Bridging Past and Present - Tightrope: Cultural Appropriation versus Appreciation with Karen Ann Hoffman

Karen Ann Hoffman
Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork Artist
Citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin #11427
Biography
Sheku, My name is Karen Ann Hoffman. I'm a Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork Artist and an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. I make my home outside Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on a 40-acre homestead where I live, hunt, forage, and bead. I believe strongly in the power and importance of Native art and the necessity to have authentic, in-community voices at the forefront of that art's conversations, installations, and curation of that art. I am the beadwork student of the late Samuel Thomas and his mother, the late Lorna Hill of the Lower Band of the Cayuga Nation of the Six Nations Reserve in Canada. I have studied the art of Raised Beadwork since the late 1990's. I have a Master's Degree from the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point in Human Development, emphasizing Adult Education. As an advocate for Native art, I sit on the board of our State Arts Agency, the Wisconsin Arts Board, where I am Chair of the Woodland Indian Arts Initiative. I am a member of the national organization, the Living Traditions Network. I'm a board member of a local arts agency, CREATE Portage Countyisd active its Governance Committee. I am on the Native Arts advisory
panels of institutions, including the Coe Center in Santa Fe, The Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, WI, the Eiteljorg Museum of Indian and Western Arts in Indianapolis, IN, and more. I also sit on the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, serving as co-secretary. I am an active member of a tribal theater group, the Menominee Pageant Players, as well as a member of the Menominee Clans Committee overseeing the educational and cultural uses of the Menominee Clans Website hosted by the College of the Menominee Nation: https://www.menominee.edu/tmcs

In an effort to raise the profile of Native art, I proposed and coordinated the installations of Native created permanent public art, including:
2020 Menominee Ricing Canoe Sculpture-Piffner Park, Stevens Point, WI (artist Mike Hoffman)
2021 Song for Seven Sisters Mural, Waupaca Wi, (artist Christopher Sweet/poet Dee Sweet)
2023 Ancestors Buried Beneath Us Mural, Stevens Point, WI (artist Christopher Sweet)
2023 The Sustainers Sculpture, Lake Emily County Park, WI (artist Mark Fischer)