Bureau of Indian Affairs Museum Online Exhibits

Environmental Justice and Subsistence is an ongoing and growing exhibit of curated objects, artifacts and art that explores the relationship between subsistence and environmental justice. Learn about some of the relationships that the Quinault, Makah, Coast Salish, Assiniboine, Navajo, Hopi and Qahatika Tribal Nations and communities have with the land.

This exhibit was prepared by the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (OEPC) in partnership with the BIA.

Exhibit Curator: Lin Kuczera. Museum Curator: Justin Giles. Hosted by ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Native American Art of the Northwest Coast explores the formal and thematic elements that characterize this iconic artistic tradition dating back over 5000 years. This exhibit charts connections between the art and culture of Tribal communities stretching from northern California to the Alaskan panhandle.

Featured artists include Lincoln M. Wallace, Tommy Joseph, Minnie (Mrs. Samuel) Johnson, Otto Kasko, Jewell Praying Wolf James, Dave Faulstuh, Peter Dunthorne, David Boxley, Randy Capoeman, Guy Capoeman, Carl Stromquist, James DeLaCruz, and Garner Moody.

Museum Curator: Tracy Murphy. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.
 

The Pueblos of San Ildefonso and Santa Clara: A Ceramic Legacy displays the characteristic polished black (and sometimes red) pottery of the Pueblo communities of San Ildefonso and Santa Clara. Learn about the history of this firing technique, as well as some of the celebrated ceramicists associated with it.

Featured artists include Anita Suazo, Maria Martinez, Julian Martinez, Rose Cata Gonzalez, Crucita “Blue Corn” Gonzalez Calabaza, Helen Gutiérrez, Margaret Tafoya, Margie Naranjo, Geri Naranjo, Lorencita Pino, Aurelia Garcia Garduño, Cordelia “Cordi” Gomez, and Feliciana Viarrial.

Museum Curator: Tracy Murphy. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Micaceous Pottery of Northern New Mexico examines one of the great pottery traditions of the Southwest: the use of clay incorporated with sparkling flecks of gold and silver mica found in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range near the Taos and Picuris Pueblos. The exhibit follows this practice from the iconic utilitarian pots dating back to fourteenth century to the late twentieth century wave of Pueblo ceramicists who use micaceous clay to create stunning art pieces.

Featured artists include Sophie A. Martinez, Virginia Romero, Bahe, Pascualita Romero, Julia Martinez, Priscilla Vigil, Terry Tapia, and Cordi Gomez.

Museum Curator: Tracy Murphy. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Chief Terry Saul (1921-1976) features pieces by the renowned Chickasaw and Choctaw contemporary artist in the BIA Affairs Museum collection. Working with and blending practices ranging from traditional Native American styles to modern artistic influences, Chief Terry Saul’s unique body of work served as the artist’s lens into the culture of his heritage.

Featured works include Chickasaw Earth Woman (August 1964), Woman with Papoose, Stickball Player, Choctaw Corn Grinder (c. 1964), Choctaw Dentist, Indian Stickball Player, Chickasaw Eagle Dancer, Ball Player Dancer #1 (November 1964).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Born in 1930, Joan Hill is an internationally lauded Creek and Cherokee artist whose more than 270 awards include recognition as a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum and as one of Smithsonian Institute’s “People of the Century.” Learn about the artist’s life and explore her paintings which depict abstract landscapes with pueblos, as well as the lives of various cultural regions and Indian Tribes across the United States.

Featured works include Shy Susan Medicine Flower, Cherokee Eagle Dancers (1964), Creek Ribbon Dance (1964), Legend of Medicine Lake (1968), Preparing for the Performance (February 1969), The Songs of Our Fathers (1974), and Morning in the Indian Village (1975).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Explore our tribute to the formidable figure that was Edna Massey (1913-1977). This Cherokee artist experimented with modern applications of traditional Native American motifs and often worked screen prints and textiles. Ms. Massey devoted her life to bringing Native American art to a wider audience and is responsible for the acquisition of much of the BIA’s vast art collection.

Featured works include Five Black Birds, Procession, Procession Abstract, Silkscreen with Bird Design, and Swirling Abstract.

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

For centuries, gift giving has been an important aspect of intertribal and interpersonal relations among Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Our Gift Giving exhibit showcases some of the many gifts given to the BIA by Tribal Nations and Native artists.

Featured works include gifts given by the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, the Lummi Indian Business Council, Thomas and Evelyn No Runner, the Yakama Tribe, the San Felipe Indian School, the Jamul Mission Indians, RLF Shaw, the All Indian Pueblo Council, the Cherokee Nation, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Business Information Center, the Spokane Tribe, and the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Though Fritz Scholder (1937-2005), enrolled Luiseño, did not call himself an Indian, his artwork has been heralded as among some of the finest in Native American art. His diverse body of work draws inspiration from the abstract expressionism, surrealism, and pop art movements, and the inclusion of Indian themes.

Featured works include Slate #2 (1964), Butterfly #10 (1967), Butterfly #30 (1967), Indian with a Blanket (1967), Three Navajos and a Dog (1968), Super Pueblo #1 (1968), Indian with Rattle (1969), and Indian with Puppy (c. 1970).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Allan Houser (1914-1994) is a celebrated Chiricahua Apache artist and art teacher whose paintings and sculpture combined modernistic styles with personal themes, creating a style that influenced hundreds of his students.

Featured work includes Wagon Train (1948), Navajo in Blue Shirt (c. 1963), Navajo Medicine Man (c. 1963), Comrade in Mourning (1947), Apache Crown Dancers, Woman and Cat (1967), Moving on Horseback with Travois, Buffalo Dancer, Wooden Roadrunner, Plains Indian Dancer, Apache Rider, Black Ram, and Peyote Man (1973).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

This online exhibit collects the painted wood carvings of painter and sculptor John Hoover (1919-2011). Drawing on Alaskan Aleut stories and culture, Hoover’s work is inspired by traditional spirit boards and other Northwest and Alaska Native art.

Featured works include Land-Otter Woman (1967), Yahtee the Creator (c. 1967), Daughters of the King of Salmon (c. 1967), King of Salmon (c. 1967), Salmon Spirit (1967), Woman at the Head of a Stream (c. 1967), Salmon Woman (1967), Woman Raven (c. 1967), Family of Raven (c. 1967), and He Who Married an Eagle (It Is I) (c. 1967).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Suzy Belle Dolls tells the story of the Suzy Belle doll, a Native American doll made by the Hualapai Tribal Doll Factory in the 1970s. Based on a pattern by Annie Chase and passed down to her granddaughter Ruth Underwood, these dolls were handmade in Peach Springs, Arizona by Hualapai Tribal members.

Featured works include Suzy Belle dolls created in the mid-1970s from the Hualapai Tribal Doll Factory.

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

The BIA Museum Program’s Southeastern Artists exhibit captures the work of a generation of Native artists in the late 1940s who marked a shift from “traditional” Native American art forms and the embraced contemporary styles and artistic movements.

Featured artists include Solomon McCombs (1913-1980), Lloyd Henri “Kiva” New (1916-2002), Howell Sonny Orr (b. 1929), Benjamin Harjo, Jr. (b. 1945), Hildreth Carl Tubby (1946-2005), and Gerald Stone (b. 1947).

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Southeastern Woodcarving collects wood carved animal sculptures by twentieth century Native American artists. Pioneered by Amanda Crow (1928-2004) and Willard Stone (1916-1985), these sculptors popularized new forms of woodcarving inspired by traditional methods.

Featured artists include Boyce Allison (1914-1987), Amanda Crowe, William Crowe (1921-1988), Virgil Ledford (b. 1940), and Willard Stone.

Staff Curator: Shannon Stiles. Museum Program Manager: Annie Pardo. Hosted by Google Arts & Culture.