Critical Response: MN American Indian Contributions to the Visual Arts

Critical Response Protocol

1) What do you notice?

2) What does it remind you of?

3) How do you feel?

4) What questions does it raise?

5) Speculate

What do you notice?

What does it remind you of?

How do you feel?

What questions does it raise?

Speculate

Artist Statement

Three Quarter2003Mixed Media 28” x 36”Laura Youngbird

The themes in my work often originate from family experiences. ‘Three Quarter’ was inspired by a group show with a theme. I can’t say what it was anymore… perhaps, it was fractions or numbers or maybe even three quarters.  The image is from a photograph of my mother and her cousin. She is the chubby little baby.

I chose that particular image because of a conversation about blood quantum. My mother explained that she and her cousin had the same grandfather, but on one document it said he was three quarter and on the other he was full blood. So there are inconsistencies… However, because of that I am unable to enroll my children. A number decided upon by the government decides when and if you are Native…. Its function was deliberate and designed to eliminate the ‘Indian problem’.  

Laura YoungbirdLaura Youngbird is an artist and art educator. She earned her BS, BFA and MA from Minnesota State University at Moorhead with a minor in American Indian Studies. As an undergraduate she worked in the Archeology department as a lab and field assistant. She's an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa, Grand Portage Band. Laura currently lives in Breckenridge, Minnesota and teaches Art at Circle of Nations School in Wahpeton, North Dakota. The themes in her work originated from experiences her family and particularly her grandmother had while at boarding schools and issues that surrounded their assimilation into non-Indian culture. Laura also explores the influences of Christianity on American Indian spirituality and life views.

What do you notice?

What does it remind you of?

How do you feel?

What questions does it raise?

Speculate

Artist Statement

Continuance1995Mixed Media 32” x 40”Laura Youngbird

Gifts flow in and gifts flow out. I have experienced the revealing, healing and transforming power of art first-hand, as an artist and as an educator. When I painted this particular piece, I was working as an artist in residence, but had not committed to teaching as a profession… I often used the Medicine Wheel as a visual to illustrate basic ideas to the students or groups I worked with.

The Four Directions is a concept representing multiple ideas, it is multi layered, multi faceted and three dimensional. For example, there are the four races of mankind, four colors, four elements, four winds, four seasons and the four ages of mankind. The list goes on. The responsibilities that correspond with the four ages include; observation, learning, teaching and sharing history for future generations. It is the continuance of life from mother to child, to elder.  

What do you notice?

What does it remind you of?

How do you feel?

What questions does it raise?

Speculate

Artist Statement

No Face Girl2006Mixed Media 32” x 40”Laura Youngbird

My grandmother was born in 1921. She struggled with self-esteem. She scratched her face out of all of her photographs. She tried to fit in, but could not. At thirty five, she died from cirrhosis of the liver. ‘No Face Girl’ is from a series of works that explored the ‘Assimilation Policy’ enforced by the United States government.

The political climate has changed somewhat… but the stereotypes are deep rooted and the consequences continue to affect generations. The cycle is vicious. Many reservations struggle with poverty, violence and substance abuse, all across the United States. Some reservations have the same living conditions as third-world countries. Most people are unaware of the destitution and hopelessness that continues to exist within our nation.

Critical Response and Descriptive Review protocols have been developed through the Perpich Center’s Multicultural Voices Initiative and the Arts and Schools as Partners program. Go to the Perpich Center’s Artful Online resource for additional tools.

http://opd.mpls.k12.mn.us/ArtfulTools.html

“Art is our one true global language. It knows no nation, it favors no race, and it acknowledges no class. It speaks to our need to reveal, heal, and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us imagine what is possible.”

– Richard Kamler, artist, educator and curator