Visual Voices

Briscoe Western Art Museum hosts a traveling exhibition dedicated to contemporary Chickasaw artwork through January 18.

SAN ANTONIO, TX

Launched by an all-Chickasaw artist board with the goal of “introducing our art, history, and culture to the world,” the traveling exhibition VISUAL VOICES: Contemporary Chickasaw Art features nearly 60 works of art by 15 painters, potters, sculptors, metalsmiths, and weavers. The show offers a visual of the Chickasaw story told through a modern-day lens. It was curated by Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man and Karen Whitecotton and has been making its way around the United States since June 2018. The show is now on view at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

“There’s a really beautiful piece in the show called Prayers Rising, by Joanna Underwood Blackburn, that’s kind of the centerpiece of the exhibition,” says Michael Duchemin, president, and CEO of the museum. The installation features a clay base with a sculpted ceremonial fire at the center and four coiled steel spirals that hang above reflecting the smoke from the fire. Attached to the coiled steel spirals are 39 clay blocks that are incised with prayers from all 39 tribes in Oklahoma. The base reflects the four cardinal directions as well as the four seasons, which are integral to Chickasaw culture and one of the exhibition themes.