By Ed Goldman
The Gorman Museum of Native American Art on the campus of UC Davis is celebrating its first half-century of honoring “visual sovereignty”: contemporary art that speaks to the singular, ever-robust voice of the region’s tribes and tribulations.
Located in a handsome, airy space—just around the bend from the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on Old Davis Road, the main artery that girdles much of the campus’s perimeter—the Gorman sits on land once occupied by three Patwin tribes: Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
Hundreds of people attended the museum’s reopening September 22 and 23 to commemorate and celebrate its new, expanded space, practically pick clean the gallery’s gift shop and enjoy the variety of artwork, which included paintings, sculptures, drawings and collages.
Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, the museum’s director and a professor in the UC Davis Department of Native American Studies, also found time to design the captivating entrance sculpture: a large, circular public artwork based upon Native American basketry designs.
When we caught up with Veronica Passalacqua, the museum’s executive director, on the second day of festivities, she admitted to being “overwhelmed” by the response to the re-opening. “We knew there was enthusiasm for the museum but had no idea this many people would show up each day and buy that much stuff in the gift shop.”
It was a nice event. The indigenous and party music performed live, refreshments, knickknack booths and, of course, the art (by 20 California Native artists) attracted families, faculty and various tribe members to the site.
The Gorman Museum is one of the handful of museums in the country devoted to modern Native American art. Its collection features more than 2,000 works, most created in the past 40+ years: paintings, photography, ceramics, textiles and original prints. Among the artists represented in the collection are Kenojuak Ashevak, D.Y. Begay, Rick Bartow, Robert Davidson, Oscar Howe, Lucy Lewis, Lee Marmon, George Morrison, Bill Reid, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Kay WalkingStick.
“The facility has 4,000 square feet of gallery space — nearly four times more than its former home on campus,” according to a UCD spokesperson. “Along with space for temporary exhibitions, it features a gallery displaying works from the collection on a rotational basis.”
“The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Gorman Museum and continuing supporting contemporary Native American artists who create art as a continuum of Native American presence,” said director Tsinhnahjinnie in a statement. “The renovated space was manifested and realized into reality by a dedicated community of local, inter-tribal artists and allies who embrace the power of Native American art as a site to continue the creative and intellectual conversations that were interrupted by tropes and bias.”
The exterior of the one-story museum features bands of green to represent tule grass, the California plant Native Americans employed to make baskets, houses, boats, clothing and tents.
The museum is named in honor of the late artist Carl Nelson Gorman who, in 1969, was a founding faculty member of the UC Davis Department of Native American Studies. The department, founded in 1969, is one of the oldest Native American studies programs. UC Davis says it’s one of only three universities in the United States offering a doctorate in Native American studies.
With 760,000, California has the largest population of Native Americans of any state.
The Gorman is open from noon to 5 p.m. on weekends and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Admission is free.
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