Frank Juárez
I was first introduced to the work of Dyani White Hawk by SchoolArts Magazine editor Nancy Walkup. This introduction led to writing an article in 2020 about White Hawk’s work through the lens of an art educator. Since then, I have been following her career via social media. In 2020 she contributed to the design of a 3-story mural by Shepard Fairey titled, Voting Rights Are Human Rights, in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2022 she was selected to participate in the Whitney Biennial in New York. Hopefully, one day we will meet in person. In the meantime, I am pleased to reconnect with White Hawk and to share her work with you.
White Hawk writes, “As a woman of Sičangu Lakota and European American ancestry, I was raised within Native and urban American communities. I strive to create honest, inclusive works that draw from the breadth of my life experiences, Native and non-Native, urban, academic, and cultural education systems. This allows me to start from center, deepening my own understanding of the intricacies of self and culture, correlations between personal and national history, and Indigenous and mainstream art histories” (Juarez. Frank. “A Conversation with Dyani White Hawk”. SchoolArts Magazine. April 2020. Pages 26-29).
Dyani White Hawk (b. 1976, Sičáŋǧu Lakota) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her practice, strongly rooted in painting and beadwork, extends into sculpture, installation, video, and performance, reflecting upon cross-cultural experiences through the amalgamation of influences from Lakota and Euro/American abstraction. White Hawk was featured in the 2022 Whitney Biennial and recent solo exhibitions, Speaking to Relatives, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
She has received awards from Anonymous Was a Woman, Academy of Arts and Letters, United States Artists, Joan Mitchell Foundation, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Her work is among many public and private collections such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is represented by Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis and VSF Gallery in Los Angeles.
96 x 108 in. Acrylic, glass bugle beads, synthetic sinew on aluminum panel, 2022.
48 x 48 in. Acrylic, rhinestone chain, thread on canvas, 2023.
84 x 120 in. Acrylic on canvas, 2020.
48 x 36 in. Acrylic, smoked buckskin, vintage beads, porcupine quills, thread on canvas, 2017.
96 x 108 in. Acrylic, glass bugle beads, synthetic sinew on aluminum panel, 2022.
Visit dyaniwhitehawk.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at @dwhitehawk.
In this issue we introduce you to:
art: Dyani White Hawk, Waves for Change: A Madison Public Art Project, Moody the Zine, Sahr Ngekia, Jaymee Harvey Willms, Alayna Pernell, and Crit Connection.
art venues: The Art Preserve at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Cedarburg Art Museum, James May Gallery, James Watrous Gallery, Levee Contemporary, newARTspace, Rahr-West Art Museum, Rochester Art Center, Rountree Gallery, Task Creative, and Two Fish Gallery and Sculpture Garden.
our growing artist directory includes: Vol 35 – Phyllis Banker, Deborah Brooks, Tim Darnell, Terri Field, Kristine Hinrichs, Jayne Reid Jackson, Korb Pottery: Frank and Julie Korb, Linda Marcus, Dennis Ninmer, Lauren Marie Nitka, Denise Presnell, Dennis Robert, Katherine Steichen Rosing, Scorpio Encaustics, Carol and Roy Toepke, Kathy Weaver, Ashley Wittling, and Sara Willadsen.