On February 1, 2025, The Block Museum of Art welcomed a full house of visitors to a sunlit Galvin Recital Hall to celebrate the opening of Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak. Three of the exhibition’s collaborating anchor artists—Nora Moore Lloyd (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), and Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribe of Pottawatomi/Ottawa)—joined co-curator Jordan Poorman Cocker (Kiowa) in a discussion about their work in the exhibition, and the role of art in Indigenous histories and futures.

Left: Nora Moore Lloyd, Jason Wesaw, and Kelly Church in conversation; center: Michaela Marchi; right: Lisa Corrin.

The vibrant celebration opened with a performance by Michaela Marchi (Isleta Pueblo/Filipina/Italian), program assistant at Northwestern’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR). Michaela’s song was followed by remarks by; Lisa Corrin; Executive Director of The Block Museum; Michael Schill, President of Northwestern University; and Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent), Professor of Learning Sciences and Director of Northwestern’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Research. Each speaker emphasized Woven Being’s importance to Northwestern’s ongoing work of repairing and building relationships with Indigenous communities in the Chicagoland area.

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Janet Dees, former curator of modern and contemporary art at The Block, shared about the five-year process of developing the exhibition. The Block team collaborated closely with Indigenous partners and knowledge-sharers at Northwestern and the broader Chicagoland community. Out of this process emerged the artist-centered curatorial approach that brought Nora Moore Lloyd, Jason Wesaw, Kelly Church, and Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe/European descent) to guide the exhibition environment and artwork presentation.

Janet Dees, Kathleen Bickford Berzock (left) and Megan Bang (right) speak at the opening ceremony.

In her opening remarks, Bang spoke to the impact of these choices, recalling her own experience as an Indigenous graduate student at Northwestern: “When I was a student here, there was nothing like this on our campus,” she remarked. “There weren’t professors or administrators that reached for this much of who we actually are. So I want to express my gratitude to The Block, to the curators of this show, and really hold them up as being an incredible example on this campus for what it means to be in deep partnership with tribal communities.”

I have never walked into a show that was as electric, that felt like it was home, before in my life. I feel like this exhibition sees us and shows us thriving as a people. It holds the complexities of where we have been, and at the same time, it invites us to heal, and it also invites us to really be creative into our futures…

Megan Bang, director of CNAIR

Throughout the conversation, collaborating artists Jason Wesaw, Kelly Church, and Nora Moore Lloyd discussed the exhibition’s development, including how they selected works for their “constellations” of pieces in dialogue with their own art. The rich conversation also explored Indigenous histories in the U.S. and Chicagoland, especially the ways in which institutions like museums have historically harmed Indigenous people. “Our objects are in hidden places, not cared for,” remarked Church. “We’re always looked at as the ‘natural history’ part of the museum… the place of the past. And we are in the present, and we have always been here.”

Visitors explore the exhibition at the opening celebration

In their closing thoughts, the artists were asked what they hope for in the future of Native art. Nora Moore Lloyd’s answer was simple: “More of it,” she said. “We need to be seen in major, bigger places.” Jason Wesaw echoed this sentiment, while also sharing signs of hope for the future: “Many people are reengaging with culture, working hard to bring back our ceremonies, our language, the relationships we have to the woods and the rivers and all of the plants and trees that teach us things, not just about art, but about life,” he said.

As I look out here, I see many friends, many other artists… we love that you guys showed up today, and we’re going to show up when it’s your turn to shine.

Jason Wesaw