Art in Our Lives: Native Women Artists in Dialogue

Art in Our Lives is the culmination of three seminars at SAR's Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) that brought together Native women artists to discuss the balancing of their art practice with the myriad roles, responsibilities, and commitments they have. The first seminar took place in November 2007 when six Native women artists gathered to begin a project then titled Art, Gender, and Ceremony. Most of the invited artists were past IARC artist fellows: Gloria J. Emerson (Dine), Sherry Farrell Racette (Timiskaming First Nation), Erica Lord (Athabaskan/Inupiaq/Finnish/Swedish/English/Japanese), Felice Lucero (San Felipe Pueblo), Eliza Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Diane Reyna (Taos Pueblo/Ohkay Owingeh). The initial two-day meeting resulted in insightful, heartfelt, and difficult discussions regarding the role of these women as Native and Artist. Many of the same topics were revisited in February 2008 when the original six artists reconvened, inviting five additional women art