Talk with a Curator of the Denver Art Museum

John P. Lukavic, Ph.D. serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum where he specializes in Indigenous arts of North America.

He is the organizing curator for such exhibitions as Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors (2025), Cultures and Histories of Indigenous People in North America, at the National Museum of Korea (2024-25), Each/Other: Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger (2021), Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer (2018), and Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980 (2015), as well as lead curator for DAM’s reinstallation of the Indigenous Arts of North America galleries (2021).

Lukavic received a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma (2012) where he conducted his doctoral fieldwork with Southern Cheyenne moccasin makers and religious leaders in Oklahoma, and he received an MA in Museum Science from Texas Tech University (1999). He serves as a Board member for the Denver Indian Center, Inc. and regularly consults for other museums and institutions across the U.S. and Canada.

His talk will focus on the mechanics and logistics of organizing major art shows, from developing the theme, securing the work and getting the art to Denver.

Dr. Lukavic's talk will focus on the current “The Stars We Do not See” exhibit. The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art is a major exhibition at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) running from April 19 to July 26, 2026. As the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in North America, it features over 200 works by 142+ artists, including ochre bark paintings, conceptual map paintings, and contemporary neon/video works.

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