Wahtahine
She Likes to Travel
EXHIBITION
Wahtahine - She Likes to Travel
From Mother Earth to Contemporary
Oneida Pottery and Clay Sculptures
Featuring Cynthia Thomas
On display September 15, 2024 – December 15, 2024
Cynthia Thomas of Purple Pottery Productions is an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation. While at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, she earned a B.A. in Art with a minor in Arts Communications. She later attained her Master of Arts degree in Secondary Education at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. She is currently a high school Art teacher and is an active member of her family and her community. Cynthia integrates her life experiences and extensive education into her artistic creations.
Cynthia took advantage of opportunities to work and learn beside others who she states were teachers and mentors; these people also helped to mold Cynthia into the artisan she is today. She has been described as “well versed in using stoneware clay for sculptural pieces that tell a story.” Cynthia herself states that “I start with a drawing and believe that if I can see it, I can build it.”
Cynthia's Oneida culture and traditions along with her family have always provided her with rich and deep inspiration. Each sculptural piece references an event or a significant person from her life. She was raised following Oneida Longhouse tradition(s) and she incorporates parts of the ceremonies in some of her art. Her sculpted functional pottery depicts Oneida line designs using sgraffito techniques. Her preferred mediums are stoneware clay, underglazes and Potter’s Choice glazes. Cynthia’s words speak to her personal sculpting process, “When I work with clay, I have to let the clay speak to me, and the clay will create the vision.”
Cynthia has won awards in the Ohiyo Art Show and Market 2024, Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival 2023, Woodland Indian Art Show and Market in 2015 and 2021, and Northern Woodland Indian Art Show and Market 2019.
Prices for Cynthia’s artwork can be obtained by contacting the Journey Museum at (605) 394-6923. Purchases after the closing of the exhibition can be directed to the artist at purplepotteryproductions@gmail.com.
Where Eagles Soar
The Story of Billy Mills told Through the Artwork of SD Nelson
EXHIBITION
Where Eagles Soar: The Story of Billy Mills Told Through the Artwork of SD Nelson
On display October 11th, 2024 – May 25th, 2024
The Journey Museum is pleased to announce the opening of an exciting new exhibition, Where Eagles Soar, on October 11, 2024. The family friendly exhibition is free to the public in the Adelstein Gallery through May 25th, 2025. The exhibition includes twenty paintings from the collection of the Sioux Indian Museum. Lakota artist S.D. Nelson created these paintings to illustrate the book Wings of an Eagle. Written by Billy Mills and Janell Brown, the book tells the story of Billy Mills, a ground breaking Oglala Lakota athlete and the only American to win an Olympic Gold medal in the 10,000 meters.
Billy Mills, also known by his Lakota name Tamakhóčhe Theȟíla, is best known for winning a gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. His victory is considered one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, as Mills was a relatively unknown runner at the time and the first (and only) American to win gold in the 10,000 meters. Born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Mills overcame significant personal challenges, including poverty and the loss of both parents at a young age. A U.S. Marine Corps officer at the time of his Olympic triumph, Mills has since become a prominent advocate for Native American rights and youth sports programs. His life story was dramatized in the 1983 film Running Brave, and he continues to inspire generations with his message of perseverance and hope.
S.D. Nelson is an award-winning Lakota artist and author who has illustrated over 15 books. His work often depicts the imagery of the open prairies where S.D. spent his childhood summers, with expansive skies, towering clouds, and endless seas of grasslands. Combining timeless Lakota stories with contemporary art, his books have captivated audiences both young and old for over twenty years. A member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, spent his childhood summers on the Standing Rock Reservation. During this time, his mother told him the traditional Lakota stories that would become the subjects of his books. S.D. spent 26 years as a teacher in the Flagstaff public schools before his first book Gift Horse, a Lakota Story, was published in 1999.