Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, born 1974), Breath of Life…The First Song, 2023; sound component, 2024 Vintage “Calumet” cans, elm bark, elk hide, and poplar and oak dowels, with harvested cherry, Osage orange, sassafras and twisted wood, copper BB’'s, pebbles, and paint. Collection of the artist.
Tour Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland with Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator Jordan Poorman Cocker.
Through the perspectives of four collaborating artists with connections to Zhegagoynak—Andrea Carlson(Grand Portage Ojibwe/European descent), Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribe of Pottawatomi/Ottawa), Nora Moore Lloyd (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), and Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)—Woven Being explores confluences that continue to shape Indigenous creative practices in the region and beyond.
Block Exhibition Tours offer an overview of the museum’s current exhibitions with a member of the Block Museum team, and an opportunity for questions and conversation.
This program is open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are not required, but are appreciated.
An enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe, Jordan Poorman Cocker is the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR and The Block’s 2021-2024 Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator of Indigenous Art. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Design from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, with a focus on spatial design and Indigenous design theory. She received a Masters of Museum and Heritage Practice from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017, where her practicum included the study of Indigenous museum practices with the National Museum of New Zealand. She is a PhD. candidate with Auckland University of Technology. Her Indigenous curatorial methodology and approach utilizes oral histories, multivocality and Indigenous knowledge systems to explore intergenerational relationships within Indigenous Art Forms from community-based lenses.