Ascending: The Liberation of Native Art
Ascending: The Liberation of Native Art is a community exhibition shaped by the collective talents of the artists and curated by Brooke Waldron (Narragansett ancestry).
The exhibition challenges stereotypes imposed on Native communities, who are often portrayed as historical or frozen in time. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith referred to this bias as the “buckskin ceiling.” An article in the New York Times, “The Buckskin Ceiling and its Discontents” (2000) further explains the concept as “an art-world bias that makes space for traditional beadwork, buckskins and trading-post blankets, and ignores almost everything else.” Ascending highlights how Native cultural expression belongs firmly within the contemporary art world, challenging the boundaries that have historically separated “art” from what has often been labeled as “craft,” underscoring both as vital forms of contemporary expression. As stated by Waldron, "everyone benefits from broader Native representation, it engages cultural understanding, expands public knowledge, and protects the integrity of our shared history."
Ascending: The Liberation of Native Art celebrates the richness of contemporary Native expression in the works of Julia Marden (Aquinnah Wampanoag); Joshua Carter (Mashantucket Pequot); Kathy Atkins (Tuscarora); Miciah Stasis-Harding (Herring Pond Wampanoag); and Scott Foster (Hassanamisco Nipmuc). The exhibition also includes the work of curator Brooke Waldron (Narragansett ancestry).
Please join us on Friday March 27 for the opening reception and a keynote presentation, In Our Own Words: Museums, Memory, and Native Expression, by Felicia Bartley MA (Isleta Pueblo). Through the lens of her experience as a Tiwa woman and Curator of Native American and Indigenous History, she will attest to the self- determined diverse cultural language and cultural practices of Native North American communities for millennia, and will provide an overview on harmful museum practices, a censorship of Native voices, and the attempt to undermine Native political and cultural sovereignty.
Exhibition dates: March 27- April 26, 2026
Gallery hours: Thursday – Sunday 12-4 pm
Branford House, 2nd floor
1084 Shennecossett Rd. Groton, CT
UConn Avery Point Sculpture Walk
UConn Avery Point presents a permanent collection of sculptures displayed along the campus’s shoreline path. The collection is on view for the public year-round. Look for new sculptures to be added in May 2026 as part of the next annual Open Air exhibition which will be on view from June to October 2026.