Travois First Fridays – featuring “A Fanciful Escapade” by Gina Herrera (Pueblo of Tesuque)

Friday, Aug. 3  featuring “A Fanciful Escapade” by Gina Herrera (Pueblo of Tesuque)

6-8 p.m.: Exhibition open to the public
6:30 p.m.: Artist talk

Travois supports American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities and tribes in achieving their vision for economic and community development. Over 23 years, Travois has secured $1.3 billion dollars for affordable housing, education, health services, water infrastructure, and climate adaptation in Indian Country.

Art is a vibrant contributor to Native economies and a culture bearer for Native people. Travois is expanding our service area to highlight the strength and modern-day vitality of Native artists and to stimulate art purchases and commissions within one of the nation’s leading art scenes: Kansas City.

Gina Herrera (Pueblo of Tesuque) was raised in Chicago and currently resides in California. In her artist statement, Gina Herrera said: “While my heritage incorporates the Tesuque Pueblo and Costa Rica, my strongest affinity is to nature. While serving in Iraq, amid the devastation of combat, my visceral reaction to miles of mountainous trash heaps, the evidence of systematic yet unconscious destruction of our planet led me to question my own practices. I began to build assemblages out of discarded and natural objects. I am engaged in an aesthetic and spiritual ritual to channel and honor Mother Earth. I constantly gather materials, finding inspiration in my surroundings. Like a scavenger, I play an interventional role in removing garbage from the landscape, preventing further damage. I am also drawn to natural materials and organic forms. My process is meditative and intuitive. Figures emerge, in gravity defying poses on the brink of movement, alive with possibility. Their haunting spiritual presence reminds us they have not gone back to the earth but asks us to question the choices we make in our daily existence.” For Travois First Fridays, Herrera’s exhibition will feature large sculptural works.

Herrera holds a BFA in art education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While she was a student, she was deployed overseas in support of several war contingencies with the United States Army. Once her final tour was complete, she obtained her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. As a graduate student, she was awarded a Provost Fellowship, an MFA scholarship and was nominated for the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant Program in 2012. Herrera received a full Native American Residency Fellowship from the Harpo Foundation to attend the Vermont Studio Center in 2013. Herrera has exhibited extensively in California and nationally and has received awards: she has received grants from the Harold and Ruth Chenven Foundation and Puffin Foundation, is a seventeen-time ArtSlant Prize Showcase Winner, she received a Merit Award from Art Kudos and received an Award of Excellence from Manhattan Arts International.

Herrera’s dedication to service extends to all aspects of her professional life – from her 20+ years in the military to educating and inspiring the next generation as an art teacher at Arvin High School and as an adjunct professor at Bakersfield College. Learn more on her website, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Preregister and receive two drink tickets at the event (21+). All ages are welcome to attend the event.

After 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, please register at the door upon your arrival. 

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