Amerind Free Online Talk- Human Governing and Well-being: a global investigation with the coalition for Archaeological Synthesis with Dr. Gary Feinman

Amerind Free Online Talk

Saturday, August 23, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

Join us on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk, “Human Governing and Well-being: a global investigation with the coalition for Archaeological Synthesis” with Dr. Gary Feinman (Field Museum of Natural History).

How can we learn from our ancestors to make a better world for tomorrow? Dr. Gary Feinman and an international team of social scientists with the Coalition of Archaeological Synthesis are examining dozens of ancient societies on several continents. Their goal is to better understand how the governing systems humans create affect the practices and well-being of their people. From these insights, they hope to draw lessons that can help create governing systems that allow people to thrive. Amerind’s community has helped support their convenings.

Dr. Feinman is the MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History. Feinman presently co-directs two international archaeological field projects in Mesoamerica and China. Earlier in his career, Feinman had leadership roles in the Valley of Oaxaca and the Ejutla Valley Settlement Pattern Projects and supervised residential excavations at four sites in the region. For 30 field seasons, he has been co-directing fieldwork in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline08232025Feinman

Not sure you can watch live, register with an email and you will be sent the recording of the talk to watch at your leisure after the talk.

 

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk with Matthew Bahe

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk

with Matthew Bahe 

Saturday, May 3, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline05032025Bahe

Please take this opportunity to join us as Matthew discusses his work, journey, and inspiration behind his incredible creations.

Matthew Bahe (Diné) is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist whose work includes painting, ceramics, and mixed media. He is originally from Hogback, New Mexico, and is currently attending the esteemed Institute of American Indian Arts master’s program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He earned his bachelor’s degree with a concentration in ceramics from Jacksonville Private University in Florida. Prior to attending IAIA  he was an adjunct Fine Art Professor at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico.

His work has garnered much attention at events such as Santa Fe’s Indian Market and the Heard Museum Fair.

He spent his childhood creating art and being interested in artwork, which provided a mental diversion from living on the Diné reservation. “What began as a hobby has turned into a lifestyle, and I am grateful to continue living it today.”

See more of his work at: Facebook: Matthew Bahe or Instagram: Matthewbahe

We hope you will join us to learn about this talented young artist!

 

 

Ryan Moreno Si’al, Artist Talk & Exhibit Celebration

Ryan Moreno Si’al

Artist Talk/Exhibit Celebration

Saturday, May 24th, 11 am – 12 pm

This is a FREE Event

Ryan Moreno Si’al is an emerging visual artist from the Tohono O’odham Nation whose unique perspective evokes phantasmic echoes of time and space. Through light and careful consideration of spatial approaches, he explores the environments people both create and destroy. He thoughtfully delves into settings with a sense of emptiness and abandonment holding space for the viewer’s own reflections.

Ryan invites his viewers to engage with his work to find personal interpretations of the images that hold stories from the past and potentialities for the future. Rooted in his cultural and personal experiences, Ryan’s artistic perspective reflects his view of the world. Growing up between Chuk-Son (Tucson) and the Tohono O’odham Nation, Ryan draws from his influences from films and music to create his art, oftentimes reflecting on the relationship between humans and the natural world.

The series “Phantasm” speaks to stories of past lives left untold. The images provoke the imagination and invite one to contemplate what was, what is now, and what is possible in crafting the future together.

Currently, Ryan continues his artistic journey in Tucson, AZ. His work can be found at Ryanmoreno.art.

Ryan’s exhibit Phantasm will be on exhibit through November 30, 2025.

We hope you will join us to celebrate the work of Ryan Moreno Si’al.

His Amerind talk will be on Saturday at Amerind’s Fulton-Hayden Memorial Art Gallery.

Image: Playground, B&W Photograph, Ryan Moreno Si’al

America Meredith – Artist Talk & Exhibit Celebration

“Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia”, 2010, acrylic/canvas, America Meredith
America Meredith
Artist/Editor of First American Art Magazine
Artist Talk/Exhibit Celebration
Saturday, April 5, 11 am to noon, at Amerind
Artist, curator, art critic, and editor America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) is a celebrated contemporary artist of international stature. She is currently holding a mid-career retrospective at Amerind

Woman of Her Word: Art and Text of America Meredith. Come learn about her art and work as editor of the highly influential First American Art Magazine.

As an artist, she explores the intersections between language and image, between Native and non-Native cultures, and between humans and other living beings.

America Meredith earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Oklahoma. She has exhibited in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. She was the 2018 Sequoyah Fellow at Northeastern State University, won the 2018 Cherokee National Historical Society Contemporary Achievement Award, was a 2009 Artist Fellow of the National Museum of the American Indian, and won the Institute of American Indian Art’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Contemporary Native American Arts.

Her Amerind talk will be on Saturday, April 5, 11 am to noon
at Amerind’s Fulton-Hayden Memorial Art Gallery

This is a FREE Event

(Detail of the painting) “St. Brendan: He Came, He Saw, He Went Back Home”, 2002, acrylic/canvas, America Meredith

Indigenous Art with Artist America Meredith

St. Brendan: He Came, He Saw, He Went Back Home, America Meredith, 2002, Acrylic/canvas

Indigenous Art with America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)

Artist/Editor of First American Art Magazine
Free Public Talk, Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-8 pm
at the Tucson Museum of Art, downtown Tucson
AND
Saturday, April 5, 11 am to noon, at Amerind
Artist, curator, art critic, and editor America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) is a celebrated contemporary artist of international stature. She is currently holding a mid-career retrospective at Amerind Woman of Her Word: Art and Text of America Meredith. Come learn about her art and work as editor of the highly influential First American Art Magazine.

As an artist, she explores the intersections between language and image, between Native and non-Native cultures, and between humans and other living beings.

America Meredith earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Oklahoma. She has exhibited in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. She was the 2018 Sequoyah Fellow at Northeastern State University, won the 2018 Cherokee National Historical Society Contemporary Achievement Award, was a 2009 Artist Fellow of the National Museum of the American Indian, and won the Institute of American Indian Art’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Contemporary Native American Arts.

Her Tucson talk will be held on Wednesday, April 2, 7-8 pm, at
Tucson Museum of Art
140 North Main Street
Stonewall Foundation Community Room
in the Alice Chaiten Baker Center for Art Education

Her Amerind talk will be on Saturday, April 5, 11 am to noon
at Amerind’s Fulton-Hayden Memorial Art Gallery

We hope you will come and meet this celebrated contemporary artist and learn about her art and her work as editor of the highly influential First American Art Magazine on April 2nd.

Thank you to our sponsor:

Social Science Research with Amerind Scholar Alumni, Dr. Gary Feinman

Social Science Research with Archaeologist Dr. Gary Feinman (Field Museum of Natural History)

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

7:00 pm Public Talk

FREE event

Tucson Museum of Art- 140 N. Main Ave. Tucson, AZ.

Join us in Tucson for a public talk with Senior researcher Dr. Gary Feinman of the Field Museum of Natural History, and a global team of researchers are engaged in a remarkable project to learn how human well-being is affected by the kinds of governments we create. How can we learn from our ancestors to make a better world for tomorrow? Dr. Feinman and his team of social scientists are examining dozens of ancient societies on several continents. Their goal is to better understand how the governing systems humans create affect the health and well-being of their people. From these insights, they hope to learn how we can create governing systems that help people thrive. Amerind’s community has helped support these convenings.

Dr. Feinman is the MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History.  Feinman presently co-directs two international archaeological field projects in Mesoamerica and China. Early in his career, Feinman had leadership roles in the Valley of Oaxaca and Ejutla Valley Archaeological Projects. For 19 field seasons, he has been leading fieldwork in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

We hope you will join us on March 5th.

Thank you to our sponsor:

 

Amerind Free Online Talk: Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology with Henry Haven

Yaalnii Neé Yani (Navajo Creator) blowing air into the small earth: image by Henry Haven
photo: Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly

Amerind Free Online Talk

Saturday, February 15, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology, with Henry Haven 

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline02152025Haven

Join us on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk with Geologist Henry Haven (Diné).

Henry will be giving a talk on his knowledge of traditional Navajo stories and oral history and the connection to the history and science of geology. Henry compares the four geological eras and geological events in the Four Corners region and lands of the (Diné Biknéyah) to traditional oral stories of the four worlds, four sacred elements, and other cultural concepts, where appropriate. They are not based on science as we know it but reflect an awareness of past geological events. Henry also draws on his education and experience as a geologist. This talk is based on his book entitled “Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology”, which he co-authored with J. Dale Nations, PhD, Geologist, and Max Goldtooth, Sr., a Navajo Medicine Man. (Innovative Ink Publishing, 2023).

Henry Haven is a geologist from the Navajo Nation. He received his master’s in Geology from Northern Arizona University. He retired after many years from the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. Previously, he worked for the Oil and Gas industry in Texas and the Four Corners area, exploring for oil and gas. Henry continues to consult for the Navajo Nation EPA, helping value and care for the land and water.

If you are unsure if you will be able to watch live at 11 on February 15th, register with an email, and you will be sent the recording of the talk after the talk.

Tucson Symphony event with Raven Chacon

Join us for an Amerind in Tucson event with the Tucson Symphony

Friday, February 21, 2025, 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 23, 2025, 2:00 pm with preconcert talk at 1:00pm

at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall: 260 S. Church Ave. Tucson, AZ. (NW corner of city block, next to Convention Center parking garage)

Tickets:  $14-$95 available through the Tucson Symphony 

Dvořák and the American Experience

with Ravon Chacon: Inscription

a TSO Co- Commission

Paul Huang, who left TSO audiences spellbound in 2022, returns to perform Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, originally written for the composer’s friend, violinist Joseph Joachim. The concerto is accompanied by two of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. Written originally for piano duo while he was still relatively unknown, it was these dances that helped Dvořák achieve notoriety. Dvořák came to the U.S. later in life and wrote the New World Symphony, inspired by African-American spirituals. The concert’s second half features works by American composers with very different backgrounds: a TSO co-commissioned work by Arizona-born Raven Chacon, a 2023 MacArthur Genius Grant awardee, and Still’s Symphony No. 1, known as the “Afro-American.” Chacon, a member of the Navajo Nation, draws on relationships between the western and indigenous communities while Still drew from popular African-American music.

Raven Chacon has mentored over 300 high school Native Composers as part of the annual Grand Canyon Music Festival. He also won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music for “Voiceless Mass”.

William Grant Still was the first African American to have his symphony performed by a major orchestra. His daughter, Judith, lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Featured Performers
Program
  • Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 72, No. 2
  • Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8
  • Dvořák: Violin Concerto
  • Raven Chacon: Inscription TSO Co-Commission
  • William Grant Still: Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”

Please note:

  • This concert is available as part of a Classic Series or Create Your Own Subscription.
  • Linda Ronstadt Music Hall has a clear bag policy. Read more about this venue
  • The Friday concert only will be presented in the Classics With a Twist format: there will be on-stage introductions to the music and your chance to ask questions of the artists in a post-concert Q&A.
  • Friday’s concert is expected to last approximately 2 hours, including intermission.
  • The Sunday concert only will be preceded by Concert Comments,a pre-concert talk, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

This concert and the Raven Chacon project is underwritten by Shirley Chann with additional support from Linda Staubitz and the Amerind Foundation.