Great Basin Artists
Melissa Melero-Moose
Topaz Jones
Karma Henry
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
In association with the Great Basin Native Artists (GBNA), this exhibition features paintings by Melissa Melero-Moose (Northern Paiute/Modoc), Topaz Jones (Shoshone-Paiute/Kalapuya/Molalla), Karma Henry (Paiute) and prints by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Shoshone-Bannock/Metis-Cree).
This group of four women artists are diverse in their technical and aesthetic approaches but are brought together through a commitment to drawing and painting, and strong expressions of Indigenous knowledge. Each artist explores a range of social, cultural and personal experience and thought. For Melissa Melero-Moose, she “considers these works to be a perspective of my tribe and culture through the eyes of a Native woman, mother, and artist.”
Established in 2014, Great Basin Native Artists is a group of working Native American artists residing in, or originally from, the Nevada and eastern Sierra Nevada areas. With a membership of 150, the collective brings together artists from throughout the region with a mission to promote Great Basin Native art and education locally, nationally and internationally, and to provide a forum for professional and emerging Native artists.
The Great Basin cultural area includes the high desert regions between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, and is predominantly located in Nevada, extending into California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. Numerous tribes and bands are from the area including Bannock, Gosiute, Mono, Northern Paiute, Panamint, Shoshone, Southern Paiute, Washoe, and Ute.
Since its establishment, GBNA has hosted several workshops and exhibited members’ works widely, including the Maidu Museum, Roseville; Autry Museum Native Art Market, Los Angeles; Santa Fe Indian Market; Sparks Museum, Sparks; Stewart Boarding School, Carson City; Churchill County Museum, Fallon; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; Nevada State Museum, Carson City; and Imago Mundi, Venice Italy.