The Nevada Museum of Art will premiere a short documentary film of Rose B. Simpson, Transformance, a public performance in Las Vegas, Nevada, that the artist developed in collaboration with members of the Southern Paiute (Nuwu) community. A component of the Museum’s 2021 Art + Environment Season Land Art: Past, Present, Futures, the online premiere will be held on February 17, 2022 at 4pm PST and will be accessible to the public without charge when registering online at nevadaart.org.
Following the screening, Rose B. Simpson will engage in conversation with artist Fawn Douglas, founder of Nuwu Art + Activism Studios, and the filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris. The trio will discuss the live performance that occurred on November 13, 2021.
During an intensive two weeks in early November 2021, Simpson lived and worked with members of the Southern Paiute tribe at Nuwu Art + Activism Studios in Las Vegas. Together they created traditional regalia and adornments with tribal elder leaders to weave stories and intention into their work. On November 13, the gathering culminated when Simpson, her daughter, five performers, and a custom car led a procession in and around Huntridge Circle Park, which had been recently closed to the public. One of the few green spaces in Downtown Las Vegas, the use of the Park, with approval from the City, was meant to bring attention to the “Land Back” movement, Indigenous history in the area, and environmentalism.
About Rose B. Simpson
Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983, Santa Clara Pueblo, NM) has a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Solo exhibitions of her work have been mounted at Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, NM; Pomona College Museum of Art in Claremont, CA; and Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Portland Art Museum; Princeton University Art Museum; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Simpson lives and works at the Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.
An artist who comes from the Santa Clara Pueblo, known for its celebrated ceramics tradition in production since the 6th century CE, Simpson witnessed her mother’s practice from a young age. She creates utilitarian ceramic figures who work towards the transformation of our collective human society. Rose B. Simpson: The Four, a solo exhibition of her work on view at the Nevada Museum of Art, is on view through April 17, 2022 featuring four monumental earthen figures created by Simpson specially for the exhibition and acquired by the Museum for its permanent collection.
About Nevada Museum of Art
The Nevada Museum of Art is the only art museum in Nevada accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). A private, nonprofit organization founded in 1931, the statewide institution is supported by its membership as well as sponsorships, gifts and grants. Through its permanent collections, original exhibitions and programming, and E.L. Cord Museum School, the Nevada Museum of Art provides meaningful opportunities for people to engage with a range of art and education experiences.
The Museum’s Center for Art + Environment is an internationally recognized research center dedicated to supporting the practice, study, and awareness of creative interactions between people and their environments. The Center houses unique archive materials from more than 1,500 artists working on all seven continents, including Cape Farewell, Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, Lita Albuquerque, Burning Man, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, , Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains, and Trevor Paglen’s Orbital Reflector. The Center is home to the Great Basin Native Artists Archives, a free, open, public resource dedicated to living and deceased Native American artists working in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin region. It consists of artist files, records, and materials such as resumes, artist statements, biographies, publications, images, exhibition records, sketchbooks, and other artist working materials. This research collection is a valuable record that illuminates the full story of the Great Basin.
The Nevada Museum of Art is dedicated to amplifying the many artistic voices that tell the story of the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada. In 2017, the Museum established the Robert S. and Dorothy J. Keyser Greater West Collection at the Nevada Museum of Art. The transhistorical collection reconsiders traditional art historical narratives of the American West by expanding its geographic emphasis to encompass a super-region generally bounded from Alaska to Patagonia and from Australia to the United States Intermountain West. Learn more at nevadaart.org.
Land Acknowledgement
The Nevada Museum of Art acknowledges the traditional homelands of the Wa She Shu (Washoe), Numu (Northern Paiute, Newe (Western Shoshone), and Nuwu (Southern Paiute) people of the Great Basin. This includes the 27 tribal nations that exist as sovereign nations and continue as stewards of this land. We appreciate the opportunity to live and learn on these Indigenous homelands.
Female artistindigenous artist
By Chadd Scott
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