Online Artist Talk with Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo)

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk
Thursday, September 3, 2026
12:00 pm (AZ time)
To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline09032026Quetawki

Please join us on Thursday, September 3, 2026, 12:00 pm for a free online artist talk, with Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo) and learn more about this fascinating artist who is using her talents to bridge art and science using her art as a tool to communicate scientific concepts regarding health and environmental topics to indigenous communities using traditional knowledge and art.

“I use art to help our Native communities understand concepts around environmental public health, especially individuals living in and around abandoned uranium mines,” Quetawki explained. “Many of these topics are complex, and some of the words do not exist in our indigenous languages. I help portray these ideas so that our relatives understand what is going on both in the environment and inside their bodies.”

Mallery is a painter, potter and muralist.

Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo) is Artist-in-Residence and Communications & Outreach Specialist with the University of New Mexico’s Community Environmental Health Program.  She is also a current 2025 Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she is in her first year as an MPH student.  Trained in biology and studio art (BS 09’, UNM), she specializes in translating complex environmental health research into culturally resonant visual narratives for Indigenous communities. Her work integrates Zuni symbolism with Western science to foster dialogue on topics such as uranium contamination, DNA damage, and immune health. Quetawki’s art has been exhibited nationally, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s Grounded in Clay exhibition, and is permanently displayed at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

We hope you will join us to learn more about this inspiring artist. 

Interested but not sure if you will be able to watch live? Register using an email and the recording will be sent to you later that evening.

Amerind Online Talk: “Tradition, Innovation, and Technology: Living Legacies of Juan Quezada and the Mata Ortiz Ceramic Community”

Amerind Free Online Talk 
Thursday, September 10, 2026 
12:00 pm (AZ time) 
To register, visit:  https://bit.ly/Amerindonline09102026Hopkins

Join us on Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 12:00 pm (AZ time) for an online talk, “Tradition, Innovation, and Technology: Living Legacies of Juan Quezada and the Mata Ortiz Ceramic Community”, with Maren P. Hopkins and Kelsey E. Hanson  

 Juan Quezada (1940–2022) is celebrated internationally for pioneering the modern pottery tradition of Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, through his extraordinary experimentation with local clays, pigments, and firing techniques inspired by the ancient ceramics of Paquimé. In this presentation, we explore Juan’s stories, memories, and observations about the places where he gathered clay. We compare his lifetime of experience with scientific compositional analyses of those clay sources. Together, these perspectives reveal that Juan’s artistry was more than technical skill—it emerged from a deep relationship with the land, shaped by curiosity, exploration, experimentation, and lived experience. 

 Maren Hopkins is an archaeologist and ethnographer with more than 26 years of experience leading cultural resource, ethnographic, and heritage projects throughout the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. She specializes in collaborative, community-based, and place-based research, working closely with knowledge holders and other stakeholders to document history, cultural traditions, and the diverse ways people understand, experience, and sustain meaningful places. Her work integrates archaeology, ethnography, and heritage conservation to advance public history, cultural preservation, land stewardship, and informed natural and cultural resource management. 

Dr. Kelsey Hanson is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington. Integrating interdisciplinary scientific methods with collaborative, community-based approaches to archaeology, her research explores the social roles of technology, materiality, and knowledge in the Greater Southwest and beyond. From compositional studies of pigments and ceramics to analyses of built environments and landscapes, her work examines how materials encode information about relationships to people, places, and knowledge. She draws from these connections in the past to contribute to contemporary efforts in cultural preservation and stewardship among diverse communities today. 

We hope you will join us!

*Unsure if you can watch the talk live? Register using an email and a recording of the talk will be sent later that evening.

Comcáac, (Seri) Show & Sale, September 26th & 27th

SAVE THE DATE

Make plans to join us on Saturday, September 26th or Sunday, September 27th from 10 am – 4 pm, for our Comcáac, (Seri) Show & Sale. This year we will be featuring the work of Master artists Maria Francesca Moreno and Miguel Estrella, who will also be bringing the work of other Seri artists. Maria is known for her incredible basketry, known not only for her large pieces and tight weave, but also for her masterful designs. Her husband Miguel is a well-known Ironwood carver known for his modernist style and fluid abstract lines.

The Seri people of Sonora, Mexico, also known as the Comcáac, people of the sea and desert. With resilience in the Sonoran Desert, they have created beautiful art that they will share with us in September.

We hope you will join us!

*This event is included with museum admission

Free Online Artist Talk with Colleen Bigman

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk with Colleen Bigman
Thursday, May 14, 2026
12:00 pm (AZ time)
To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline05142026Bigman

Please join us on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at 12:00 pm (AZ time) for a free online artist talk, with Colleen Bigman. (Diné/Navajo).

Yá’át’ééh, my name is Colleen Bigman. I am a Navajo artist based in Tucson, Arizona, with over four decades of creative experience. For the past several years, I have specialized in the creation of intricate marionettes—a practice that began with a focus on Katsinas and has evolved into the Native American Pow-Wow Dancers. This work serves as a culmination of a lifetime of artistic disciplines; each piece seamlessly integrates woodworking, sculpting, painting, beadwork, and textile arts to bring these figures to life.

Meet multi-media artist Colleen Bigman and her incredible marionette creations. We hope you will join us to learn about her journey, what she has been working on, and what’s next in her artistic journey.

We hope you will join us!

Raices de Alegria (Roots of Joy) Exhibit Celebration and Artist Talk

 

Raices de Alegria (Roots of Joy)
Exhibit Celebration, Artist Talk & Author Readings
Saturday, February 21, 2026
11:00 am – 1:30 pm 
Free event
From 11:00 am -12:00 pm we will host a Q&A artist panel talk with multiple artists from Raíces Taller.
12:00- 12:30 enjoy the exhibit and light refreshments
12:30 – 1:30 Mujeres que Escriben, a group of creative writers who will give readings of their work, creating a dialogue with the exhibition Join us as we celebrate this exhibit Raíces de Alegría (Roots of Joy) which features artwork by artists with the organization Raíces Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop. Eighteen artists from the Raíces Taller collective contributed to this juried show. Artists were asked to submit works inspired by joy, striving to share the roots of their joy with our visitors. Raíces Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop is a nonprofit arts organization headquartered in Tucson. For some thirty years, their organization has brought together very diverse people from our community to help create a better understanding of our community’s cultures and customs. Learn more about the Raíces Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop at www.raicestaller222.com.This exhibit runs through December 13, 2026.This Free event will waive Amerind’s regular Museum admission fees

For those wishing to hike in the Nature Preserve, Amerind’s regular hiking trail system admission fees will apply.