May 1: Open for the Season 

May 4, from 3 to 5 pm: Exhibition Opening and Spring Party: Indian Ink: Iroquois and the Art of Tattoos. Inspired by Mohawk artist/curator Ryan Rice's Native Love exhibit and a presentation by Carla Hemlock of Kahnawake, IndianInk will showcase contemporary tattoo art, both the work of young Haudenosaunee designers such as Lyle Logan and Ike Hopper and skin art selected and commissioned by others.  Once widespread among Indigenous peoples of the northeast, the patterns and practices of this extraordinary tradition of body modification had declined by the mid 1800s as a consequence of Christianity, assimilation, and relocation. Today, this ancient art is undergoing a spectacular resurgence in Native and non-Native communities.  IndianInk will include contemporary expressions with political, cultural, philosophical, or personal significance and a look back at historical tattooing.  

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERat 3 p.m.: Dr. Lars Krutak   is an American  anthropologist , photographer , and writer  known for his research about tattoo  and its cultural background. He produced and hosted the 10-part documentary series Tattoo Hunter on the Discovery Channel  which traveled the indigenous world to showcase vanishing art forms of body modification.  Today, he works in the Repatriation Office of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History  in Washington, D.C.

May 18: Early Technology Day: Visitors can watch and participate in the process of flint knapping (the ancient art of making chipped stone tools), Primitive fire making, Atlatl spear throwing and early archery.  There will be displays of projectile points, tools, and local archaeological finds from the Museum's archaeology department.  Have you ever found an artifact? Please bring it with you and the Museum's experts will try to identify it for you.

May 24: NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISAN SERIES: Ronni-Leigh Goeman, Onondaga basketmaker. Ronni-Leigh Goeman is one of only a handful of artists who continue to make baskets using the wood of the black ash tree and sweet grass. A tradition passed down in her family, basket-making, a multi-step, lengthy process, begins with a tree which must be stripped of its bark and pounded by hand to release the individual rings which are then sliced into strips for weaving. The sweet grass can only be picked in late summer, and is used as a decorative treatment woven into the basket. Although there are many traditional aspects to her baskets she also weaves her individuality into each basket, by embellishing with moose hair and plaited porcupine quills.

June 22:  NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISAN SERIES: Sam Thomas, Cayuga beadworker. Sam Thomas takes an innovative approach to traditional Iroquois beadwork.  Along with his mother, Lorna Hill, Sam has been an important contributor to the revival of raised beadwork.  As an artist, Sam feels that you cannot do things exactly the same as before.  Visual expression requires imagination.  It has to evolve.  That goes for traditional beadwork as well as contemporary painting.  Although Sam studies and works with the old styles, his beadwork is an expression of his individuality.  This is readily apparent in his beaded expression of the four seasons on boxes or bags, where the continuity of life flows from one frame to the other in graceful arcing curves of colorful glass beads.  Besides creating raised beadwork on velvet, Sam also works with leather, creating jackets and moccasins.  He also likes creating cornhusk dolls.  But it is the beadwork that Sam is best known for.  His beaded pieces are both wildly lavish and intensely precise articulations of color and form.

July 6: Social Dance Saturday: NIAGARA RIVER IROQUOIS DANCERS. Social Dances are different from ceremonial or sacred dances. Socials are group dances performed on various occasions, and are meant for everyone. These are the dance traditions of this land, with ties that connect to a dynamic heritage going back more than 10,000 years. Such dances are always performed to music. The musicians create the melodies and rhythms with voice and traditional Iroquois instruments. The dancers perform in stunning hand-made traditional clothing.

July 20: Social Dance Saturday: HAUDENOSAUNEE DANCERS. The Haudenosaunee Dancers from Onondaga perform Iroquois social dances as practiced in their small traditional community near Syracuse.  Elegant and knowledgeable, leader Sherri Waterman-Hopper has traveled internationally as an artist and cultural speaker.  The Dancers feature a core group of seasoned singer/musicians and talented and dedicated young adults.  Pride in the culture and adherence to the traditions are the hallmarks of this disciplined troupe. Hopper is also a respected designer and seamstress who incorporates her knowledge of the construction and significance of traditional outfits into her presentations. 

July 20:  NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISAN SERIES: Peter B. Jones, Onondaga clay sculptor and potter.  The art of Pete Jones is transatlantic in its circulation and Iroquoian in its content.  The expansive circulation is due to the popularity his work finds across cultures.  In addition to his well-crafted clan animal "trade pots", Jones uses clay to create 1'-2' high sculptures of people, spirits, and other things that in his hands become charged with expressions of bittersweet ambivalence about contemporary realities, that range from outright tragedy to ironic comedy.  The Iroquois content in his art comes from experience.  Jones lives an Iroquois lifestyle: close to the land on the Seneca reservation of Cattaraugus, where he was born, and has lived most of his life.  He was making clay pots and sculptures in 1977 when interviewed for the first Iroquois Arts Directory; in 1990 when he was awarded the Iroquois Museum's  Excellence in Iroquois Arts Award, and he continues working primarily with clay.  Over time, both his technique and his thought have deepened.  Throughout his career, his work has often carried with it a sense of humor, the edge of which has only gotten sharper. 

August 3: Social Dance Saturday: ALLEGANY RIVER INDIAN DANCERS. Founded in 1979, the Allegany River Dancers have become one of the best-known Native dance groups in the United State and Canada today. All members of the Seneca Nation from the Allegany Indian Reservation, the group has traveled throughout North America sharing traditional Iroquois social dances. The group is also well known for their repertoire of Intertribal "Pow wow" style dances. Their performance often features the hoop dance done by Bill Crouse. This dance involves 30 hoops used to make various formations or designs representing things from nature. Through group performances (which often include audience participation) and lecture presentations this group has taught large audiences about Seneca history and culture.  Social Dances are different from ceremonial or sacred dances. Socials are group dances performed on various occasions, and are meant for everyone. These are the dance traditions of this land, with ties that connect to a dynamic heritage going back more than 10,000 years. Such dances are always performed to music. The musicians create the melodies and rhythms with voice and traditional Iroquois instruments. The dancers perform in stunning hand-made traditional clothing.

August 11: NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISAN SERIES: Carson Waterman, Seneca Painter
The paintings of Carson Waterman often combine realistic figures with abstract symbolic motifs to form complex compositions that reflect upon and relate to his Seneca and Iroquois experience.  Dancers are among his favorite subjects.  They often appear on his canvases in bold colors and strides, emerging from backgrounds in which silhouettes of clan animals intermingle with wampum belt designs.  He mobilizes other classic Iroquois elements in his work as well, including three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) imagery, and the Iroquois hat known as a gustoweh.  He uses shape and color in rather sharp and snappy combinations to create layers of imagery that seem to move.   Through his art, Waterman considers himself contributing to the cultural survival of his people, which he feels is very much in question.

August 17: IndianInk Benefit Tattoo Contest and Motorcycle Ride

August 17: NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISAN SERIES: Veronica Reitter, Seneca Clothing  Designer and Cornhusk worker. Ronnie designs and sews traditional clothing or "regalia" worn by Haudenosaunee families for dance competitions and other occasions. She creates traditional ladies outfits and ribbon shirts. Her exquisite shawls, appliqued with designs such as clan symbols or strawberry motifs, are much sought after. Ronnie is also known for her traditional Seneca corn husk dolls. She brings her skills in sewing and designing regalia to the art of "dressing" her corn husk dolls. More recently, Ronnie has learned how to create other kinds of traditional Haudenosaunee corn husk work, such as corn husk mats, moccasins, salt bottles, tobacco baskets and containers. 

August 31 & September 1: 32nd Annual Iroquois Indian Festival
The annual festival centers on the celebration of Iroquois creativity and self-expression by featuring an all Iroquois Indian Art Market open to Iroquois artists by special invitation only.  Both traditional and contemporary arts are showcased. The Sky Dancers from Six Nations Reserve in Ontario will perform traditional Iroquois social dances, and may invite the public out onto the dance floor to participate, as well.  The Children's Tent will feature arts & crafts activities including beadwork and cornhusk doll making.  Local wildlife rehabilitator Kelly Martin will be available to discuss wildlife conservation in our bioregion and will present a variety of wild animals including birds of prey.  The Museum's archeology department will be available to help identify archeological finds and give demonstrations of flintknapping and other early technologies. 

 *These events are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency in partnership with NYSHA.  Additional contributions come from members and friends of the Iroquois Indian Museum. 

For more information contact: info@iroquoismuseum.org