Students curate exhibit in Oscar Howe Gallery

Paintings in the Oscar Howe Gallery serve as a window into the Native American way of life.

“Red Road” features the traditions, ceremonies, dances, rituals, games and day-to-day events of Native Americans.

Senior Rayna Hernandez, who is majoring in English and painting, and graduate student Isaac YellowBank, studying kinesiology, shared their original research as part of their Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellowship in an exhibition of the renowned native modern painter and Professor Emeritus, Oscar Howe. Howe’s works are currently on display in the Oscar Howe Gallery in Old Main room 116.

Hernandez and YellowBank spent the past spring semester working directly with the paintings of Yanktonai Dakota artist Howe, learning about his style, his painting process and his creative history. I enjoyed working next to them on their curatorial path, as they researched and discussed the stories illustrated within the paintings.

Each of us brings our own experiences and knowledge to a work of art, and sharing discussions of these meanings lends to a broader understanding of arts and cultures and a strengthening of community.

The University Art Galleries has a long history of support and celebration of Howe’s life and artwork and strives to continue to promote and provide positive experiences and educational opportunities for University of South Dakota students and the surrounding community.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture. Emil Her Many Horses, curator in the office of Museum Research at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute, was the guest lecturer. His lecture was followed with a drum circle led by Wayne Evans and the Oyate Drummers and a reception for the exhibit “Moments on the Red Road.”

Inge Dawn (Howe) Maresh, the daughter of Howe, was also a guest for the evening, and during the reception she and Hernandez met, which for me was an affirming moment. I, along with several others, listened as Maresh spoke about her father, and Hernandez shared her research experience as one of the first Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellows.

For more information about the Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellowships, Contemporary Native arts Program at the USD, contact the Univertisty Art Galleries interim Director, Michelle St. Vrain at [email protected] or 605-677-3177.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. for the remainder of the semester.