For millennia before American settlers came to the Great Plains, Indigenous people gathered in Kansas as a central meeting place. Remembering this practice, Stories from the Land: Indigenous Voices Connecting Within the Great Plains brings together the voices of thirteen Native American scholars for a three‐day symposium centered around the themes of cultural objects, the environment, and regionalism.
The events kick off in Salina with the Smoky Hill Museum’s First Thursday at 5:30 pm March 7 and will be held in the First United Methodist Church, 122 N. 8th Street, Salina, KS across the street from the museum. This free event includes National Endowment of the Arts fellow Kelly Church discussing
Anishinabeg art (Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin) and editor of First American Art Magazine publisher America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) discussing Great Plains Native American art.
Smoky Hill Museum Education Coordinator Nona Miller and artist Kelly Church joined in the KSAL Morning News Thursday to detail some of the events coming up and share about her story.
On Friday, March 8, symposium discussions will be held at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg. Participants will enjoy hearing presentations centered around the topic of art, the environment, and regionalism from Norman Akers (Osage/Pawnee), Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation), Kelly Church (Ottawa/Pottawatomie), Chase Kahwinhut Earles (Caddo), Anita Fields
(Osage/Muscogee), Alicia Harris (Assiniboine), Matt Jarvis (Osage), Melissa Melero‐Moose (Northern Paiute/Modoc), America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Tony Tiger (Muscogee/ Seminole/Sac & Fox), Jodi Webster (Ho‐Chunk/Potawatomi), Micah Wesley (Muscogee/Kiowa), and Dr. Daniel Wildcat (Yuchee/ Muscogee).
A reception for the corresponding Stories from the Land: Indigenous Voices Connecting Within the Great Plains exhibition continues at the Mingenback Art Gallery at Bethany College and the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in conjunction with Lindsborg’s Maker’s Street Art Walk on Friday, March 8 from 5:00‐8:00. And on Saturday, March 9 from 10:30a‐12noon, an artist talk will be held at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.
All events and activities associated with the symposium are free and open to the public. These events are made possible with generous support from Humanities Kansas, the Lindsborg Arts Council, and First American Art Magazine. Views expressed in the Stories from the Land Exhibition and during the Stories from the Land symposium are not necessarily those of Humanities Kansas or the Lindsborg Arts Council.
