Saturday, October 8 | 1pm | $15, Limited Capacity
Join us for a curator exhibition tour of Self-Determined: A Contemporary Survey of Native and Indigenous Artists featuring an artist spotlight with Ian Kuali’i, led by curators Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota) and Kiersten Fellrath. This tour will provide a comprehensive and insightful overview of the powerful and deeply layered bodies of work included in the exhibition, the curator’s vision, and the opportunity to learn more about Ian Kuali’i process from the artist himself.
This event is a part of CCA’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend.
Ian Kuali’i (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian – Shis Inday/Mescalero Apache) is a multidisciplinary
self-taught artist of Hawaiian/Apache ancestry whose career spans two decades working in
murals, large-scale cut paper, prints, and site-specific installations. While trying to simplify his
technique as a graffiti writer, he discovered stenciling and realized an appreciation of the “cut” more than the paint, thus finding his preferred medium of hand-cut paper. From a single sheet of paper using an X-ACTO blade as his tool, his hand-cut paper portraits, journal entries and scenes are masterfully rendered with a blend of loose urban contemporary techniques and collaged found materials. He describes his creative process as “the meditative process of
destroying to create.” His work is a balance between “the rough and the delicate” while
exploring ideas of modern progress, biodiversity and the foundation of one’s own history.
Danyelle Means currently serves as the first Indigenous Executive Director of the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a position she has held since 2021. She has previously held leadership roles at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Means was raised on the Rosebud Reservation and is a proud member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Throughout her career, she has centered advancement and support for BIPOC professionals and artists.
Kiersten Fellrath is the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation’s Programs Coordinator at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) based in Santa Fe. She is passionate about creating space and opportunities for emerging artists and their communities. She serves on the board of the Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR). Her former role as Curator and Vice President of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection included responsibilities in curatorial, acquisitions, education, programs and collection management.
She received her MFA in Contemporary Art from Christie’s Education, New York, but considers her time working with artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith to have been the most formative. She is of European (Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian) descent and lives in Nambe Pueblo, NM with her partner.
