Description: Following a profound experience in the waters off of Kona during her 2022 residency at the Mill, Diné artist Melanie Yazzie returns to Hawai‘i Island to explore her connections with water, the ocean and this deep source of ancestral knowledge. Through these explorations Yazzie will create a new series of works which will be activated by community dialogue and engagement.
To learn more about Melanie’s artistic journey, watch her artist talk recorded at the Mill in 2022 here.
Event Details: Coffee, tea and light pastries will be provided. Registration for this event is highly encouraged.
About the Artist: Melanie Yazzie is of the Salt Water Clan and Bitter Water Clan of the Diné People of North Eastern Arizona. As a printmaker, painter, and sculptor, her work draws upon her rich Diné (Navajo) cultural heritage and follows the Diné dictum “walk in beauty” literally, creating beauty and harmony. As an artist, she works to serve as an agent of change by encouraging others to learn about social, cultural, and political phenomena shaping the contemporary lives of Native peoples in the United States and beyond. Her work incorporates both personal experiences as well as the events and symbols from Diné culture. Her work is informed and shaped by personal experiences.
Yazzie uses her travels around the world to connect with other Indigenous peoples. Her visits to New Zealand, the Arctic, the Pueblos in the Southwest, and to Indigenous peoples of Russia, these travels have been the impetus for continued dialogue about Indigenous cultural practices, language, song, story-telling, and survival.
Her works belong to many collections, including the Anchorage Museum of History & Art, the Art Museum of Missoula, and Kennedy Museum of Art. Yazzie has exhibited nationally and internationally in places such as Alaska, California, New Mexico, New York, Florida, New Zealand, France, Russia, Canada, and Japan. She often takes part in collaborative art projects with indigenous artists in New Zealand, Siberia, and Australia. Of her journeys she says: “It’s at these gatherings and traveling from place to place that fuels my work and revitalizes my spirit!”
This program is made possible by support from The Hiroaki Elaine & Lawrence Kono Foundation, Hōlualoa Inn, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the University of Colorado Boulder and our community of individual donors.
About Our Programs: As a place of convergence, the Mill serves as both a community and a physical place–celebrating the power of the arts, bringing people, ideas and perspectives together. We are proud to offer adult and youth programs that focus on awareness of one’s individuality in the contexts of family, community and the natural world. Our exhibitions provide a space to reflect, share perspectives and grow as a community. Our classes & workshops are designed to inspire creativity, foster connections, and provide enriching experiences for all participants. We invite you to join us in the studio.
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