Lecture + Workshop

Designing Indigenous Visual Languages with Traditional Ecological Knowledge

February 12, 2023
2:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Contemporary Family Design by Sadie Red Wing. Courtesy of the artist.

How can design education support the understanding and revitalization of tribal visual sovereignty and the inclusion of an indigenous perspective? In this lecture and workshop, Sadie Red Wing, a Lakota graphic designer from the Spirit Lake Nation of Fort Totten, North Dakota, will share her background in design education and advocacy and introduce her research in the origins of Lakota symbols. Learn how symbols reflect and evolve from elements of the landscape and explore how to find meaning in place to shape your own visual communication. After the lecture, explore the creation of your own symbols by reimagining basic shapes that resonate with your own personal history. Each participant will print and take home a commemorative screenprint.

Organized in conjunction with Rose B. Simpson: Dream House.

Event Information

February 12, 2023
2:00 pm to 4:30 pm

The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

$40.00 Public | $30.00 members | $15.00 students with ID | limited space available, advance registration encouraged

Register

About the Participants

Sadie Red Wing is a Lakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Nation of Fort Totten, North Dakota.

Red Wing earned her BFA in New Media Arts and Interactive Design at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She received her Masters of Graphic Design from North Carolina State University. Her research on cultural revitalization through design tools and strategies created a new demand for tribal competence in graphic design research.

Red Wing urges Native American graphic designers to express visual sovereignty in their design work, as well as encourages academia to include an indigenous perspective in design curriculum. Currently, Red Wing serves as a Student Success Coach for American Indian College Fund (Denver, CO) where she specializes in student retention and resource building for the Native American demographic in higher education spaces. Her work has been featured on AIGA’s Eye on Design: “Why Can’t the U.S. Decolonize Its Design Education?” (2017), Communication Arts: “Decolonizing Native American Design” (2017), and The World Policy Journal: “United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (2018).

Learn more at sadieredwing.com

Support

Major Support for Rose B. Simpson: Dream House has been generously provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from Joy of Giving Something, Inc., Girlfriend Fund, Maja Paumgarten and John Parker, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Megan O’Reilly-Lewis, and Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard. In-kind support has been provided by The Clay Studio.

Major support of FWM is provided by the Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Foundation. FWM receives state art funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.