SAR – Ehren Kee Natay Speaks About His Work

EHREN KEE NATAY SPEAKS ABOUT HIS WORK (2014)

The School for Advanced Research is pleased to welcome Ehren Kee Natay, Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo) and Dine (Navajo), as the 2014 Rollin and Mary Ella King Fellow. Natay is a two dimensional designer and painter, working with computer graphic technology and traditional hand-executed (painted) imagery. He seeks to examine issues such as cultural amnesia, cross-culture exchange, gender-roles and the exploration of his own heritage.

He has won awards from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Native Treasures Fine Art Show, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and the Artist Designed Collection Fellowship at the Southwest Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA). Recently, Natay has sought to re-conceptualize his method of creation. His aim is to better understand his responsibilities to his community, to himself, and to his artistic vision. He says, “I am seeking to answer this self-imposed question: how can I honor the unique, stylized imagery of the indigenous Southwest in a way that respects the sacredness of my cultural heritage (Kewa/Dine) and myself as an artist and as an individual.”