What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1364938
Johnnie Diacon City where you live: Tulsa, Okla. on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. My tribal town is Raprakko (Thlopthocco), and I am Ecovlke (Deer Clan). Location of your artwork: The south exterior wall of MONAH, 202 S.W. O St. Johnnie Diacon is a lifelong artist with formal education through the prestigious Indian Art program at Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla., as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M. His work is featured in public and private collections across the world, he contributed to the award-winning 2016 graphic novel compilation, "Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers Volume One," and he has partnered with MONAH often for workshops and events. But Diacon's Trail of Tears mural will be his first ever outdoor work. "As an Indigenous person, with a gift bestowed on me by the Creator, I feel that it is my duty to use this gift as an artist to record and present an honest and accurate view of my people, and not just for my people to enjoy, but for the world to see and to learn," he says of his work. "Native Americans have for centuries had their story told by others and often in not very honest or factual ways. This art will be around a lot longer than me, and I hope to break some of the stereotypes of Indians that are out there with my work." Diacon admits he doesn't often like to create pieces on the Trail of Tears as he does not like to make money from depictions of his people's suffering. But when MONAH Director Charlotte Buchanan-Yale approached him about doing a mural, Diacon saw the piece as an opportunity to pay tribute to his ancestors who made the journey, while dispelling any idea of the death march as a "romanticized voluntary move." "I wanted to take the basic line of images of Native people walking in adverse winter weather and add more scenes of what the people went through on the trip," he says of the mural, which is 4 feet high and totals 24 feet in length across the three panels. "When combined, the piece is a large panoramic view, and the three figures in the middle panel will give the viewer an up-close view and hopefully convey an even greater sense of being there with them as they make the journey." ouizi Name: Louise Jones City where you live: Detroit Location of your artwork: The corner of Main and Second streets off the Bentonville downtown square OZ Art NWA and Justkids — the curatorial partner behind Fort Smith's annual mural festival, The Unexpected — have partnered to bring Detroit-based muralist Ouizi back to Northwest Arkansas. Ouizi was last in Bentonville as part of Crystal Bridges' 2018 exhibition, "The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art," for which she created her first mural to be presented inside a museum. Ouizi's newly completed mural off the downtown square incorporates the large-scale florals with which she is most often associated. Her murals often depict site-specific plants and animals, and the techniques are uniquely informed by her education in drawing and printmaking. "My original medium was drawing," April 25-MAy 1, 2021 WhAt's up! 11 Detroit-based muralist ouizi is glad to return to Bentonville for another project. the flowers in her new mural off the downtown square were specifically inspired by some of the florals that appeared in her 2018 mural inside Crystal Bridges Museum as part of that year's Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition. (Courtesy photo/OZ Art NWA) This panel from Tulsa, okla.-based Muscogee (creek) artist Johnnie Diacon's new work depicts life- sized figures in the foreground of the image so the viewer can see the emotion on the figures' faces. this is the middle panel of a three-piece work depicting the trail of tears. Diacon's mural will debut at the Museum of Native American history in Bentonville during a live-streamed virtual event at 3 p.m. May 8. (Courtesy photo/Johnnie Diacon) See Art Page 12 "As An IndIgenous person, with a gift bestowed on me by the Creator, I feel that it is my duty to use this gift as an artist to record and present an honest and accurate view of my people, and not just for my people to enjoy, but for the world to see and to learn." JohnnIe dIAcon