Event Type : Special Exhibitions

Since 2010, Maryhill Museum’s collection of contemporary Indigenous art has greatly expanded. The museum is now home to more than 60 works by regional artists that include Rick Bartow (Wiyot), Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama), and Joe Feddersen (Okanagan and Arrow Lakes). Diné (Navajo) artists Shonto Begay, Marwin Begaye, and Will Wilson are also represented in the collection, as are Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Merlin Little Thunder (Southern Cheyenne). Northwest/Southwest draws on this work and select loans from public and private collections to present an overview of some of the diverse expressions that have been produced in the Indigenous community during the last four decades.

Image: Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco/Tlingit, b. 1939), Sally’s Hidden Secret, 1999, cotton and chenille yarn, beads and denim rim, 6” x 5”; Museum purchase with funds provided by Wildhorse Casino and Resort, 2017.7.3

Turquoise has been known for centuries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and throughout the ancient world. In the Western Hemisphere, the Aztecs utilized quantities of it, and, in the American Southwest, Indigenous peoples have worked with turquoise for more than a millennium. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Diné (Navajo) and Pueblo artists began creating jewelry combining turquoise stones with silver settings — work that is now synonymous with Southwestern artistic expression. Maryhill’s 2022 exhibition of silver and turquoise jewelry features late 20th-century examples drawn from private collections.

Image: Left: Unknown Diné (Navajo) maker, Silver and turquoise bracelet, c. 1980, 4½” x 4” x 2½”; Right: Tommy Singer (Diné [Navajo], 1940–2014), Silver and turquoise bracelet, c. 2000, 2½” x 2¼” x 2”; Private collection