Jolene Rickard, born 1956, citizen of the

Tuscarora nation The Tuscarora (in Tuscarora ''Skarù:ręˀ'', "hemp gatherers" or "Shirt-Wearing People") are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government of the Iroquoian family, with members today in New York, USA, and Ontario, Canada. They ...

, Turtle clan, is an artist, curator and visual historian at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, specializing in

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

issues. Rickard co-curated two of the four permanent exhibitions for the Smithsonian’s

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

Biography

Rickard, granddaughter of Tuscarora chief

Clinton Rickard Clinton Rickard (1882–1971) was a Tuscarora chief known for founding the Indian Defense League, and for promoting Native American sovereignty. He worked for free passage of Native Americans across the US–Canada border, and to prevent the flood ...

, was born in 1956 at

Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara ...

. In 1977 Jolene Rickard attended the London College of Printmaking. She received her BFA from the

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in the town of Henrietta, New York, Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degree ...

and in 1991 she graduated with an MA from

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of Ne ...

. Rickard earned her Ph.D. in American Studies with a Native component from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

(SUNY) in 1996. After her education and having worked as a television art director and graphic designer, she moved back to

Tuscarora Reservation The Tuscarora Reservation (''Nyučirhéʼę'' in Tuscarora) is an Indian reservation in Niagara County, New York. The population was 1,152 at the 2010 census. The Tuscarora are a federally recognized tribe and the Sixth Nation of the ''Haudenosau ...

in upstate New York. Well known pieces by the artist include ''3 Sisters'', a 1989 black-and-white photograph and color xerox (the artist's sleeping face interposed with squash, beans and corn, the Three Sisters staple crops); and ''I See Red in the 90's'', a 1992 six-panel photograph series in protest of the quincentenary of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

' landing in America, also including a self-portrait. Her ''...the sky is darkening'' (2018), which incorporates beadwork by older traditional and contemporary artists, considers "deep reclamation of land by the Cayuga..." She sees her

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

as ultimately linked to "the manipulations of light and texture and the representations of cosmological space and spirituality of earlier generations of

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary b ...

artists".

Academic career

Rickard is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and American Indian and Indigenous Studies at

, and serves as the Director of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program. She also served as Interim Chair for the Art Department at Cornell between 2009 and 2010.

Curatorial projects

* Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, inaugural exhibitions: Our Peoples (2004-2014) and Our Lives (2004-2015), Washington, DC. * Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life. Co-Curator. Collaboration with Dr. Ruth Phillips, Kanataka, Kanien'kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center and McCord Museum, Quebec, 1995-99.

Selected exhibitions

* Red River Crossing, visiting curator, Gary Sholette, The Swiss Institute, New York, NY, November 1996 * Reservation X, curated by Gerald McMaster, Curator of Contemporary Art,

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

, QC, April 1998 * Native Nations, curated by Jane Allison, Barbican Art Center, London, UK, October 1998 * New Voices/New Visions, curated by Janeen Antone, Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco, CA, October 1998 * Lifeworlds – Artscapes: Contemporary Iroquois Art, curated by Sylvia S. Kasprycki and Doris I. Strambrau,

Museum Der Weltkulturen The Museum of World Cultures (german: link=no, Museum der Weltkulturen) is an ethnological museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Until 2001 it was called the Museum of Ethnology (''Museum für Völkerkunde''). History It was founded in 1904, as a ...

, Germany, February 2004 * Western New York and Beyond Exhibition, Albright Knox, curated by Louis Grachos, Buffalo, NY, June 2005 * The American West, curated by Jimmie Durham and Richard W. Hill, Compton Verney Gallery, Warwickshire, GB, June through August, 2005 * Oh So Iroquois, curated by Ryan Rice, The Ottawa Art Gallery, ON, June 2007 *Hearts of Our People,

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, Minnesota, June-Aug 2019; Frist Museum, Nashville, TN, Sept. 2019 – Jan. 2020;

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

, Washington, D.C., Feb. – May 2020; and

Philbrook Museum of Art Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his wi ...

, Tulsa, OK, June – Sept, 2020.

Awards

*Ford Foundation Research Grant *Cornell University Society of the Humanities Fellowship on the thematic topic of "Global Aesthetics"; 2010-2011

Bibliography

* * Proceedings of conference held in Venice, Italy, December 2005 * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rickard, Jolene 1956 births Living people 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Buffalo State College alumni Cornell University people Native American women artists People from Niagara Falls, New York Rochester Institute of Technology alumni Tuscarora people University at Buffalo alumni American women curators American curators