Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love Exhibition

DATES: August 22, 2023 – March 9, 2024
TIMES: Tue. –Sat., 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Starting 8/22, join us for the exhibition, Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, devoted to one of today’s foremost artists, whose vibrant interdisciplinary practice combines sculpture and painting, beadwork and video, words and images, incorporating rawhide, tipi poles, sterling silver, wool blankets, jingles, fringe, and sinew—materials that refer to American Indian cultures toward the adornment of quotidian objects such as punching bags, flags, banners, and illuminated signs. Gibson, who is of Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, combines aspects of Indigenous art and culture with modernist traditions, navigating and disrupting the expectations placed upon Native artists working within the contemporary art world. At the root of his enterprise lies a core value—objects, and people alike, carry the potential for radical transformation.

The exhibition’s centerpiece is an expansive and immersive work titled To Name An Other which is comprised of 51 screen printed elk hide drums and 50 wearable garments. Originally commissioned as a performance by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, in 2019, To Name An Other marks a turning point in the artist’s career whereby Gibson has increasingly sought out collective-based projects and performances to activate the communities he works within. This idea is especially appropriate when considering Jeffrey Gibson’s work, as he pushes to create affinity—collaboration is at the heart of his recent social practice. Working and learning together may aid to decolonize our minds and institutions, revealing a future we wish to inhabit.

LOCATION | The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU is located in the Crimson Cube (on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium and the CUB) on the WSU Pullman campus. For more information please visit museum.wsu.edu/about.