Skip to main content
Hours of operation Today 10 AM - 5 PM.
Event Date
Date
Thursday, October 16
Time
6:30–7:30 PM
Category Thursdays at the Nasher

Gallery Talk with Courtney Lewis

  • This event has passed.

Join us for a gallery talk led by Courtney Lewis, Ph.D., Crandall Family Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Inaugural Director, The RISE-US: Research for Indigenous Studies & Engagement in the United States program, Duke University. Curated by Lewis, the exhibition, Power, Presence, and Future: American Indian Pop Art in Action, features North American Indian artists who shatter harmful stereotypes by drawing on Pop Art’s saturated color, humor, irony, and interest in mass culture.

About Courtney Lewis
Associate Professor Courtney Lewis (Ph.D., UNC Chapel Hill, 2012) is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and has established herself as a rising star in Native American Studies as well as a dynamic program builder.

Her research explores the themes of American Indian sovereignty, economic justice, and the ethnography of Native Nation capitalism, focusing on small businesses in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian’s Qualla Boundary in the North Carolina mountains. By contrast to the feathers-and-beads mythologies of Native peoples as stuck in a buffalo-hunting time-warp and, conversely, racist tropes about them as lazy dependents of the government, Lewis shows how Cherokee business owners struggle with factors general to capitalist America and specific to American Indian experiences to make their way forward.  She brings her economics background to the task, combining a careful eye for cultural processes with an attentiveness to markets and capital. Her prize-winning book, “Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty” is driven by a powerful sense of moral as well as scholarly engagement with issues of social justice and Native sovereignty insofar as developing tribal businesses is a key aspect of 21st century American Indian life.  The book is regarded as one of the most original anthropology books about Native America today. Dr. Lewis’ developing research addresses American Indian food sovereignty.

  • Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Drop The Spot, 1990

    Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Drop The Spot, 1990. Pastel on paper, 22 × 30 inches (55.88 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase with funds provided by Marjorie (P’16, P’19, P’19) and Michael Levine (B.S.’84, P’16, P’19, P’19), 2020.10.1. © Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.

  • Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Indio Face Down, 1990

    Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Indio Face Down, 1990. Pastel on paper, 22 × 30 inches (55.88 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase with funds provided by Marjorie (P’16, P’19, P’19) and Michael Levine (B.S.’84, P’16, P’19, P’19), 2020.10.2. © Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.

  • Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Mother Woman Inspire, 1990

    Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Mother Woman Inspire, 1990. Pastel on paper, 22 × 30 inches (55.88 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase with funds provided by Marjorie (P’16, P’19, P’19) and Michael Levine (B.S.’84, P’16, P’19, P’19), 2020.10.3. © Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.

  • Tom Farris, Custer's Last Hand, 2024

    Tom Farris, Custer's Last Hand, 2024. Decommissioned and repurposed slot machine, 53 × 26 × 20 inches (134.62 × 66.04 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase, 2025.9.1. ©Tom Farris. Photo by Brian Quinby.

  • Selected Works from Power, Presence, and Future: American Indian Pop Art in Action

Event Details

Date
Thursday, October 16
Time
6:30–7:30 PM
Categories
,
Venue
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
2001 Campus Drive
Durham, NC 27705 United States