The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

land-grant college A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on

Native American art Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes ...

. It operates the Museum of Contemporary

Native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic Santa Fe

Federal Building A federal building is a building housing local offices of various government departments and agencies in countries with a federal system, especially when the central government is referred to as the "federal government". Federal buildings in ...

(the old Post Office), a landmark

Pueblo Revival The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territor ...

building listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as Federal Building. The museum houses the National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art, with more than 7,000 items.

History

The Institute of American Indian Arts was co-founded by

Lloyd Kiva New Lloyd Henri Kiva New (Cherokee, February 18, 1916 – February 8, 2002) was a pioneer of modern Native American fashion design and a cofounder and president emeritus of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Earl ...

(

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, 1916–2002) and Dr. George Boyce in 1962 with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The school was founded upon the recommendation of the BIA Department of Education and the

Indian Arts and Crafts Board The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior whose mission is to "promote the economic development of American Indians and Alaska Natives through the expansion of the Indian arts and craft ...

. Three factors led to the school's founding: growing dissatisfaction with the academic program at the

Santa Fe Indian School The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in 1890 to educate Native American children from tribes throughout the Southwestern United States. The purpose of creating SFIS was an attempt to assimilate the Native American c ...

, the BIA's emerging interest in higher education, and the influence of the Southwest Indian Art Project and the Rockefeller Foundation. IAIA began on the SFIS campus in October 1962. From 1962 to 1979, IAIA ran a high school program, and began offering college- and

graduate-level Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

art courses in 1975. In 1986, the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development was congressionally chartered as a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, similar to the structure of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, which separated the school from the BIA. It was designated a

in 1994 alongside 31 other tribal colleges. In 2001, the school was

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

, including the accreditation of

four year degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

s. A two-year low-residency MFA in creative writing was accredited in 2013. Today, IAIA sits on a campus south of downtown Santa Fe and also operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, which is located in

Santa Fe Plaza The Santa Fe Plaza is a National Historic Landmark in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico in the style of traditional Spanish-American colonial cities. The plaza, or city square is a gathering place for locals and also a tourist attraction. It is home ...

, as well as the Center for Lifelong Education.

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe

In 1991 the college founded the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, now the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), in downtown Santa Fe, with a focus on contemporary intertribal

, the MoCNA is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building (the old Post Office), a landmark

building listed on the

. The museum also features the Allan Houser Sculpture Garden. File:Wayne gaussoin performance.jpg, Performance by Wayne Nez Gaussoin (Picuris/Navajo) at MoCNA File:Institute of American Indian Arts Museum.jpg, IAIA MoCNA columns flanking a sculpture by

Bob Haozous Bob Haozous is a Chiricahua Apache sculptor from Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is enrolled in the Fort Sill Apache Tribe. Background Bob Haozous was born on 1 April 1943 in Los Angeles, California.American Indian Higher Education Consortium The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) was established in 1972 to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations. The four founders were Gerald One F ...

, which includes tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations and make a difference in the lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives. IAIA generally serves geographically isolated populations of Native Americans that have few other means of accessing education beyond the high school level.American Indian Higher Education Consortium
During the early 1970s, faculty member Ed Wapp, Jr.'s E-Yah-Pah-Hah Chanters toured nationally with the

Hanay Geiogamah Hanay Geiogamah (born 1945) is a playwright, television and movie producer, and artistic director. He is currently a Professor in the School of Theater, Film, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also served as the direc ...

's American Indian Theatre Ensemble, a company in residence at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. A program from this tour describes the musical ensemble as "students from the Institute of American Indian Arts at Santa Fe, N.M., and are under the direction of Ed Wapp, Jr. Their music is presented in both the traditional and contemporary American Indian forms. Songs are selected from the Plains, Eastern, Great Basin, Southwest and Northwest Coast areas of Indian Country."

Notable faculty

* Imogene Goodshot Arquero, Oglala Lakota beadwork artist * Louis W. Ballard,

Quapaw The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Oh ...

composer * Gregory Cajete,

Santa Clara Pueblo Santa Clara Pueblo (in Tewa: Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh ɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè ″Singing Water Village″, also known as ″Village of Wild Roses″ is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States and a federa ...

ethnobiologist and author * Karita Coffey, Comanche ceramist * Jon Davis, European-American poet * Lois Ellen Frank, cultural anthropologist and food historian *

Allan Houser Allan Capron Houser or Haozous (June 30, 1914 – August 22, 1994) was a Chiricahua Apache sculptor, painter and book illustrator born in Oklahoma.Chiricahua Apache Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua (Tsokanende ) are related to other Apache groups: Ndendahe (Mogollon, Carrizaleño), Tchihende (Mimbreño), Sehend ...

sculptor *

Charles Loloma Charles Sequevya Loloma (January 7, 1921 — June 9, 1991) was an American artist of indigenous Hopi descent. He was a highly influential Native American jeweler during the 20th century. He popularized use of gold and gemstones not previously use ...

, Hopi jeweler *

Otellie Loloma Otellie Loloma (December 30, 1921 — January 30, 1993) was a Hopi Native Americans in the United States, Native American artist, specializing in pottery and dance. Additionally, she worked with her husband Charles Loloma on jewelry design. Early ...

, Hopi potter, sculptor, painter *

Linda Lomahaftewa Linda Lomahaftewa (born 1947) is a Hopi and Choctaw printmaker, painter, and educator living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Background Linda J. Lomahaftewa was born July 3, 1947 in Phoenix, Arizona. Her late father was Hopi; her mother is Choctaw fro ...

, Hopi/ Choctaw printmaker * Larry McNeil,

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

Nisga'a The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as (pronounced ), are an Indigenous people of Canada in British Columbia. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The name is a ...

photographer *

N. Scott Momaday Navarre Scott Momaday (born February 27, 1934) is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel ''House Made of Dawn'' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native ...

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...

writer *

Josephine Myers-Wapp Josephine Myers-Wapp (February 10, 1912 – October 26, 2014) was a Comanche weaver and educator. After completing her education at the Haskell Institute, she attended Santa Fe Indian School, studying weaving, dancing, and cultural arts. After he ...

, Comanche textile artist *

Wendy Ponca Wendy Ponca (born 1960) is an Osage Nation, Osage artist, educator, and fashion designer noted for her Native American fashion creations. From 1982 to 1993, she taught design and Fiber Arts courses at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) ...

, Osage Nation fashion designer and textile artist *

Fritz Scholder Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...

Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of ...

painter *

Arthur Sze Arthur Sze (; ; born December 1, 1950) is an American poet, translator, and professor. Since 1972, he has published ten collections of poetry. Sze's ninth collection ''Compass Rose'' (2014) was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Sz ...

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

poet * James Thomas Stevens, Akwesasne Mohawk poet and writer * Azalea Thorpe; an award for the fiber arts program is named in her honor * Charlene Teters,

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

painter and installation artist *

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...

White Earth Ojibwe The White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, also called the White Earth Nation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, "People from where there is an abundance of white clay"), is a federally recognized Native American band located ...

writer * Ed Wapp, Jr. musician; son of Josephine Myers-Wapp * Will Wilson,

Diné The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

photographer * Elizabeth Woody, Navajo/ Tenino (Warm Springs)/

Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States: Places United States * Wasco, California, a city in California ** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California * Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...

Yakama The Yakama are a Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in eastern Washington state. Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Their ...

artist and author * Melanie Yazzie, Navajo printmaker * William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.,

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

writer

Notable alumni

Marcus Amerman Marcus Amerman is a Choctaw bead artist, glass artist, painter, fashion designer, and performance artist, living in Idaho. He is known for his highly realistic beadwork portraits. Background Marcus Amerman was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1959 bu ...

, Choctaw Nation beadwork artist * Ralph Aragon, Pueblo painter and sculptor * Katie Doane Tulugaq Avery, Iñupiaq filmmaker *

Alexandra Backford Alexandra Backford (1942–2010) was an Aleut-United States, American Painting, painter from Alaska. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the 1960s and has exhibited her work across the country. Some o ...

, Aleut painter * Esther Belin, Diné multimedia artist and writer * Sherwin Bitsui, Navajo poet * Diane Burns, Anishinaabe/Chemehuevi poet * Jackie Larson Bread, Blackfoot beadwork artist *

T.C. Cannon Tommy Wayne Cannon (September 27, 1946 – May 8, 1978) (Kiowa) was an important Native American artist of the 20th century. He was popularly known as T. C. Cannon. He was an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe and also had Caddo and French ...

(Kiowa/Caddo, 1946–1978), painter and printmaker * Sherman Chaddlesone (Kiowa, 1947–2013), painter *

Eddie Chuculate Eddie Chuculate is an American fiction writer who is enrolled in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and of Cherokee descent. He earned a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. His first book is ''Cheyenne Madonna''. For ...

, Muscogee/Cherokee author and journalist *

Kelly Church Kelly Jean Church ( Match-e-benash-she-wish Potawatomi/Odawa/Ojibwe) is a black ash basket maker, Woodlands style painter, birchbark biter, and educator. Background Kelly Church, a fifth-generation basket maker, was born in 1967. She grew up ...

, Odawa/Ojibwe/Potawatomi basket maker, birchbark biter * Karita Coffey, Comanche ceramic artist * Bunky Echo-Hawk, Pawnee/Yakama painter *

Anita Fields Anita Fields (born 1951) is an Osage/Muscogee Native American ceramic and textile artist based in Oklahoma. She is an enrolled member of the Osage Nation. Fields is recognized internationally for her work in ceramics, often rendering functio ...

, Osage/Muskogee ceramicist * Bill Glass Jr., Cherokee Nation ceramic artist and sculptor *

Gina Gray Gina Gray (Osage name: ''Pa-Pe Son-tse''): (1954 – 20 December 2014) was an Osage artist born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, to Andrew and Margaret Gray. She was the great-granddaughter of Henry Roan Horse. She is one of the most renowned Native Ame ...

(Osage, 1954–2014), printmaker and painter * Benjamin Harjo Jr., Shawnee/Seminole painter and printmaker *

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

, Muscogee poet and jazz musician, US Poet Laureate *

Allison Hedge Coke Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is an American poet and editor. Her debut book, ''Dog Road Woman'', won the American Book Award and was the first finalist of the Paterson Poetry Prize and Diane DeCora Award. Since then, she has written five more books ...

, American author *

Kevin Locke Kevin Locke may refer to: * Kevin Locke (musician) (born 1954 - passed October 1, 2022), Native American musician *Kevin Locke (rugby league) (born 1989), New Zealand rugby league footballer See also * Kevin Lock (born 1953), English former footba ...

, Lakota/Anishinaabe hoop dancer *

Gerald McMaster Gerald Raymond McMaster (born 9 March 1953, in North Battleford) is a curator, artist, and author and a Plains Cree member of the Siksika Nation.Abbot, LarryGerald McMaster: Plains Cree.''A Time of Visions.'' (retrieved 20 Nov 2009) McMaster is ...

, Plains Cree Siksika First Nation author, artist, and curator * Melissa Melero-Moose, Northern Paiute/Modoc mixed-media artist, curator, and cofounder of the Great Basin Native Artists * America Meredith, Cherokee Nation painter, printmaker, and curator *

Dan Namingha Dan Namingha (born 1950, Keams Canyon, Arizona) is a Hopi painter and sculptor. He is Dextra Quotskuyva's son, and a great-great-grandson of Nampeyo. He is a member of the Hopi-Tewa member of the Hopi Tribe. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. E ...

Hopi-Tewa The Hopi-Tewa (also Tano, Southern Tewa, Hano, Thano, or Arizona Tewa) are a Tewa Pueblo group that resides on the eastern part of the Hopi Reservation on or near First Mesa in northeastern Arizona. Synonymy The name ''Tano'' is a Spanish bo ...

painter and sculptor *

Jody Naranjo Jody Naranjo is a contemporary Tewa pottery maker from the Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico in the United States. She comes from a family of traditional Tewa potters. She learned the craft of pottery from her mother and other female relatives. She a ...

, Santa Clara Pueblo potter * Jamie Okuma, Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock beadwork artist and fashion designer *

Tommy Orange Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fi ...

, Cheyenne-Arapaho best-selling novelist * Mary Gay Osceola, Seminole painter and printmaker * Chris Pappan (Kaw/Osage/Cheyenne River Lakota), ledger artist *

Kevin Red Star Kevin Red Star (born 1943) is a Native American painter from Montana. He is a member of the Crow Tribe of Montana. Background Kevin Red Star was born on the Crow Indian Reservation in Lodge Grass, Montana. He was raised in a family that values ...

, Crow painter * Layli Long Soldier, Oglala Lakota poet, writer, and artist. * James Thomas Stevens, Akwesasne Mohawk poet *

Roxanne Swentzell Roxanne Swentzell (born December 9, 1962) is a Santa Clara Tewa Native American sculptor, ceramic artist, Indigenous food activist, and gallerist. Her artworks are in major public collections and she has won numerous awards. Swentzell's work ...

, Santa Clara Pueblo ceramic artist and sculptor * Charlene Teters, Spokane painter and installation artist * Randy'L He-dow Teton, Shoshone-Bannock model for Sacajawea Gold Dollar coin *

Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie (born 1954) is a Seminole-Muscogee-Navajo photographer, museum director, curator, and professor. She is living in Davis, California. She serves as the director of the C.N. Gorman Museum and teaches at University of Calif ...

, Seminole/Muscogee/Diné photographer, writer, curator, and educator * Marty Two Bulls Sr, Lakota artist *

Marie Watt Marie Watt (born 1967) is a contemporary artist living and working in Portland, Oregon. Enrolled in the Seneca Nation of Indians, Watt has created work primarily with textile arts and community collaboration centered on diverse Native American th ...

, Seneca textile artist, printmaker and conceptual artist * Terese Marie Mailhot, Sto:lo writer * Jolene Yazzie, Navajo graphic designer * Debra Yepa-Pappan, Jemez Pueblo/Korean digital multimedia artist and museum professional * Alfred Young Man, PhD (Chippewa-Cree), painter, author, professor * Vernon Bigman, Abstract Painter

Notable administration and staff

(

, 1916–2002), co-founder and president * Joseph Sanchez, curator and artist, one of the Indian Group of Seven * Duane Slick, (born 1961) painter, taught at IAIA from 1992 until 1995.

References

External links

* {{authority control Native American arts organizations Native American museums in New Mexico American Indian Higher Education Consortium Art museums and galleries in New Mexico Art schools in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Santa Fe, New Mexico Education in Santa Fe, New Mexico Museums in Santa Fe, New Mexico Native Americans in Santa Fe, New Mexico Pueblo Revival architecture in Santa Fe, New Mexico School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Public universities and colleges in New Mexico University museums in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Santa Fe, New Mexico Federal buildings in the United States 1962 establishments in New Mexico Educational institutions established in 1962 1962 in art