Santa Fe, NM – The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) is excited about its newest offering “Counting Coup” which officially opens on Friday, August 19, 2011. Counting Coup is a form of prestige, pride and power. It is an expression originating from Plains Indian tactics of intimidation, and an act of bravery that accounts for survival originating from personal victories in non-violent battle exploits. On view August 19 – December 31, 2011.
Counting Coup will include works by artists from the United States, Canada and Australia and range in media; sculpture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, photography, installation, film and video, and poetry. Artists include Courtney Leonard, Shelley Niro, Teri Greeves, Duane Slick, Alfred Young Man, Marty Gradolf, Carl Beam, Marie Watt, Maria Hupfield, Alex Jacobs, Vernon Ah Kee, Tom Jones, Jesus Barraza, Ryan Red Corn, Jim Denomie, Greg Staats, Jason Garcia and Nigit’stil Norbert w/Paul Wilcken.
A free public opening reception will take place from 5:00 to 7:00pm on Thursday, August 18, 2011.
Counting Coup considers the maker’s mark as a means of action and recognition through the guise of an exhibition of contemporary constructions that considers honoring, naming and claiming past accomplishments and victories. By keeping score, we are able to identify, witness and memorialize the greater narrative of our presence as a coup to who and where Native peoples are today. The evidence of confrontation, interaction, and risk encountered through incessant forms of colonization are recorded as experiences and achievements etched in memory, heart and spirit.
August 19 – December 31, 2011
MoCNA’s Vision Project Gallery presents:
Rock & Roll Photo Coup – Internationally renown artist James Luna will present a multi-media exhibition that includes photography from his project Half Indian / Half Mexican and We Become Them that addresses the state of Native America through convergence, displacement and identity.
Last Supper – C.Maxx Stevens’ exhibition is a conceptual installation. The new work by C. Maxx Stevens is based on her memories and experiences dealing with devastating effect of diabetes throughout native nations. The exhibition would create a larger social awareness of the epidemic and its dilemna in all of the United States. The exhibition will include her family archives and testimony/narratives of the disease and its impact on traditional values and the drastic evolution of diet as well as economy.
Public Art Performance
August 20 and 21, 2011
Saturday: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Under the MoCNA Portal, 108 Cathedral Place.
Vestige Vagabond is a public art performance by artists Maria Hupfield and Charlene Vickers to be hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in conjunction with the exhibition Counting Coup. In this performance, the value of Native American culture, ingenuity, function, aesthetics, and sharing will be emphasized through a series of new and unexpected objects and actions in an open market setting.
Utilizing clothing ands cultural items drawing from iconic representations of Native Americans, the artists-as-cultural-makers will involve the tourist market audience by brandishing small-scale performance artifacts (to be handled but not for sale) to question the value placed between object and function across cultures.
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