‘Visual Voices’ Chickasaw art exhibit set for San Antonio’s Briscoe Museum

This article appeared in the September 2020 edition of the Chickasaw Times

SAN ANTONIO – On the leisurely banks of the San Antonio River Walk rests a special place where stories that shaped the West come to life. It is known across the region as the Briscoe Western Art Museum, a place where the spirit and beauty of the West are captured in fine art and artifacts.

This fall the Briscoe has a new story to tell - an Indigenous story - which relays the beauty, history and culture of Chickasaw people through diverse and innovative Chickasaw art.

“VISUAL VOICES: Contemporary Chickasaw Art” touring exhibition will inspire Texas museum-goers in its fifth venue, beginning Sept. 24 at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 West Market Street, in San Antonio, Texas.

“VISUAL VOICES is moving and passionate, surprising in its modernity, but ancient at its core,” said co-curator of the exhibit, Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man. “Chickasaw painters, potters, sculptors, metalsmiths and weavers convey a beautiful and compelling contemporary visual story in this exhibition.”

The Briscoe has safely reopened to the public and will host an exclusive VISUAL VOICES Preview Party at 6 p.m., Sept. 24. Space is limited and tickets are on sale through Sept. 14. Preview Party tickets may be purchased through Sept. 14 by calling (210) 507-4865 or through the museum’s website at https://support.briscoemuseum.org/visual-voices-opening-party. Tickets are $20 for Briscoe Western Art Museum members and $40 for non-members.

The touring exhibition, which features 15 First American artists and 57 artworks, will be on view to the general public from Sept. 25, 2020 through Jan. 18, 2021.

First American artists featured in the exhibit include San Antonio resident Brenda Kingery, and artists Brent Greenwood, Daniel Worcester, Billy Hensley, Margaret Roach Wheeler, Norma Howard, Maya Stewart, Lisa Hudson, Dustin Mater, Paul C. Moore, Tyra Shackleford, Erin Shaw, Lokosh (Dr. Joshua D. Hinson), Joanna Blackburn and Kristen Dorsey.

Co-curators for the touring exhibition are IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) chief curator Manuela Well-Off-Man and Karen Whitecotton (Citizen Potawatomi), director of collections at the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture in Tulsa, Okla.

Onsite programming will include artist talks and Chickasaw films at the museum. Public programming will also include a virtual interview with the exhibit co-curators at 2 p.m. on Sept. 26, virtual artist interview segments called “Ask the Artist” and “Saturday Studio Visit” on social media throughout the exhibit’s duration and an online Book Club featuring Choctaw/Chickasaw author Dr. Phillip Morgan and his novel, Anompolichi: The Wordmaster.

VISUAL VOICES has inspired thousands of museum attendees over the last two years in Oklahoma, Mississippi and New Mexico, and many more virtual viewers while hosted in the Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke during COVID-19 closures.

VISUAL VOICES: Contemporary Chickasaw Art is made possible by a grant provided by the Chickasaw Nation, with guidance from the Chickasaw Artist Board and assistance from First Americans Museum. The Briscoe Western Art Museum exhibit is also made possible with funding from Humanities Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal CARES Act. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information about VISUAL VOICES, visit online at chickasawartists.com or email info@chickasawartists.com.