Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration 2024
“We don’t call a tree a resource. We don’t call the fish a resource. We don’t call the bison a resource. We call them our relatives.” Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, UN Summit, 1992
Join Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) on October 14th, 2024 to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We will be unveiling new artwork for our SCUA classroom by Steph Littlebird, as well as gathering for the opening of our fall exhibit, The Land We Have Always Known. This exhibit, guest-curated by University of Oregon student Marisol Peters (class of 2027, Karuk), explores Indigenous land relationships in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Working at the intersections between the land, water, culture and history, The Land We Have Always Known asks us to re-evaluate our beliefs about our more-than-human relatives and consider ways in which we can heal our world by changing the way we relate to the land. Featured artists include Zig Jackson, Pamela Peters, Joe Whittle, and Julia Arriola, among others.
Our Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration begins at 1pm with a campus art walk with Steph Littlebird and JSMA curator, Danielle Knapp, and culminates in a catered reception, held in the Special Collections Paulson Reading Room.
1 to 2:30 p.m. Campus Art Walk
Tour begins in the front of the Knight Library (1501 Kincaid Street)
Join featured artist Steph Littlebird (Grand Ronde) and JSMA McCosh Curator Danielle Knapp, for an Art Walk of the UO Campus, highlighting new installations of works by Littlebird at the Knight Library, Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Design Library, and JSMA, and additional public art and architectural points of interest. Please dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes for an hour-and-a-half- long, two-mile walk.
2:30 to 4 p.m. New Cartographies Draw-In
Ken Kesey Classroom (room 201n), Knight Library (1501 Kincaid Street)
Inspired by the work of the Homeland Collective, we will gather to reconnect to the land through art making and cartography. No art making experience necessary and all supplies will be included.
4 to 6 p.m. The Land We Have Always Known Exhibit Opening & Steph Littlebird SCUA Artwork Celebration
Paulson Reading Room (second floor north), Knight Library (1501 Kincaid Street)
The Land We Have Always Known will be on view in the Paulson Reading Room from October 14 to mid-January 2025. Steph Littlebird’s work will be on permanent display in the Special Collections & University Archives classroom.
This event is co-sponsored by UO Special Collections and University Archives, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and the UO Libraries Diversity Committee.
Credits:
Conservation and exhibition preparation: Victoria Wang and Alaina Kucera
Promotion & outreach: Kate Conley, Mandi Garcia, & Emily Moore
Event coordination & planning: Danielle Mericle
Steph Littlebird’s artwork commission was supported by Library Executive Team.
The Land We Have Always Known exhibition was made possible by a Thomas Internship, which provided a mentorship opportunity between SCUA Visual Materials Curator Danielle Mericle and Marisol Peters on the curation of an exhibition.
