Akwesasne art makes NH debut
Margaret Jacobs’ family exercises silence with a keen sensibility that there is no weight in long pauses.
I am sitting at Elly and Mark Jacobs’ house devouring the classic American fare in Akwesasne, a sovereign Mohawk nation, located on the border of the U.S. and Canada.
I am uncomfortable in the silence and thinking to myself, “Please don’t say anything stupid. Don’t ask about Thanksgiving. Don’t talk about ‘Reservation Dogs.’”
My name is Yaz, as many people call me, and I am on a mission to befriend Jacobs in order to foster a relationship to establish a continuous art exhibition that communicates with exhibitions nationwide, something on the beat of the pulse of the nation.
After a year, we will have conceived and birthed the show called “Echoes and Shifts,” an international Indigenous exhibition hosted on two sites in Manchester (at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce) and Nashua (at Positive Street Art), encompassing a throughline of identity in artists who grapple with the duality of multiple nationhood and disrupted genealogies.
The other artists involved in this endeavor actively challenge stereotypes within the narrative of contemporary Native art, pushing the boundaries in their field and offering a multiplicity of voices, perspectives and narratives which broaden the understanding of contemporary Native art.
With this exhibition, “Echoes and Shifts” aims to challenge dominant discourses around Indigenous art and creative practice in New England. Jacobs, myself and the crew at Positive Street Art believe this exhibition will help to break stereotypes and misconceptions about Native peoples and share accurate and authentic narratives.
At the dining table at Mark and Elly’s house, I’m trying not to inhale the food too quickly, but Elly has the ability to speak to my love language which happens to be my palate.
Subtle and Strong by Margaret Jacobs. (Courtesy of GBH Photography)
Jacobs is their daughter and a Haudenosaunee metalsmith. She tells stories through sculptures and jewelry, keeping alive the practices of the visual traditions of her people while innovating metalsmithing techniques pioneered by the Haudenosaunee (Mohawks) as early as the 1880s. These skills were integral in building the financial capital of America, New York City.
Jacobs says her artistic practice “concentrates on creating art objects that highlight botanicals and relationship objects — items that hold cultural, personal and familial importance — as a way to have conversations around utility objects, historical and cultural narrative, materiality and value systems as humans.”
To speak truth, the metal work, when I first encountered it, was elegant yet terrifyingly brutal. It was natural in the symbolism, yet was made of iron. I did not have the context of the work, but knew that there was something in it all I wanted to showcase; Jacobs was up to something and I wanted everything to do with it.
The Nitty Gritty
As the curatorial and special projects coordinator at Positive Street Art, I have been working with Jacobs on this real-life representation of Indigenous works mostly in the vein of the Haudenosaunee, for over a year and a half.
Cecilia Ulibarri and Manuel Ramirez are the co-founders of Positive Street Art, an organization dedicated to building stronger communities through educational workshops, placemaking endeavors and beautification of the urban landscape with the visual expressions of New Hampshire’s overlooked and under-resourced communities.
Katrina Brown Akootchook, Roots
Amid the need for a venue change, I asked if PSA would host the Akwesasne exhibition, Ulibarri paused for what seemed like massive swaths of time before saying, “I was wondering when you were gonna reach out.”
Sponsorships and grants associated with the earlier venue were lost with the shifted location. Prospects were looking less than fortuitous.
But no one has ever assumed a child of exiles, a child of the First Nations People and a single mother who started her career out of transitional housing with two children could ever be held down. This would not stop Jacobs either. These types of misfortunes are par for the course in the careers of artists and curators who are working-class people of color.
Ulibarri and I called Jacobs after the exchange, exclaiming that the show still has a home! And one for future years to establish the reality of Indigenous voices in the Granite State.
Old Growth Series: Blueberry by Margaret Jacobs. (Courtesy of PhillipsX)
When Jacobs and I linked up on the phone or in person, the parallels and shared tribulations sauntered us into a fast kinship. I asked her why she left New Hampshire.
“I hit the glass ceiling, and there was no place else to grow and achieve my potential,” Jacobs said.
I sent silent acknowledgements, like a quiet prayer, to the people and organizations who stood up and helped shift this programming over to PSA and keep the momentum alive when I had reached similar heights.
In this new reality of New Hampshire, with a growing number of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) organizations and companies, the people stood alongside programming and exhibitions like this.
The second time Jacobs and I got together was at her homestead in Central New York. This space was fascinating in that it was an incredibly working-class, predominantly white community, with smatterings of transplant artists and art connoisseurs who had made their career fortunes in other fields in Boston, Chicago or Manhattan and began twilight careers in the arts in rural regions of the country.
Jacobs shares her home with Justin O’Rourke and handfuls of chickens. They have what looks like a post-apocalyptic scrapyard with studios made out of cargo shipping containers and myriads of tools for the chemical and physical mutilation of metals. Walking through the sculptures and gorgeous old-school cars, one begins to get a sense of the organization and method in all the production which takes place throughout the homestead.
During this trip, friends and I stacked wood for the couple, finishing a task which could have taken weeks in the span of hours. Thus, the friendship was immortalized in the strange transactions that exist due to social etiquette and norms. After this episode, the tumultuous journey of curating an exhibition through such uncertain terrain became the show which would take place without a shadow of doubt.
Taking shape
Ulibarri, Jacobs and I fused our networks and talents to ensure firm footing in this year’s first exhibition of “Echoes and Shifts.” Thus far, we have secure finances through the generous private donations of New Hampshire artists and curators and nonprofits which provide grants to organizations and peoples who bring unique enrichment activities to underserved populations. We have submitted for grants and continue to do so.
George Longfish, In Search of the Supreme Buffalo Burger
The immense talents from Akwesasne and artists therein will participate in this year’s show because they believe in Jacobs and her work. Longtime mentor and friend George Longfish will lend his work, though the man’s caliber is that of the Smithsonian and his work has been in some of the biggest museums nationwide. Due to familial relations and a belief in this project, he deigns to be shown again with Jacobs.
Some of the other talents New England can look forward to seeing at this year’s show are as follows:
Carrie Hill
Akwesasne Mohawk
Carrie Hill is a Haudenosaunee woman from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory and owner of Chill Baskets. In 2014, she left her position at the Mohawk School in Hogansburg, New York, to pursue basket-making full time. The tradition of weaving Black Ash Splints and Sweetgrass goes back many generations of Hill’s family, and her first teacher was her aunt. Weaving felt natural to her and she fell in love with the entire process — she was soon creating her own unique pieces. Her work has been sent all over the world including an entire collection representing the Haudenosaunee People for the U.S. Embassy in Swaziland, Africa.
Ansley Hill
Akwesasne Mohawk
Ansley Hill is an emerging artist, student and youth leader. She comes from a creative family and has been making work since she was young. She has shown her work in exhibitions such as the Akwesasne Art and Juried Market as well as the Heard Market in Phoenix, Arizona.
George Longfish
Seneca/Tuscarora
George Longfish began his career in Chicago working at the first all Native American high school in the country. As an art teacher, Longfish described the beginnings of his educational career as taking “everything (he) learned and passing it on” to the students. Fighting against spaces disinterested in engaging Indigenous art, his first true foray into academia was at the University of Montana the following school year.
Immediately stepping into an administrative role, Longfish pioneered a program that traveled the country exposing students of the Indigenous art program to various styles of American Indigenous work. With just three weeks’ notice to the beginning of the following school year, he was contacted by UC Davis in 1976 to establish an Indigenous art curriculum from the ground up once again. Longfish created the school’s Native American Art Studies program and began a 30-year career there. He continued to pursue creative ventures and exhibitions all over North America.
Marjorie Skidders, My Ancestors are Strong
Marjorie Kaniehtonkie Skidders
Akwesasne Mohawk
Marjorie Kaniehtonkie Skidders has a career which spans multiple fields and now she sits at the intersection of all these life’s work. She has a bachelor’s degree in art and has created a decades-long career in education as a teacher, director Indigenous content curriculum writer and a school principal. Her work captures moments in the vivacity of tradition and performance in the Indigenous world. The photographs are almost cinematic in their placeness and color scheme.
Katrina Brown Akootchook
Oneida Nation of the Thames
Katrina Brown Akootchook is an artist and educator who works with beads and printmaking and design. Carrying intergenerational teachings, she innovates and melds with contemporary making and interjects humor and the decolonized perspective into each relic she renders. Often her work speaks to this perspective and the rights and autonomy of youth and young adults.
Saltbottle, made of corn husk, corn kernels and fermented corn plastic, by Erin Lee Antonak. (Courtesy of the artist)
Erin Lee Antonak
Oneida
Erin Lee Antonak is an artist and curator. A graduate of Bard and SUNY New Paltz, she has curated shows all across North America, Europe and Asia. She has also been the board chair of the Indigenous Women’s Voices Summit. She blends the traditional craft-making of the Iroquois with a bold and humorous sensibility, bringing these relics to a duality of placeness and leaving the viewer in an entirely new universe.
There are still opportunities to support programming and exhibition costs. Please contact yasamin@positivestreetart.org for details, and don’t forget to check out the show openings in June!
This article is featured in the spring-summer 2024 issue of 603 Diversity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.
