True to Nature
Curated by Andrea R. Hanley (Navajo)
About the Collection:As the world becomes more technology-driven, there are still many things that can inspire us like nature. The works in this collection focus on unique objects and feature contemporary pieces made from fiber, wood, metal, clay by way of craft media. The transformation and handling of natural material with intimacy and complexity are a constant in this grouping. The works selected appear to be inspired by surroundings and relationships with nature, color, form, and texture infusing modernity. Most of the artists represented in the collection are from the West and their works share and shape narrative from a unique perspective. (Re)imagined places through the works are cross-cultural, localized, and diasporic all at once. These artists are storytellers, and their lived experiences, ideas, and investigation look to new approaches in techniques which shape the ambition of their work and examine the ideal relationship between art, craft, and environments.
About Andrea R. Hanley:Andrea R. Hanley is the chief curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is dedicated to the work of contemporary Native American artists and the Native American fine art field. Over thirty years of experience in the field including National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., as both special assistant to the director and exhibition developer/project manager, the fine arts coordinator/curator for the city of Tempe, executive director of ATLATL, Inc., a national service organization for Native American arts, the founding manager of the Berlin Gallery at the Heard Museum, and the membership and program manager for the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. She serves on the board of directors for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian Market, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Roswell Artist in Residence Foundation, Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA) and Axle Contemporary. She also sits on the 516 ARTS ambassador council, the Native American advised fund for the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Ucross Foundation national advisory council, and the Native American advisory board for Nest. She was on the Santa Fe Arts Commission from 2019 – 2021. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.
