Great Plains Art Museum to open two exhibitions featuring women artists

Painting of two Native women in a surreal landscape with clouds and lightning

Excerpt of “Watching the Weather” by Diane O’Leary (Comanche), 1973, gouache on artist’s board.

The Great Plains Art Museum will open two new exhibitions July 25.

“Supporting Indigenous Sisters” is a print portfolio exchange involving 16 artists from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds. The portfolio was created to help begin conversations on many levels about missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States and Canada and the associated grassroots movement to raise awareness.

Organizers asked each artist to reach into their own experiences. The artworks advocate for change and for voicing this dark present-day history. Artists were invited by Melanie Yazzie, head of printmaking at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Catherine Prose, professor of printmaking at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Painting of Native woman wearing red dress covered in tally marks with a bleeding heart — “How Many Broken Hearts?” by Amy Cordova Boone (Oaxaca, Mexico), 2020, screen print.

Participating artists:

Maile Andrade, Kilauea, Hawaii
Amy Córdova Boone, Oaxaca, Mexico
Krysten Farrier, Wichita Falls, Texas
Anna Hoover, Anchorage, Alaska
Vicki Meek, Dallas, Texas
Dilara Miller, Boulder, Colorado, and Mersin, Turkey
Sylvia Montero, Denver, Colorado
Andi Newberry, Wichita Falls, Texas
Morgan Page, Wichita Falls, Texas
Sue Pearson, Whakatane, New Zealand
Catherine Prose, Wichita Falls, Texas (project co-organizer)
Rebecca Ramos, Aptos, California
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Corrales, New Mexico
Jordan Vigil, Denver, Colorado
Lorena Williams, El Paso, Texas
Melanie Yazzie, Boulder, Colorado (project co-organizer)

Painting of bobolink on gray, swirly background — “Night Passages: Bobolink” by Kirsten Furlong, 2021, acrylic and ink on paper.

“From Paintbrushes to Camera Lenses: Creative Women of the Great Plains, Part II” is a continuation of an exhibition in 2018 that highlighted exceptional work created by female artists from the museum’s permanent collection. To complement other women-focused exhibitions on view during fall 2023, the museum is organizing part two of this exhibition to showcase many recent acquisitions and other works from the collection by women that were not shown in the first installation.

Both exhibitions will be on view in the main-level gallery July 25 through Dec. 16.

In the lower-level gallery, Elizabeth Rubendall Artist in Residence Linda Rivera García’s exhibition “Chicanisma” continues through Sept. 22. García will host two free workshops Aug. 5, where visitors can learn papel picado (Mexican paper cutting). Registration and details are available here.

The Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., is open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, click here.