She Gives

March 21, 2020 - October 3, 2020

Fred Donath Jr. Memorial Gallery

In her second solo museum exhibition, artist Dyani White Hawk presents paintings, sculptural beaded works, video installation, printmaking, and photography. The title, She Gives, comes from a series of paintings that explore the legacies and blessings Indigenous women and women at large have gifted to our artistic histories, as well as daily contributions to the health and wellbeing of our communities. The works, meant to honor and pay tribute to the unwavering strength of women, extend to feminine forces at large, including our collective mother, the earth. This is the first exhibition in which White Hawk will present works spanning such a broad range of artistic mediums.

Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) is a visual artist and independent curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota who is quickly emerging as one of the  most powerful voices in contemporary Native American art. White Hawk earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011) and BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (2008). She served as gallery director and curator for All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis from 2011-2015.

Recent support for White Hawk’s work has included 2019 United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Art, 2019 Eiteljorg Fellowship for Contemporary Art, 2019 Jerome Hill Artists Fellowship, 2019 Forecast for Public Art Mid-Career Development Grant, 2018 Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists, 2017 and 2015 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowships, 2014 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and the 2013/14 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship. She has participated in residencies in Australia, Russia, and Germany. Her work is in the permanent collections of Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Tweed Museum of Art, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Akta Lakota Museum among other public and private collections. Her work is represented by Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis, MN.

As human beings, we are all related to one another. It is our collective responsibility to stand up for one another. Our Indigenous sisters deserve to be heard, seen, cared for and protected. It is our collective responsibility to advocate for justice for MMIW and create a healthy future for Indigenous women and girls. Please act now to support the important work taking place to protect and care for Indigenous women and children. Learn more here:

A conversation with Dyani White Hawk presented by Plains Art Museum in conjunction with NDSU hosted by Native American Program director Joe Williams on her solo exhibition at Plains Art Museum “She Gives.”

  • Dyani White Hawk, "Carry I", 2019, 110 x 15 in., buckskin, synthetic sinew, antique glass beads, brass sequins, canvas, acrylic, dyed feathers, 2019
  • Dyani White Hawk, "Untitled (All The Colors)", 2020, Acrylic, bugle beads, thread and synthetic sinew on canvas, Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "She Gives (Quiet Strength V"), 2019 Acrylic on canvas Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative" (detail), Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery
  • Dyani White Hawk, "I Am Your Relative", Digital photography installation, 2020 In collaboration with photographer Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk) Courtesy of the Artist and Bockley Gallery

Ongoing Exhibitions

No Time For Despair

Ongoing
No Time For Despair

To say that right now is the ideal time to make art that speaks directly to the people about social justice is an understatement. Because the very nature of art is to undertake or assume the role of a healer by shading light on the human condition.

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Bee in Flight

Ongoing
Bee in Flight

Community artist and school art teacher MeLissa Kossick, who guides youth classes at the Museum on art, gardens, and pollinators, has created an enchanting mosaic design in the Creativity Pathway in the Serkland Gallery called Bee in Flight.

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S.P.A.C.E.

Ongoing
S.P.A.C.E.
Kaleidoscope

The S.P.A.C.E. (Sculpture Pad Art Collaborative Experiment) project is a public art initiative undertaken collaboratively between Plains Art Museum, and the college art departments at North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Concordia College.

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The North Dakota Mural

Ongoing
The North Dakota Mural

Drawing on his childhood memories of the Great Plains, he created a work that speaks to the wide open spaces, huge vistas, and ocean-like skies of the region.

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Fragile Preservation

Ongoing
Fragile Preservation
A Tallgrass Community

While the Tallgrass Prairie is a community made up of a great diversity of species, Fragile Preservation represents a selection of them.

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