In the third of a three part series, this panel discussion features Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Curator of Northwest Native Art at the Burke Museum, in conversation with artist and curator RYAN! Feddersen (Okanogan and Lakes), one of the co-curators of the Burke Museum's Northwest Native Art Gallery, and Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit), Assistant Professor of North American Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Washington's iSchool and an independent curator. The program will include an overview of Feddersen’s work as an artist and curator followed by a larger discussion on the state of contemporary Native art and the issues involved in ethical curation.

Kathryn Bunn-Marcuseis the Director of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Native Art and Curator of Native Art at the Burke Museum and an Assistant Professor of Native Art in the Division of Art History at the University of Washington.

Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit) is Assistant Professor of North American Indigenous Knowledge at the iSchool and an independent curator. Indigenous knowledge systems are central to her work as she examines the role of social media and the arts in protecting, documenting and perpetuating Native information and knowledge. Her work highlights and celebrate Native artists, their processes, and the exquisite pieces they create. She has worked with tribal, city, state and federal museums to create Native-focused educational programming, publications and art exhibitions. Belarde-Lewis holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona, an M.A. in Museology and Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of Washington.

RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen specializes in creating interactive murals, site-specific installations, and immersive public artworks that invite audience engagement. She received a B.F.A. at Cornish College of the Arts in 2009. Feddersen is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, from the Okanogan and Arrow Lakes bands, and of mixed European descent. Recently, she received a National Fellowship from the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and completed public artworks Synecdoche for the Burke Museum, Antecedents for the University of Washington, and NEXUSfor the city of Tacoma. She has created large-scale interactive installations and site-specific pieces throughout North America, working with Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4culture, Regional Arts and Culture Counsel, ArtsWa, Museum of Art & History Santa Cruz, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, City of Tacoma, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Washington, Wellin Museum, College of New Jersey, and Northeastern University.

For more information or questions, contact Bridget Johnson bkj86@uw.edu