I was invited to participate in a print exchange with the theme of Water by Professor Melanie Yazzie of University of Colorado at Boulder. There are 4 sets of artists participating, each creating an edition set of 25 prints. A copy of all the prints from each set will be included in the Institute Of American Indian Arts– Classroom Teaching Collection in Santa Fe, NM as well as the collection at Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa, HI.
Water – What Does This Mean to You?
Exchange Prospectus from Professor Yazzie
I am of the Saltwater clan born for the Bitter Water clan
My maternal grandfather’s clan is Edgewater
My paternal grandfather’s clan is Red Streak into- the-Water
This is who I am
-Melanie Yazzie
It is the Spring of 2025; I am beginning my sabbatical asking myself about the question of water. My Navajo clan system is where this started and why I began by sharing this with you all. I wonder how each of you sees or understands water. Be it how we use it, how you live with it, what memories do each of you carry with it, how can you be inspired by it. Water is here and everywhere- in space if we are there, we carry it in us….. There is so much that it holds for us. I will be traveling to Hawaii this 2025 to explore this question and letting my intuition carry me. Afterwards I will return to New Mexico for 8 weeks to continue this exploration.
It is important to me to invite each of you to work on this idea in your own spaces and create a work on water to share with me and others in this project. Please share the story of your work and what you have discovered in a statement that you will insert with each of your works. There is a deeper reason for this project for me and I suspect you will find the same when you begin your journey. The project will be exhibited on my return to the University of Colorado in the Fall of 2025. There will be other exhibition locations – as they come up, I will let you all know!
Print Tests and Variations
