INDIANAPOLIS —Visitors will experience cutting-edge works of contemporary Native art in the new exhibition Emerging Current, open at the Eiteljorg Museum now to Feb. 22. Five groundbreaking Native artists from the U.S. and Canada were chosen for the 2025 round of the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship (ECAF). As part of the Fellowship, Emerging Current features a riveting mix of paintings, prints, sculptures, carvings, installations and assemblages.
As one of the leading institutions internationally focusing on contemporary Native art, the Eiteljorg will present unrestricted cash awards to this year’s five Fellows. The museum will purchase some of their artworks to add to its permanent collection of contemporary Native art, considered one of the best such collections anywhere.
The 2025 Fellows each have made an impact on the contemporary art world:
• Invited artist Jean LaMarr (Northern Paiute / Achomawi [Pit River]) of Susanville Indian Rancheria, California, works in printmaking, painting, murals and installations.
• John Feodorov (Navajo [Diné]), formerly of Seattle, Washington, explores identity and the effects of being an urban Indian in his paintings, drawings, 3-D artworks and video performances.
• Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich (Koyukon Dené / Iñupiaq) of Anchorage, Alaska, draws inspiration from her heritage in creating carved, painted and beaded sculptures and mask forms. Her art also includes photography, film, installation, poems and design, honoring her Native Alaskan ancestral homelands.
• Maria Hupfield (Anishinaabek, Wasauksing First Nation) of Toronto, Canada, merges performance art, design and sculpture — pursuing Indigenous storytelling traditions through art, scholarship, collaboration and social justice.
• Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan / Hidatsa / Arikara / Lakota) of Glorieta, New Mexico, is a multidisciplinary artist creating monumental installations, sculpture and performance art to communicate urgent stories of 21st century Indigeneity. Luger’s bold visual storytelling presents new ways of seeing our collective humanity while bringing an Indigenous worldview to the forefront.
Visitors can experience the Emerging Current exhibition daily with regular admission, along with the museum’s other exhibitions. The Eiteljorg is located at 500 W. Washington. Visit eiteljorg.org for times and prices.
