Kindred – Art Exhibit

Storytelling and the transfer of traditions across generations are at the heart of Indigenous culture. This can take many forms, spanning language, song, dance, sports, and art. Such cultural expressions are foundational as artists preserve and honor the past while exploring their individual creative interests. Featuring a selection of works from the Burchfield Penney Art Center and Seneca Iroquois National Museum collections, Kindred considers how traditions are documented, maintained, and evolve through the artistic process.

The featured contemporary artists build bridges between the past and present in their respective practices, preserving processes and histories while engaging with new ideas. Artist and curator Randee Spruce’s (Seneca, Heron Clan) Ladies in Blue, ca. 1960 (2022), references a historic photograph of elders Seline John, Alice Dowdy, & Fedelia Jimerson standing in front of the original Coldspring longhouse. Spruce’s idyllic recreation pays homage to a sacred community center while incorporating her own design elements and motifs in the background.

Ronnie-Leigh Goeman (Onondaga, Eel Clan) similarly combines basket-making techniques learned from her elders with contemporary elements. Baskets, such as Descent of Skywoman (2019), incorporate traditional materials like black ash and sweetgrass. Working with her husband and longtime collaborator Stonehorse Goeman (Tonawanda Seneca, Hawk Clan), several of her baskets also feature his sculptures, which are unique embellishments in her practice. Born into the beadwork tradition, Ken Williams Jr. (Northern Arapaho/Seneca) continues to honor this legacy through his intricate beaded works, which bring ancestral histories, people, and memories into the present.

Other works in the exhibition emphasize the significance of family as a recurring throughline. Dedicated to learning from and connecting with communities outside his own, social documentary photographer Milton Rogovin’s Native Americans series was among his favorite bodies of work. His intimate portraits of families, elders, and youth depict their livelihoods with dignity, agency, and humanity. Linley Logan’s (Seneca, Deer Clan) photographic cube Kwaji:yaʹ (Family) (2022) features historic family photographs on each side, while Marjorie Skidders (Mohawk of Akwesasne, Bear Clan) references the ever-present ancestors surrounding the next generation. Jay Carrier’s (Onondaga/Tuscarora Nations, Wolf Clan) somber mixed-media landscape Healing Series 3 (2018) pays tribute to nature as a space to mourn lost loved ones. Collectively, these works remind us of the delicate passage of time and the multigenerational connections through which culture, identity, and heritage endure.