Native American Artists 3: Let's Get Physical: James Luna and Jeffery Gibson.

Native Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Indians. These terms we've applied to those who connect ancestrally to the Americas since before 1492. These people have been attacked, beaten, killed, forced on to specifically inhospitable land, we stripped of their culture, and yet they persevere. During the 1950s-and 1960s civil rights movements, they fought alongside African, Asian, and Latino American's for recognition as a group of people. 

Students will learn about some of the Indigenous artists creating in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through a combination of lecture and discussion, students will learn about these artists, see some of their art, and practice looking for symbols and details.

James Luna was a Payomkawichum, Ipi, and Mexcian American artist who is remembered best for his installation and performance art. Themes of multiculturalism and colonialism are reoccurring as he built an entire exhibition looking at his life through the eyes of an anthropologist. Artifact Piece (1987/1990) he laid in a display case surrounded by personal effects allowing people to look down on labels pointing out scars and evidence of his very personal history. Take a Picture With A Real Indian (1991-93) likely his best-known performance. He asked visitors in DC to take a photo with a "real Indian" on Columbus Day presenting himself as cardboard cutouts. 

Gibson is a Mississippi Choctaw-Cherokee painter and sculptor who trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and questioned why Indigenous artists weren't recognized in his art history classes. His military childhood leads him to have many cultural perspectives that reflect in his art. Most well known are his beaded punching bags which combine a common native material and patterns with an American item that represents fighting, dedication, training, and strength.