This artist talk by painter and storyteller Duane Slick (Meskwaki Nation) titled "A Human from Earth" has been postponed until the 2020-2021 academic year.
"In narrative traditions, to tell the story of tragedy one must always begin by telling the ending first. I once believed that the weight of such expectations functioned as a cultural given for the artist of Native American descent. Its rules stated that we cry for a vision and place ourselves in a single grand narrative of history and representation.
...but the laughter of Coyote saturated and filled our daily lives. It echoed through the lecture halls of histories and it was so powerful and it was so distracting that I forgot my place in linear time and now I work from an untraceable present."
– Duane Slick
About Duane Slick | Website
Duane Slick is a Meskwaki painter and storyteller, whose visual work includes black-and-white photo-realist paintings on linen and glass. His work has been described as “dream paintings whose aim is the exploration of matters spiritual, not physical.” Born in Waterloo, IA, Slick earned his BFA in painting from the University of Northern Iowa and his MFA in painting from the University of California, Davis. He began teaching painting and printmaking at RISD in 1995 and has also lectured at colleges and universities across the US and taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM.
Slick's work has been exhibited widely—most recently at the Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown, MA and at RK Projects in New York City—and is included in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, and the De Cordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, among many others. Slick is currently represented by the Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown.
About the Native Artist Series
Initiated in 2020, the KAM Native Artist Series connects contemporary Native artists and their practice to KAM exhibitions, collections, and research and dovetails with curricula for undergraduate and graduate students across campus. The series offers public lectures, performances, and sustain engagement with students through studio visits, classroom workshops, and informal conversations at Native American House, American Indian Studies, and the museum. The series is designed for critical reflection and will present a vibrant and complex set of discussions around contemporary Native American visual culture.
