SIUE Unveils Indigenous Art Display During Native American/Indigenous Heritage Month
This Native American/Indigenous Heritage Month, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville unveiled an encased display of indigenous art during the University’s presentation of its Land Acknowledgement. The art, created by alumna Susan Bostwick, MFA, and husband and wife artists Kilan Jacobs (Osage) and Mary Jacobs (Quapaw) is located at the north entrance of Morris University Center (MUC).
On display is Bostwick’s clay doll, a replica of an artifact found during a 2013 archaeological dig at the Gehring Site (11MS99) that rests between the base of the bluff and Cahokia Creek.
The original small clay figure is thought to have come from an area Native American settlement dating to approximately 2000 years ago, which is referred by archaeologists as the Middle Woodland period.
Bostwick fashioned the piece out of local clays.
The Jacobs created a miniature toy cradleboard to accompany the clay figure in the display. Traditionally, Native cradleboards served as a safe place for a baby to rest, and toy cradle boards were made for children’s dolls.
Kilan Jacobs said of the presentation of their work, “It was really symbolic, and it really connected with us in our hearts and minds. I hope that it brings something positive to your environment here, and we're very grateful. As you all have heard, we have been here for a very long time.”
Julie Zimmermann, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, credits Kyle Moore, MUC Manager of Event Services, for suggesting a visual representation of the Native communities’ history and existence today and Erin Vigneau-Dimick, executive curator of the SIUE University Museum, for the approach.
“There is the land acknowledgement statement, and then very boldly in the middle of it says, ‘You Are Standing On Native Land,’” said Zimmermann, who feels a special responsibility as an archeologist to work with the Native Americans who are descendants today of the people who lived in Cahokia.
According to SIUE archives, Zimmermann shared that the University exists in and serves a region that includes the lands of the Kiikaapoi (treaty in Edwardsville, 1819); The Illinois Confederacy, including the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Cahokia, and Tamaroa (treaty in Edwardsville, 1818); Dhegiha Siouan people and others.
“We can't just look at 1818, 1819,” said Zimmermann. “We have to go back to Cahokia, and there were people here 10 or 15,000 years before. We have to look at all of them.”
PHOTOS: Julie Zimmermann, PhD, Galen Gritts, husband and wife artists Kilan Jacobs (Osage) and Mary Jacobs (Quapaw), and Erin Vigneau-Dimick; Mary Jacobs and Kilan Jacobs; Indigenous art located near north entrance of the MUC; Zimmermann
