The Watermark Art Center in Bemidji held their first event of the year this evening. The night was filled with celebration and emotional spoken word.

“We have both traditional and contemporary work which are all, I think, important and significant for people to understand that our indigenous artists are working in a multitude of genres and disciplines and they have a lot of different way to express what they know through their art and what they understand the world to be,” says Karen Goulet, the program director for the Miikanan Gallery.

It started with an artist reception where folks from all over were invited to gaze at some of the creations in the Miikanan gallery, all created by Native American artists. Then there was the poetry reading, which were also all written by Native American artists. Some came as far as St. Paul just to read their work. Many say the Aazhoomon exhibit is definitely something special.

“Having my work displayed here is just amazing! I just can’t even explain how excited I am to be here and to bring my family here and my friends here and to show them that it it’s possible for them to do too,” says one of the exhibit’s featured artists, Cari Tabor, with a smile.

“It really is a dream come true. In order for us to go someplace and see native work, you would have to travel to Washington, D.C,” says another featured artist, Kent Estey.

The poetry reading was only the first of many events for the Watermark Art Center for 2018. Their calendar is already full with other future displays.

“We have a number of artists already selected for future exhibits and we will continue to provide some interesting work and we will also have events in conjunction with. That’s one of the goals of the Miikanan gallery is to have events in conjunction with the exhibits,” says Goulet.

The Aazhoomon exhibit in the Miikanan gallery will be on display until the end of this month. You can keep up with future events for the Watermark Art Center by checking out their website here.

By — Shirelle Moore