Roxanne Swentzell
From Provisions
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Questions for the Artist
Provisions Library: What early memories or experiences motivated your engagement with social change?
Roxanne Swentzell: The need for social change came from living in a mixed racial family. My father being of German decent and my mother being Native American made the world be one of obvious differences. They never could understand each other's culture and early on I became aware that most conflicts were due to misunderstandings. I longed for a world that could bridge these gaps. My art became a medium for me to figure out these gaps in myself and to communicate what I was seeing to others. I was looking for a way to communicate beyond culture, beyond race, beyond gender. I chose the world of human emotions, seeing it as a universal language we all speak.
PL: Who are key influences in your life and why?
RS: My parents were of key influence in my life as they set the stage for my journey. I also have a blind uncle who became a sculptor (Michael Naranjo). His sense of touch and vision was profound to me. I tended to be moved by those close to me instead of "ideal heroes". My high school art teacher (Phil Karshis) was vital in my development as he took great efforts to make conditions possible for me to make my art in. Also my children and grandchildren have been tremendous resources for information about "life". They are my mirrors to the soul. Studying them and loving them have been my greatest teachers.
PL: What books, artworks, films, music, etc. have been essential to you?
RS: Michaelangelo, Francisco Zúñiga, Michael Naranjo, Van Gogh, Pueblo Songs and dances, Pueblo women and their strength, Pueblo men and their sensitivity, spiritual books, and stories of people's actual lives, Pueblo mythology and beliefs, walking in the desert and growing gardens are a few main essentials to me.
PL: What are you working on now?
RS: I am sculpting a woman that is playing "peek-a-boo" as a way of putting humor into the sometimes frightening aspect of showing ourselves to the world. Maybe if we do it in little moments, our true selves won’t be so frightened to come out.
PL: How has the art world reacted to the content of your work? Do you feel that your work has been
depoliticized/overpoliticized/exoticized/misinterpreted?
RS: I think anyone’s work gets depolitcized/overpoliticized/exoticized and misinterpreted by someone. What is more exciting is when it's "seen" for what it's meant to be seen as, and what is even better is when it teaches you something that you didn't even know about yourself when you made it.
PL: Terms like "artist" and "activist" are subjective terms. Where do you see the overlap, if any? Do you draw strict separations between the two, or do you see them as inseparable?"
RS: I think they go together because artists are interpreters of the world at the time. The difference is in the consciousness of it. We may not know that we are documenting the times and making comments about the times, but we are.
About the Artist
The Emergence of the Clowns - The White House Tour
Roxanne Swentzell is a young artist whose artistic wisdom is far beyond her years. She brings to Native American sculpture an integrity of technique and understanding of her materials. Swentzell is the niece of Nora NaranjoMorse and is also well grounded in the realm of Santa Clara pottery produced by her grandmother, her mother and her aunts.
For her last two years of high school, Roxanne attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where she was given the first exhibition of her clay figures. Later she studied at the Portland Museum Art School in Oregon. Both art school experiences helped convince her of two things: any art she makes has to have a direct connection with reality — it must be a full expression of herself and her experiences and observations of life;and it must be aimed at communicating with all people — Indians and non-Indian — about the things we share as humans.
--Provisions Library
Pottery by American Indian Women: The Legacy of Generations, the Avant-Garde
Roxanne's mother was a potter before she began her university studies, and Roxanne remembers making figures with her from the time she was very little.
This film profiles renowned Pueblo sculptor Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara). A piece by Swentzell entitled "For Life in All Directions" graces the outside of Rasmuson Theater at the National Museum of the American Indian.
More about Permaculture
Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources
Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature.
Scientific research has demonstrated that ecological stability is achieved through biological diversity, and no single organism is responsible for that stability. Permaculture research reveals that this stability is achieved only through a complex network of connections..."functional connections" between elements in the total system. The more functional connections a system has, the more sustainable it becomes.
More images from Roxanne Swentzell
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