“Discovery of the New World” unleashed How did they manage to stay? By fleeing centuries of disease and violence that to, or already living on, inaccessible or decimated American Indian populations. “undesirable” land. Relying on existing But it was settler colonialism—the state or federal treaties (usually resulting hunger for land that fueled America’s in further loss of territory). Assimilating expansion—that increasingly drove through intermarriage and acculturation. American Indians from their homelands. And armed resistance. For Indians living in the Southeast, WE NEVER LEFT celebrates the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was contemporary artists descended from its ultimate expression, resulting in these American Indians who, against the forced removal of an estimated all odds, remained in the Southeast as 65,000 to “Indian Territory” west of the tribes who continue to live in Alabama, Mississippi (today’s Oklahoma). En route, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North as many as ten thousand people are Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. estimated to have perished on what is now remembered as the Trail of Tears. Their highly diverse artwork reflects engagement with tradition-inspired Removal, however, was far from techniques, cutting-edge technology, complete. Estimates of Indians and pop culture, and addresses a who remained range from as few variety of issues—cultural preservation, as 4,000 to as many as 14,000—a language revitalization, personal discrepancy, scholars explain, due to identity and expression, American who government officials counted. history, community pride, and threats to (Indians’ reluctance to come forward was homeland and the natural environment. certainly understandable.) THIS EXHIBITION WAS ORGANIZED BY THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, AND CURATED BY WALTER L. MEYER, INDEPENDENT CURATOR This publication was designed by Athena Longoria b PARTICIPATING ARTISTS JOSHUA ADAMS JESSICA CLARK Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Wood sculptor, painter, photographer and potter, Joshua Working in a variety of mediums, Jessica’s works are in has won awards at the famed Santa Fe and Cherokee Indian the collections of the Museum of the Southeast American Markets and was selected for Art in Embassies in Tanzania. Indian, the Savannah College of Art & Design-Lacoste, His works in WE NEVER LEFT celebrate Sequoyah, inventor France, and the Federal Reserve Bank in Charlotte, NC. of the Cherokee syllabary, and address the conflict between Her artwork in WE NEVER LEFT addresses two important American Indian beliefs and Christianity. themes of Lumbee life: family and the Lumbee River. “DOC” & SPENCER BATTIEST FAREN SANDERS CREWS Seminole Tribe of Florida, Choctaw Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Hip-hop artist/producer “Doc” composed “The Storm,” the A proud “Miss Cherokee 1968,” Faren is a self-taught music video on display in WE NEVER LEFT. Featuring his artist working in a number of mediums, including the brother Spencer, a singer, songwriter, musician, producer unconventional pastel on canvas included in WE NEVER and actor, it tells the story of their Florida Seminole tribe, LEFT, which depicts one of her culture heroes. Other work and won Best Music Video at the National Museum of the recently appeared in “Return from Exile: Contemporary American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase. Southeastern Indian art,” a traveling exhibition. HOLLIS CHITTO PEGGY FONTENOT Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna Pueblo, Isleta Pueblo Patawomeck, Patawatomi Hollis taught himself quillwork and then beadwork. He Known for her photography and beadwork, Peggy has shows at leading Indian Markets, including Santa Fe’s, shown in such prestigious settings as the National Museum and lectures at institutions like the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Eiteljorg Museum of the American of the American Indian. Participating in WE NEVER LEFT Indian & Western Art, and Heard Museum. Her beaded with his father, Hollis’s beaded bag addresses HIV, over- sampler in WE NEVER LEFT confronts the controversial and represented but under-recognized in Native American complicated legal definitions of Indian identity. communities. JEFFREY GIBSON RANDY CHITTO Mississippi Choctaw, Cherokee Mississippi Choctaw Jeffrey’s diverse work draws upon his own and Pan- An acclaimed clay artist, Randy’s art is found in numerous Indian traditions, alternative subcultures, pop culture, and museum collections including the National Museum of the universal themes. His beaded piece in WE NEVER LEFT American Indian, Heard Museum, and Denver Art Museum. is no exception. He shows internationally, and is in many Bears, symbolizing strength and courage, figure in much of collections, including Crystal Bridges Museum of American his work, including the piece in WE NEVER LEFT. Art, Denver Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution. 1 SHAN GOSHORN (1957-2018) Mexico, and the book, “We Will Always Be Here: Native Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Peoples On Living and Thriving in the South.” Like her A renowned multi-media artist, Shan’s unique text-rich baskets ceramic bas-relief in WE NEVER LEFT, her autobiographical are in the collections of such institutions as the National narrative art speaks to her multicultural identity. Museum of the American Indian, Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Switzerland’s Nordamerika JEAN-LUC PIERITE Native Museum. Her baskets in WE NEVER LEFT address Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana historic and contemporary American Indian issues. Jean-Luc lives at the intersection of traditional culture— through his tribe’s Language and Culture Revitalization SHERRELL HENDRICKSON Program—and 21st-century technology—via his job at the Fab Poarch Band of Creek Indians Foundation that emerged from MIT’s Center for Bits & Atoms The many traditional Creek art practices Sherrell mastered Fab Lab Program. His digitally fabricated sculpture in WE in programs offered by her tribe’s Calvin McGhee Cultural NEVER LEFT testifies to this fact. Department earned her prizes in the 2018 Art Show for pottery, basketry, jewelry, gourds, and copper tooling, as CAROLEEN SANDERS well as “Best of Show” for the magnificent traditional Creek Catawba Indian Nation patchwork long jacket featured in WE NEVER LEFT. A Catawba master potter, Caroleen considers clay sacred, and learned by watching her mother and family members. LUZENE HILL While her shapes are primarily traditional, she’s also known Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for making busts of historic figures like the one in WE Luzene is a multi-media and conceptual artist whose works NEVER LEFT of 20th-century Chief Samuel Taylor Blue, have appeared in such institutions as the Museum of Arts famous for his innovative economic and cultural programs. & Design in NY, and Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian & Western Art, and in Japan, Canada, UK, and Russia. SARAH SENSE Her pieces in WE NEVER LEFT address one of her special Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, Choctaw interests: the revitalization of the Cherokee language. Sarah is an internationally acclaimed mixed media artist, photographing scenes then cutting them up and weaving ASHLEY MINNER the strips according to traditional Chitimacha basket Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina techniques. She’s shown in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and A member of the Lumbee diaspora living in Baltimore, South America. Woven into her work in WE NEVER LEFT is Ashley is a community based visual artist, and doctoral a photo of Bayou Teche at the Chitimacha Reservation. student interested in the relationship between place and identity. Her work in WE NEVER LEFT is part of a larger MONIQUE VERDIN project that makes the statement: “While Lumbees run the United Houma Nation gamut in appearance, we are all exquisite.” Creator of the award-winning film, “My Louisiana Love,” Monique is an interdisciplinary artivist who documents BENNY MITCH the interconnectedness of environment, economics, Mississippi Choctaw culture, climate and change in Mississippi’s bayous. The fact that Benny’s neighbors on the reservation couldn’t Her photographs in WE NEVER LEFT depict her family’s afford art for their living room walls inspired him to sell imperiled life in this precarious environment. his self-taught drawings to them at a reasonable price. His pieces in WE NEVER LEFT depict important cultural FRED WILNOTY events—a stickball game, and a Snake Dance at his tribe’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Mother Mound. This is his first off-reservation exhibition. Fred comes from a long generational line of talented artisans. With no formal training, this award-winning carver JESSICA OSCEOLA learned from watching his father. “I love to pick up a stone Seminole Tribe of Florida and begin to cut away at it to see what’s waiting inside.” Jessica’s ceramic artwork has appeared in “Return from Like the sculptures in WE NEVER LEFT, his work often has Exile: Southeastern Indian Art,” shows in Florida and New traditional, spiritual, and transformational themes. 2 JOSHUA ADAMS Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians My artwork reflects the preservation of my Cherokee culture, as well as the outside influences that have, and still do, impact Cherokee life and belief. I try to produce unique works of art with meaningful cultural relevance. While my art practice also extends to stone carving, painting, photography, pottery, and videography, I’m proud of my long lineage of Cherokee woodcarvers, starting with my great- aunt and uncle Irma and James Bradley. I literally grew up around woodcarving;