Travois First Fridays on Nov. 2 will feature Dakota Mace, Diné (Navajo). The event is from 6-8 p.m., and Dakota will give an artist talk at 6:30 p.m.
Dakota’s work focuses on re-interpreting the symbolic abstractions of Diné creation stories and cosmologies using traditional and nontraditional materials. She has taken elements from her culture and has presented them in a way that translates to the deeper meaning behind Diné weaving culture. For Travois First Fridays, her exhibition will feature 16 of her works.
“Diné (Navajo) culture is centered on wool, the landscape, and the concept of Hózhó (balance),” said Dakota. “Within Diné culture, there is a symmetry that exists within fours: four sacred mountains, four cardinal directions, four sacred colors and the four points of the Na’ashjéii Asdzáá (Spider Woman) motif.”
Dakota is from Albuquerque, NM. She received her MFA and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, and her BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. She is currently pursuing a second MFA in textile design at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dakota discusses her exhibition: “The importance of Kinetáh (land) relies on a grid to weave a sacred intersection of threads that connects Dinétah (Navajo people) through Naalyéhé (materials) and Dįį́’́(four). My own work centers on this concept by essentializing certain aspects of Navajo weaving traditions and translating it through handmade paper, beadwork and weaving.”
We’re excited to host Dakota Mace in Kansas City! Learn more about Dakota on her website, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and 500px.
Preregister for our event and receive perks!