Indigenous glass artists highlighted in exhibition at Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art’s Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass, a pivotal exhibition giving broader and overdue recognition to a wide range of contemporary Native American and Indigenous Pacific Rim artists working in glass, will be on view at the Norfolk, VA institution from June 13 through September 14, 2025.
Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass features 120 glass art objects created by 29 artists from 26 different American Indian, Alaska Native, and First Nations tribal communities in the United States and Canada. In addition, two Australian Aboriginal artists and two Maori artists who have collaborated with American Indian artists are featured.
“The talented artists included in this landmark show rupture the narrow definitions of what Native art can be, while also proclaiming their communities to be very much alive, thriving, and vibrant” Carolyn Swan Needell, Barry Curator of Glass and venue curator for this traveling exhibition, said. “The glass artworks made by Native artists over the last 50 years reflect the confluence of the Native Contemporary Art movement and the Studio Glass movement.”
Art in the exhibition embodies the intellectual content of Native traditions, newly illuminated by the unique properties that can only be achieved by working with glass. Whether re-interpreting traditional stories and designs or expressing contemporary issues affecting tribal societies, Native glass artists have created a content-laden body of work. These artists have melded the aesthetics and properties inherent in glass art with their Cultural Ways of Knowing. The result is a ground-breaking exhibition featuring a deep body of art.
A companion book published by the Museum of New Mexico Press features most of the artworks in the exhibit. It was authored by Letitia Chambers, who curated the exhibition together with artist and museum consultant Cathy Short (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) in Santa Fe, NM, which originated this exhibition.
Following the Chrysler Museum of Art, scheduled US tour dates for Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass are as follows: National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY (October 10, 2025 – May 29, 2026); Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA (June 27 – September 20, 2026); and Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, WA (October 16, 2026 – January 8, 2027).
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Letitia Chambers is a collector of Native American art who has been involved in issues affecting Native Americans throughout her career, including serving as the CEO of Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ, as a founding director and board chair of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, and as a Trustee of the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Before focusing her career on the arts, Chambers was well-known as a public policy expert at both the federal and state levels. She served as Staff Director of two U.S. Senate Committees and as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly. She also headed the state system of higher education in New Mexico. Her private sector experience includes serving as CEO of a highly successful Washington DC-based public policy consulting firm.
Letitia Chambers resides in Santa Fe, where she maintains a consulting practice and has curated several exhibitions at the Museum of Indian Art and Culture and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
