2021-22 Common Seeing: Meeting Points

Every year, the University of Oregon’s Common Reading program encourages campus-wide engagement with a shared book and related resources. JSMA’s corresponding Common Seeing expands this conversation through the visual arts.

The 2021-22 selection, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, addresses humanity’s responsibility to the natural world through its author’s observations as an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, academically trained botanist, and mother. Kimmerer calls for a reciprocal relationship between people and nature that prioritizes generosity and respects the needs of all living things. Her memoir’s interwoven topics include ecology, parenting, Indigenous land and water rights, traditional foodways, good citizenship, sustainability, climate change, and the preservation of language.

This year’s Common Seeing brings together works by nine contemporary Native artists that speak to these issues and each’s experiences as individuals and members of their communities. Featured artists include Natalie Ball (American, Black, Modoc and Klamath), Joe Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), Bud Lane (Siletz), Joey Lavadour (Walla Walla/Métis), Brenda Mallory (Cherokee), Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs, Wasco, and Yakama), Gail Tremblay (Mi'kmaq and Onondaga), Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee), and Shirod Younker (Coquille, Coos, and Umpqua, b. 1972). JSMA is especially grateful to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History for lending work from their collection. 

For more information about the UO’s Common Reading and to find out how members of the UO Community can access a digital copy of Braiding Sweetgrass, visit https://fyp.uoregon.edu/common-reading-2021-2022-braiding-sweetgrass.

 

The JSMA is located on Kalapuya ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, Kalapuya descendants are primarily citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and they continue to make important contributions to their communities, to the UO, to Oregon, and to the world. In following the Indigenous protocol of acknowledging the original people of the land we occupy, we also extend our respect to the nine federally recognized Indigenous nations of Oregon: the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the Klamath Tribes. We express our respect to the many more tribes who have ancestral connections to this territory, as well as to all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home.

 

Gail Tremblay (American, Mi'kmaq, and Onondaga, b. 1945), 2018. 1981 Film Irony: Trying to Have an American Film in Cheyenne Native Language Judged in the Foreign Film Category for the Oscars (Even the Academy Rejected the Proposal), 2018. 35mm film (from “Windwalker," 1981), red and white film leader, silver braid 24 x 14 x 14 in. Museum Purchase through the Edna Pearl Horton Memorial Endowment. (Image courtesy of the Artist and Froelick Gallery; photography by Mario Gallucci.)

Braiding Sweetgrass Pop Up Events

Join units across campus as they host a variety of pop up events throughout the month of January. The events will celebrate and explore themes in Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass. Pick up a physical copy of the book at no cost! Visit the linked website to see a calendar of events.

Let's Talk: Black Student Support

Talk with a Black/African American Specialist and Psychologist

Dr. Cecile Gadson will be available on Wednesdays from 2-4 p.m. She is a psychologist who focuses on the needs of Black/African American students.   What is Let’s Talk?

Let’s Talk is a drop-in service that provides easy access to a free, informal confidential one-on-one consultation with a University Counseling Services counselor.   What makes Let’s Talk different from counseling services at UCS?

No appointment necessary (first-come, first-served) No paperwork to be completed Easy access support and consultation

  Let’s Talk is especially helpful for students who:

Have a specific concern and would like to consult with someone about it Would like on-the-spot consultation rather than ongoing counseling Would like to consult with a UCS staff member about what actual therapy looks like Would like to meet with one of our UCS identity-based specialists Have a concern about a friend or family member and would like some ideas about what to do

  How does Let’s Talk work?

In Winter 2022, this Let's Talk session will be offered in person again at the LRP Black Cultural Center. Dr. Gadson will be available to meet with students once they check in using the QR code you'll get to speak with Dr. Gadson as soon as she's available. Let’s Talk appointments are brief (usually between 15-30 minutes) and are meant to be used on an as-needed basis.