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Tahnee Ahtone

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Tahnee Ahtone
Born
Tahnee Marie Ahtone Harjo[1]

Mountain View, Oklahoma, Zoltone, U.S.
NationalityKiowa Tribe,[2] American
Other namesTahnee Ahtone Harjo-Growing Thunder,
Tahnee Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder,
Tahnee Ahtone Harjo,
Tahnee Growing Thunder,
Tahnee M. Ahtone
EducationInstitute of American Indian Arts, Harvard Extension School[3]
Known forCuration, textile arts, beadwork
SpouseGeorge Growing Thunder
MotherSharron Ahtone Harjo
RelativesJoyce Growing Thunder Fogarty (mother-in law)
Websitewww.tahneeahtone.com

Tahnee Ahtone is a Kiowa beadwork artist, regalia maker, curator, and museum professional of Muscogee and Seminole descent,[3] from Mountain View, Oklahoma.[4] She is a curator of Native American art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City since 2024.[5] She was formerly known as Tahnee Ahtoneharjo–Growingthunder.[6]

Background

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Tahnee Ahtone was born with the name Tahnee Marie Ahtone Hajro,[1] and she is the daughter of Amos Harjo (Seminole, Muscogee) and Sharron Ahtone Harjo (Kiowa), a painter, ledger artist,[7] and educator.[8] She is an enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe.[9]

Her maternal grandparents were Evelyn Tahome and Jacob Ahtone, who served as Kiowa tribal chairman from 1978 to 1980, and as a United States Department of Interior administrator who contributed to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the Indian Arts and Craft Act of 1990.[citation needed] Tahnee is named after her great-aunt who died as a child, Ah-stom-pah Ote, which translates to "The One Chosen to Lead In."[10] She is the great-granddaughter of famed lattice cradleboard artists Kiowa captive Millie Durgan, and Tahdo Ahtone. The Ahtone family descend from Fort Marion prisoners and Red River War veterans held at St. Augustine, Florida, noted as Kiowa Ledger Art artists.[citation needed] After his incarceration from Fort Marion, the family's ancestor, Beahko, was sent to Hampton Institute by Richard Henry Pratt. Today, the Ahtone family along with many other Kiowa families hold distinctions as fifth and six generations to obtain advanced and higher education degrees.[11]

Education

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Ahtone earned her museum studies BFA degree in 2015 from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.[12][13] She earned her Master of Liberal Arts degree in museology from Harvard Extension School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[4][6]

Artwork

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A dancer on the powwow circuit, Ahtone mastered beadwork and sewing dance regalia. Besides creating regalia for the Native community, she also exhibits at major Native American art events, including Santa Fe Indian Market, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Chickasaw Nation's Artesian Arts Festival,[2] and the Red Earth Festival, where her beadwork has won prizes.[14] She is known for figurative work in beadwork.[15] Her work has been part of curated art shows, such as Generations (2013) at the Red Earth Center[16] and Current Realities: A Dialogue with the People (2007) at Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO) gallery.[17]

Curatorial practice

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Ahtone is director of the Kiowa Tribal Museum in Carnegie, Oklahoma.[18] Previously she worked at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[19] as a liaison to Oklahoma's 38 federally recognized tribes. She served as curator of the textile and American Indian Collections at the Oklahoma History Center.[7][20]

Before returning to Oklahoma, she was the curator and collections manager for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut.[4] While at the Pequot Museum, she curated Without a Theme, a group exhibition of First Nations and Native American visual artists who did not necessarily use Native imagery or subject matter in their artwork.[21] Ahtone's other museum contributions include serving the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany Once Upon A Time in America, Three Centuries of US- American Art as the cultural adviser,[3][22] and her participation in the Brown University, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Gifts of Pride and Love: Kiowa and Comanche Cradles exhibition, a research project the Ahtone family contributed to with curator Barbara Hail.

In April 2024, Ahtone became a curator of Native American art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.[5]

Her research focus is textiles; however, she has extensive knowledge on Native American textile art and beadwork, including beaded medallions.[20]

Ahtone and her husband, George Growing Thunder, own GT Museum Services, a New York City based firm offering consulting and other services to museums.[4]

Awards

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Ahtone has been awarded curatorial fellowships with the Center for Curatorial Leadership (2021),[23] the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Journalism Fellowship for Curators (2021),[24] and the Oklahoma Museums Association, Service to the Profession Award for 2019.[25]

Personal

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Ahtone is married to George Growing Thunder (Assiniboine).[26] Her mother-in-law is beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty.[26] Ahtone has three step-children, and the couple have two daughters.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b "Red Earth Museum opens". The Edmond Sun. [dead link‍]. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ a b "Artesian Arts Festival set for May 26 in Sulphur". Chickasaw Times. February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Duke, Ellie (25 June 2020). "Curator Tahnee Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder Picks Five Artists to Watch From Indian Market". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder, Tahnee (Fall 2017). "Seven Directions". First American Art Magazine (Flash extension required) (16): 16–17. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Nelson-Atkins Museum Hires Tahnee Ahtone as Curator of Native American Art". First American Art Magazine. 2024-04-10. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
  6. ^ a b "Collection Spotlight with Tahnee Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder". Coe Center. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2021-09-17. She is an alumna of Harvard Extension School and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
  7. ^ a b Rossman, Megan. "Paper Trail". Oklahoma Today. No. July/August 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  8. ^ Pearce 20
  9. ^ "Ribbonhood". The Santa Fe New Mexican. 2023-08-18. pp. Z54. Retrieved 2024-12-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Pearce 24
  11. ^ Ahtone, Tristan. "Nieman Alumni". Harvard University. [better source needed]. Nieman Fellowship. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  12. ^ Weideman, Paul (21 August 2015). "Learning Curve". Pasatiempo. Retrieved 18 February 2019. (image of) IAIA graduating senior Tahnee Ahtone Harjo Growing Thunder (Kiowa)
  13. ^ "2017 Alumni Council Election Results". Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  14. ^ "Recent Developments". First American Art Magazine. 4: 20. Fall 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  15. ^ Pearce xiii
  16. ^ Oesch, Eric (29 March 2013). "Red Earth". Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  17. ^ "The Native American voice in the centennial". Norman Transcript. 27 Oct 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  18. ^ Ahtone, Tahnee (28 December 2021). "What It Means to Curate for My Native American Community". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Contact the Oklahoma Historical Society". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  20. ^ a b Hughes, Art (19 January 2018). "Native bling: Medallions". Native American Calling. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  21. ^ "Pequot Museum Kicks Off Contemporary Art Exhibition, Without a Theme, with Artist Reception on March 31". Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  22. ^ Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder, Tahnee. "Once Upon A Time in America, Three Centuries of US-American Art". wallraf.museum. Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  23. ^ "Center for Curatorial Leadership Announces 2021 Fellows". Center for Curatorial Leadership. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  24. ^ Vartanian, Hrag (2021-11-22). "Announcing the Recipients of the 2021 Emily Hall Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  25. ^ "OMA Announces 2019 Award Winners - Oklahoma Museums Association". OKmuseums.org. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  26. ^ a b "Meet Marita Growing Thunder, leader, activist and clothing designer". Western Organization of Resource Councils. 1 May 2018. Marita mentions her father George and his mother Joyce.

References

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