Before Chicago Avenue: A Celebration of Native Artists

Outdoors and indoors, people of all ages can come by the corner of 41st Street & Chicago Ave. to enjoy live music, performance and video screenings, hands-on puppet making and screen printing stations and visual art by Twin Cities' Indigenous artists.

The event is led by the artist team of Chris Griffith of Z Puppets (Cherokee Nation), Graci Horne (Dakota/Lakota), Juan Lucero (Pueblo), Julie Boada (Anishinabe) and Jennings Mergenthal.

The event ends with a dedication of the Wado Gardens, a native plant rain garden with beautiful signs by Graci Horne highlighting the importance of the plants to Dakota and Ojibwe culture. "Wado" is Cherokee for "thank you."

Schedule:

1:00-4:00 pm

• Participatory Screenprinting and Puppetmaking stations

• Visual Art on Display by featured artists from our ᎦᏚᎩ Gadugi Window Gallery of Indigenous Art including: Oogie_Push (Meskwaki) Gordon Coons (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin), Jearica Fountain (Karuk), Kameron White (African American, Choctaw, Cherokee), Gidinatiy Hartman (Deg Xit'an Athabascan) and Graci Horne (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota/Hunkpapa Lakota).

1:00 - 1:30pm
Screenings of video shorts by :
Oogie_Push (Meskwaki)
Ajuawak Kapashesit (Ashinaabe/Cree)
Z Puppets Rosenschnoz/Chris Griffith (Cherokee Nation)

1:15 - 2:15pm
Music by Colin Roy Monette (Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe)

2:30 - 3:00pm
Sing along with Dagsi Turtle & Jisdu Wabbit in Say It! Sing It! Play It! In Cherokee by Z Puppets Rosenschnoz

3:00 - 3:30pm
Screenings of Video Shorts

3:30pm
Wado Gardens Dedication

Hours:
Saturday, June 7th 1pm - 4pm

Image: Artwork by Graci Horne