Four artists of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are among Indigenous artists featured in a new exhibit at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The exhibit is entitled “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art” and will be on display at the McClung for the next three years. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Four artists of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are among Indigenous artists featured in a new exhibit at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The exhibit is entitled “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art” and will be on display at the McClung for the next three years.
“It was agreed upon by all of us (at McClung) that this needed to be a collaborative exhibition with Native nations with ties to Knox County,” said Sadie Counts, McClung curator of Indigenous Collections and assistant curator of exhibitions. “Everything in the exhibition was driven by our Native partners. We approached them and said, ‘The idea is about mounds. What do you want to see in this space?’ And, they wanted to see contemporary artwork, which I was very excited about.”
Counts noted that the exhibit doesn’t include any photos of mounds as requested by the tribal partners.
The exhibit features artists from the EBCI, the Cherokee Nation (Okla.), the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (Okla.). The EBCI portion of the exhibit was co-curated by Dakota Brown, Museum of the Cherokee People director, and Miranda Panther, EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office NAGPRA officer.
The four EBCI artists featured in the exhibit include John Henry Gloyne, Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Atsei Cooper, and Aaron Lambert.
John Henry Gloyne’s 4’ x 7.5’ acrylic painting entitled “Birthright: A Vision into the Plight of Southeastern Indigenous Culture Through the Eyes of Guernica”
Gloyne has a 4’ x 7.5’ acrylic painting on display entitled “Birthright: A Vision into the Plight of Southeastern Indigenous Culture Through the Eyes of Guernica”. In his artist statement on the piece, Gloyne states, “My remix of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ depicts the horrors of colonialism and mound desecration from a Cherokee perspective. Cherokee symbols replace Spanish ones, from the fallen warrior’s topknot hairstyle and war club to the buffalo, hunted out of existence in North Carolina after contact.”
He further stated, “A mound on fire is protected by a masked Medicine Man, holding the hearth flame in a fire pot. Pots, which were important to my Ancestors, have been found in mounds excavated by academics. Pots are an Indigenous person’s birthright to the land, made of the very earth they live upon and decorated with designs specific to their Tribe.”
Rhiannon Skye Tafoya’s woven screen-printed paper piece exhibited entitled “Womb No. 1”
Tafoya has a woven screen-printed paper piece exhibited entitled “Womb No. 1”. Of her piece, she states, “The mound is a matriarchal figure. She births my people and provides feminine roots to each entity or individual who encounters, listens, and co-exists with her. She is a womb, a mother who takes care of us by offering moments and teachings of inner peace and well-being. She provides a home and sustenance with her presence. She also replenishes us and reminds me how important vessels are, hence, the shape of the weaving. Throughout our existence, she has been hurt and taken advantage of as settlers have countlessly extracted and demolished her. The woven designs express the many relationships she has with us as Cherokee people and our natural world from the underground and upward to the sky. The pattern illustrates her energy and power that remain embodied within and around us.”
Cooper has a 24” x 48” acrylic painting on birch in the exhibit entitled “Private Property”. Of her piece, she states, “This painting is a meditation on the remains of our ancestors, our sacred sites, and our medicine objects, and how the concept of private property bars Indigenous communities from reclamation. Private property is a relatively new concept and was key in colonizing the Americas, and creating competition for the land and resources, which were considered communal. The title ‘Private Property’ juxtaposed with the powerful elements in this work is a critique of capitalist ideology.”
Atsei Cooper’s 24” x 48” acrylic painting on birch in the exhibit entitled “Private Property”
Lambert has a 36” x 24” oil on canvas exhibited entitled “Days Past”. Of his piece, he states, “Mounds were essential to the Cherokee People. They commonly supported townhouses – gathering places that held the central and sacred fire and helped reinforce the community as a whole. I painted a scene of a village with a mound at the center, and dwellings encircling it. The encompassing mountains are those you see in western North Carolina today. The nearby river symbolizes the sacredness of water to all life and the Cherokee. I hope viewers will marvel at the beauty and culture of my people and wonder what it was like for people living in that time and place.”
Counts said the only parameter they gave the artists was size. “We just let the artists do their thing. As the Museum, we purchased all of that artwork for our permanent collection so that it would have a home here at McClung moving forward and to show our commitment to contemporary Native American arts. We really wanted to center Native voices in this space and be clear that this was words coming from our co-curators, not coming from us as the Museum. Each label was written by the artists themselves so they could be the ones to interpret their piece rather than having me interpreting their pieces. And, we made sure to include photos (of the artists), too, because I really wanted it to be clear that all of the artwork you’re seeing is by living, contemporary people.”
The EBCI’s exhibit has a statement provided by Brown and Panther entitled “Mounds are the Center” that states in part, “For Cherokee people, mounds can be many different things, but they are often a symbol of our community makeup. A physical representation of the center of a community, mounds are affirmation of known cultural knowledge and offer clues to traditional knowledge that has been dormant. More than a place, mounds tell us the story of a community full of life – where children grew up, ceremonies were held, and decisions were made…they are the physical embodiment of the Cherokee connection to our ancestral homelands.”
Panther commented, “The Homelands exhibition was a multi-year project that we started working on in January 2022. I was honored to represent the EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) as a co-curator for the Homelands exhibition. This was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to work on an exhibition from the very beginning. Too often, the THPO is brought in near the end of a project and expected to rubber stamp it.
I thought the concept of using contemporary art created by tribal members was a thoughtful and creative way to connect to mounds in Tennessee and throughout the Southeast. It is a great way to highlight tribes, including the EBCI, who call the state of Tennessee home. For years we have been moving away from simply displaying objects found or looted from archaeological sites and instead focusing on incorporating tribal stories and perspectives told by tribes themselves. The exhibition is tribe focused and driven by tribes which has been a refreshing experience. It was a pleasure to partner with Dakota on this project as she has invaluable insight as both a tribal member and museum specialist. After working with McClung Museum and other University of Tennessee-Knoxville staff on the ‘Homelands’ exhibition, the bar has been set high for other museums on how to work and truly collaborate with tribes. I hope other museums will look to this exhibition as an example to aspire to. The pieces by the EBCI artists are stunning and all the pieces from the other tribal artists are unique and beautiful. The talent of the tribal artists featured is extraordinary.”
Aaron Lambert’s 36” x 24” oil on canvas in the entitled “Days Past”
Emily Reichard, McClung communications and annual giving professional, said the reception to the exhibit has been very positive. “I think people are excited to see a big change in this space…and, we’ve had a really high increase in classes that have asked for programming in this space. The day that we opened, we had one of the highest visitor counts that we’ve had in January ever. So, it’s exciting to see the interest.”
She added, “This exhibition is so different because there was no rubber-stamping of anything. Every single choice that was in this exhibition was approved and decided by the Native co-curators that were involved. So, it’s a different form for us, but every decision, every conversation was vetted. It was really cool.”
The other artists featured in the exhibit by tribe include: Cherokee Nation – Vivian Garner, Betty Frogg, Jane Osti, Lisa Rutherford; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana – Lucy Alfaro, Landon Daigle, Eli Langley, Loretta Williams; Muscogee (Creek) Nation – Johnni Diacon, Mary Smith, Dana Tiger, Jerome Tiger; and Starr Hardridge (Muscogee) was selected by the McClung.
The McClung is free to visitors. For more information, visit: https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu
