“Totem: As Monument” lecture and panel discussion

On Sunday, August 6, from 3 to 5 p.m., the Will Rogers Memorial Museum will host a free lecture and panel discussion with Pablo Barrera, associate curator at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center; Russell Cobb, associate professor of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta and author of The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America’s Weirdest State; Annalise Flynn, art historian and curator of SPACES Archive at the Kohler Foundation, Kohler, Wisconsin; Emily L. Moore, associate professor of art history at Colorado State University and author of Proud Raven, Panting Wolf: Carving Alaska’s New Deal Totem Parks; and Apollonia Piña, (Mvskoke) Indigenous activist and organizer for the Matriarch organization.

The “Totem: As Monument” panel will discuss the New Deal’s federal program that hired Tlingit and Haida men to join the Civilian Conservation Corps to restore or replicate Native art in Alaska between 1938 and 1942. Muscogee (Creek) Nation history, allotment history in Oklahoma, and foundational knowledge of Native policies during the 1930s and 1950s will also be a part of the presentation. The lecture will also explore a visual history of vernacular art environments and look at various examples of totem poles found in the US.