FeedStoryteller Goes Big!
Roxanne Swentzell working on her monumental-scale Pueblo storyteller.
Courtesy Denver Art Museum
When visitors walk into the newly renovated American Indian art galleries in the Denver Art Museum these days, they are greeted by a monumental-scale Pueblo storyteller. The epic work in unfired clay was created over the summer by acclaimed artist Roxanne Swentzell of Santa Clara Pueblo (see cover story, Jan./Feb. 2003 issue), whose work is found in permanent museum collections and prestigious private holdings coast to coast. The work is the focal point of an exhibition at DAM titled Marvelous Mud: Clay Around the World and a sub-show titled Nampeyo: Excellence by Name. Both are on display through Jan. 1, but her piece will remain a permanent part of the Native American
exhibition hall. We recently had the chance to talk to her about the project.
Briefly describe the work. The piece is called “Mud Woman Rolls On.” She is a Pueblo storyteller. She sits at about 12 feet high and in her lap are four children of different ages. The concept is about remembering where we come from, the Earth. She is representing the Earth and the children are all the peoples of the Earth. She begins the exhibit because she sets the stage by reminding us of our beginnings and our connections to all that live upon this Earth. The piece is made entirely with straw and mud. The interior is tied straw wattles shaped into the figure and then plastered over with mud.
How did the project arise and evolve? Nancy Blomberg, the exhibition curator, asked me to create something that would draw people off the elevators onto that floor. When we decided on the large storyteller woman, the size was a big factor in what [materials] I should make her with. The museum did not want a bronze, and I didn’t want to try fire and piece together something that large. So I suggested that we not fire it at all, but make it as if we were building an adobe structure, leaving it dried mud. I didn’t really think that a museum would go for something like that, but, to my delight, they did. The next stage was to determine weight and materials. Since I had never made a sculpture out of these materials before, we did some testing to see if the straw coils would move and bend as I needed them to. I quickly figured out how to form them into the shapes I needed.
Has it been a fun process, or, perhaps due to its size, exhausting? This has been a very satisfying project. It’s been challenging
because of the size and the materials, but it opens new possibilities in the world of art and in the world of museums. I’m so proud of the Denver Art Museum for daring to take on a project like this and to trust me to try out a new process. It’s a dare of the best kind! And I’ve appreciated the visitors because they’ve given me feedback that’s been mostly nice to get. Children are the best advisers and truth tellers. They say the most amazing things and I’ve put many of them to work mixing mud for me.
Aside from this project, what else are you working on? I am helping to build my son a house at Santa Clara, growing gardens, running
a nonprofit, and keeping our gallery (the Tower Gallery at the Poeh Center) open in Pojoaque. And, I will be doing a project this fall with the Denver Botanic Gardens in line with my nonprofit work about seed saving. There is always lots to do.”
For details on Roxanne Swentzell and photos of the project, visit www.roxanneswentzell.net; for information on the Denver Art Museum, visit www.denverartmuseum.org.
