This week on Minnesota Native News, we talk with a native artist who has been selected for a new commission at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
Transcript
Here’s reporter Cole Premo with Angela Two Stars, talking about the artwork she is creating for the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden.
INTRO SOUND OF POW WOW GROUNDS
At the All My Relations Arts gallery off of Franklin Avenue, I meet with Angela Two Stars. Sharing the same building, the bustling Pow Wow Grounds shop is just a few feet away, smelling of fresh coffee and echoing with the conversations of locals.
FADE SOUNDS
I’m here with Two Stars, who is the Gallery Director here at All My Relations Arts, to chat about about her recent commission: a new artwork piece to be part of the iconic Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
But first, recently it’s been a whirlwind of experiences, relocation and job opportunities for Two Stars. Let’s start with that quick:
TWO STARS: (00:32) “Yeah, it's been, um, a busy two years. I actually graduated from Kendall college of art and design in may of 2017 and actually before that, um, I exhibited here at all my relations arts. It was my first exhibition, um, as a, as a professional artist. And that kind of just launched my career.”
Two Stars, who grew up on Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was later selected to make art pieces around Bde Maka Ska … wildlife depictions paired with their Dakota name.
TWO STARS: (01:07) “I learned of the call for art for the Bde Maka Ska and as a descendant of I was really excited to apply for that opportunity. And I was selected and started coming back here to Minnesota to be part of that planning process.”
After numerous art opportunities and exhibitions, she was offered the role of gallery director at All My Relations Arts, a native art organization in Minneapolis, and Angela Two Stars officially moved to Minnesota, a place she felt at home.
TWO STARS: (18:59) “For me, it was like that connection to the land, you know, cause this is where my ancestors originated from. So I feel so like a blood memory to the land.”
And that brings us to back Angela Two Stars’ latest commission: a piece at the sculpture garden that emphasizes Dakota language. She says it’s inspired by her grandfather Orson Bernard, an elder who worked in the tribe’s language program for the last 15 years of his life.
TWO STARS: (09:47) “I just remember thinking like what a legacy he was leaving behind because because of him and his work and all other elders, um, their work, like with language revitalization like that was keeping that language alive for myself and for my children and my grandchildren. So I wanted to create something that would honor that essentially like ripple effect across generations. And that's what my idea like spirit from as like a, the way one drop of water can reach out across a whole pond. One language speaker doing work can reach out to generations of speakers.”
Her work is a sculptural seating of sorts, based on the ripple effect of water.. Intended for children to climb and engage with, as well as adults.
TWO STARS: (11:38) “what I'm doing is I'm inviting the audience to come on a language journey with me. So like this ripple effect that they're going to be, um, exposed to is going to be something they have to kind of meander through. And so it also speaks for me, it's about how people come to the language. Um, I want to have a variety of language incorporated into this piece of Dakota language. The outside, I want to have some like basic language and then it gets more advanced the closer and closer you get into the center. So it's like these layers that you're getting into of like your language growth.”’
There will also be medicinal plants and water involved. A place of healing, and a place to reconnect with a language spoken across these lands for ages.
TWO STARS: (24:50) “The more you become reconnected with your language and culture, the more you become healed from, you know, past trauma and intergenerational trauma become more of a whole Dakota, you know, person.”
Two Stars’ proposal was selected by the Indigenous Public Art Selection Committee and Walker Art Center curatorial staff. Two Stars will be working closely with the Walker Art Center and consultants to install the new piece, with the completion and installation expected by Fall 2020. I’m Cole Premo.