By Brita Brookes, Michigan freelance writer

It isn’t often that we see a show of artworks by all Native American Women in a gallery that does not solely specialize in Native Art, but at Chicago’s Beacon Street gallery it is a reality. “Intrigue and Novelty” highlights the work of 7 contemporary Native American women artists, each of whom is a strong force in the Native Art scene. The show opened to a large crowd of art lovers on Friday, October 9, 2009 and is showing until December 18, 2009.

Co-Director of Beacon Street Gallery, Patricia Murphy explained that “this is the 10th year for the gallery to have a show that is all Native American artists. This year’s show really allows Native American women to speak for themselves, something that a lot of the gallery market does not provide for; that of featuring all women artists and that of women of color. Approximately 80-90 % of national art galleries feature mostly white male artists.” Most of the artists in this year’s exhibit are women alumni or faculty of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The artists in the show include Christine Caluya, Amber Gunn Gauthier, Nadya Kwandibens, Linda Lomahaftewa, America Meredith, Rose B. Simpson, and Debra Yepa-Pappan. The artworks range in all mediums and present a diverse exploration of the balance between traditional backgrounds and customs and that of modern pop culture. The shows title was derived from these experiences in which the theme of “intrigue” is drawn from the fascination of Native ceremonies and artifacts by non-natives and the “novelty” theme being derived from today’s modern instant culture.

Curated by Native Artist, Debra Yepa-Pappan, the women were selected by Debra to represent a wide cross section of women artists. Interestingly enough, the use and benefit of social networking like Facebook and MySpace became a recurring theme when interviewing the artists. “When I was asked to curate the show, I reached out to the artist community through my established connections to Native American artists on Facebook and MySpace. I gathered a great range of women artists who were living in places like Santa Fe, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and here in Chicago,” says Debra when asking her how she found so many artists so quickly.

Ontario monotype print artist Christine Caluya met Debra for the first time at the artists opening and had established a connection to Debra on Facebook after sharing her portfolio and artists statement. “It was great to finally meet Debra and her family in person,” stated Christine and “now I can continue to grow the artist relationship and I’m motivated to work on a new collection of works.” Christine’s monotype “They Sing Together” which evokes a childhood memory from being at Pow Wows with her father is in the show as well as 3 other prints.

Linda Lomahaftewa, a Hopi and Choctaw artist from Santa Fe knew Debra from the Institute of American Arts in New Mexico. Linda’s work at the show includes 4 monotype prints. Two of Linda’s monotypes show a series of spirals and circles in brown tones and have a dreamlike quality. “These were a result of my travels in Northern England with a women’s artist group. We visited a series of sacred sites while there and many of them were stone circle formations,” explains Linda. “The landscapes with these formations were powerful like a magnet; the energy gave me a good feeling.” In addition to her travels in England, Linda also has explored Choctaw storytelling. Linda’s 2 other monotypes entitled “Tanchi” show her interpretation of the Choctaw “Corn Story.”

The opening reception included a wide range of people and included DePaul University Associate Professor, Laura Kina who thought the show was a great example of how to deal with the current art gallery male based demographic. “If the world won’t give you a chance to shine, make your own show and look out for your sisters,” stated Laura.

Artist America Meredith’s paintings represent a mix of modern icons like that of the logo for the popular music group The Ramones while also showing more traditional items in her pieces. Swedish and Cherokee, America’s painting are a playful and a juxtaposed representation of two worlds with many images being memories from childhood like that of fixing her bicycle.

Amber Gunn Gauthier’s paintings evoked strong almost sci-fi imagery and included an incredible self portrait entitled “Self-fulfilling Portrait” which featured the artist dressed in forms of traditional regalia, some clearly male items, with a crow and a shield. Ho-Chunk/Menominee, Amber calls herself “Dark Amber” a Gothic Native American model.

Toronto photographer Nadya Kwandibens who is Ojibwe and French, of Red Works Studio, exhibits her photographs from her “Concrete Indian” series in which there are black and white compositions of Native American models and people that appear in Urban Scenes. The shots are created in such a way that it makes the viewer question whether or not the image is posed or is a naturally candid event. The viewer begins to question the context of living in the city as a Native in general.

Rose B. Simpson’s sculpture piece entitled “Dependency” shows a small ceramic figure almost like a baby hanging from a leather rope over a series of pillows all hand painted with things in life we depend on. Arranged in the corner of the gallery, the piece causes one to look and to be concerned that the small baby figure will fall onto the floor and break.

Curator Debra Yepa-Pappan who is Jemez Pueblo and Korean, creates a variety of artworks that explore her identity as Asian and Native American. Debra’s digital artwork entitled “Live long and prosper (Spock was a half-breed)” shows a young woman in regalia in front of a tipi making the Spock salute with her hand and the Star Trek Enterprise flying in space in the background. Debra’s pieces are often both humorous and serious at the same time. The combination of stark images of traditional experience meshed with modern stereotypes forces the viewer to relate the Native experience of racism and being categorized involuntarily.

“Intrigue and Novelty” is a great example of the power of self-determination and the positive use of the cyber community to empower women artists of color in a common light. The action and collaborative spirit of this cyber family is refreshing to see. Seeing the computer used to lift each other upwards versus the opposite, which sadly has been popular in artist and Native American circles, has reaped rewards no one person could have done alone. Congratulations to the Co-directors of Beacon Street gallery, Patricia Murphy and Susan Field, to curator Debra Yepa-Pappan and all the women artists. Well done! (And I’m not talking about steak, thought I’d inject some humor.)

“Intrigue and Novelty” closes at the Beacon Street Gallery on December 18, 2009 and there is a closing reception on December 4th, 2009. The artworks then move onwards to the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures April 1 – June 30, 2010

Information on this show can be found at the following link: http://www.aurora.edu/museum/schedule.html

After June 30th, 2010, the artworks will be featured at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian. This show is tentatively planned for either the third or fourth quarter of 2010.

For a link to Debra’s page please see: http://www.myspace.com/urbanindengrl.

For a link to Beacon Street gallery please see the following link: http://www.beaconstreetgallery.org