Being Double, Native American Artists on Art and Identity, with with Jaycee Beyale, Chelsea Kaiah & Danielle SeeWalker
Moderated by Gregg Deal

 FREE / Reservations Recommended

MAKE A RESERVATION

Join guest curator Gregg Deal and artists from our current exhibition Duality as they share their experiences existing within contemporary American life as artists and Native Americans.

JayCee Beyale grew up in the Four Corners area of New Mexico and received his BFA in printmaking from the University of New Mexico. He is now based in Westminster, Colorado, where he continues his work as a founding member of the Creative Nations Arts Collective for Indigenous Artists based at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. In addition to co-curating exhibitions, producing events including an annual Indigenous Arts Fair, Beyale frequently travels to collaborate with fellow artists and commissioning organizations throughout the Southwest on murals and other projects. Beyale’s connection to his aboriginal culture is grounded in his artistic practice. His personal identity, background and pride in who he is and where he comes from have always been at the heart of his work. Beyale’s career as an artist began with his discovery of street art and graffiti. Using a combination of spray paints and acrylics, he celebrates the fusion of technology with Indigenous culture, primarily in paintings and murals. Beyale’s work is deeply influenced by music, while the combination of traditional Indigenous ideologies with his Buddhist practice is equally important to his art making, through which he strives to illuminate core concepts and convictions: the Laws of Movement, Unity and Impermanence.

Chelsea Kaiah is Ute and Apache/ Irish settler, born on the Northern Ute reservation. As an artist she currently resides in Denver Colorado. She is a passionate activist for Native rights, awareness, and sustainability. Chelsea earned her BFA at Watkins College of Art and Design in Nashville Tennessee. Today she learns traditional practices of pine needle weaving, beading, porcupine quilling, buffalo hunting, and hide work. Incorporating her interdisciplinary skills to meld a perspective of culture and artistic practice. Storytelling has always been an integral part of her up-bringing. Storytelling is a connection to her relations, community, past, and hopes for future. Even objects (hide bags) that just carry belongings become cultural carriers that bring knowledge by creation, and carriers of visual storytelling. Adapting traditional materials and techniques to engage a mindful space for honoring subjects that discuss resilience, mental health, system reformation, and means of healing. Traditional work becomes more than tradition, it becomes cultural experience. Chelsea presents human forms often masked to have ambiguity if it’s her world, their world, or for viewers to reflect themselves in our world. She believes reflecting the human condition is an important connection to reignite nature-based relationships between cultural and physical environments.

Danielle SeeWalker is Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. She is an artist, writer, activist, and boymom of two, based in Denver, Colorado. Her visual artwork often incorporates the use of mixed media and experimentation while incorporating traditional Native American materials, scenes, and messaging. Her artwork pays homage to her identity as a Lakȟóta wíŋyaŋ (woman) and her passion to redirect the narrative to an accurate and insightful representation of contemporary Native America while still acknowledging historical events. Alongside her passion for creating visual art, Danielle is a freelance writer and recently published her first book, titled Still Here: A Past to Present Insight of Native American People & Culture. She is also very dedicated to staying connected and involved in her Native community and currently serves as co-chair for the Denver American Indian Commission. Danielle has also been working on a personal, passion project since 2013 with her long-time friend called The Red Road Project. The focus of the work is to document, through words and photographs, what it means to be Native American in the 21st century by capturing inspiring and positive stories of people and communities within Indian Country.

Gregg Deal, (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) is a multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and “disruptor.” His work is informed by his Native identity and includes exhaustive critiques of American society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals, performance work, filmmaking, spoken word, and more, Deal invites the viewer to confront these issues both in the present and the past tense. In a 2018 TED Talk, Deal described his work as “honoring Indigenous experiences, challenging stereotypes, and pushing for accurate representations of Indigenous people in art.” It is in these “disruptions” of stereotypes and ahistorical representations which Deal uses the term to describe his work. Gregg Deal has exhibited his work at notable institutions both locally, nationally, and internationally including the Denver Art Museum, RedLine Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution. The artist currently lives with his wife and five children along the Front Range of Colorado.

Moderated by Gregg Deal

FREE / Reservations Recommended 

Make a Reservation Online, or call 303-651-8374.

Or watch the livestream:

1. On the Longmont Museum’s Facebook page
2. On Longmont Public Media’s website or through LPM Roku App for your Smart TV
3. Local Comcast Xfinity Channel 8/880 HD

Other Museum Events and Performances

The Longmont Museum offers variety for all audiences, including exhibits, concerts, performances, films, talks and classes.

• See other Longmont Museum Presents performances, and Climate Action Sundays.
• View our current exhibit,  Duality: Contemporary Works by Indigenous Artists
• Come to Thursday Nights at the Museum – we’re open until 9pm, with a 7 PM talk, film or performance
• Take an Art & Sip class for adults, on Thursday Night at 6:30 PM, 
• or attend a Friday Afternoon Concert at 2:30 PM on the second Friday of each month.