This week, the rotunda inside Milwaukee City Hall has hosted an art show for Native American Awareness Month, filled with reminders of people who were here before white settlers arrived.
In one part of the rotunda earlier this week, a Native American dancer moved to the sound of modern Native music. A few feet away, about 50 paintings, sculptures and other traditional and modern works from Native artists in Wisconsin were displayed on walls and tables.
Oneida tribal member John Cook organized the show as part of his group, the Native American Awareness Project. Cook said the exhibit helped show that thousands of Native Americans still live in southeastern Wisconsin.
Stay informed on the latest news
Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.
“This is the big enchilada here,” he said. “We get to show people on a larger basis that Natives are here, (show) the art world we’re here, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of us.”
One of the works is a four-panel mural showing tribal members from hundreds of years ago in the Menominee River Valley during all four seasons. Cook said the valley was a center of activity for tribes like the Potawatomi, Menomonee and Oneida.
“They’d all come together here on Turtle Island where the rivers met which is the Menomonee Valley. There, they’d work out there political and economic problems and solve them,” said Cook.
Currently, the main Native presence in the valley is the Forest County Potawatomi hotel and casino. Cook has plans for more Native-themed artwork there and in other parts of the city.
The City Hall exhibit runs through Wednesday.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
