Indigenous Women’s Voices Summit

2nd Annual Indigenous Women’s Voices Summit

Celebrating and igniting creative change.

The goal of the Summit is to foster community building between Nations. To bring together traditional teachings and contemporary minds to imagine ways forward for our people. To recognize that while there is much talked about suffering and trauma in and about our communities we are also growing, thriving and have a lot to teach about how to find strength in laughter, joy and respect for other living things.

September 8 – November 7:  Gallery222 & Public Art Exhibition by Mona Cliff and Margaret Jacobs.

September 26, 2:00pm – 3:00pm : Beading & Appliqué Demonstration with Mona Cliff (virtual with Q&A) Register Here

October 3, 2:00pm -3:00pm:  Studio Demonstration of ‘Steel Medicine’ with Margaret Jacobs (virtual with Q&A) Register Here

October 8, 7:00pm 8:00pm:  Opening Panel Conversation with The IWVS Steering Committee. Register Here

October 9, 2:00pm- 4:00pm:  Artists Reception and Hybrid Artist Talk with Mona Cliff (virtual), Margaret Jacobs and Erin Lee Antonak (in-person) at Gallery222

October 9, 4:00pm – 6:00pm: Live Music with Akwesasne Women Singers,  Keynote Speaker Jami Powell  and singer Jennifer Kresiberg.

Summit Pass Suggested Donation is $30.00
The Summit Pass Admits you to all of the events on October 9th and access to the recorded virtual events. Recordings of the Virtual events are available to pass holders only.

The Virtual Panel and Artists Demonstrations are Free. Donations are always welcome.

Donations are appreciated and help to support the Indigenous Artists and Steering Committee.

Proof of Vaccination Or Negative Covid Test is Required for the in-person Summit.

In order to protect our staff, artists, and the most vulnerable members of our community we are requiring all those in attendance to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test.
Masks are required indoors regardless of vaccination status.

For proof of vaccination or negative covid-19 test, we will accept one of the following:

your physical vaccination card
a clear, legible photo of your vaccination card
a digital vaccination record
a negative result from a COVID-19 test (test taken within 72 hours) Find a Covid Test Locations Here and Free Testing at Walgreens

Presenters Bios

Jennifer Kreisberg

Mother, Singer, Composer, and Teacher – Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies.

Jennifer has been singing since she was a child.  When she was seventeen, she joined the critically acclaimed Native women’s Trio ULALI. Her voice perfectly wove the high strand of Ulali’s renowned harmony with incomparable skill and grace for over twenty years. Together, they created a new sound in Indian Country. Jennifer’s sharp wit and stage presence infused Ulali’s shows with strong vocals, humor and camaraderie with the audience.

Jennifer is frequently called upon to guest lecture and conduct vocal workshops at universities, schools, in Native communities and at festivals throughout the United States and Canada. She has worked in film and television and has toured with renowned musicians throughout the world.  http://www.jenniferelizabethkreisberg.com/

Margaret Jacobs

Born and raised in northern New York, Margaret Jacobs is a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe. She is a 2018 awardee from the Rebecca Blunk Fund through New England Foundation for the Arts, a 2019 recipient of the Artist in Business Leadership Award through the First Peoples Fund and was a 2021 Visiting Artist at Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, MN.

Jacobs has participated in several artist residencies including at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT where she received a Native American Fellowship through the Harpo Foundation. She has shown at galleries and juried art markets throughout the United States including at Boise Art Museum in Idaho; 516 arts in Albuquerque, NM; and the Smithsonian NMAI in Washington, DC. Her work has been featured in print and online press including at mic.com in the article 11 Native American Artists Whose Work Redefines What it Means to be American.

Jacobs is known for her sculpture, jewelry and drawings and she uses all three approaches to explore the tension and harmony between natural and man-made, often intermingling unexpected and contradicting materials to explore those relationships.  https://www.margaretjacobs.com/

Mona Cliff

Mona Cliff (Aaniiih)is a multidisciplinary indigenous visual artist, she explores the subject of contemporary Native American identity and culture through her use of traditional Native crafting methods such as seed bead embroidery and fabric applique. Mona has embarked on a new series of regalia which explores the concept of native futurisms. Beadwork & sewing applique have been a primary foundation of her artist practice.

Mona acquired a B.F.A in Printmaking from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. After graduating Mona pursued beadwork as a way to Re-indigenize her art practice after a western based art education. Honoring native culture, She has continued to work on her art combining contemporary subject matters with indigenous methods of crafting. Her art also focuses on how traditional arts are passed down between generations of women, thus influencing culture.

Mona pursues the concepts of generational knowledge while exploring other topics such as native futurism and identity. Her beadwork is included in the traveling exhibit The World of Frida, exhibited in the U.S for the next 2 years. Her recent work of a beaded QR code was included in an exhibit at the Abrons Art Center in NYC. Mona’s art was selected for an art exhibit and awarded travel to Cape Town, South Africa. Mona has recently concluded a public art grant through Art Place America and the Lawrence Arts Center in which shel focused on community public art. Her project Natives NOW focused on bringing visibility to the local native community, using portraiture, projections and a mural that interweaves elements of traditional native regalia overlayed with botanical renderings of indigenous fruits of the Kansas area, as well as Osage language.
She is currently working on a commissioned installation for the Kansas City Museum, where she is incorporating seed beads as a way to work in harmony and honor nature’s forms. Her newest work can be seen at Form & Concept in the exhibit Hand Tools of Resilience.
Mona is married and has 3 children ages 10, 11& 13 years old. She currently resides in Lawrence, Kansas.
Mona Cliff is an enrolled member of the Gros Ventre tribe (A’aninin/Nakota Nations) she is Frozen Clan(Aniiih) and of the Medicine Bear Clan(Nakota) of Ft. Belknap, MT.   https://www.monacliff.com/

Keynote Speaker

Jami Powell

Jami Powell is the Hood’s first curator of Indigenous art and serves as a lecturer in the Native American and Indigenous Studies Department at Dartmouth. Jami is a citizen of the Osage Nation and has a PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her first three years at the Hood Museum, Jami has curated exhibitions including Form and Relation: Contemporary Native American Ceramics, CIPX Dartmouth with Kali Spitzer and Will Wilson, and This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World.  Prior to working at the Dartmouth, Jami was a faculty lecturer at Tufts University. She has also worked as a research assistant at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, was a Mellon Fellow at the Peabody Essex Museum, and has conducted research projects at the Field Museum of Natural History and the Denver Art Museum.

Jami’s research examines the representations of Indigenous peoples in museums as well as the interventions contemporary Indigenous artists make through creative acts of self-representation. Jami is currently working on a book manuscript titled Stitching an Osage Future: Aesthetic Resistance and Self-Representation. She has also published articles in Museum Anthropology, Panorama, Museum Management and Curatorship, and is an editorial advisor for First American Art Magazine. Jami has served on curatorial advisory boards for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. She is a recipient of the 2020 New Leadership Award from ArtTable, the foremost professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts.  (headshot photo by Eli Burakian) https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/people/jami-powell

Steering Committee Members

Erin Lee Antonak

Erin Lee Antonak is a Wolf Clan member of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York. She is a graduate of Bard College and studied at Lacoste School of the Arts, France and at Vermont Studio Center. Erin has worked in various museums and art galleries developing, designing, and building exhibitions for over 20 years. She has also organized and curated shows in Europe, Asia, and North America. Her own artwork fuses traditional Iroquois sensibilities and craft techniques with contemporary materials and concepts. She is currently Curator of Art at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum, Biloxi, MS and serves as a Yale University Morse College Fellow.  https://www.erinantonak.com/

Luzene Hill

Luzene Hill is a multi-media artist, best known for socially engaged conceptual installations and performances. Her work reflects interdisciplinary scholarship in visual art, women’s studies, Native American culture – topics that are integral to her background and personal journey. An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Hill lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom.  http://www.luzenehill.com/

Mary V. Bordeaux

Mary V. Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota) is the co-founder and creative director of Racing Magpie, a collaborative space with a Native art gallery and artist studios in Mnilúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwah (Rapid City, SD). She received her bachelor’s degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts and MFA from the University of the Arts, both degrees are in museum studies with an emphasis in exhibition design and planning. Mary is currently a doctoral candidate at Saint Mary’s University, exploring Lakota women’s leadership. Mary has held curatorial positions with The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School and The Indian Museum of North America at Crazy Horse Memorial.  https://www.racingmagpie.com/