The First Peoples Exhibition features Native California and beyond

The First Peoples Exhibition features Native California and beyond

Earlier this month the First Peoples: A Celebration of Native artists in Southern California exhibition opened featuring 29 Native American artists and 100 works.

The showing – which was organized by Walter L. Meyer, a Los Angeles based independent curator – highlights artists who are from California tribes as well as those who reside in the state. California Indian artists who are being showcased include Sam Banegas (Cahuilla/Luiseño), Gerald Clarke Jr. (Cahuilla Band of Indians), River Garza (Tongva), Timothy Ryan Ornelas (Fernandeño Tataviam), Craig Torres (Tongva), and Gail Werner (Cupeño/Luiseño/Kumeyaay).

First Peoples aim is to present myriad answers to the question: What does it mean to be a Native artist? Visitors to the exhibition can expect to see the following:

Photographs of Native Americans provocatively dressed as Hollywood icons. Contemporary baskets and pottery made traditionally. A poignant video interview with a Native grandmother. Paintings, watercolors, prints and mixed media art that interpret Native life, spirituality and identity. An elaborate buckskin dress made for a TV soap star by the family of fabled Comanche chief Quanah Parker. A “domestic installation” that comments on parallels between gang attire and native regalia.

The exhibition is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, 18312 Oxnard Street, Tarzana. The showing will close on Saturday, April 22. More information at http://sfvacc.org/