For centuries, Chicagoland — Zhegagoynak in Potawatomi — has been a cultural and economic hub for people from many Indigenous nations. Home to the third-largest urban Indigenous population in the U.S., Chicago is an important center for Native American art from the Great Lakes region. Even so, Indigenous voices often are left out of the area’s art narratives.
A new exhibition at Northwestern’s Block Museum of Art in Evanston addresses that gap with an approach grounded in collaboration, reciprocity and dialogue. Five years in the making, Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland runs Jan. 25–July 13. Organizers describe it as an interwoven view of Chicagoland’s many Indigenous art histories, with more than 80 works showcasing various materials — including painting, basket weaving, beadwork, sculpture, photography and mixed media.
My Family’s Tennis Shoes (2023) by Teri Greeves (Kiowa), from the Collection of the School for Advanced Research. Photo Credit: Addison Doty. Courtesy of The School for Advanced Research, Object Number SAR.2003-16-1A-D.
The exhibition is a unique, in-depth collaboration with four Indigenous artists who have ties to Chicago and the region: Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe/European descent), Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribe of Pottawatomi/ Ottawa), Nora Moore Lloyd (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) and Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi). The layered exhibition includes work by these four artists exhibited amid pieces by 29 other artists of their choosing. The diverse array of artworks and artists in Woven Being are linked by shared values, community connections and family ties.
“Visitors will be surprised when they see how the artists have woven together their own work with works of art by other Native American artists and non-Indigenous artists,” says Lisa Corrin, the Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director of The Block. “It will tell an unexpected story about the history of art of our region from their perspectives.
“The intense collaboration between The Block, the artists and our guest curator, Jordan Poorman Cocker of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, has taught us so much about what a true partnership with shared decision-making can look like.”
Woven Being’s partners include Northwestern’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Research and its affiliates. The Terra Foundation for American Art, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and National Endowment for the Arts provided financial support. The show is part of Art Design Chicago, a Terra Foundation initiative that highlights Chicago’s artistic heritage and creative communities.
To document the exhibition, The Block has produced a 160-page book containing photography, essays, artist interview excerpts, and poetry and prose on key themes. The book will be available in stores across the U.S. It and other Block publications are supported by a gift from longtime donor and volunteer leader Sandi Riggs ’65, who is a member of The Block Board of Advisors.
“Woven Being will be a visually stunning and compelling exhibit,” Riggs says. “I urge everyone to experience it.”
Access Block exhibitions via the free Bloomberg Connects arts and culture app.
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