April Pub Talk
Science Pub: “Inside the Vault: Two Case Studies of WSU’s Native Collaborations”
April 25th, 2023 | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Sip your favorite brew, while you learn a thing or two! Science Pub is an opportunity to enjoy learning about interesting topics in an informal atmosphere. Just bring your curiosity and a thirst to learn!
There are 2 ways to be at this event:
- In Person – Paradise Creek Brewery will be seating indoors at 100% capacity and the pub talk will be broadcast/projected on a the large projection screen in the pub/restaurant area.
- On Zoom – Register for the Zoom Talk HERE. Place a food/drink order for pick up at Paradise Creek Brewery’s Downtown Restaurant – 245 SE Paradise St, Pullman. Local delivery is also available. Tip: Place your order early so it’s ready by Pub talk time.
See the Facebook event here
This month’s speakers:
Join Kristin Becker, Trevor Bond and Michael Holloman on April 25th for their pub talk, “Inside the Vault: Two Case Studies of WSU’s Native Collaborations”.
“Inside the Vault” will highlight two examples of WSU collections—one from the Washington State University Libraries and one from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art—working with native communities from around the state and beyond to better incorporate tribal voices in the interpretation of the material. Kristin Becker will highlight the importance of outreach and education in relationship to these collections and WSU’s commitment as a land grant institution.
Trevor James Bond will speak about the McWhorter Collection held at WSU, which includes a wealth of unique information on the Plateau Tribes of central and eastern Washington. In 1907, Lucullus V. McWhorter met and befriended Yellow Wolf (hímiin maqsmáqs), who had fought in the 1877 Nez Perce War. Over the next three decades, McWhorter and Yellow Wolf collaborated on Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, which told the Nez Perce version of the conflict. It was the first published military account of the Nez Perce War from an Indian perspective. McWhorter was a well-known authority on Indian history in the Pacific Northwest. During his lifetime, he developed a large research collection related to the Nez Perce Tribe and other Plateau Communities. Trevor will share the story of how the McWhorter Collection came to WSU and the decades of curation of the collection since then, including recent collaborative work between the Nez Perce Tribe’s Cultural Resources Program and Washington State University Libraries.
Michael Holloman will speak about former WSU faculty member and renowned Abstract Expressionist painter Clyfford Still (1904-1980), who spent three summers with the Colville Confederated Tribes in northeastern Washington at the Nespelem Art Colony, which he co-founded with then-WSU Fine Arts department chair Worth D. Griffin. Still and Griffin brought students from all parts of the country to paint tribal portraits and regional landscapes in the arid backdrop of the nearby construction of Grand Coulee Dam. Paintings by Griffin from this time are part of the permanent collections at the Schnitzer Museum WSU, and have played a key role in an on-going relationship between Holloman and the Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) in Denver, CO. The 2022 CSMYou Select exhibition was seen as a launchpad to initiate conversations with the larger Colville tribal community, and a visit in May 2022 to WSU Pullman and Nespelem was a first by CSM staff. Michael Holloman will address how this visit helped to build upon the connections to the Colville Confederated Tribes that Still engaged with in nearly a century prior.
Kristin Becker is the Curator of Education & Programs at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU. She taught in WSU’s Digital Technology and Culture program from 2010-2021, where she was passionate about using the museum’s exhibitions and collections in her teaching every semester: Now she is eager to help other faculty, students, and community members see the educational potential of the museum. In her museum role, Kristin continues to teach occasional classes for the Honors College and the Department of Art. Kristin’s teaching is informed by her training in printmaking, photography, and graphic design. She holds an MFA from Indiana University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited at galleries throughout the United States as well as at the International Print Center New York. Her most recent creative challenge is the rearing of two small children, which she attempts with her wonderful husband in Moscow, ID.
Dr. Trevor James Bond graduated from San Diego State University and received his Master’s in Library and Information Science and a Masters in Ancient History at UCLA. In 2017, he completed a Ph.D. in Public History at Washington State University. He is an Associate Dean in the Libraries and the Director of WSU’s David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities. Trevor is the author of “Coming Home to Nez Perce Country: The Niimíipuu Campaign to Repatriate Their Exploited Heritage.” WSU Press, 2021, which was a finalist for the 2022 Washington State Book Award for non-fiction. He is currently working on an IMLS grant in collaboration with the Nez Perce Tribe’s Cultural Resources Program and three Nez Perce students at WSU. In addition to his library work and research, Trevor loves playing tennis, skateboarding, making clear ice, and baking bread.
Michael Holloman is a registered member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, and an associate professor in the Department of Art at Washington State University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Native American art history and the studio arts, while maintaining duties for the department as the drawing coordinator. From 2010-2014 he was the director of the WSU Plateau Center for American Indian Studies. Currently he is the Coordinator for Native American Arts Outreach and Education for the College of Arts and Sciences. Prior he was the director of American Indian exhibits, collection management and educational programming at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, WA. Michael is a proud parent, an exhibiting artist, an advocate of Native American arts and culture and a mediocre, yet passionate golfer.
Image on poster, caption: SAC’ÁSNIIN SÁM’X (MAN’S HIDE SHIRT) NEZ PERCE NEPE