On Oct. 5, The Levan Center for the Humanities hosted the Art, Architecture, and Archetype seminar with speakers Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg and Gina Herrera. The event focused on art and what it means to be an artist. The two speakers highlighted works of art from indigenous peoples and tribes in North America, and focused on why art exists, and what constitutes art.
Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg emphasized that art can be as simple as embellishment and gave the example that all items created by humans such as tools, baskets and clay pots are works of art. Though there may be one way to create a clay pot, no two are ever the same because everyone embellishes their work differently. She pointed out that the embellishment of such necessary items is art. Gomez-Heitzeberg said, “As long as there are humans on earth there will be a need to create.”
The other speaker Gina Herrera spoke about the artist Ishi Glinsky, who combines tradition and modern lifestyles by researching various tribes and drawing influence from many tribes in the southwestern United States. Herrera also mentioned Glinsky produced oversized art to bring visibility and recognition to indigenous people and artwork. Glinsky hyperbolized the traditional small-scale bead work and uses skateboard wheels instead of beads to recreate headbands, tapestries and other traditional artworks on larger scales.
The other artist Herrera highlighted was Melissa Cody who is a 4th generation weaver and self-proclaimed spider woman. She modernized the generational weaving tradition passed down to her and started to create more modern designs and channeling her emotions into her work.
One of the pieces by Cody was created in a time when she was dealing with loss and chaos that was perfectly reflected in her weaving. In closing, Herrera engaged the audience to emphasize that “everybody is an artist of some sort.” She mentioned that even with everyday mundane activities we each do them in our own unique artistic ways. This includes the way we do our hair, put make up on, wash our dishes, and choose our outfits. Herrera closed her presentation by saying, “Be proud of who you are and what you are. You are all masterpieces.”