​Jim Denomie and the power of cultural identity

“I’ve had a lot of experiences--learning my identity over the years, growing up as a product of the assimilation campaign, I was not taught a lot about who I was as an Anishinaabe person,” says Minneapolis-based artist Jim Denomie, “Along the way I learned a lot of that stuff by going back and talking to people and getting involved in the culture through pow wows, storytelling and ceremony.”

His art reflects just that. He was born on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation, and he is a member of the Lake Superior band of Ojibwe. His work is highly expressive, utilizing a colorful palette exploring themes of satire, history, political commentary, eroticism, and occasional allusions to past masters and pop culture.

Denomie is one of the 14 artists whose work is included in “Arriving at Fresh Water”, an exhibition that was originally curated by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Along with his work being featured he is currently an artist in residence at The Plains Art Museum and will be leading a monotype workshop, a teen camp, and be giving a talk about the evolution of his work as part of the Creative Voices series.

High Plains Reader: Could you tell us a bit about your early life? What was it like being a part of the assimilation program?

Jim Denomie: Well, I was born on a reservation up in Lac Courte Oreilles near Hayward, Wisconsin, but as part of the Relocation Act, my parents moved me and two of my brothers to Chicago when I was about four years old, and we lived there for about a year, until my parents split up and my mother moved me and my brothers to south Minneapolis, where some of our other relatives had already moved to, and there was also a going native community.

HPR: What initially attracted you to a career in art?

JD: I knew I wanted to be an artist since I was six years old. I was just naturally attracted and I really enjoyed doing two-dimensional work. When I got to tenth grade at Minneapolis South High, there was a two-year experiment with modular scheduling, and it was a disaster for our group. I knew after one semester I wasn’t going to succeed in that format, so I went to my counselor and asked if I could transfer to a school where I could focus on art, and she said that was a terrible idea: there’s no job, no money, no future in art.

So I said it’s either that or I drop out. I ended up dropping out of high school at 16--getting into a lifestyle of partying and addiction, going through different jobs, and eventually got into construction and it turned out to be a well-paying career for me.

I gave up art for 20 years. When I got sober I enrolled at the University of Minnesota in 1990 hoping to get into health sciences and out of construction. I started taking some art classes and kind of woke up my artistic spirit again.

HPR: While at the U of M, you became involved with various American Indian student organizations and also worked as a teacher’s aid. Did you always explore Native imagery or did that come later with your experiences at the university?

JD: Well, it came later when I was a student at the University of Minnesota. I got involved with the student community on campus through the American Indian Cultural Center and the American Indian Student Learning and Resource Center.

You’re right, I TA’ed several American Indian studies courses. When I was back at the U, I found a lot of people like me who were not taught everything about our heritage and our ways, so a lot of people were going back to find those things.

At the same time I started my art training and I instinctively developed this painting style of visual storytelling. I started painting things that I perceived and how I understood that. That’s where my identity comes in because I was just beginning to understand who I was as an Anishinaabe person.

I spent my summers and Christmas breaks up on the reservation, but like I said we weren’t taught traditional things-- but I knew I was Native. I still had relatives there and went back to visit my reservation. I wasn’t taught the language, the ceremony, or other cultural teachings. I grew up a brown American. I knew I was Native but beyond that I didn’t know what it meant.

HPR: Your art has been part of an impressive list of collections including the permanent collections at The Plains, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis to name a few. Your work has also been exhibited throughout the US and Germany. Is there a difference in how your work has been received over there versus in the U.S.?

JD: I’m not sure how it’s been received over there. I think it’s similiar. I just had a solo exhibition in Germany last fall. I was in a group show in the Westphalian Museum of Natural Life and History. I think it’s pretty much received there as it is here and it’s been favorable overall.

HPR: Interesting. I have a lot of family from Germany, and whenever they would visit North Dakota they were absolutely intrigued by Native culture.

JD: I believe Germany has the strongest interest in Native culture in Europe. In fact, they they form these recreation camps where they do their own pow wows, they do their own beadwork, and they collect cultural objects. I think somebody has made a documentary about it.

HPR: You work in a variety of media--could you tell us about that?

JD: I work primarily in oil paint but I also paint with acrylic and watercolor. I think I’ve been doing photography longer than I’ve been painting but it’s always been a secondary medium--a background medium that sometimes informs my work. I am also a printmaker, I sketch a lot, often I will document an idea that’s coming. Sometimes I just start drawing and see what develops in front of me. I also do found object mask making.

HPR: How long does it take for you to complete a piece?

JD: It varies…They’re like chess games. Sometimes you’re done in 10 moves, sometimes it’s 100 moves. There’s no telling how long it’s going to take.

HPR: Can you tell us about your animal imagery--particularly the rabbits?

JD: I learned when I was young, probably 10, 12 years old that I was really attracted to rabbits. I had a special relationship with them--even later in life they would come around me at very profound moments in my life and I never really defined what that relationship was. I didn’t need to and I still don’t. I understand that it’s there so it’s hard for me to tell other people what that connection is--but they come into my paintings. Sometimes they just show up in the brush stroke and then I end up pulling them out. Then sometimes they become primary subject matter too.

HPR: Can you tell us a bit about your Lone Ranger and Tonto pieces?

JD: My very first piece is called “Untruthful” and Tonto is yelling at the Lone Ranger, “You lied to me” and the Lone Ranger says “Get used to it.” So it has become a metaphor for mainstream and Native American dialog. “Untruthful” represents broken treaties--I have many episodes of dialog between them. Some of them have turned into paintings and some of them are still in sketch form.

HPR: Are you currently working on anything?

JD: I am! I’m working on an 8x12’ about “The Wizard of Oz”. My drawing represents more modern tensions. That movie is such a surreal masterpiece--it’s really fun to play with. I’m doing the 12’ of the scene in the apple tree forest but they’re totem poles and tree figures, there’s eroticism, political commentary, and satire to be shown at Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis in May.

IF YOU GO

Creative voices talk: Jim Denomie

Thursday, November 10, 6:30-8pm

Plains Art Museum, 704 1st Ave N, Fargo