Exhibition Keynote: Jordan Ann Craig in Conversation with m.s. RedCherries

Join us for an exhibition keynote conversation in celebration of Artist Jordan Ann Craig is known for her large-scale paintings that draw from the complex geometric and color-based abstraction of Northern Cheyenne beadwork, Pueblo ceramics, and other Indigenous sources. The work’s titles—at times playful or confounding—are drawn from comments the artist collects from family, friends, and life experiences, inviting viewers to make meaning in the space between image and words.

Jordan Ann Craig will be joined by poet m.s. RedCherries, a friend and collaborator of the artist, whose poem “Spinning Air” has inspired the title of the exhibition. Their conversation will be moderated by Jordan Poorman Cocker, 2021-2025 Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator of and the Curator of Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Participation level – light, participants can choose to participate by submitting questions via Social Q&A or requesting the microphone to ask a question.

Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are not required, but are appreciated.

Jordan Ann Craig (b. 1992 San Jose, CA) is a Northern Cheyenne artist living and working in Pojoaque Valley, New Mexico. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received her B.A. in Studio Art and Psychology from Dartmouth College. She is the recipient of several fellowships and residencies including from the Golden Foundation for the Arts; the School for Advanced Research; the Institute for American Indian Arts; the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program; the Ucross Foundation; East London Printmakers Project; Cork Printmakers International; and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. Her works are in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell, NM; IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; and Forge Collection, Taghkanic, NY, among others. https://www.jordananncraig.com/

m.s. RedCherries received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a JD from Arizona State University College of Law. She is a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and lives in Brooklyn. She is the author of (Penguin Books, 2024), a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry.

Jordan Poorman Cocker, an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe, is the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR and The Block's 2021-2024 Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator of Indigenous Art. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Design from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, with a focus on spatial design and Indigenous design theory. She received a Masters of Museum and Heritage Practice from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017, where her practicum included the study of Indigenous museum practices with the National Museum of New Zealand. She is a PhD. candidate with Auckland University of Technology. Her Indigenous curatorial methodology and approach utilizes oral histories, multivocality and Indigenous knowledge systems to explore intergenerational relationships within Indigenous Art Forms from community-based lenses.

This program is generously supported by a grant from the Alumnae of Northwestern University. The Block Museum of Art also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

Host or Publisher The Block Museum of Art