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helping artists understand how to properly represent Native culture which is to work with a
Native.
Dr. Keene explained how when she moved to attend Stanford University, she met many
white people who had never known a Native American and were uneducated about Native
culture. She created the blog Native Appropriation as a public platform to write and raise
awareness of current issues.
Jacob Meeder came up next to explain his own background as an artist. He got his BFA in
painting with a minor in printmaking from Savannah College of Art and Design and is MFA in
printmaking at Arizona State University where he now teaches. Jacob explained how he uses the
concept of appropriation in his artwork. Too often, people are appropriating Native culture that
they know nearly nothing about and using it for their own uneducated benefit. In Jacob's case, he
has studied Western art and history in depth, and he knows all about the history of his own
people. In his work, he chooses to use images from Western art history and puts Natives in as
though they were the ones that left and discovered Europe. Process is very important to Jacob.
Printmaking is the first process used, and he still chooses it for his work.
Other work include a gift shop installation in a gallery where he appropriated Native
imagery and packaged it to make a statement. In Santa Fe, he has started a hand printed
Newspaper giving local artists an honest voice.
After the two speakers talked, they opened it up for questions. I asked, As a non- Native
educator, what is my role in teaching correct history and navigating situations of appropriation in
schools? Dr. Keene answered by saying, If this election has taught us anything, it is that white
people need to talk to white people. She went on to tell me about her work in education at
Brown University where she designs curriculum around the Natives communities that inhabited
the local land. After the meeting was dismissed, a woman came up to me and said that she really
appreciated my question. She said she is also an educator and has witnessed way too many
situations of appropriation in Poudre School District and to speak up because they need it.
That evening, I attended Jacobs opening in the Duhesa Gallery where they provided food
and a drum circle to accompany the artwork of many Native Artists. I am grateful for this
experience and exposure and plan to continue educating myself about how to be a successful
white ally and teach my students the same.