Nadema Agard

Nadema Ivania Agard, who also uses the name Winyan Luta Red Woman, (born September 10, 1948) is an American visual artist, educator, illustrator, poet, storyteller, museum professional and an activist for Indigenous rights. Agard also works as a consultant on repatriation, multicultural arts, and Native American arts and cultures. Additionally, Agard owns and directs an art production and consulting enterprise, Red Earth Studio.

Agard's art is primarily mixed media visual arts, ranging from canvas paintings, sketches, and published works and her intent is to show the relations of femininity and masculinity in various mixed medias.

Early and personal life Agard was born and raised in New York, where she has lived most of her life. Agard was exposed to art at a very young age, as her father was a portrait artist and muralist. She has credited this constant exposure to art as an early inspiration for her choice to create art herself. Agard grew up in New York, where she has family.

Agard is of Lakota, Powhatan, and Cherokee ancestry.

In the early 2000s, Agard was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she overcame it. She took a hiatus from making art until creating Moon Breast Mother in 2003.

In 1979, Agard begin exhibiting her work. Via Gambaro Gallery, which was launched by Retha Walden Gambaro and Stephen Gambaro to spotlight contemporary Native American artists, included Agard's work in its 1980 National American Indian Women's Art Show.

Wampum Moons of Change Wampum Moons of Change is a 12-piece installation, with a similar format to her piece “Moon Breast Mother”. It was created in 2009 for the Staten Island Museum collection, “CONTACT 1609”. This is also a soft sculpture mixed media piece on a canvas with acrylic paint. Each piece of this installation is a 12”x12” square, each with a different symbol that represents both Native American and Dutch cultures. Purple and creme paints are displayed through each square, each containing images including shells, corn, various animals, and even writing that says “half moon”. None of the twelve images repeat, and hanging below the twelve-piece installation is a sweet grass braid with purple ribbon.

Publications "Art as a Vehicle for Empowerment" in Voices of Color: Art and Society in the Americas (1997, edited by Phoebe Farris-Dufrene) The Chichi Hoohoo Bogeyman (illustrations, 2008) National Museum of the American Indian: Native Artists in the Americas (Brief introduction/guide to interpreting and understanding the art she created while in the program of this museum.)

Exhibitions Nadema Agard has had her work in various solo and group exhibitions since 1979. The majority of her work was found in group exhibitions in New York, Minnesota, Arizona and nationwide.

Solo exhibitions 1992: “Sacred Door”, Woodland Pattern Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 1993: “Door to Heaven-Door From Heaven”, Gustavus Adolphus College, Schaefer Gallery, St. Peter, MN 1994: “She is the Four Directions”, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN 1997: “Starblanket Heaven”, Bismarck Art Gallery Association, Bismarck, ND 2003: “Parfleche Visions and Moon Breast Mothers”, New Century Artists, New York

Group exhibitions 1979: “Invitational 79”, Gallery of the American Indian Community House, Soho, NY 1980: “National American Indian Women’s Art Show”, Via Gambaro Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1980: “So the Spirit Flows”, Museum of the American Indian, New York 1980: “At the Edge of the Woodlands”, Native American Center for the Living Arts, Niagara Falls, NY 1980: “Voices Expressing What Is: Action Against Racism in the Arts”, Westbeth Gallery, New York 1981: “Invitational 81”, Gallery of the American Indian Community House, Soho, NY 1981: “Visions of the Earth”, Native American Rights Fund Annual Show, Boulder, CO 1981: Gallery of the 21st Century, Santa Fe, NM 1981: “Four Directions”, Gallery for the American Indian Community House, Soho, NY 1981: “Night of the First Americans”, Atrium Gallery, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C 1981: “Native Americans, the Women and Their Art”, NYU Contemporary Art Gallery, New York 1982: “Native Women Artists”, Gallery of the American Indian Community House, Soho 1983: “Twenty Six Horses Gallery”, Soho, NY 1984: “Artistas Indigenas Traveling Exhibit”, Portland, OR 1984: “WE ARE THE SEVENTH GENERATION”, Native American Indian Media Corporation traveling exhibit, Atlanta, GA 1986: “The Artist and the Spiritual Quest”, Women’s Caucus for the Art, Soho 1986: “Riders with No Horse”, Gallery of the American Indian Community House, Soho, NY 1987: “Native America: Life, Legend and Art”, Trenton, NJ 1988: “A National Women of Color Artist Book Exhibition”, Houston, TX 1989: “A National Women of Color Artist Book Project”, Center for Book Arts Coast to Coast, Soho, NY 1990: “Ancestors Known and Unknown-Boxworks”, Arts in General, Coast to Coast, Tribeca, NY 1991: “All Over the Map: Women and Place”, Moorhead, MN 1991: “Manhattan Days: Prairie Daze”, Bemidji Community Art Center, a two-person installation/exhibition, Bemidji, MN 1992: “Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition”, Talley Gallery of Bemidji State University, Bemidji, MN 1992: “Earth Art: Visions and Interpretations of Nature Through Environmentally Sensitive Art”, Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem, NC 1993: “Visual Arts Faculty”, Talley Gallery of Bemidji State University, Bemidji, MN 1993: “Retablos-Latino Icons,” United Community Center Gallery of the Americas, Milwaukee, WI 1994: “Gathering Medicine Exhibition”, Art in General, Coast to Coast-Women of Color in the Arts, Tribeca, NY 1994: “World's Women On-Line coordinated by Muriel Magenta,” United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, Visual Arts Coordinator, Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 1994: “Native Survival: Response to HIV/AIDS”, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ 1994: “Native Survival: Response to HIV/AIDS”, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY 1994: “Virgin of Guadalupe Is the Corn Mother, a Multimedia Work”, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 1996: “Native Survival: Response to HIV/AIDS”, Two Rivers Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 1996: “American Indian College Fund Gala Auction”, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York 1996: “Voices of Color”, Purdue University Gallery, West Lafayette, IN 1996: “Frida Kahlo, Modern Portraits of Modern Idon”, Frasier Gallery, Georgetown, Washington D.C. 1997: “Piecevvorks”, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York 1999 - 1998: “Metaphors: Art Inspired By Everyday Objects and Folklore”, New York 2000: “Mother Love: Native Women and the Land”, New York Gallery of the American Indian Community House, New York 2002 - 2001: “Who is the Virgin of Guadalupe? Women Artists Crossing Borders”, Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center, New York 2002: “Stories from the Circle: Science and Native Wisdom”, The Ned Hatathli Museum, Diné College, Tsaile, AZ 2003: “Native American Artists/Scholars: Speaking for Ourselves in the 21st” Gallery of the American Indian Community House, New York 2004: “Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture”, Artrain U.S.A. (Traveling Show 2004-2007) 2005: “Impacted Nations”, Honor the Earth (Traveling Show 2005-2008) 2005-2006: “An Artistic Perspective, Lady Liberty as a Native American Icon”, Gallery of Ellis Island Immigration Museum, New York 2005: “New York Mix: Art of the Five Civilized Boroughs” Gallery of the American Indian Community House, New York 2008-2007: “¡FRIJOLITOS!: A SMALL WORKS EXHIBITION”, Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop, Tucson, AZ 2009: “Contact 1609” Staten Island Museum, Staten Island 2009: “The Importance of in/visibility, Abrazo Interno Gallery, New York 2015: “How to Catch Eel and Grow Corn”, Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York

Collections American Indian Community House Gallery (AICH Gallery): Cultural Center in the Lower Manhattan Area Powhatan Museum: is located in the historic Mt. Pleasant neighborhood (Washington DC)

Honors and awards (2003) Ingrid Washinawatok Award for Community Activism: Ingrid Washinawatok was an activist and Native leader before being murdered on a trip to Columbia to work with indigenous groups. The award is given in her honor, and in 2003 Nadema Agard was the recipient. (1997) Smithsonian Institution American Indian Museum Studies Scholarship. (1988) Scholar-in-Residence at the Phelps Stokes Institute (1987-1988) National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship