In 2002, the Heard Museum invited artist Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee, b. 1935) to guest curate So Fine! Masterworks of Fine Art from the Heard Museum, which drew from the museum’s collection to share what it means to be moved by great artwork and the depth of emotion it can convey. Now, more than two decades later, WalkingStick returns to the collection to select rarely exhibited large-scale paintings for a renewed look at its enduring strength. Paintings from the Heard Collection features more than thirty artworks by Native artists spanning multiple generations and offering a dynamic view of Native painting through the decades.
This exhibition will be on view in the Freeman Gallery to coincide with Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School through May 25, 2026, and will then expand into the Grand Gallery.
Paintings from the Heard Collection features work by some of the most renowned Indigenous artists, including:
– Margarete Bagshaw (Santa Clara Pueblo)
– Steven Yazzie (Navajo)
– Mary Morez (Navajo)
– Fritz Scholder (Luiseño)
– Kent Monkman (Cree)
– George Longfish (Seneca/Tuscarora)
– Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation)
– Darren Vigil-Gray (Kiowa/Jicarilla)
– Michael Brown (Kiowa)
– Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo)
– Mario Martinez (Yaqui)
– Norman Akers (Osage Nation)
– Dennis Numkena (Hopi)
– Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese)
– James Lavadour (Walla Walla)
– Lorenzo Clayton (Navajo)
– Dan Namingha (Hopi)
– Frank LaPena (Nomtipom Wintu)
– Joan Hill (Muscogee Creek/Cherokee)
– David Chethlahe Paladin (Navajo)
– Tony Abeyta (Navajo)
Featured images (in order of appearance): Steven Yazzie (Diné, b. 1970), Recurrence, 2011. Oil on canvas. Gift of Melvin Andre Medler.
Norman Akers (Osage Nation), Balancing Act, 1990. Oil on canvas. Gift of Albion and Lynne Fenderson.
Our sponsors
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This exhibition is made possible thanks to support from:
