and the need for them is forever great. Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship serves as a platform for examining and challenging our contemporary world through art.
Introducing the
2021 Fellowship
Shifting Boundaries
The boundaries of Native art, particularly contemporary Native art, are shifting. This shifting, like tectonic plates, is exciting to experience because like the forces of Earth, Native art is an energy. This energy is growing, bold and free from confinement. Contemporary Native art does not ignore its origins nor does it exclude. The artists in the 2021 Fellowship epitomize this dynamic shift, taking their mediums beyond a 180 degree -turn, taking them past any boundaries.
Anita Fields
Osage/Muscogee
(Invited Artist)
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Sonny Assu
Ligwilda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations
Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada
Catherine Blackburn
English River Dene First Nation
Thornhill, British Columbia, Canada
Athena Latocha
Húŋkpapȟa Lakota/Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe
Peekskill, N.Y.
Steven Yazzie
Diné/Laguna Pueblo
Denver, Colorado
Hear their voices:
Watch the film
In 2017 Eiteljorg chose to reflect on the 20 past years of Contemporary Art Fellowships. Native Art Now! (A Retrospective) highlighted nearly 40 works by past Fellows. In this documentary film, hear their stories to better understand the impact and exploration of past and present Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowships.
“What I want people to take away from my work is a sense of humanity. I want people to recognize that Native people are human beings and our history is everybody’s history.”
– Wendy Red Star (Crow, b. 1981)