Indigenous Peoples' Day: Connection to Place

Free Admission is Generously Supported By Linda Cabot And Ed Anderson

Monday, October 14, 2024
11 am - 5 pm
Throughout the Museum

Join us as we celebrate and honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day with community and family through art-making, storytelling, and more. The Gardner Museum is honored to collaborate with Elizabeth Solomon (Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag), Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) and Tanya Nixon-Silberg and Tony Leva from Little Uprisings to amplify the voices of local Indigenous artists and the theme of this year’s free day: “Connection to Place.”

Explore the magic of the Museum’s gardens and galleries, stop by Café G for lunch or a light snack, and enjoy a day in which music, art, and plants provide a vehicle for self-reflection, support, and healing.

Program

Land Acknowledgment in the Courtyard | 11:30 am
Join Elizabeth Solomon (Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag) as she opens the day with a Land Acknowledgment.

Art-Making in the Bertucci Education Studio | 11:00 am - 4 pm
Drop by the Education Studio for hands-on art-making. Explore the art of clay, and sculpt a small pendant, that can be worn as a personal monument to someone or something who has made a difference in your life, in an activity designed by Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate).

Connection to Place: Self-Guided Gallery Activity | 11:00 am - 4 pm
How has the place of the Museum changed over time? What is missing here? Consider this place, its land, and its stories. Developed by Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate). Stop by our Welcome Table and Ask Me Table to learn more.

Musical Storytelling Workshop with Little Uprisings: The Power of Three for Community, in the Living Room | 12 pm - 12:30 pm and 2 - 2:30 pm
The Three Sisters story has been told among many different Indigenous communities. The sisters, stronger together than they are apart, is a powerful lesson in honoring differences for a common goal. Join Tanya Nixon-Silberg and Tony Leva for an interactive musical storytime about The Three Sisters, the power of three and how we build community together, combining storytelling, music, and play.

Native Plant Drop-In Talk: 12:45-1 pm, 1:30-1:45 pm, and 3-3:15 pm
Join a Museum Teacher to consider the role of horticulture at the Museum, past and present, with a focus on native plants found in the verdant Courtyard.

About the Artists

Woman with shoulder length grey, wavy hair with glasses, purple sweater and necklace.

Woman with dark hair pulled into a bun with a brown shirt looking directly at camera

Photo of a black woman with magenta hair

Photo courtesy of the artist

Elizabeth Solomon is an enrolled member of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag and a longterm partner with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Elizabeth speaks frequently about local Indigenous issues and has a long-standing commitment to human rights, diversity, inclusion, and community building that she brings to both her paid and volunteer work. Elizabeth serves on multiple advisory and management boards. Elizabeth holds a master’s degree in museum studies and she has a commitment to work with native communities and others that are currently underrepresented in museum exhibits and public history programs to assist them with bringing their voices and stories to the forefront.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Erin Genia, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and community organizer specializing in Indigenous arts and culture. Genia’s work in these areas is focused on amplifying the powerful presence of Indigenous peoples on the occupied lands of America in the arts, sciences and public realm to invoke an evolution of thought and practice that is aligned with the cycles of the natural world and the potential of humanity.

Erin has an M.S. in Art, Culture and Technology from MIT, an M.P.A. in Tribal Governance from the Evergreen State College and studied at Institute of American Indian Arts. She was awarded the 2021 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from Mass Cultural Council, the 2019 MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship and the AAF/ Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts in 2018. In 2021, she was named one of the ARTery 25, “Artists Of Color Transforming The Cultural Landscape” of Boston.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Founded by Tanya Nixon-Silberg, a Black mother, artist, educator and facilitator, Little Uprisings is a collaborative and liberative racial justice program for kids. They endeavor to build long lasting, sustainable, and deep relationships with schools and educators that result in deeply rooted change within institutions.

You’d mostly find Tanya playing, radicalizing and learning from her 12 year old, dreaming up new and fun ways to engage children in racial justice and radically imaging how we all get free. Tanya has worked with the MFA, Boston Public Schools, Puppet Showplace Theater, Eliot School of Applied and Fine Art, ICA/Boston, and Boston Public Library.

HOW TO RESERVE TICKETS

Admission is free, but advance reservations are required. Tickets will sell out and will not be available at the door. Reserve your ticket online, by clicking the Get Tickets button above.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the Gardner is part of the Fenway Alliance's Opening Our Doors festival, a celebration of the Fenway Cultural District. Learn more at fenway culture.org.

Free days are supported in part by the Wallace Minot Leonard Foundation, the Board of Advisors 2022 Fund for Access, and Thomas G. Stemberg Charitable Foundation.

Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, Rowland Foundation, the Yawkey Foundation, The Beker Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, and Janet Burke Mann Foundation.

Studio activities are generously sponsored by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust.

The Neighborhood Salon is supported in part by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs and the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust.

The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.