(gentle music) - November is National Native American Heritage Month.
It's a month to celebrate the significant heritage and rich culture of Native Peoples, an opportunity to acknowledge and reflect on the contributions Native Americans have given to society including the arts.
On this episode of "The Arts Page," meet documentary filmmaker Brooke Swaney, committed to telling contemporary Native stories and learn about her film, "Daughter of a Lost Bird."
Artist and activist Jean LaMarr shows us how she uses painting to address important issues affecting Native Americans.
Meet the Irish artist who wants to build a sculpture on Milwaukee's lakefront dedicated to American Indians.
You'll also see how Door County artist Vicki Rawlins uses nature to cope with grief and illness.
"The Arts Page" starts right now.
(upbeat jazz music) Welcome to "The Arts Page."
I'm your host, Sandy Maxx.
"Daughter of a Lost Bird" is the name of a new documentary by Brooke Swaney, a Blackfeet and Salish filmmaker.
The movie is about an adult Native adoptee named Kendra Potter who was raised in a middle class white family and didn't really care about her heritage as a Lummi woman until she met Brooke Swaney.
As Potter discovers her birth background, the film explores Native American repression and cultural assimilation that sadly is still taking place to this day.
"Daughter of a Lost Bird" screened at the Oriental Theatre during Milwaukee Film's Cultures and Communities Festival in September where Brookes Swaney discussed her documentary with "The Arts Page" producer Adam Lilley.
(relaxed music) - So, Brooke, thank you so much for joining me here today at Milwaukee Film's Cultures and Communities Fest.
So please tell us a little bit about yourself.
- It's nice to be here, Adam, and it's really great to be here in Milwaukee.
My name is Brooke Pepion Swaney.
I'm a filmmaker.
I live in Montana.
I live actually on the Flathead Reservation, home to the confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
My mom is Bitterroot Salish, and my dad is Blackfeet.
- So your film, "Daughter of a Lost Bird" is screening here today at the Cultures and Community Fest.
- [Narrator] The Indian Adoption Project began in 1958 as a government effort to remove native children from their families and place them in white homes.
- So, "Daughter of a Lost Bird" is a documentary that follows Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, an adoptee.
Kendra and I met, because I was making a short narrative project about a character that was removed from her identity and trying to figure out what her identity looks like if she were to have a baby in this baby crazy mania.
That was her character.
And I didn't know that was similar to Kendra's own background that she was moving into this phase of her life where she was questioning where her Indigenous roots came from and then also wanting to become a mother herself.
She reconnects with her birth mother, April, who was also an adoptee, and the film follows the two as they reconnect and reconcile their identity as Indigenous women in this country.
I was working just to help her as a friend figure out where she came from, and then we decided to make a film together.
So it's really been a collaboration between the two of us to make this film together.
- [Adam] What is the goal of the film?
- I think the main goal of the film is to have people connect emotionally to this journey, this very personal journey that both Kendra and her birth mother April go through to understand the ramifications of the social fabric of assimilation and how it affects individual Native people differently.
- [Narrator] For decades, Indian parents and their children have been at the mercy abusive action of local, state, federal, and private agency officials.
- Between 25 and 35% of all American Indian children are removed from their families.
- We're still overrepresented in the foster care system pretty much nationally, which is a huge, huge issue.
And we all need to be working to preserve community.
- [Adam] I feel it's incredibly important and incredibly undertold the atrocities Native Americans have faced in the 20th century, cultural genocide and the forced simulation.
How important is it to you to tell those stories?
- Right now, it's really important to have stories like "Daughter of a Lost Bird" in the American public.
In fact, most Americans have been disserviced by the public education that they've received across the country.
Most Americans don't know anything about Native people and that people think we're not even around anymore.
This was an American taxpayer funded film, and I'm really grateful for that support to tell the story, because it is a part of America's stories.
It's a dire need to hear these stories, and, fortunately, we're coming into an era where Native people are being more and more prevalent in mainstream media.
- [Adam] What do you think are the main themes?
What do you hope people take away from it?
- For me, the themes of the film dig into identity, into healing, and into connection.
- As I'm slowly finding my own way through identity, realizing that I am actually a perfect example of assimilation, a perfect example of kill the Indian, save the man, and I'm a saved man and a dead Indian.
- Something that my elders have told me repeatedly and that I've heard from other elders in other communities is that it's really important to know who you are, and who you are is so tied to your foundation as a person.
And if who you are has been ripped away from you in some way, that can be really damaging.
- [Kendra] I identified as white, this strange confusion of like white guilt, Native anger.
- Knowing who you are when you have that foundation and it's really solid, good things will come from it.
- To find out where you can watch the film plus get a useful list of resources to learn more about Native American issues.
go to the website daughterofalostbird.com.
Jean LaMarr is an artist and Native American activist based in Northern California.
She believes art should be for everyone.
LaMarr created her first mural in the fourth grade and now continues to paint as a way to address Native American rights and other issues she finds important.
Here, she explains how art gave her a voice and what she wants people to know about her culture.
(tribal drum music) (Native American singing) - Do I hope when someone sees my work they feel joy and feel the colors and how exciting the Indigenous life is and designs.
And these are all created by my ancestors, and they were experts in these fields.
- She has been committed to rejecting the idea of the vanished American Indian.
She wants audiences and everybody who sees her art to know that Native American cultures are a living and vibrant culture.
- There's nothing about us.
In the fourth grade, I never learned about California Indians, and I said, "Where are all the Indians?"
Because just me and my sisters were going to school, and we were the ones that were getting beat up on.
- [Ann] When Jean went away to college at UC Berkeley, she was told by her professors that she couldn't include cultural content in her artwork.
She couldn't paint things that had native relevance or cultural relevance, or it would be considered folk art.
Jean has always rejected those types of ideas, and she's been committed to forging her own path.
- I went to Berkeley, and there was a class of over 500.
Peter Selz was this art historian talking, and he made a comment about artists' work, and one student in the class said, "I object to that.
"I don't think you're right about that.
"I think it should be this way and this way and this way."
Right away I felt like, oh man, that guy, he's gonna be in a lot of trouble, get kicked outta class, but Peter Selz welcomed that and thanked him for his input and said, "Yes, that did add to that."
So I finally realized I have a voice, because we're the product of boarding school parent and students, and we're told not to talk, say, dance, do anything whatsoever.
Well, finally, we get to be recognized.
We finally get to be recognized and we're proud of who we are.
We know our own history, and nobody can put us away, because we had a lot of brave people, because they were so brave, we're able to be alive now.
(Native American singing) (upbeat music) Murals are so important, 'cause they're like a community statement, especially if you can go out, get the oral histories, and learn some of the early histories and what really happened to the community, you can put that image in that community and no non-Indian can come in there and say, "No, that's all wrong."
I worked on a mural in a gymnasium on the Susanville Indian Rancheria with the community.
The Susanville Indian Rancheria is where we all live.
Most Indian home places are called reservations, but in California, they call it the rancheria.
So this is beginning of life.
So we heard about the coyote stories, and here's Mr. Coyote sneaking around, going looking for food.
We showed sage brush and the baskets that are made from here.
It comes around here too, an era that was ancient from hundreds of years ago.
They had layers and layers of baskets and moccasins.
Then it goes all the way over, goes to the times when Lassen was here, and then to the bear dance.
That had been a real long tradition.
Then Old Man Joaquin is in the middle.
Then it comes to the contemporary times.
We're still alive.
We're still celebrating our heritage and our culture.
This mural is done in Susanville, California on East Lassen Street.
Our ancestors, our future.
So I interviewed all these different people in town, 'cause I know they had ancestors here from a long time ago.
We got a lot of good comments, people walking by, "Oh this is really nice."
The Indian people, I see them standing by their relatives, all the little kids standing in front of their relatives, and they take a picture of it.
It's just really nice.
It's really nice.
That's what I like to see.
And I respect the fact that murals do need to be changed.
They can't stay forever.
It's not a Michelangelo where they had to keep repairing it.
So, it reflects the time.
If we do murals, that says we're present here and now.
That means we're still alive.
(calm music) (gentle music) - In the early 1990s, Jean returned to her hometown of Susanville where she established the Native American Graphic Workshop.
The Graphic Workshop is a unique community hub where she brings together youth from the community, elders, as well as different artists.
- It's fun for people to do.
It's a an introduction to printmaking, working with the oils, solvents, paper, how to handle press, how to handle the paper.
I got people that do some fantastic work, but they don't even realize what they're doing, they're doing some beautiful If I could do it, they can do it.
I hope I can block down barriers.
(gentle music) See, I like how the transparency looks.
It's not heavy.
It's softer.
Then you can bring out some hard lines with it, definite imagery.
(gentle music) - All of us here have either learned from her, worked with her, has been inspired by her work, continue to be inspired by the work tonight.
We're gonna ask for Jamie and Toby Stump to come up and sing an honor song for Jean.
(tribal drum music) (Native American Honor Song) - The Nevada Museum of Art is really proud and honored to be able to present this retrospective exhibition of Jean LaMarr's work.
It features over 50 years of her paintings, prints, murals, installations.
- I'm so grateful for Ann to give me this opportunity.
No other museum would've given me this opportunity.
I'm a community artist, political artist, so it's difficult to get into a place.
(Native American singing) - [Ann] As you're looking at jean's artwork, you'll see a variety of symbols and motifs appear from time to time.
Sometimes that's a military fighter jet flying overhead.
Sometimes it's this ubiquitous barbed wire that you see throughout the American West.
Sometimes it's an American dollar sign, and she uses all of these symbols in different ways to critique American culture and to critique what has been a dominant culture that's for a long time suppressed Native American cultures in the United States.
(Native American singing) - Everyone has a hope.
Everything has hope.
Happiness in there.
It might look negative, but there is hope for every little thing, or I'm making fun of something.
I would never hurt anybody's feelings on purpose.
That's not not my personality, because we are really kindhearted people.
Being positive, being positive on all notes that there's a way out.
There's hope.
There's always hope.
I always have to have hope.
(Native American Honor Song) (audience rejoices) - To see more of Jean's work, go to nevadaart.org.
Next, a follow up on a story you saw in our August episode of "The Arts Page."
We introduced you to Perry Muckerheide who has proposed for a sculpture to be built on Milwaukee's lakefront dedicated to American Indians.
Now, meet the artist, Alex Pentek, who would build the sculpture from his studio in Ireland.
Pentek explains why he thinks Milwaukee is the perfect place for this type of memorial.
We also talked with others to get a more in depth look about why the site is so important to modern Native American history and how it greatly affected Native American relations as they stand today.
- The original piece, "Kindred Spirits" was made to reflect on the 1847 donation to Ireland during the famine by the Choctaw Nation, first Native American nation.
I realized that visually and sculpturally, the work is also communicating something else and that is the idea of standing together against adversity, I suppose, because there's these histories of colonialism and oppression shared by Native American Indians and Ireland as well.
- [Sandy] Since 2015, Alex Pentek's sculpture, "Kindred Spirits," has graced the pathways of Balick Park in Midleton, County Cork Ireland.
- I chose the exact spot there, and it was in that general area where they were hoping to put a piece of sculpture.
It's been really interesting placing the sculpture there, because now there's a destination at this location and people use it for that.
- Oneida ESC Group is owned by the Oneida Nation, which is located here in Wisconsin, and we're very excited about the opportunity.
Whenever you have a piece that stands out, that I think it will really stand out, it'll be a conversation piece, the first of possibly many, and this takes those types of big pieces that really gets the conversation rolling.
- 33 years ago, I was a mother to a two year old, married to an artist, and saw the creative process 24/7.
At the same time, I was writing poetry and art criticism, and I saw what the impact of the power of art can do to people and places.
I'm looking at this monumental, beautiful "Kindred Spirits" sculpture, not as a memorial, but as a celebration of life of the American Indian 12 tribes and the American Indian people - In the age of activism, in the age of pulling monuments down that didn't have the right narrative, they're gonna start putting monuments up.
- Sheron Wyant-Leonard is the author of the book, "I Will," which tells the story of four members of the American Indian Movement, most notably Herb Powless and Dorothy Ninham of Milwaukee.
Wyant was honored for her work by the public arts nonprofit, CITYarts, led by philanthropist Tsipi Ben-Haim.
- For years, CITYarts selects an educator, artist, and a philanthropist to honor them for making a difference through the arts.
Sheron was a very natural honorary for us to award, simply because of her book, "I Will."
"I Will" gives us an opportunity to look into the lives and the traditions and culture of American Indian people, the way I never seen it before.
It is told in a very poetic, soulful way, human way.
She brings out the humanity in every one of her characters.
- Who could possibly object to these beautiful cultures and say 50 states all the time and not say Kickapoo, Cheyenne, Passamaquoddy, Cree, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche?
The people here, the 12 nations that live in this area, they shouldn't have to honor themselves.
I've coined an expression I stand by, all roads lead to Milwaukee.
- And Milwaukee was a black and white world, and red was nowhere.
Red wasn't seen.
- [Sandy] On August 14th, 1971, a group of American Indians, led by Herb Powless, Dorothy Ninham's husband, occupied the abandoned Coast Guard station at McKinley Park.
They cited a centuries old treaty that stated that abandoned federal property must be given back to the original owners.
Through broad community support and Herb's strong connections in Washington, the government did just that.
This is where Milwaukee's "Kindred Spirits" is proposed to be built.
- Yeah, I think the "Kindred Spirits" of America, it would celebrate a moment in time and memorialize what those events are.
- It's probably one of the first things right that the government did was to start giving our land back.
I mean, they've taken everything from us.
Why do we have to struggle so hard to be heard, to even exist?
And we thought we had to do something that was drastic, something that would get attention.
We just wanted to say, you know what, we're the owners of this country.
We're the landlords of this Mother Earth and this park.
Let's get back and claim it, and we did.
- It's good to be reminded that people had that courage.
- So when Perry Muckerheide got in contact with me about this history, and it fitted with that overall theme of basically standing up against adversity, standing together and making a voice, that was really what attracted me to this idea that this would actually fit to Milwaukee, but it would still physically be a sister sculpture to the original "Kindred Spirits."
- Learn more about this project and help get it built by going to fundthesculpture.com.
That'll take you to its GoFundMe page.
Door County artist Vicki Rawlins discovered a love for floral art unexpectedly.
When Rawlins suffered through a life threatening illness that prevented her from holding a paintbrush, she found that foraging in nature for twigs, leaves, and flowers then assembling those earthly elements into magical scenes and detailed portraits was very therapeutic and beautiful.
She wrote a book about her art called "The Power of Flowers: "Turning Pieces of Mother Nature "into Transformative Works of Art."
Her work can be found at Sister Golden, the home and lifestyle store that she co-owns with her daughter, Brooke, in Fish Creek, Wisconsin.
- I've been an artist my whole life, but just eight years ago really started the foliage work, and I'm obsessed with it.
(gentle music) I just started gathering foliage.
My mom was a big gardener, and I was just making these little houses in the grass.
I would separate the grass, and then I would be doing these little just leaves.
I would make little forts for 'em like it was a little house.
I was just always creating, and I just felt connected with...
It made me just feel really good.
I'm just having so much fun trying to push this medium that I used to do when I was really little, never even thought about it though, into this... Just trying to push it and see how far I can take it.
There's something about it, and I think it's just been very therapeutic for me that is just keeping me going back.
(gentle music) I had this vase, and all the petals were around it and dead, and it was looking sad.
And I just started playing with them, and I was just having a lot of fun.
It got me outside.
It pushed me out the door, because I was looking out my window and I'm like, oh wow, those leaves look cool.
I could use these flowers off this lady's tree that's hanging over the fence.
(gentle music) And it, like I said, just kept pushing me out the door and out of my head, which I needed definitely.
I do love doing portraits.
Elton John, John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Iris Apfel, Diana Ross, Cher, Audrey Hepburn, oh, Einstein, Frida Kahlo, of course.
I've done her 49 times.
I just always thought she was just such a (bleep) woman.
I mean, my God, she's just so cool, and she just had been through such a horrific physical experience, but, always, no matter what, she was painting.
Nothing was gonna take her down.
I never looked at it as a bad thing happening to me.
I was just thinking, why, why?
What can I learn from this?
I think it's about the journey through going through it.
I would've never started foliage art.
- You could see more of this story about Vicki Rawlins, produced by Scottie Lee Meyers, on the Milwaukee PBS show "10thirtysix," or watch it on Milwaukee PBS's YouTube channel.
Thank you for watching "The Arts Page."
I'm Sandy Maxx.
Please join us the first Thursday of every month for a half hour full of art on "The Arts Page."
(upbeat jazz music)