Colville Children Curate (title to be determined by co-curators)

While culturally distinct and diverse, the twelve bands of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation—Chelan, Chief Joseph Band of Nez Perce, Colville, Entiat, Lakes, Methow, Moses-Columbia, Nespelem, Okanogan, Palus, San Poil, and Wenatchi—share cultural practices and 1.4 million acres of land. Though CSM has focused past exhibitions and programs on Still’s work from Nespelem since 2013, this exhibition seeks to extend and deepen CSM’s relationship with the Colville Tribal community. Specifically, this project acts on the shared desire of leaders of Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and CSM staff to bring youth perspectives to bear in museum practices.

Co-curated with children in the Colville Confederated Tribes in northeastern Washington, this exhibition will explore Clyfford Still’s work through their viewpoints, some of whom are direct descendants of individuals that Still portrayed in his art. Colville Children Curate will center young Tribal voices by engaging them to collaboratively develop an exhibition that builds upon previous evaluation, research, and CSM exhibitions, including Clyfford Still: The Colville Reservation and Beyond, 1934–1939 (2015), Clyfford Still, Art, and the Young Mind (2022), and You Select: A Community-Curated Exhibition (2022). Like Young Mind, Colville Children Curate will prioritize the exhibition’s development process and engage co-curators in artwork selection, interpretation, and design. This time, however, co-curators will also contribute to the conception of the exhibition’s general theme(s) to amplify our collaborators’ vision and address the questions most relevant to their lives. In doing so, Still’s artworks depicting their home, family, and everyday life, as well as Still’s larger, abstract canvas works, will be refracted through their own lived experiences.