Curatorial Session via KSFR Nativescape radio interview with Jacob Meders
Nativescape interviews artist Jacob Meders, (Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria/Maidu) who is in a new Wheelwright Museum exhibition called, California Stars: Huivaniūs Pütsiv opening February 11, 2023 through January 14, 2024. Exploring the impact of multiple generations of First California artists, Huivaniūs Pütsiv loosely translates from Chemehuevi as “stars with us or around us.” California Stars: Huivaniūs Pütsiv highlights those landmark First Californian artists whose work across varied media combines to speak about personal experiences, mythology and traditions and speak to questions of resilience, identity, and social justice. With iconic works from the Wheelwright’s permanent collection and important loans and pieces not previously seen beyond the artists’ studios, California Stars gives insight into the work of stellar artists who have influenced the Native American contemporary art field for more than six decades.
Jacob Meders (Mechoopda/Maidu), MFA, is an Associate Professor in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts & Science at Arizona State University. Jacob possesses a BFA in painting with a minor in printmaking from Savannah College of Art and Design and a MFA in printmaking at Arizona State University. In 2011 Jacob established WarBird Press, a fine art printmaking studio that he operates as the Master Printmaker in Phoenix, AZ. Jacob’s work focuses on altered perceptions of place, culture, and identity built on the assimilation and homogenization of indigenous people. This work often ties into current issues faced in Indigenous communities. His work touches many interdisciplinary approaches and repeatedly plays with the boundaries of social engagement practices. His work continues to reexamine varied documentations of Native Americans through printing processes that hold onto stereotypical ideas and how they have affected the culture of the native people. Often using book forms and prints as a symbol of western knowledge and the linear mind, Jacob deploys them as a vehicle to challenge new perceptions of Native Americans.