Beading, weaving and animal hides: New exhibitions showcase diversity of Native textile art

NINA MOINI: Two new exhibits featuring Native artists from across the state will open tomorrow at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Our next two guests are here to give us a preview of each exhibit.

First up, a show titled Two Spirit Stories, which brings together six different emerging two spirit Native artists to respond to the question, what is your story? Across their pieces, they offer diverse and intimate reflections on the prompt. Penny Kagigebi is the curator for community collaboration for Two Spirit Stories. She is a direct descendant of the White Earth Ojibwe. Hi, Penny.

PENNY KAGIGEBI: Hi, how are you today?

NINA MOINI: I'm good. Thanks for joining us. The second show, also opening tomorrow, features 11 Dakota and Anishinaabe artists. From beadwork to canoes and baskets, Mini Sota traditions and innovations highlights the vast breadth of Native and textile art in traditional and contemporary ways. Delina White is curator for that exhibit, and she is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. She's also the founder of I Am Anishinaabe fashion house as well as Native Nations Fashion Night. Hi, Delina. That's quite the intro.

DELINA WHITE: Hi, bonjour.

NINA MOINI: Bonjour. Penny, can you talk about why you wanted to center your show on emerging two spirit artists specifically?

PENNY KAGIGEBI: Yes, because my primary work is always with two spirit and Native queer artists to affirm them and to celebrate the community. And being able to work together and do something side by side is a way to build relationships and to provide grounding in identity.

And right now, two spirit relatives, we have a lot to say. There's a lot going on that's marginalizing our community over a long period of time, but it's become more significant just recently. So yeah, in a spirit of reciprocity, these artists are coming forward to affirm and firm and celebrate our broader community.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I love that. So that's the guiding force behind your exhibit. Delina, what about you? What's the guiding force for you?

DELINA WHITE: Well, the Textile Center is a community focused arts center. It's not a museum, and it's not a commercial gallery. In 2026, they received a grant called the Minnesota Handwork. And they are working to represent all of the communities of fiber arts in Minnesota. And that includes the people with disabilities, McKnight Fellows, the Textile Center of Minnesota membership, LGBTQ two spirits, and Minnesota Native nations. And they're bringing in people to curate from within those communities with the proper representation of those communities. And I am representing the Minnesota Native nations.

NINA MOINI: OK. So Penny, back to you. Is there a common thread you see across the works of the six artists that you're working with?

PENNY KAGIGEBI: Yes, I will say that they are all bringing forward very contemporary work, and they're very much bringing forward work that embodies their living experiences. So some of them are more overtly political, and some of them are just really bringing forward the beauty and the joy that they see in their lives in a way that can be seen and viewed at the textile center. We really want people to come out and see the exhibit.

But I would say the overall theme for anytime you're seeing offerings from two spirit people is that there's a great diversity and fluidity within any small group. So these artists are very young. They're all in their 20s and 30s. They come from tribal nations across Minnesota. We have Anishinaabe, Dakota, Haudenosaunee. And then they're using a variety of materials and designs that are providing a contemporary look. And they're really here to provide support and express what's going on in their lives in a way that is celebratory for others.

NINA MOINI: I love that. Delina, can you talk more about the ensemble of artists you have for your exhibit, and give us maybe even a preview, on the radio, for what kinds of pieces the artist created?

DELINA WHITE: Sure. And that's the great thing about the Textile Center, too, is that it focuses on fiber arts and materials. And for this show, we've got a lot of personal items that are a loan for the exhibit. And it may be representative of the cultural aspect that includes pipe bags, beadwork with spiritual symbolism, utilitarian items that were used for daily work, like baskets.

And what we're doing is we're showing a cumulative relationship between the original people of Minnesota and our Minnesota landscape, and that includes the materials. And so that's the materials, fiber arts textile portion of it.

And each artist has their vision for communicating their relationship with the land. And then of course, we're celebrating the Minnesota landscape. So it includes the water, the forest, the prairie, the seasons. And it's all carried forward across generations from our ancestors and into the future.

NINA MOINI: Oh, I love that. So it's really the relationship to nature, it kind of grounds the work for these artists, yeah?

DELINA WHITE: Yes, exactly. And we've got some awesome things that are going to be there that I'm really excited to see. We have painting on a buffalo hide, and it's used with natural pigments which includes ocher and plants. We've got fully beaded matching dance outfit sets. We've got bandolier bags, quillwork. We've got black ash baskets. We just got a real variety that represents the culture and heritage of the Native people of Minnesota. And that includes the Anishinaabe of the North and the Dakota of the South.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I love that. And so, Penny, if the textile exhibit is being really rooted in nature, tell me a little bit about what's rooting the exhibit here for the two spirit artists that you work with? It's got to be maybe an interesting time to make art as a two spirit person.

PENNY KAGIGEBI: My question to each of the artists as I worked with them, and I've been in contact with them since late last fall, so they've had some time to think about and reflect on what they wanted to bring to the show. And because it's, again, working with textiles and fiber art, having that real embodied experience of working with your hands as you're bringing forward statements about your identity, your heart, what it is that you want to say about yourself in a visible position like this.

And what I feel like they really brought forward was the idea that by making art, they're healing not just themselves, but also their community. And I want to give a shout out to the Minnesota State Arts Board, because as I began to develop the idea for this exhibit, I knew that one of the commitments I have to emerging artists is that we're providing financial support and professional development. And so I'd written a grant for Minnesota State Arts Board that does provide direct financial support and professional development to these artists to give them a jumpstart in their career as they go forward.

NINA MOINI: I love that. Here's a last question for both of you to answer, really. So let's start with you, Penny. What do you hope people reflect on when they see this exhibit?

PENNY KAGIGEBI: I've noticed that-- so we understand in Indian country, it's like being a Native person has always been a political position. We're people who are governed by treaties. So we know that about ourselves.

But even more so today, being a two spirit and a trans person or Native queer person is an even higher level of politicism. And people are able to have this opportunity that the artists that I talked to that chose to be in this show were very anxious to bring forward this act of reciprocity, to support others. Making themselves so highly visible as an act of resistance and of reclamation of self.

NINA MOINI: I love that. And Delina, what about you? What would you hope people reflect on when they see your work?

DELINA WHITE: Well, it's going to be a strong presence, a beautiful representation of the Native cultural heritage of Minnesota. And people are going to identify that really strongly. And we are stewards of the land, leaving no waste or negative impact on the land and coming together as human beings. So I know that through this gallery show that people are going to see that and they're going to feel that, and they're going to be thinking about it and hopefully living their lives in that way as well.

NINA MOINI: Thank you both for joining me today.

DELINA WHITE: Thank you for inviting me.

NINA MOINI: Oh, yeah, that was great. That was Penny Kagigebi, the curator for community collaboration for Two Spirit Stories, and Delina White, curator of Mini Sota, Traditions and Innovations, both shows open for viewing tomorrow at the Textile Center in Minneapolis.