Eiteljorg 2009 Fellowship for Native American Fine Art Recipients

Including a Cool New Web Update Section & Quarterly Featured Fellow
The 2009 Eiteljorg Fellows are Jeffrey Gibson, Wendy Red Star, Jim Denomie, Fay HeavyShield and Edward Poitras. Congratulations to all! Please take the time to visit the Eiteljorg site to see the new work, you won't be disappointed. It is a very eclectic mix of great art.

The Eiteljorg also recently published an updated web section for their Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, and it is quite impressive. The first place you're taken to is the newly upgraded Gallery Section. It is easy to navigate and for you art aficionados, this is a real treat because you're able to see an image of the art that the Eiteljorg has in their collection from various artists. It is an elegant experience, like a finely crafted catalog. When you click a thumbnail, a larger version of the image opens replete with the art information, including a link to the artist who made the art.

This example is an Acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas from 1996, by Jaune Quick-to-See Smtih. It gives the title, size media and year on the bottom left. If you click on the artist's name, it takes you to a bio section for them as shown below. On the bottom right, there is a set of cool navigation tools that is unique to this site. The Artist's Words link brings up a few sentences from the artist about the work. The Virtual Curator link is an innovative tool that allows you to listen to a curator talk about the work. It's conversational and informative; a very nice touch that personalizes the art experience for you. There is also an Interactive Comments link that allows you to leave comments about the art. A fun touch is the free eCard button that allows you to send a card using the art you have open. I tried it and it looks very classy. I'm impressed.
The links to previous Eiteljorg Fellowship recipients are very nicely done too. It shows the Eiteljorg's long-term commitment to the Fellowship in a very strong visual manner. The link is aptly named The Fellows, and opens to whichever group you clicked (including selecting the group year). In my opinion, this is the fun part! You can see what the artist looks like and go through a section about them that has a little blurb and brief bio about them. It's just enough to give you a good idea of who they are and what they do. And what's this? A Quarterly Featured Fellow section? Look who's there, our good friend Larry Tee Harbor Jackson McNeil!

The interview conducted by Jennifer Complo-McNutt on video was lively and informative. She's a very good interviewer who kept it moving along briskly, while still giving artists a chance to talk about their art. Jennifer is keenly attuned to the nuances of what each artist presents with their own unique art and tailors her interviews accordingly. She's clearly very good at it. Here are some screen captures from the video; Jennifer did have me laughing and being introspective, a very cool combination.
I've found myself going back to the site to look at the art and to learn a bit more about the stories that drive them. The last place I visited was the Art Forum area. It looks newer than the other pages. An Art Forum is a most excellent idea for the site and I noticed that nobody posted anything in some of the areas, so I enterd a topic. Check it out! I would like to extend the Eiteljorg a heartfelt thank you for the very thoughtful and innovate site for the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art; it is an amazing resource, not to mention very beautifully done.

Thank you, Gunalsheesh!