IndiVisible (traveling)

This important and enlightening exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution was about the intersection of American Indian and African American people and cultures. IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas explored historical and contemporary stories of peoples and communities whose shared histories are woven into the fabric of American identity, but whose presence has long been invisible to many in the U.S. The exhibition shed light on the dynamics of race, community, culture, and creativity, and addresses the human desire to belong. With compelling text and powerful graphics, the exhibition included accounts of cultural integration and diffusion as well as the struggle to define and preserve identity. The Abbe Museum housed this exhibition in 2013. IndiVisible was developed by the National Museum of the American Indian with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

Learn More: IndiVisible Exhibit Website

North by Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne Mohawk, and Tuscarora Traditional Arts (traveling)

For generations, Native American traditional artists in the Northeast have passed on their culture through beadwork, basketry, birchbark, and woodcarving. Organized and curated by Kathleen Mundell, this traveling exhibition sponsored by Cultural Resources, Inc. presented these traditions through the work and words of more than 35 traditional artists living and working primarily in Maine and upstate New York. In the creative hands of those who continue to practice them, these arts reflect the values and traditions of contemporary communities with each generation recasting old forms into new expressions.

Transcending Traditions (traveling)

Transcending Traditions featured five contemporary Maine Indian basketmakers representing the next generation: Jeremy Frey, Ganessa (Bryant) Frey, Sarah Sockbeson, Geo Neptune, and Eric “Otter” Bacon. This project explored the new directions that these innovative artists are taking the tradition in the face of environmental and economic challenges.

This exhibit was created as a collaboration between the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance and the Hudson Museum, supported by a grant from the National Museum of the American Indian's Indigenous Contemporary Arts Program.

Learn More: Hudson Museum Online Exhibit