The Sioux Indian Museum to feature Sheridan MacKnight in a Special Exhibition

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA: The Sioux Indian Museum, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, announces the opening of a new exhibition, Strong Heart Woman, featuring Sheridan MacKnight.  The exhibition will run from March 3 through May 21, 2023.  On March 3, an opening reception will be held for the exhibit from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The artist will be available to discuss her work during the reception.  The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public. 

Sheridan MacKnight is a gifted artist who uses bold colors and strong lines to create visual stories reflecting the resilience of Native American women.  She is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation and is a descendent of the Hunkpapa Lakota Oyate from Standing Rock, South Dakota.  She currently resides in both Santa Fe, New Mexico and Rancho Palos Verdes, California. 

   Raised in southern California, Sheridan was deeply inspired by both her mother Frances, and her aunt, Patricia Locke.  She spent many summers on her family’s land at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, an experience that would profoundly influence her as both a person and an artist.  She attended Art Center College of Design in California with the intention of becoming an industrial designer but quickly gravitated towards illustration and graphic design.  With the encouragement of her artistic mentor, Michael Fast Horse, she began to explore the realm of ledger art, with a woman’s perspective.

   Her work is a form of delicate storytelling with ink and paint, seen through a Native American lens of color, which results in graphically clean paintings.  She is fascinated by both strong lines and composition and seeks to convey feelings of comfort and ease through her art.  Through her art, she tells a story of resilience, which draws strength through historic photographs and ledger art, to champion Native American women and children.  Eva Flying Earth, Sheridan’s Hunkpapa Lakota grandmother, is a central figure in many of her compositions.  She also draws inspiration from the Plains and Pueblo artists of the 20th century, particularly those who studied under Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School from the 1920s through the 1940s. 

Sheridan has earned multiple awards for her work including First Place in the 2-Dimensional Art category at the 2018 Heard Guild Indian Fair and Market, Phoenix, Arizona, and First Place in the Paintings, Drawings, and Graphics category at the 2018 SWAI Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, New Hampshire, and Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, hold Sheridan’s work in their collections.

Prices for the artwork can be obtained by contacting The Journey Museum store at (605) 394-2201.  To purchase artwork after the exhibit closes, please contact Sheridan MacKnight through her website https://sheridanevemacknight.com

The Sioux Indian Museum, managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, is located in The Journey Museum, 222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD 57701.  For admission fees and hours of operation please visit https://www.doi.gov/iacb/our-museums/sioux or call (605) 394-6923.