Raven @ the Big Bang

August 19, 2021–September 11, 2021

Artist Reception: Thursday, August 19, 5-7pm

Ravens fly, nest, and forage all around us. In the morning, they fly to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and then fly back toward town in the evening where they drink, bathe, and preen while carrying on their busy bird conversations with each other. It seems as though they have been here forever… maybe even since the Big Bang.

Ramona Sakiestewa knew that she wanted to be an artist by age seven. She grew up in the American Southwest under sundrenched abstract skies. Having begun her career as a weaver, Sakiestewa has continued to use woven elements in her work, whether it be in metal, glass, painting, or print. In these latest works, the artist has combined the texture of fabric and papers with prints and painting to make constructed works that are sometimes sewn together into layered color and images.

Raven @ the Big Bang A and B and Raven Walking the Milky Way are Sakiestewa’s attempt to stylize the Japanese sumi-e painted ravens that she admires. “I like the simple brush stroke gestures of the Japanese paintings.” All of the papers used were printed at the Fourth Dimension Press, and you can see that they were overprinted, deconstructed, and reconstructed. Michael McCabe assisted in the printing and did the dry mounting of the final prints.

Sakiestewa is a central figure among contemporary Native American artists. Her work has been collected by the Smithsonian Institution, the Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the New Mexico Museum of Art, just to name a few.