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Native Artist in Residence | Art Gallery | Fort Lewis College

Native Artist in Residence
CURRENT EXHIBITION

Gregg Deal

Fall 2022 Native American Artist in Residence

Artist Reception: Thursday, December 8 from 4:30 - 6 p.m.

Visiting Artist Talk: Tuesday, November 15 from 1 - 2 p.m. in the Lyceum of the Center of Southwest Studies

The Art Gallery at Fort Lewis College is honored to welcome Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) as the inaugural Native American Artist in Residence. Gregg Deal is a multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and "disruptor" living near Colorado Springs. His work is informed by his Native identity and critiques aspects of American society, politics, popular culture, and history, inviting the viewer to confront these issues in both the present and past tense. Deal’s art practice incorporates lifelong interests in punk music, street art, graphic styles, comic books, and speculative superhero fiction and ranges in mediums from paintings, graphics, and murals to performance work, filmmaking, spoken word, and more. Deal's work centers narratives and voices of Indigenous peoples and rejects damaging cultural stereotypes. He describes his work as “honoring Indigenous experiences, challenging stereotypes, and pushing for accurate representations of Indigenous people in art.”  As an FLC Native Artist in Residence, Deal will have 24/7 access to the Fort Lewis College Art Gallery for the remainder of the semester, from November 1st to December 16th. During this time, he will use the Art Gallery as his studio where students, faculty, and community members can see his work evolve in the space, learning about the process of creation as opposed to seeing only finished work and getting the opportunity to reconceptualize what constitutes a gallery space. Deal will also be teaching a course during his residency and working with students creatively in the Art Gallery. His class will be for students of any level and will address what is not usually taught in studio classes; mainly, the process of working through the mental capacity to create art. Gregg Deal has exhibited his work at notable regional, national, and international institutions, including the Denver Art Museum, RedLine Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution. We are fortunate to have Gregg Deal kick off this incredible residency program and are excited to watch the artistic growth of participating students.

Visit us: This program runs from November 1 - December 16 and the Art Gallery will continue to be open Monday -Thursday as well as Saturday, November 5th and December 3rd from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.. Please note, this is a working exhibition and an artist's studio. Activity, the artwork, and Gregg's presence will vary throughout the exhibition period.

About the Residency Program: An Evolving Exhibition

The Native Artist in Residence program at FLC is a semester-long residency transforming the Art Gallery into a dedicated studio space and supporting a single Indigenous artist at a time. The artist is provided with unfettered access and creative license for the entirety of the semester – every other fall term. Using the gallery in this way allows for deeper intimacy and accessibility to a space that is often thought of as elite. More importantly, this program provides necessary representational and reparative work for our Native American students allowing them to see themselves represented in a historically white space.

Artists are selected through an invitational process. We strongly consider artists whose work highlights the process of decolonization, considering FLC’s history as a federal Indian boarding school, and our current student body. Cross-disciplinary collaborations are encouraged and can include working with classes and students in multiple academic departments. Our selection process is open to both emerging and established artists, as we seek out applicants who will intrinsically work progressively with our students.