Raymond Bulambula

Visiting Fellow Raymond Bulambula guides a UVA art student in making a "Marratjirri" Morning Star Pole.

Fayerweather Studio

Fayerweather Hall, McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia

KR Banner

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia

Fralin

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia

I See Myself: Diversity in Children's Literature

Virginia Festival of the Book
Thursday, March 25, 2021
4:00 pm EST, virtual event

Angela Dominguez (Stella Díaz Dreams Big), Vashti Harrison (Little Dreamers), and Dub Leffler (Once There Was a Boy) discuss the importance of diversity in children’s literature and how their past and current projects embrace inclusive storytelling, from stories that highlight Mexican-American childhood and include Spanish vocabulary, to books that celebrate Black leaders and engage with Indigenous Australian identity and history.

As part of the all-virtual 2021 Virginia Festival of the Book, this event is FREE to attend and open to the public. To attend, please register here or simply make plans to watch on Facebook.com/VaBookFest. The video recording from this event will also be available to watch after the event concludes, on VaBook.org/Watch.

This event is sponsored by VA Festival of the Book, Australia Council for the Arts, the Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative, and the Vice Provost for the Arts at UVA.

Visit here to read more about Dub Leffler's exhibition and virtual spring artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.

Double Draw Dare with Tom Angleberger & Dub Leffler

Thursday, March 18, 2021
7:00 - 7:45 pm EST, virtual event

Children’s book author-illustrators Tom Angleberger (DJ Funkyfoot! Butler for Hire) and Dub Leffler (Kluge-Ruhe Resident Artist) take part in this interactive event for ages five and up, discussing their award-winning books for young readers. Fun for all ages!

This event is part of Dub Leffler’s virtual residency at Kluge-Ruhe and is part of the all-virtual 2021 Virginia Festival of the Book.  This event is FREE to attend and open to the public. To attend, please register using this link or simply make plans to watch on Facebook.com/VaBookFest. The video recording from this event will also be available to watch after the event concludes, on VaBook.org/Watch.

This event is sponsored by VA Festival of the Book, Australia Council for the Arts, the Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative, and the Vice Provost for the Arts at UVA.

Gabriel Maralngurra in conversation with Henry Skerritt

Mellon Indigenous Arts Visiting Fellow
Friday, March 5, 2021
7:00pm EST, virtual event

Gabriel Maralngurra is a founding member of Injalak Arts, a cooperative of Indigenous artists from the Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya in northern Australia which was formed in 1989 to promote Kunwinjku art and culture. As an artist and educator, he is a driving force behind the art center, which he currently co-manages. As a painter and printmaker, his work encompasses a wealth of subject matter, from ancestral narratives, plants and animals, through to imagery of early colonial encounters. Inspired by the extensive rock art of his homelands, his work is characterized by its confidence and fluidity, as well as its restless innovation. Maralngurra takes seriously his role in educating both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Kunwinjku culture. This role has seen him travel widely throughout Australia and the world. In January 2020 he undertook a residency at the University of Virginia to coincide with the launch of The Inside World: Contemporary Aboriginal Memorial Poles at The Fralin Museum of Art. His work is held in the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the British Museum.

During his virtual residency, Maralngurra will work closely over several sessions with students in ARTH 2882: Sex Spirits and Sorcery. This will culminate in a public webinar at 7pm on Friday 5 March, 2021 in which Maralngurra will discuss the long history of art at Gunbalanya and the role of Injalak Arts in strengthening Kunwinjku culture. Register for the webinar here!

Photo by Tom Cogill

 

We Have Words For Art

A Symposium on Writing about Art by Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
Sunday, February 28, 2021
1:00- 5:30 pm EST, virtual event

This free virtual 2-day symposium organized and hosted by First American Arts Magazine is open to anyone interested in learning how to write about arts of Indigenous Peoples.

Schedule for Sunday, February 28 (EST):

  • 1:00–1:30 pm: Adrienne Lalli Hills, “The Nuts and Bolts of Exhibition Text,” 30 minutes
  • 1:30–2:15 pm: Miranda Belarde Lewis, “Indigenous Art for Mainstream Art Audiences,” 45 minutes
  • 2:15–2:30 pm: Break, 15 minutes
  • 2:30–3:30 pm: Roundtable Discussion: “Walking the Line,” 1 hour
  • 3:30–3:45 pm: Break, 15 minutes
  • 3:45–4:45 pm: Roundtable Discussion: “Criticism of Indigenous Art of the Americas,” 1 hour
  • 4:45–5:15 pm: Open Forum, 30 minutes
  • 5:15–5:20 pm: c:a+m writing workshop introduction

Free and open to the public. You can register here.

Co-sponsored in part by the Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative.

We Have Words For Art

A Symposium on Writing about Art by Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
Saturday, February 27, 2021
1:00- 5:30 pm EST, virtual event

This free virtual 2-day symposium organized and hosted by First American Arts Magazine is open to anyone interested in learning how to write about arts of Indigenous Peoples.

Schedule for Saturday, February 27 (EST):

  • 1:00–1:10 pm: Welcome and introduction
  • 1:10–2:00 pm: Keynote address: heather ahtone, 50 minutes
  • 2:30–2:45 pm: Break, 15 minutes. The audience can ask questions during breaks.
  • 2:45–3:15 pm: Nancy Marie Mithlo: “Native Arts Scholarship: How-to, What and Why?,” 30 minutes
  • 3:15–3:45 pm: America Meredith: “Tribal Affiliations in Art Writing,”30 minutes
  • 3:45–4:00 pm: Break, 15 minutes,
  • 4:00–5:00 pm: Roundtable Discussion: “Artist and Art Writer Relationships”
  • 5:00–5:30 pm: Open Forum, 30 minutes

Free and open to the public. You can register here.

Co-sponsored in part by the Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative.

Relating African Philosophy, Sounds, and Spirits: Conversation 2 (of 2) with The Black Power Station

Friday, December 11, 2020
10 AM EST

Arts activist Xolile ‘X’ Madinda – CEO and founder of The Black Power Station in Makhanda, South Africa - has been artist in virtual residence in the UVA music department this semester thanks to the generous support of the Mellon Indigenous Arts Program and the Ethnography Lab. 

The two informal conversations this week from The Black Power Station will explore African philosophy, and the relationships between music, sound and the spirit.

 

Conversation 2: A Black Power Station Conversation with Onke Simandla & Xolile Madinda: 

Isingqi Nenkolo Yakwantu: on Sounds, Music and the Spirits -- An illustrated discussion connecting music, traditional healing, and talking with the ancestors 

Join the event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 962 3657 7721

Passcode: 958193

Onke Simandla (left) is an Igqirha (traditional Spiritual Healer/ Diviner) and is also known as Zanomhlola, which means ‘the revealer of the unseen and the unknown’. Zanomhlola is also his stage name as a musician and performer who works with Xhosa traditional sounds. Onke is a healing activist dedicated to protecting the medicines, plants and rhythms of the ancestors through oral education systems. 

Xolile ‘X’ Madinda (right) is a hip hop arts activist and founder of multiple projects based in Makhanda, South Africa, including Fingo Festival, Around HipHop and Arts Beyond the Streets. X has previously visited the US for multiple arts residencies, mentoring UVA students and related ‘sister space’ projects, most recently in spring 2020 when an exhibition of work from ‘Arts Beyond the Streets’ was hosted by McGuffey Arts Centre. He is Founder and Director of The Black Power Station, an inter-generational arts education space based in Makhanda.

 
 

Relating African Philosophy, Sounds, and Spirits: Conversation 1 (of 2) with The Black Power Station

Thursday, December 10, 2020
3 PM EST

Arts activist Xolile ‘X’ Madinda – CEO and founder of The Black Power Station in Makhanda, South Africa - has been artist in virtual residence in the UVA music department this semester thanks to the generous support of the Mellon Indigenous Arts Program and the Ethnography Lab. 

Two informal conversations from The Black Power Station will explore African philosophy, and the relationships between music, sound and the spirit.

Conversation 1: A Black Power Station Conversation with Uchenna Okeja & Nomalanga Mkhize: 

Exploring the practice and uses of African philosophy for young and old in the 21st century

 

Join the event on Zoom 

Meeting ID: 994 5102 0437

Passcode: 320914

Uchenna Okeja (left) is a professor of philosophy based at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa, and the Director of Emengini Institute for Comparative Global Studies in Worcester, MA, U.S.A. He plays an active role in building local and international Black networks in the pursuit of Pan- Africanism and African agency. 

Nomalanga Mkhize (right) is a historian based at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Her research interests are in oral history and African language historiography. Mkhize has been actively involved in building independent community arts programmes as well as fighting for better basic education in the Eastern Cape.

 
 

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