
still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper is the first exhibition to highlight the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection of prints and drawings by Native American artists. In 2022, the creation of the museum’s Indigenous Peoples and Land Acknowledgment inspired a commitment to greatly strengthen its holdings in this important field. The title of this show comes from a poem on Indigenous survivance by Navajo poet Kinsale Drake and references the fact that the CMA land acknowledgment serves “not as an end but rather as the beginning” of an ongoing collaboration with our Native community members. The objects on view survey the ways in which Native artists have innovatively used various print and drawing techniques to explore their cultural heritage. This exhibition includes around 30 works created from the 1950s through today that showcase the unique histories and perspectives of Indigenous artists from a number of backgrounds and tribal affiliations. Featured are works ranging from a series of powerful woodcut portraits by T. C. Cannon (Kiowa-Caddo, 1946–1978) to a set of deeply symbolic color lithographs by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, 1940–2025). The presentation also includes work by multimedia artists, such as Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow, b. 1981), Kay WalkingStick (American, Member of the Cherokee Nation / Oklahoma, b. 1935), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingít/Unangax̂, b. 1979), Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations, b. 1954), and Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1983), among others, to shed new light on the importance of the graphic arts within their contemporary practices. Community voice labels by members of the museum’s Native American Advisory Committee and broader community, who have been involved in the museum’s efforts, highlight the local impact of this growing collection at the CMA.