On February 26, 2025, The Block Museum of Art welcomed a keynote conversation between artist Jordan Ann Craig and poet m.s. RedCherries in celebration of the exhibition it takes a long time to stay here: Paintings by Jordan Ann Craig. The two longtime friends and collaborators explored the intersections of abstraction, Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and creative kinship. The talk was moderated by Jordan Poorman Cocker, Curator of Indigenous Art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and 2021–2025 Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator of Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland at The Block.

The program was the first time Craig and RedCherries shared the stage for a public conversation. The conversation touched on the inspirations behind Craig’s large-scale, pattern-driven paintings—works that draw from Northern Cheyenne beadwork, Pueblo ceramics, and the artist’s own archive of overheard phrases, family stories, and poetic fragments. RedCherries, author of mother (Penguin Books, 2024), reflected on the role of language and memory in her work, and on how her poem “Spinning Air” became a touchstone for the exhibition title.

Watch the full conversation:

“We use joy—and we use laughter—as resistance.”
—Jordan Poorman Cocker

Throughout the evening, the speakers reflected on how beauty and grief are often held in the same breath in Indigenous life and art. RedCherries opened the program with a reading of her poem Spinning Air, the inspiration for the exhibition’s title. Her words set the tone for a conversation grounded in lived experience and deep cultural memory.

Craig, whose seven featured paintings use a muted palette and intricate, abstract compositions, shared insight into her process—from the physical labor of sanding and taping to the ritual of titling. “Every painting teaches me a lesson,” she said. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to learn so much.”

The discussion moved between reflections on Cheyenne beadwork, the creative power of sisterhood, the emotional resonance of color, and the significance of place—especially Craig’s chosen home in Pojoaque Valley, New Mexico.

“I make beautiful paintings to mask ugly histories.”
—Jordan Ann Craig

The artists also discussed the importance of taking up space—on the wall, on the page, and in the world. For Craig, her large-scale canvases assert presence and reclaim narrative. For RedCherries, her book mother (Penguin Books, 2024) centers Indigenous experience through language, memory, and poetry that refuses erasure.

Both artists emphasized the ways family shapes their work. “Family is resilience,” Cocker noted. “And the objects we make are made with love—for the future.”

About the Speakers

Jordan Ann Craig (b. 1992) is a Northern Cheyenne artist based in New Mexico whose paintings draw from Indigenous material culture, including beadwork, textiles, and ceramics. Her work is held in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, and more. More about Jordan Ann Craig →

m.s. RedCherries is a Northern Cheyenne poet and the author of mother, a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Poetry. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a JD from Arizona State University.

Jordan Poorman Cocker (Kiowa) is the Curator of Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and 2021–2025 Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator at The Block. Her curatorial practice centers Indigenous knowledge, oral histories, and multivocality.

This program was presented in partnership with Northwestern University’s Department of Art, Theory and Practice. Support for the event was provided by The Alumnae of Northwestern University and the Illinois Arts Council.