Indigenous Artist Residency
Why develop an Artists Residency in Ohio and specifically a Native American Artists Residency?
The purpose of the Great Circle Alliances’ Native American artist residency program is to foster and build a more direct link between America’s most important ancient sites and the living culture of contemporary Native American. Specifically we reconnect indigenous artists to the Ohio River Valley who then, in-turn, reflect and respond to their ancestral homelands through the distinctive lens of their tribal traditions and values while telling their own individual stories.
What is an Artist Residency?
The indigenous artist residency enhances the visibility of contemporary indigenous artists from a range of tribes, raising awareness of a diminished Native American presence in Ohio—a state where tribal communities once flourished but today struggle to attain acknowledgement and agency. We invite Native American artists from across North America to directly experience the Hopewell ceremonial earthworks and to create artworks reflected through the living lens of indigenous heritage and worldview.
An artist residency extends GCA’s mission of developing greater awareness of Ohio’s cultural treasures, the Hopewell ceremonial earthworks.
Equity and justice underlie our mission. An artists residency initiates a qualitative process to begin eradicating “the presence of the absence” or the irrevocable loss and cultural vacuum created when Ohio’s tribal groups were forcibly removed from their homeland.
The noticeable absence of Ohio’s tribal groups can be significantly interrupted by the presence of contemporary Native American artists creating and producing visual and verbal messaging using the same universal worldview as ‘removed’ tribal groups and their ancient Hopewell era founders.
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Native American artists are selected from established artists as well as young emerging artists. The application and selection process is robust, inclusive and balanced. Funding grants help GCA to waive application fees and all artists are encouraged to apply regardless of formal training.
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GCA has the support of The Newark Earthworks Center, Denison University and Otterbein University, the Ohio History Connection, the Licking County Historical Society, and the Bryn Du Mansion,
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If you have an interest in our Native American Artist Residency, please email us at info@greatcircleallaince.com.
Outcomes of the Residency Program
The outcome of the residency is not only a body artwork but also the deepening of relationships between the artist, the land and to the community.
Exhibitions of the artists’ works contribute to public awareness.
Featured Native American Artist in Residence
Marlena Myles
Spirit Lake Dakota artist Marlena Myles is our 2026 Artist in Residence program.
Marlena is a self-taught Native American artist located in St Paul, Minnesota. Her art brings a modern perspective to Indigenous history, languages and oral traditions while using the land as a teacher. Growing up on her traditional Dakota homelands in the Twin Cities, she enjoys using her artwork to teach people of all backgrounds the Indigenous history of the land.
Her broad range of work includes children’s books, augmented reality, murals, fabrics, animations and has shown her fine art in galleries such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Museum of Russian Art, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Learn More About Marlena
Previous Artists
Carey Newman
2024 Inaugural Artist in ResidenceFirst Nation artist Carey Newman is a fifth generation carver of Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw lineage who teaches at the University of Victoria, B.C.,and is internationally recognized for his multi-media work. Following his residency, Carey returned to Victoria to create a series of pieces reflecting his experiences visiting the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and other sites and his interactions with indigenous organizations, artists, students, and historians in central Ohio. From January – June 2025, Denison University hosted an exhibition of Carey’s work created as a result of his residency here in the Ohio River Valley. Listen to his artist talk at the opening HERE.
Travis Mammedaty
My work reflects my cultural upbringing within the Seneca-Cayuga Nation and the Kiowa Tribe. I grew up near the Seneca-Cayuga boundaries in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, and have attended ceremonies in the Longhouse since I was a child. Working in an expressionistic style with acrylic and oil, I tell the story of my ancestors.
Shree Ah Wahs
“Photography allows me to explore and celebrate our people, our place and our purpose. As a member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, I come from a long line of artists and storytellers. Many of them are lost in the fabric of our history. Those that remain, those whose stories I carry in my life, are cherished.”
Eastern ShawneeHolli Margell
“My art is an extension of my life as a Myaamia person. My mother, aunts and other relatives gave to the next generation what was important to them: our family stories and a pride in the things that they remembered as Miami. Learning and passing on the beauty that they gave me is important. The plants and animals that surrounded us were our food, medicine and technology. Teaching others about our life, history and foodways is an art.”
Miami (Myaamiaki)