Alan Michelson
Alan Michelson is an internationally recognized New York-based artist, curator, writer, lecturer and Mohawk member of the Six Nations of the Grand River.
For over twenty-five years, he has been a leading practitioner of a socially engaged, critically aware, site-specific art grounded in local context and informed by the retrieval of repressed histories. Sourcing from both indigenous and western culture, he works in a varied range of media and materials, among them painting, sculpture, photography, sound, video, glass, and stone.
He is the recipient of several awards, including an NEA Visual Artists Fellowship, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship, and the GSA Design Award, Citation in Art. His work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Canada, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
His practice includes public art, and Mantle, his large-scale monument honoring Virginia’s Indian nations, was recently dedicated on Capitol Square in Richmond. Michelson is co-founder and co-curator, with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School, of the Indigenous New York series.
Contact: studio@alanmichelson.com
CV (Downloadable file)
Solo Exhibitions
| 2019 | Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, October 25, 2019- January 12, 2020 |
| 2018 | Alan Michelson: Historicity, Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario |
| 2013 | TwoRow II by Alan Michelson, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 2012 | Alan Michelson: Eaglehawk, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia |
| 2005 | New Tribe: New York, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York, NY (catalog) |
| 2004 | NATIVity, Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario (catalog) |
| 2000 | Alan Michelson, Herndon Gallery, Antioch College, OH |
| 1999 | Ganohonyohk, Art in General, New York, NY (brochure) Oneonta, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 1993 | Cult of Memory, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY |
| 1990 | At Sea, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York, NY |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2021 | Speculations on the Infrared, EFA Project Space, New York, NY |
| 2020 | Citizenship: A Practice of Society, MCA Denver, Denver, CO After La vida nueva, Artists Space, New York, NY |
| 2019 | Volume 0, Zuecca Projects, 2019 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, MA Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR |
| 2018 | Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ Indicators: Artists on Climate Change, Storm King Art Center, Cornwall, NY Unholding, Artists Space, New York, NY |
| 2017 | Once Upon A Time...The Western, Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Montreal, Quebec The Western: An Epic in Art and Film, Denver Art Museum, Denver CO |
| 2016 | Why We Dance: American Indian Art in Motion, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO House of Dust, James Gallery, The Center for the Humanities, City University of New York, New York, NY |
| 2015 | Weaving Past into Present: Experiments in Contemporary Native American Printmaking, International Print Center New York, New York, NY House of Dust, James Gallery, The Center for the Humanities, City University of New York, New York, NY |
| 2013 | 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (catalog) Sakahàn: 1st International Quinquennial of New Indigenous Art, National Gallery Of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (catalog) Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art., Ryerson Image Center, Toronto, Canada |
| 2012 | 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations, Sydney, Australia (catalog) A Stake in the Ground, Art Mur, Montréal, Canada Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3, Contemporary Native Art from the Northeast and Southeast, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY [Touring Exhibition] (catalog) Home on Native Land, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Bell Lightbox HSBC Gallery, Toronto, Canada We are Here! Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship Exhibition, National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY [Touring Exhibition] (catalog) |
| 2011 | Stop(the)gap: International Indigenous art in motion, Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum, Adelaide, Australia, presented in partnership with the 2011 Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival |
| 2010 | The Sixth Borough, No Longer Empty, Governors Island, New York, NY Not a Place, An Outlook, No Longer Empty Film Series, Governors Island, New York, NY Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC |
| 2009 | Lives of the Hudson, Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (catalog) The Muhheakantuck in Focus, Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery, Riverdale, NY (catalog) Aesthetics of Crossing, Van Alen Institute, New York, NY |
| 2008 | Into the Trees, The Fields Sculpture Park, Art Omi International, Ghent, NY |
| 2007 | Atlas Americas, Oi Futuro Cultural Center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (catalog) Thoreau Reconsidered, Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery, New York, NY (catalog) Oh So Iroquois, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Canada (catalog) Shapeshifters, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (catalog) |
| 2006 | PAUMANOK, Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University, NY Voyage, Permanent collection installation, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada |
| 2005 | The American West, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK (catalog) |
| 2004 | Birdspace, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA (catalog) FLOCK, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on- Hudson, NY Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture, Artrain USA (touring) |
| 2003 | Imaging the River, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY Lebensorte—Kunstraume, Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (catalog) |
| 2002 | 8th Native American Fine Art Invitational, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ (catalog) Alan Michelson, Phil Young, Kay WalkingStick: Recent Work, Yager Museum, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 2001 | Crossing the Line, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY (catalog) Crosscurrents 2001, Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD |
| 2000 | Who stole the teepee?, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York, NY |
| 1999 | Building Histories, Apex Art, New York, NY |
| 1998 | Keeping Track of the Joneses, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY |
| 1997 | Days of Invention, AICH Gallery, New York, NY Made in New York, Institute of American Indian Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM |
| 1997 | Red River Crossings, Swiss Institute, New York, NY (catalog) |
| 1994 | Timepieces, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY/Old Westbury, Old Westbury, NY |
| 1993 | Trade Routes, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY For the Seventh Generation, Art in General, New York, NY (catalog) |
| 1992 | Edge 92 Biennial, Madrid, Spain/London, UK (catalog) |
| 1991 | SITEseeing: Travel and Tourism in Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (catalog) |
| 1988 | Re-Visions, Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada (catalog) |
| 1987 | We the People, Artists Space, New York, NY (catalog) Art on the Beach, Creative Time, New York, NY |
| 1986 | Three Young Artists in Boston, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA |
Public Art
| 2018 | Mantle, the Virginia Indian Tribute, Capitol Square, Richmond, VA |
| 2013 | Finalist, Staten Island Railway Arthur Kill Station project, MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design |
| 2010 | GSA Design Excellence Award, Citation in Art, U.S. General Services Administration, Washington, DC Americans for the Arts 2010 Public Art Year in Review |
| 2009 | Third Bank of the River, Art in Architecture public art commission, U.S. General Services Administration |
| 1992 | U.S. Land Port of Entry, Massena, NY REPOhistory—The Lower Manhattan Sign Project, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY (catalog) |
| 1990 | Earth’s Eye, Public Art Fund, New York, NY |
Grants and Awards
| 2021 | Distinguished Artist, College Art Association 109th Annual Conference |
| 2017 | Macgeorge Fellowship, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2012 | Creative Change 2012 Retreat Invited Artist, Sundance, UT Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Professional Production Award |
| 2011 | Native Arts and Culture Foundation Artist Fellowship Invited Artist/Fellow, Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art |
| 2010 | 2010 GSA Design Excellence Award, Citation in Art, U.S. General Services Administration, Washington, DC Americans for the Arts 2010 Public Art Year in Review Rhode Island School of Design PTFA Technical Fund Grant |
| 2004 | New York Community Trust, $20,000 Visual Artist Grant |
| 2003 | Peter S. Reed Foundation, Inc. Grant Artist’s Residency, Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt, Germany Artist’s Residency, Woodland Cultural Centre, Ontario, Canada |
| 2002 | Rhode Island School of Design Professional Development Fund Grant |
| 1999 | Artist-in-Residence, Art in General, New York, NY Foreman Institute Fellowship, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 1994 | Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Visual Arts Residency, Pyramid Atlantic/Borowsky Center for Publication Arts, University of the Arts |
| 1990 | NYSCA Visual Artist Sponsored Work Award/Public Art Fund, Inc. |
| 1989 | Artist-in-Residence, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York, NY |
| 1988 | National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Massachusetts Arts Lottery Grant |
| 1987 | Center Award, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA |
Selected Publications
| 2021 |
Bourland, Ian. "Countering the Fetishization of Indigenous Art”, Frieze, March 15, 2021 Burke, Harry. "Speculations on the Infrared“ Art-Agenda, March 18, 2021 |
| 2020 |
Iles, Chrissie and Michelson, Alan. "History Is Present." Aperture Magazine, Fall 2020 Froyd, Susan. “MCA Denver’s Citizenship: A Practice of Society Encourages Public Activism”, Westworld, September 29, 2020 Read, Richard, and Haltman, Kenneth. Colonization, Wilderness, and Spaces Between: Nineteenth-Century Landscape Painting in Australia and the United States, Terra Foundation for American Art and the School of Design, University of Western Australia, 2020 Mithlo, Nancy Marie. "Knowing Native Arts", University of Nebraska Press, 2020 Morris, Kate. "Shifting Grounds: Landscape in Contemporary Native American Art", University of Washington Press Tyquiengco, Marina. “Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation”, First Nation Art, Winter 2020 Moonan, Wendy. "The Other Side of History", The Magazine Antiques, January/February 2020 Lanay, Jessica. “Mapping a Disappearance (or We Are the Goddamn Choir, and We’re Singing): Alan Michelson Interviewed by Jessica Lanay”, BOMB, January 6, 2020 |
| 2019 |
Solomon, Tessa. “The Year in Technology: Augmented Reality works, New Digital Art Platforms, and Much More from 2019”, ARTnews, December 27, 2019 Rina, Amelia. “Highlighting the Resilience of Indigenous People Through Augmented Reality”, Hyperallergic, December 23, 2019 Michelson, Alan. “The Artists’ Artists: 34 Artists Reflect on 2019”, Artforum International, December 2019 Loos, Ted. “A Walk on the Frontier of Art, Where the Sky Is the Limit”, New York Times, November 27, 2019 Pratt, Stephanie. "Volume 0", First American Art, No. 24, Fall 2019 Angeleti, Gabriela. "Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend", The Art Newspaper, November 7, 2019 Holmes, Helen. "The 12 Unmissable Art Exhibitions of Fall 2019", Observer, September 3, 2019 Sharrock, Lee. "FAD Magazine Venice Biennale Top 10", FAD Magazine, May 17, 2019 Salfiti, Jad. "False Facts at the Art World's Olympics: An Early Look at the Venice Biennale", Phillips, May 16, 2019 Sandals, Leah. "Nadia Myre and Alan Michelson Recraft Venice’s Link to Indigenous Peoples", Canadian Art, May 9, 2019 Thompson, Claire Elise. "How America got into this climate predicament, through the lens of art history", Grist, April 2, 2019 Wright, Amy Beth. “Land Studies: Ecocriticism at the Princeton University Art Museum", Art in America, January 9, 2019 |
| 2018 | Heuer, Chirstopher P. and Zorach, Rebecca. "Ecologies, Agents, Terrains", Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2018 Green, Christopher. "In the Studio: Alan Michelson," Art in America, November 21, 2018 Bradford, John “A Dark Chapter of Our History Through the eye of visual artist Alan Michelson”, 4BRANT, September 23, 2018 Ethical Encounter in Alan Michelson’s TwoRow II,” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, and Society, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2018 Jaojoco, Patrick. “Indicators: Artists on Climate Change,” The Brooklyn Rail, July 11, 2018 Bury, Louis. “The Ghosts of Our Future Climate at Storm King”, Hyperallergic, July 29, 2018 Baldwin, Brent. “The Artist Behind the New Virginia Indian Monument Talks About Its Symbolism”, Style Weekly, April 24, 2018 Carrington, Ronald E. “New Capitol Square Monument honors Virginia’s native tribes”, Richmond Free Press, April 19, 2018 Martz, Michael. “‘Mantle,' a monument to Virginia's Indian tribes, dedicated at state Capitol”, Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 17, 2018 Gilbert, Alan. “Unholding and other exhibitions of Native American art,” The Brooklyn Rail, February 2018 Scott, Andrea K. “Unholding, an Art Show about America,” The New Yorker, January 22, 2018 Smith, Roberta and Schwendener, Martha. “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week”, The New York Times, January 10, 2018 Stevenson, Shaun A. Decolonizing Hydrosocial Relations: The River as a Site of Ethical Encounter in Alan Michelson's TwoRow II,” Indigenous Peoples and the Politics of Water, Vol 7 No 1 (2018), Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada Cheetham, Mark A. Landscapes into Eco Art: Articulations of Nature Since the 60’s," Pennsylvania State University Press |
| 2017 | Schilling, Vincent. "Olympian Billy Mills Announces Historic Monument: the Virginia Indian Mantle”, Indian Country Today, June 28, 2017 |
| 2015 | Watson, Mark. “Unsettled borders and memories: a “local” indigenous perspective on contemporary globalization”, Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, Vol. 7 Green, Christopher. “Weaving Past into Present: Experiments in Contemporary Native American Printmaking,” The Brooklyn Rail, November 5, 2015 |
| 2014 | Berlo, Janet Catherine, and Phillips, Ruth B. Native North American Art, (Oxford History of Art), Second Edition, Oxford University Press USA |
| 2013 | Whyte, Murray. “Ghost Dance at Ryerson Image Centre: outrage for the past; hope for the future”, Toronto Star, October 12, 2013 Tabobondung, Rebeka. “Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art.”, Muskrat Magazine, October 29, 2013 Nahwegahbow, Barb. "Ghost Dance explores the artist as activist”, Windspeaker, Volume 31, Issue 7, October 2013 Golubock, D. Garrison. "5th Biennale Opens Main Exhibit ‘More Light’”, The Moscow Times, September 20, 2013 Sopova, Alexandra. “Moscow Art Biennale offers a model for the world”, Russia Beyond the Headlines, September 20, 2013 Roberts, Gillian and Stirrup, David, eds. Parallel Encounters: Culture at the Canada-US Border, (Cultural Studies Series), Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario Roberts, Kathleen. “Beyond buckskin and braids”, ABQJournal, August 18, 2013 Gadoua, Renee K. “Peace Sign: Powerful Symbol Is Used by Artists”, Syracuse New Times, June 26, 2013 Berlo, Janet Catherine, and Marr, Alexander Brier. “Changing Hands, Shifting Paradigms: Materiality, Craft, and Identity in Twenty-First-Century Native Art”. American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 38 |
| 2012 | Horton, Jessica. “Eighteenth Biennale of Sydney”, Artvoices Magazine, October 2012 Green, Kristen. “Tribute to Va. Indians narrowed to 2 designs”, Richmond Times- Dispatch, September 23, 2012 Sullivan, Eve. “Biennale of Sydney: a pleasure bender for art hooligans”, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Blog, August 14, 2012 Rosenbaum, Lee. “Native, North American, New”, Wall Street Journal (Arts and Leisure), August 7, 2012 Radok, Stephanie. “All our relations”, The Adelaide Review, August 2012 Vitlin, Alex. “The 18th Biennale of Sydney: Contemporary art takes over the Harbor City”, Cool Hunting, July 11, 2012 Miller, Alan. “Altogether Now: the 18th Biennale of Sydney”, The Berkshire Review: an international journal for the arts, July 8, 2012 Daly-Peoples, John. “More from the Biennale of Sydney”, The National Business Review: Weekend Review (NZ) Dixon, Guy. “Toronto festival spotlights an indigenous new wave that’s ‘starting to crest’”, Toronto Globe and Mail, June 24, 2012 Roth, Moira. “Gleanings 18: Alan Michelson”, Moira Roth’s Gleanings on Tumblr (18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations) Leizens, Tish. “Must See: NMAI in New York’s ‘We Are Here! The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship Exhibit”, Indian Country Today Media Network, May 26, 2012 Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art (Third Edition), Thames and Hudson USA Keating, Neal B. Iroquois Art, Power, and History, University of Oklahoma Press |
| 2011 | Phillips, Ruth B. “From Harmony to Antiphony: The Indigenous Presence in a (Future) Portrait Gallery of Canada”, in Museum Pieces: Toward the Indigenization of Canadian Museums. McGill-Queens University Press, 2011 Morris, Kate. “Running the Medicine Line: Images of the Border in Contemporary Native American Art”, American Indian Quarterly, volume 35, number 4, Fall 2011 L’Hirondelle, Leanne. “Alan Michelson”, Vision Project. Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Rickard, Jolene. “Visualizing Sovereignty in the Time of Biometric Sensors”, South Atlantic Journal. Spring 2011 Redwood, Tom. "Indigenous Media Arts: Complex Visions”, RealTime Arts Magazine, issue #102, April 19, 2011 White, Sarah. “Tracy Moffatt/Stop(the)Gap/tall man”, Artlink, Indigenous: Beauty and Terror, Volume 31, number 2 Denis, Marie-Alice. “GSA Honors 11 Winners with Design Awards”, U.S. General Services Administration |
| 2010 | Hegert, Natalie. “In Another World”, ARTslant New York, June 19, 2010 |
| 2009 | Morris, Kate. “Art on the River: Alan Michelson Highlights Border-Crossing Issues”, Smithsonian Institution American Indian Magazine, Winter 2009 Blue Spruce, Duane, and Tanya Thrasher (eds.), The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes, and the National Museum of the American Indian, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC |
| 2008 | Heartney, Eleanor. "GSA Art in Architecture Selected Artworks 1997-2008", U.S. General Services Administration, Washington, DC Everett, Deborah, and Elayne Zorn (eds.). Encyclopedia of Native American Artists, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT Doan, Abigail. “Omi International Art Center Grows Greener”, Inhabit.com, November 22, 2008 Dick, Terence. “Shapeshifters, Time Travelers, and Storytellers”, Border Crossings, Issue 105-February 2008 |
| 2007 | Everett, Deborah. “Light on Shadowed Ground: Alan Michelson”, Sculpture Magazine, May 2007 Chamberlain, Colby. “‘Thoreau Revisited’ and ‘Three for Society’”, Artforum.com Milroy, Sarah. “A new look at our entangled worlds”, Toronto Globe and Mail, October 6, 2007 |
| 2005 | Ash-Milby, Kathleen E. “Contemporary Native American Art in the Twenty-First Century: Overcoming the Legacy”, European Review of Native American Studies, 19:1, 2005 |
| 2004 | McLellan, Marian. “The Birds”, New Orleans Art Review, March/April 2004 |
| 2003 | Zimmer, William. “Out of the Water, Inspiration”, New York Times, December 28, 2003 Schutte, Christoph. “Geschichte ist oft sehr schmerhaft”, Frankfurter Allegemeine, June 7, 2003 Fisher, Jean. Vampires in the Text: Narratives of Contemporary Art, Institute of International Visual Arts, London, UK |
| 2002 | Pinder, Kymberly N. (ed.), Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History, Routledge, New York, NY |
| 1999 | Wallis, Brian (ed.), Art Matters: how the culture wars changed America, NYU Press, New York, NY Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review; ‘Building Histories’”, New York Times, November 5, 1999 |
| 1998 | Lustig, Jessica (ed.), “Takeout: Art”, TimeOut New York, March 19-26, 1998 Gould, Claudia, and Valerie Smith (eds.), 5000 Artists Return to Artists Space: 25 Years, Artists Space, New York, NY |
| 1996 | Camhi, Leslie. “Accounts Paid”, Village Voice, December 17, 1996 Cotter, Holland. “Red River Crossings”, New York Times, November 29, 1996 |
| 1994 | Harrison, Helen. “Messages Communicated by the Detritus”, New York Times, October 30, 1994 |
| 1993 | Canning, S. “Trade Routes”, New Art Examiner, December 1993 |
| 1992 | Fisher, Jean. “In Search of the ‘Inauthentic’”, Art Journal, Fall 1992 Tarkington, Melissa, “Art Signs Challenge ‘History’”, New York Newsday, June 26, 1992 |
| 1990 | Zimmer, William. “Everyday Expectations with a Twist”, New York Times, December 23, 1990 Kahn, Eve. “Strata”, The New Yorker, October 22, 1990 |
| 1988 | Morgan, Marie. “Re-Visions”, Vanguard, April/May 1988 |
| 1987 | Lippard, Lucy R. “Holding a mirror up to America”, The Guardian, December 16, 1987 Bauld, Harold. “Painters and Patrons”, Boston Magazine, September 1987 |
| 1986 | Narrett, Eugene. “Three Young Artists”, New Art Examiner, November 1986 Temin, Christine. “’Three Young Artists’ truly a stellar show”, Boston Globe, September 13, 1986 |
Writing
| 2021 | Michelson, Alan. "Sky Boys", Aperture 242, Spring 2021 |
| 2020 | Michelson, Alan. "What Sustained Us: Visual Art", BOMB Magazine, December 21, 2020 Michelson, Alan. ""Questionnaire on 'Decolonize'", October 174, MIT Press, Fall 2020 Michelson, Alan. "George Washington, Town Destroyer", Frieze, July 24, 2020 |
| 2018 | Michelson, Alan. “Hanödaga:yas (Town Destroyer) and Mantle”, Art Lost in Europe: In the Wake of Britain’s Inner Emigration, Volume 32, Issue 5-6, Third Text Native Perspectives, Metropolitan Museum of Art Michelson, Alan. “Designing Americans: A Conversation with Wendy Evans Joseph”, NAD NOW, The Journal of the National Academy of Design, October 29, 2018 Michelson, Alan. “Subject Matters”, ArtsEverywhere, June 1, 2018 |
| 2006 | Michelson, Alan. “Failure to Launch”, Vision, Space, Desire: Global Perspectives and Cultural Hybridity, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC and New York, NY |
| 2001 | Michelson, Alan, “Lost Tribe”, Children of the Dragonfly (ed. Robert Bensen), University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, AZ |
| 1994 | Michelson, Alan. “The Conspiracy of Pontiac", Pyramid Atlantic/Borowsky Center for Publication Arts, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA |
Education
BFA, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University, 1981
Columbia College, New York, NY
Teaching
| 2012 | Parsons The New School, New York, NY; Adjunct Assistant Professor |
| 2011-2012 | Purchase College, School of Art + Design, Purchase, NY; Adjunct Assistant Professor |
| 2010-2011 | Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Academic Sabbatical |
| 2003-2010 | Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Senior Critic, Division of Foundation Studies |
| 2001-2003 | Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Part-time Faculty, Painting Department |
| 2001 | Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY; Adjunct Faculty, Department of Art and Art History |
Professional Affiliations and Activities
| 2021 | Distinguished Artist, College Art Association 109th Annual Conference Advisor, aabaakwad program |
| 2020 | Advisory Board Member, Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School |
| 2019 | New York State Council on the Arts, panel reviewer |
| 2018 | Art, Culture, and Technology reviewer, MIT New York State Council on the Arts, panel reviewer |
| 2017 | Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award panelist, New York Foundation for the Arts |
| 2016-2017 | Co-founder and co-curator, Indigenous New York, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School |
| 2014 | ArtPlace Innovation Grant Program reviewer |
| 2013 | ArtsLink Projects selection panelist, CEC ArtsLink |
| 2012 | Invited Artist, Creative Change 2012 Retreat, Sundance, UT Panelist for Shortlisting Event, 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative for Fresh Kills Park, New York, NY |
| 2011 | ArtsLink Projects selection panelist, CEC ArtsLink |
| 2009 | ArtsLink Projects selection panelist, CEC ArtsLink |
| 2005 | Invited Artist, “Vision, Space, Desire: Global Perspectives and Cultural Hybridity”, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Venice Symposium, Venice, Italy |
| 2003 | Co-Chair, CAA Annual Conference Studio Art Open Session, “Curator as Collaborator”, New York, NY |
| 2002 | NYFA Prize panelist, New York Foundation for the Arts |
| 1999-2003 | Artists’ Advisory Committee: Sculpture, New York Foundation for the Arts |
| 1999-2000 | Artists’ Advisory Board, Art in General |
| 1998-1999 | Visiting Artist/Writer, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 1999 | Sculpture panelist, New York Foundation for the Arts Artists’ Fellowship Program Artist-in-Residence Program panel reviewer, National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustave Heye Center, New York, NY |
Lectures and Panels
| 2020 | Alan Michelson in Conversation with Jolene Rickard: A Virtual Event, MCA Denver, December 2, 2020 Aperture Conversations: History Is Present: A Conversation with Alan Michelson and Chrissie Iles, October 8, 2020 aabaakwad 2020 NIRIN, 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Australia |
| 2019 | Contemporary Indigenous Art in a Global Context: Alan Michelson in conversation with Wanda Nanibush and Richard Bell, Whitney Museum of American Art Embassy 2019, Speaker, Venice, Italy Seens and Unscenes: Toxicity, Memory & Filmic Refusals, Columbia University, New York, NY |
| 2018 | aabaakwad (it clears after a storm) symposium, Style & Stories panel, Art Gallery of Ontario Native Art in 1980s New York City, panel, Artists Space, New York, NY |
| 2017 | Humans of the Institution, speaker, University of Bergen/ Frontier Imaginaries, Amsterdam, Netherlands Frontier Imaginaries Ed. No. 3, Toxic Properties, E-flux, New York, NY Distances, Origins, and Other Concerns, panel, Art in General, New York, NY The Aesthetics of Erasure, lecture, Parallel Histories Symposium, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Australia |
| 2016 | Seeing Place Through Indigenous History, lecture, Syracuse Symposium, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY MOVEMENT: The New Global Indigenous, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, New York, NY |
| 2015 | Tent Embassy, Performa 15, New York, NY Artist talk, International Print Center New York, New York, NY |
| 2013 | Artist Talk, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, Canada Dislocation Panel, 5th Moscow Biennale Public Program, Moscow, Russia “Two Row Wampum Renewal Conference”, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY “Changing Hands, Exchanging Perspectives”, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY Artist Lecture, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 2012 | Sydney Biennial Artist Talk, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia Sydney Biennial Symposium, Panel: In Finite Blue Planet. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia “Talk on the Guswentah (Two Row Wampum)”, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY Otsego Institute Seminar Lecture, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY AMT Visiting Artist Lecture: Alan Michelson, Parsons The New School, New York, NY |
| 2011 | Art Forum Lecture: Alan Michelson, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ "Indigenuity”, keynote lecture, “Indigeneity and the Arts: Visual Culture and Communication”, 3rd Native Studies Research Network, UK conference, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK "Where art worlds meet: A conversation with Indigenous Hawaiian, Native American, and Aboriginal artists”, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC |
| 2009 | Artist’s Talk, Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, Riverdale, NY |
| 2008 | “Contemporary Native Art: Museums and the Public Realm” Panel, American Friends of the Arts Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA |
| 2006 | “Fresh Approaches to the Iroquois Experience”, Conference on New York State History Panel, Columbia University, New York, NY “Contemporary Native American Art of the Northeast” Panel, College Art Association Annual Conference, Boston, MA “Multiple Modernities” Panel, Columbia University, New York, NY |
| 2005 | Artist’s Talk, National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustave Heye Center, New York, NY |
| 2004 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Smith College, Northampton, MA |
| 2003 | “Native American Art and Spiritual Aesthetics?”, Artists Talk on Art, New York, NY Artist’s Lecture, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| 2002 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM Visiting Artist Lecture, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY |
| 2000 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Visiting Artist Lecture, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH |
| 1999 | Foreman Institute Fellow Lecture, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 1998 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY |
| 1997 | Artist’s Talk, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY |
| 1996 | “Red River Crossings” Panel, Swiss Institute, New York, NY |
| 1995 | “Intertextual Strategies” Panel, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC |
| 1994 | Visiting Artist Lecture, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA |
| 1993 | Artist’s Talk, International Center of Photography, New York, NY “History/Memory” Panel, SUNY Old Westbury, New York, NY |
| 1992 | “Rediscovering Columbus” Panel, South Street Seaport Museum, New York, NY |
| 1991 | College Art Association Annual Conference Panel, “The Silent Message of the Museum”, Chair: Fred Wilson, Chicago, IL |
| 1990 | “Sculptors Addressing Our Changing Ecosystem” Panel, International Sculpture Center, Washington, DC |
| 1989 | Artist-in-Residence Lecture, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York, NY |
| 1988 | “Re-Visions” Panel, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada |
Interviews
| 2021 | "Distinguished Artist Interview: Alan Michelson", Alan Michelson interviewed by David Joselit, College Art Association 109th Annual Conference, February 12, 2021 |
| 2020 | "History is Present: A Conversation with Alan Michelson and Chrissie Iles", Aperture, October 8, 2020 "For Alan Michelson, History is Always Present” Aperture, October 6, 2020 "Alan MIchelson interview, After La vida nueva: Book of Gossip”, Whitney Independent Study Program Fellows "Mapping a Disappearance (or We Are the Goddamn Choir, and We’re Singing): Alan Michelson Interviewed by Jessica Lanay” BOMB, January 6, 2020 |
| 2011 | University of Southern Australia, Stop(the)gap: International Indigenous Art in Motion "Awaye!” Program, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio National, March 19, 2011 "Indigenous art with Alan Michelson”, US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, March 3, 2011 |
| 2009 | Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Avis Berman interviewer Tang Museum, “Lives of the Hudson”, Director John Weber interviewer |
| 2005 | Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics featured interview, Raquel Chapa interviewer |
| 2004 | “Six O’Clock News”, CKCO, Kitchener, Ontario |
| 2003 | "Hauptsache Kultur”, Hessicher Rundfunk, German TV |
| 2001 | “Art Zone”, BBC Radio |
| 1997 | “City Arts”, Thirteen WNET |
| 1996 | “Sunday Morning”, CBC Radio |
| 1993 | “L’Atelier”, FR3, French TV |
| 1992 | “Seventh Generation: What Columbus Learned”, WSKG Public Television “Kultur Revecz”, Hungarian National Television |
Collections
Whitney Museum of American Art
Art Gallery of Ontario
Peabody Essex Museum
National Gallery of Canada
National Museum of the American Indian
Woodland Cultural Centre
Heard Museum
Boston Trade Bank
Rhode Island School of Design Library
Chicago Art Institute
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
New York Public Library
Fales Library & Special Collections
Wellington Management Company, LLP