The Lenfest Center for the Arts hosted its first Kamen Gallery “Table Talks” on Oct. 14.  The event allows art professionals to explain art to viewers in an intimate and engaging environment, said Susan Wager, assistant director of the Lenfest Center. 

Tickets were free and included a catered lunch, a chance to venture into the Kamen Gallery and time to speak with the artists and organizers of the art featured. 

The audience had the opportunity to hear from Ethan Brown, a Pamunkey tribe citizen and multi-disciplinary artist whose art was featured in the gallery; Virginia Native Arts Alliance members Jessica Bradby and Rebecca Hill; former W&L anthropology professor Harvey Markowitz; and Siera Hyte, a Cherokee Nation citizen and Indigenous American art curator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

A diverse selection of art was presented, including baskets, textiles, weavings, masks and wooden carvings. Brown is best known for his art in gourd painting, pottery and most recently filmmaking. 

Brown shared the process behind each of his artworks.

“Even the mediums I have been working with from the beginning, every time I start a new piece, it’s like everything goes out of the window and I’m back to chicken scratching.” Brown said. “I feel like I have to relearn how to be an artist every single piece, so it’s not easy.”

Markowitz reflected on his journey to becoming a collector of Native American arts and how his teaching career influenced him.

“The impact of my growing understanding of American Indian societies, through my formal education in anthropology and even more importantly from my close relationship with individuals from these groups, have been central to my life as a teacher and human being,” he said.

While each presenter touched on their own experiences and passions that led to their relationship with Native American art, they all referred back to a similar idea: that Native American art constitutes its own sovereign genre and to represent this accurately, it’s crucial to not generalize it with all American art. 

“Native art is a part of the larger story of American art history.  But also, we as Native people are citizens of our own sovereign tribal nations, and that is separate from the United States as a nation state,” Hyte said. “It presents interesting challenges and ideas around how to make sure that needed history doesn’t get subsumed, or eaten and taken over by a larger arc of American history.”

Wager said she chose to create this specific exhibit as part of an introduction to Native American art in the Lenfest Center. 

“I have been trying to integrate a little bit more Native American art … because W&L is on Native American land … A lot of people don’t understand that,” Wager said. “It’s important to understand what land you are on.”

Wager said there has been a lack of accurate representation for Native Americans in the Lenfest Center in previous years. She recounted an exhibit featuring “cowboys and Indians” where the “cowboys killed the Indians.” 

“Since I’ve been here, for many, many years, we’ve tried to move it along … or reimagine it so that it is politically correct,” Wager said.