Personal Narratives in a Public Space

Experience the Event

Presented by Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Friday, May 2, 2025 12:00 pm

Join the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art to experience recordings from Indigenizing Museums, a two-day symposium amplifying the voices of Indigenous artists and curators, made possible by generous funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art. “Personal Narratives in a Public Space,” the final panel, brings together artists David Ocelotl Garcia, Jamie Okuma, and Dana Warrington for presentations and a panel discussion about how they infuse their personal stories into works that are designed to be in conversation with a wider community, without revealing too much of themselves, or making these personal narratives vulnerable to exploitation by institutions and systems.

Indigenous Voices is co-sponsored on ThinkND by the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the College of Arts & Letters Native American Initiatives, and the Native American Alumni of Notre Dame.

For more information visit the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art website.

Meet the Artist: David Ocelotl Garcia

David Ocelotl Garcia is a Colorado-based artist accomplished across several medias including painting, sculpture, and murals. His work can be seen in public art commissions, and in both museum and private collections. David discovered his natural ability and passion for fine art at the age of eleven. His early work consisted of life drawing and water-based sculpture, which he created at the Art Students League of Denver. By the age of eighteen, David was assisting professional muralists and sculptors of monumental bronze art. His own work now ranges from large-scale interior and exterior murals, painted directly on existing surfaces, panels, cloth, and canvas, as well as mosaic and sculpture. Through self-meditation and creative exploration, David has developed his own technique and philosophy on painting and sculpture that he has coined “Abstract Imaginism.” Abstract Imaginism is a style of art that combines the spontaneity and unpredictability of abstraction with the creativity and perception of imagination. David is most influenced by the movement of atomic energy and its effect on all living things. It is through art that David hopes to manifest beauty, inspiration, color, and energy.

Meet the Artist: Jamie Okuma

Jamie Okuma, a Luiseño, Shoshone-Bannock, Wailaki, and Okinawan, is also an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Indians in Southern California where she lives and works. She specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces that she hand-executes in all details of the process. She also designs ready-to-wear fashion. As early as Okuma can remember, her life has been in the art world in one way or another. After high school, Okuma took graphic design classes at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, before attending the Institute of American Indian arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From the age of 18, she has been a professional artist, completely devoted to her art. Exhibiting her work at the Heard Indian Art Market in Phoenix, Arizona, and at the Santa Fe Indian Art Market, she has garnered a total of seven Best in Show awards—four from the Heard, and three from the Santa Fe Indian Market. She is one of only two artists to have achieved this distinction. Okuma has recently become the first Native American inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Her work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, among others.

Meet the Artist: Dana Warrington

Dana Warrington (Menominee/Prairie Band, Potawatomi) is based in Keshena, Wisconsin. He is a multidisciplinary artist who blends contemporary perspectives with centuries-old traditions and practices. With thirty years of experience and cultural beliefs, he wants to continue the tradition of tribal art within his family and community. Warrington engages the youth through art programs where they blend modern themes with trival beliefs and insights to ensure the survival of traditional art. His tribal artwork is exhibited at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame, the Eiteljorg Museum, and the Forest County Potawatomi Museum. He has won numerous awards at Indian art markets as well as tribal dance competitions across North America.