We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast
University Days 2022
Awikhigan: Evoking Indigenous Stories and Landscapes
Featuring: Rhonda Besaw Judy Dow Cheryl Savageau
Artist Talk: Friday, August 26 at 5:00 pm
In person at Shakespeare and Company,
70 Kemble St, Lenox, MA 01240.
Register to attend the artist talk in person.
This event will be recorded. The recording will be available on OLLI's YouTube Page within one week of event.
Gallery at Elayne P. Bernstein Theater, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MAAugust 27 - September 2
Opening Reception: Friday, August 26, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00 pmIn Abenaki, awikhigan has many meanings - writings, birchbark markings, maps, paintings, wampum belts - through which the Dawnland peoples have evoked particular landscapes and human action in those spaces. For the Wabanaki communities of New England, the plants, animals, rocks and rivers of the landscape are alive; animate ancestors and beings with whom they share creation. These beings are central to their art. The works in this show embody the spirit of awikhigan.
Judy Dow’s baskets are made from materials collected along waterways known to her basket making ancestors for hundreds of years. Cheryl Savageau’s poems and quilts piece together relationships tied to both particular landscapes and particular people. Rhonda Besaw’s beadwork incorporates traditional patterns and materials with her own contemporary flair.
Awikhigan will open on August 26 with a reception and artists’ talk featuring Judy Dow and Cheryl Savageau. Gallery hours will be from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Friday - Sunday from August 27 - September 20.
Learn more about University Days 2022: We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast. Lectures, art shows, walking tours and more!
Learning about the United States’ Native American Heritage is vital to weaving a more equitable social fabric for everyone. If you would like to contribute to our continuing work towards this goal, click here to make a contribution to OLLI’s Northeast Indigenous Initiative, found in the “Designation” drop down menu.
We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast is supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the local cultural councils of Alford-Egremont, Dalton, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Mount Washington, North Berkshire, Otis, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield, Sheffield and Stockbridge and with in-kind support and partnership from Berkshire Community College and Shakespeare & Company.
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