Coupling Indigenous Artwork and Ancient Artifacts

The New York State Museum maintains its extensive material collections for the benefit of individuals and communities across the New York region and beyond. Increasingly, indigenous scholars, artists, and community members are accessing the NYSM's anthropology collections for insights into traditional material culture, creative inspiration, or for ancestral connections through these objects.

Last December, potter and sculptor Natasha Smoke-Santiago of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne visited NYSM to examine Haudenosaunee pottery collections from archaeological sites across New York. As artist-in-residence at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, Natasha is collaborating with Garth Johnson, the Everson's curator of ceramics, to develop an exhibit of Natasha's own works that will be coupled with indigenous pottery and pipes from the NYSM archaeological collections. The exhibit is projected to open in spring 2024, and information will be forthcoming on the Everson Museum's website.

You can also see Natasha’s artwork on view now in the NYSM exhibit, “Each One Inspired: Indigenous Art Across the Homelands.” For more information, visit: https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/exhibitions/each-one-inspired

Natasha Smoke-Santiago examines pottery rim sherds
Natasha Smoke-Santiago examines pottery rim sherds from St. Lawrence Iroquois sites in Jefferson County with Jonathan Lothrop, NYSM curator of archaeology
Garth Johnson and Natasha Smoke-Santiago discuss a Haudenosaunee pipe from Onondaga homeland.
Garth Johnson and Natasha Smoke-Santiago discuss a Haudenosaunee pipe from Onondaga homeland. Many Pre-Contact pipes display zoomorphic or human imagery on the bowl; this piece exhibits the head and shoulders of a bear or wolf.
Natasha Smoke-Santiago records the surviving rim and shoulder of a Mohawk pot from a 16th-century site
Natasha Smoke-Santiago records the surviving rim and shoulder of a Mohawk pot from a 16th-century site. Decorative designs such as the parallel incised lines shown here were usually concentrated on the upper portion of the pot.

Related Information

Each One Inspired

Each One Inspired: Indigenous Art Across the Homelands

The NYSM exhibit Each One Inspired examines the sources of inspiration for Indigenous artists across what is now New York. Featuring over 60 original artworks from the NYSM Contemporary Indigenous Art Collection, the exhibit is on view in the West Gallery through March 31, 2024.