Cleveland, January 30, 2026: Featuring the unique histories and perspectives of Indigenous artists from several backgrounds and tribal affiliations, still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper is the Cleveland Museum of Art’s (CMA) first exhibition to highlight its collection of prints and drawings by Native American artists. This free exhibition is on view from Sunday, February 1, through Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries.
“In 2022, the creation of the museum’s Indigenous Peoples and Land Acknowledgment inspired a commitment to greatly strengthen its holdings in this important field,” said Nadiah Rivera Fellah, curator of contemporary art and cocurator of the exhibition. “The title of this show comes from a poem on Indigenous survivance by Navajo poet Kinsale Drake and references the fact that the CMA land acknowledgment serves ‘not as an end but rather as the beginning’ of an ongoing collaboration with our Native community members.”
The objects on view survey the ways in which Native artists have innovatively used various print and drawing techniques to explore their cultural heritage. Notable works in the collection range from a series of powerful woodcut portraits by T. C. Cannon (Kiowa-Caddo, 1946–1978) to a set of deeply symbolic color lithographs by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, 1940–2025). The presentation also includes work by multimedia artists, such as Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow, b. 1981), Kay WalkingStick (American, Member of the Cherokee Nation / Oklahoma, b. 1935), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingít/Unangax̂, b. 1979), Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations, b. 1954), and Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1983), among others, to shed new light on the importance of the graphic arts within their contemporary practices.
Community voice labels by members of the museum’s Native American Advisory Committee and broader community, who have been involved in the museum’s efforts, highlight the local impact of this growing collection at the CMA.
“This exhibition is the culmination of three years of intentional collecting of works on paper made by Native American artists,” said Britany Salsbury, curator of prints and drawings and the exhibition’s cocurator. “Thanks to these additions, we can share broader stories that encompass a range of human experiences and share the innovative print and drawing techniques the featured artists used to explore their cultural heritage.”
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