WASHINGTON — In times of stress, the balance of symmetry can center focus and calmness.
That’s the solution for Cynthia Chavez Lamar, the recently appointed director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Her stress relief, doodles follow the pottery designs that have surrounded the San Felipe Pueblo woman’s life.
“When things get a little stressful I just sit down, get out my pens and my pencils and my paper and then just start,” said Chavez Lamar, who also has ties to Hopi, Tewa and Navajo on the maternal side of her family.
Think long straight lines that can blend with smaller intricate parallel points. Straight symmetry on a round surface that gives an infinite impression. The type of order to organize a person now responsible for overseeing the George Gustav Heye Center in Manhattan, the Cultural Resources Center in Maryland and the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Chavez Lamar is the third director and first woman to lead the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian.
Her museum career started with the Smithsonian back in 1994 when she worked as an intern helping with research to open the gallery in New York City. In 2000, she was back to work with the museum and was the lead curator for “Our Lives,” one of the inaugural exhibitions for the space in Washington D.C. when it opened in 2004.
“I collaborated with eight Indigenous communities from throughout the Western Hemisphere and that was how it was a very impactful experience on me,” she said. “You know, working with these representatives from each of these tribes and communities was really a fulfilling experience and really introduced me to the way I could help facilitate the information that they were sharing so that it can be presented as educational content in an exhibition.”
She left in 2005 and darted around the art world in New Mexico with stops as the director of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.
After leaving an impression on her home state, she went back to the Smithsonian in 2014 to serve as the assistant director for collections at NMAI and eventually serve as the acting associate director for collections and operations in 2021.
All of this is to say she is confident in how to get her priorities moving.
“I’m very familiar with our processes and our policies and there are certain things in place that sort of help guide the ship, so to speak,” she said. “Something to ensure that a project from idea to concept to implementation to completion is able to just follow steps so that you can meet your deadlines.”
Her priorities for the museum rest with providing greater access to its resources for Indigenous communities and working with these groups in a collaborative way that respects their sovereignty.
One thing she highlighted is the impact the museum’s loan program has to showcase its collection, which tops more than 1 million items, in the tribal communities where the items are from.
She said a recent loan of 100 pottery pieces to the Poeh Cultural Center in Pojoaque brings healing back to the community because the pieces have a living ancestral history.
“I definitely think that there is a connection in terms of contributing to the well-being when items are back in the communities or even held by community members,” she said.
“I honestly do not know if it was all of us that brought the pots home, or if the pots themselves decided it was time,” Pojoaque Pueblo governor Joseph Talachy told Indian Country Today when the exhibit was opened in 2019.
Chavez Lamar discussed other loan programs happening with the White Mountain Apache tribe and the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.
“I’m very interested in promoting and highlighting the collection and addition of collaboration and partnership with Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere,” she said.
She also wants to digitize as many items at the museum but be only if the tribal communities agree and would be willing to consult during the process. Even language programs are done so with the sensitivity to meet the expectations of tribal communities.
“I think NMAI wants to support initiatives of tribes and communities. I don’t think that it’s necessarily NMAI’s role to play a part in those unless we have a tribe approach us and say they want us to work in partnership with them,” she said.
The perspective and experience she learned from the beginning, to work with tribes, will be part of any initiative she leads with the hope that it can transform and foster better relations between museums and tribes.
“I really do feel that that goes a long way in changing the power dynamics of representation and in addition, it’s really important for museum staff because, you know, it’s one thing to sort of read a book and then write something about a tribe or a cultural experience. It’s another thing to hear directly from the people themselves,” she said. “They’re hearing directly from the source and that’s very important.”
Story used with permission from Source New Mexico at https://sourcenm.com and the story is here.
WASHINGTON — In times of stress, the balance of symmetry can center focus and calmness.
That’s the solution for Cynthia Chavez Lamar, the recently appointed director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Her stress relief, doodles follow the pottery designs that have surrounded the San Felipe Pueblo woman’s life.
“When things get a little stressful I just sit down, get out my pens and my pencils and my paper and then just start,” said Chavez Lamar, who also has ties to Hopi, Tewa and Navajo on the maternal side of her family.
Think long straight lines that can blend with smaller intricate parallel points. Straight symmetry on a round surface that gives an infinite impression. The type of order to organize a person now responsible for overseeing the George Gustav Heye Center in Manhattan, the Cultural Resources Center in Maryland and the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Chavez Lamar is the third director and first woman to lead the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian.
Her museum career started with the Smithsonian back in 1994 when she worked as an intern helping with research to open the gallery in New York City. In 2000, she was back to work with the museum and was the lead curator for “Our Lives,” one of the inaugural exhibitions for the space in Washington D.C. when it opened in 2004.
“I collaborated with eight Indigenous communities from throughout the Western Hemisphere and that was how it was a very impactful experience on me,” she said. “You know, working with these representatives from each of these tribes and communities was really a fulfilling experience and really introduced me to the way I could help facilitate the information that they were sharing so that it can be presented as educational content in an exhibition.”
She left in 2005 and darted around the art world in New Mexico with stops as the director of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.
After leaving an impression on her home state, she went back to the Smithsonian in 2014 to serve as the assistant director for collections at NMAI and eventually serve as the acting associate director for collections and operations in 2021.
All of this is to say she is confident in how to get her priorities moving.
“I’m very familiar with our processes and our policies and there are certain things in place that sort of help guide the ship, so to speak,” she said. “Something to ensure that a project from idea to concept to implementation to completion is able to just follow steps so that you can meet your deadlines.”
Her priorities for the museum rest with providing greater access to its resources for Indigenous communities and working with these groups in a collaborative way that respects their sovereignty.
One thing she highlighted is the impact the museum’s loan program has to showcase its collection, which tops more than 1 million items, in the tribal communities where the items are from.
She said a recent loan of 100 pottery pieces to the Poeh Cultural Center in Pojoaque brings healing back to the community because the pieces have a living ancestral history.
“I definitely think that there is a connection in terms of contributing to the well-being when items are back in the communities or even held by community members,” she said.
“I honestly do not know if it was all of us that brought the pots home, or if the pots themselves decided it was time,” Pojoaque Pueblo governor Joseph Talachy told Indian Country Today when the exhibit was opened in 2019.
Chavez Lamar discussed other loan programs happening with the White Mountain Apache tribe and the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.
“I’m very interested in promoting and highlighting the collection and addition of collaboration and partnership with Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere,” she said.
She also wants to digitize as many items at the museum but be only if the tribal communities agree and would be willing to consult during the process. Even language programs are done so with the sensitivity to meet the expectations of tribal communities.
“I think NMAI wants to support initiatives of tribes and communities. I don’t think that it’s necessarily NMAI’s role to play a part in those unless we have a tribe approach us and say they want us to work in partnership with them,” she said.
The perspective and experience she learned from the beginning, to work with tribes, will be part of any initiative she leads with the hope that it can transform and foster better relations between museums and tribes.
“I really do feel that that goes a long way in changing the power dynamics of representation and in addition, it’s really important for museum staff because, you know, it’s one thing to sort of read a book and then write something about a tribe or a cultural experience. It’s another thing to hear directly from the people themselves,” she said. “They’re hearing directly from the source and that’s very important.”
Story used with permission from Source New Mexico at https://sourcenm.com and the story is here.