Emmi Whitehorse facts for kids

Movement by Emmi Whitehorse, 1989, Honolulu Museum of Art

Emmi Whitehorse, born in 1957, is a talented Native American artist. She is known for her beautiful paintings and prints. Emmi is a member of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Today, she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Emmi Whitehorse's Life and Art Journey

Emmi grew up on wide-open lands near Gallup, New Mexico. Her family spoke only the Navajo language. She spent her childhood herding sheep and exploring old ruins. This helped her notice how light changes the world around us. She saw how clouds made canyons dark or how sunlight lit up small plants. She also loved the colors in traditional Navajo weaving.

Education and Artistic Style

In 1980, Emmi earned her first degree in painting from the University of New Mexico (UNM). She continued her studies and got her master's degree in art in 1982. For her master's, she focused on printmaking and learned about art history.

Emmi's paintings are very personal. She uses her own ideas inspired by nature. Her art mixes Navajo beliefs about the universe with abstract shapes and colors. She wants her art to be about feelings and nature, not politics. Emmi says her work often feels a bit wild and unplanned. She even turns her paper around while painting. This way, she never knows which way is up or down.

Emmi says her grandmother, who was a weaver, was her biggest art inspiration. She also uses ideas from Navajo dry paintings and weaving in her work. Her paintings are often oil on paper, attached to canvas. An example is Movement, which you can see at the Honolulu Museum of Art. This painting from 1989 shows her famous style. It has rich colors and a calm, dreamy feeling.

Where You Can See Her Art

Emmi Whitehorse's art is displayed in many places around the world. You can find her work in museums across North America, Europe, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Morocco. Some famous museums that own her art include the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Heard Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 2024, Emmi Whitehorse was part of a very important art show. It was the "Venice Biennale" in Italy. The show's director, Adriano Pedrosa, highlighted Emmi as an Indigenous artist. He said that Indigenous artists are often treated like outsiders in their own lands. Emmi showed landscape paintings like Cópia (2023). These paintings shared strong messages about protecting nature and standing up against unfair treatment. Many news outlets, including the New York Times, wrote about Emmi's important role in this exhibition.

Selected Exhibitions

Emmi Whitehorse has shown her amazing art in many exhibitions. Here are some of the places where her work has been featured:

Solo Exhibitions

• 2006 Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
• 2001 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
• 1997 Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
• 1993 Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM
• 1991 Neeznáá, The Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, NM

Group Exhibitions

• 2024: Venice Biennale, Central Exhibition, "Foreigners Everywhere"
• 2021: Shared Ideologies at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, VA.
• 2019: Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
• 2011: Pressing Ideas: 50 Years of Women's Lithographs from Tamarind. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
• 2007: Off The Map: Landscape in the Native Imagination. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, New York, NY
• 2002: Common Ground: Contemporary Native American Art from the TMA Permanent Collection and Private Collections, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
• 1991: Presswork, The Art of Women Printmakers, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
• 1982: Modern Native American Abstraction, The Philadelphia Art Alliance Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

See also

In Spanish: Emmi Whitehorse para niños