Ho-Chunk Centre galleries showcase Native American artists

Meet the other new artists

Savannah Berlyn Anderson (Ricehill), a Winnebago Tribal member, grew up on Omaha Indian Reservation. Her passion for photography was kindled at age 11, when her father gifted her her very first camera. 

"I am dedicated to capturing meaningful photographs that possess the power to transform lives," she said. "Whether I'm documenting the untold stories of my tribe, preserving the ephemeral beauty of nature, or striving to make a difference through my lens, I am driven by the belief that photography has the ability to shape perceptions, influence hearts, and spark meaningful conversations."

Ed Encinas, of the Omaha Nation, is a ledger artist, muralist, craftsman and traditional Hethuska dancer. He teaches high school art and beginning band at UmoNhoN Nation Public School.

Encinas takes the ledger art form in new directions with paintings on old checks, sheet music and other pages from history. These documents, which are often of local origin, lead to conversations about our common history.

Henry Payer is a Ho-Chunk artist who works primarily with collage and mixed media. 

Payer's bold and contemporary narrative compositions utilize Indigenous cartographic methods with traditional aspects of spatial representation and symbolism, while appropriating European modernist models of cubism, spatial distortion and collage. Each work offers a visual narrative of symbols and appropriated voices from American consumer society that reconfigures history, references the altered landscape or the identity of a portrait.

Ernest Ricehill is a curator, exhibit designer and photographer. He curated exhibitions at the Sioux City Art Center, showcasing his meticulous attention to detail and innovative exhibit design. In the 80s, Ricehill was considered the only Native American art curator.

Ricehill ventured into photography, capturing the essence of the urban Native American experience in his project, "Moccasins On Pavement - The Urban Indian Experience: A Denver Portrait Photographic Exhibit" at the Denver Natural History Museum.