An exhibition at The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta celebrates the work of the Indigenous Group of Seven, influential Indigenous artists who, over a period of decades, pushed a new definition of Native art in Canada. We’ll also highlight exhibitions honoring contemporary and up-and-coming Native American artists including the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture exhibition, “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art“, and the Institute of American Indian Art’s annual showcase of work by the visual arts graduating class.

GUESTS

Joseph Sánchez, artist, former curator for IAIA’s Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, member of the Indigenous Group of Seven, and co-curator of “The Ancestors Are Talking” exhibit at The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Kayla Wanatee (Meskwaki Tribe), multi-disciplinary artist and a spring 2025 IAIA Bachelor’s of Fine Arts graduate

Kassidy Plyler (Catawba), artist and cultural public programs specialist for the Catawba Nation

WEST celebrates the continuum of heritage and the handmade, taking inspiration from the landscape, history and culture of the American West. Working across cowboy arts, Hawaiian indigenous practices, and Native American handwork, the artists show how traditional craft can be revived, reworked and reinvented in the art of today. PBS Premiere December 19, 2025.

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), a public tribal land-grant college located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the sole national center dedicated to research, training, and scholarship for Native Americans. It focuses exclusively on American Indian and Alaskan Native arts and culture. Established in 1962 and congressionally chartered as a nonprofit organization in 1986, IAIA emphasizes Native American art and oversees the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which houses a collection of over 7,000 contemporary Native American art pieces.