This Collections Spotlight was held Tuesday, September 22, 2020, with Melissa Shaginoff entitled Dene (Athabascan) Art in Materials, Potlatch, and Collection.
Melissa Shaginoff is part of the Udzisyu (caribou) and Cui Ui Ticutta (fish-eater) clans from Nay’dini’aa Na Kayax (Chickaloon Village, Alaska). She is an Ahtna and Paiute person, an artist, a social activist, and currently the curator of Alaska Pacific University’s Art Galleries. Her work is shaped by the structure and processes of the Dene potlatch. In 2021 Melissa will participate in two international residencies in Canada and Sweden to explore conversation as artistic practice.
Collections Spotlight, a program developed in partnership with First American Art Magazine, is a free interactive, online discussion that brings together the public, scholars, and Native artists who select artworks from the Coe’s collection to interpret and discuss.
This event was free.