Works of five artists featured in “Emerging Current,” the 2025 round of the renowned Fellowship

INDIANAPOLIS – Visitors will experience cutting-edge works of contemporary Native art in the new exhibition Emerging Current, open at the Eiteljorg Museum from Nov. 8 to Feb. 22. Five groundbreaking Native artists from the U.S. and Canada were chosen for the 2025 round of the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship (ECAF). As part of the Fellowship, Emerging Current features a riveting mix of paintings, prints, sculptures, carvings, installations and assemblages.

As one of the leading institutions internationally focusing on contemporary Native art, the Eiteljorg will present unrestricted cash awards to this year’s five Fellows. The museum will purchase some of their artworks to add to its permanent collection of contemporary Native art, considered one of the best such collections anywhere.

Every other year since 1999, the museum has supported a new group of five artists in the contemporary Native art field as Eiteljorg Fellows. Four are chosen by a panel of art experts and one is invited based on a lifetime of work. Additionally, the museum organizes an exhibition of their art and publishes an art catalog for each cycle.

“It is inspiring to see the growing national and international interest in contemporary Native art rooted here in Indianapolis,” said Kathryn Haigh, Eiteljorg Museum President and CEO. “For more than 25 years, the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship has positioned the museum at the forefront of championing innovative Native artists. Building on that legacy, we are honored to welcome this year’s Fellows. Their work in the Emerging Current exhibition invites reflection and will spark meaningful dialogue among our visitors.”

The 2025 Fellows each have made an impact on the contemporary art world:

• Invited artist Jean LaMarr (Northern Paiute / Achomawi [Pit River]) of Susanville Indian Rancheria, California, works in printmaking, painting, murals and installations. LaMarr’s art challenges stereotypes and misrepresentations of Native women and peoples, exposes environmental racism in her homelands and features elements of her cultural traditions.
• John Feodorov (Navajo [Diné]), formerly of Seattle, Washington, explores identity and the effects of being an urban Indian in his paintings, drawings, 3-D artworks and video performances. He recently retired after 21 years as an associate professor of art from Western Washington University.
• Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich (Koyukon Dené / Iñupiaq) of Anchorage, Alaska, draws inspiration from her heritage in creating carved, painted and beaded sculptures and mask forms. Her art also includes photography, film, installation, poems and design, honoring her Native Alaskan ancestral homelands.
• Maria Hupfield (Anishinaabek, Wasauksing First Nation) of Toronto, Canada, merges performance art, design and sculpture — pursuing Indigenous storytelling traditions through art, scholarship, collaboration and social justice. Hupfield is on the faculty of the University of Toronto.
• Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan / Hidatsa / Arikara / Lakota) of Glorieta, New Mexico, is a multidisciplinary artist creating monumental installations, sculpture and performance art to communicate urgent stories of 21st century Indigeneity. Luger’s bold visual storytelling presents new ways of seeing our collective humanity while bringing an Indigenous worldview to the forefront.

“Each 2025 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow is a powerhouse, incredibly talented and articulate and whose practice is equally compelling. The Emerging Current exhibition will be a pure visual and cerebral delight, and we are so excited to share this momentous program with our visitors and members,” said Curator of Native American Art Dorene Red Cloud (Oglala Lakota), who is curator of the Fellowship.

This year’s opening coincides with an academic conference for scholars in the Native art field, the Native American Art Studies Association, Nov. 5-7 in Indianapolis.

Special events with the Fellows will involve the public:

• 3 p.m. Thursday Nov. 6: Artist Lecture by Fellow Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich, in the Basile Auditorium of the Herron School of Art + Design, 735 W. New York St., Indianapolis.
• 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday Nov. 7: Exhibition Preview, Artist Awards and Celebration at the Eiteljorg Museum. Filmmaker Casey Brown (Ho-Chunk) emcees the event, with music by DJ KEHIW (Cree, Tsuut’ina First Nation / Northern Paiute), accompanied by four performers from the acclaimed dance troupe Indigenous Enterprise. (Registration for the artist awards and celebration is now closed.)
• 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday Nov. 8: Public tour of the exhibition Emerging Current, led by the Fellows. The tour is included with regular museum admission; Eiteljorg members have free admission.

Visitors can experience the Emerging Current exhibition daily Nov. 8-Feb. 22 with regular admission, along with the museum’s other exhibitions. To learn more about the 2025 Fellows, this year’s events and ECAF generally, visit contemporaryartfellowship.eiteljorg.org. An art catalog the museum published, Emerging Current: Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship 2025, featuring essays about the Fellows’ careers by experts in the field of contemporary Native art, can be purchased through the Eiteljorg Museum Store.

The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship is made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc. Generous support also has been provided by Avis Foundation as well as the Efroymson Family Fund (a Central Indiana Community Foundation Fund).

About the Eiteljorg
For more than 36 years, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of Indianapolis and scenic White River State Park. The Eiteljorg Museum explores the intersection of the arts, histories and cultures of the past and present by sharing the diverse stories of the American West and the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Located on the Central Canal at 500 West Washington St., the Eiteljorg is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

 

 

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