Student Exhibits Spotlight Community Spirit
Over the years, the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, in partnership with the Ahfachkee School and Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School (PECS), has proudly showcased student exhibits in their gallery spaces. This week, we explore some of the most impactful of those exhibits and look at the incredibly special opportunity that comes with showcasing student art in a formal museum. The students from PECS and Ahfachkee have their work featured annually, with shows being designed collaboratively.
Although we will discuss a number of student exhibits over the years, we will particularly focus on two that made a pointed impact: the 2020 Ahfachkee Student exhibit and the 2022 “Home is Where the Heart is” exhibition. The last exhibit prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the first after respectively, the two exist as snapshots of the emotions, struggles, triumphs, and resilience of these incredible student artists in the face of change.
In our featured image, you can see a snapshot of the exhibit “Home is Where the Heart is” from 2022. Designed to highlight the emotional student experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as returning from isolation, this exhibit is an incredible insight into one of the most tumultuous times of the last century. Beverly Bidney photographed the space in 2022 at the opening reception for the Seminole Tribune.
The Mosaic Gallery
Student exhibits from PECS and Ahfachkee has been an integral part of the Museum’s offerings since 2011. The first formal exhibit launched in October 2011, titled “Mosaic: The Art of Ahfachkee Students – Big Cypress Reservation.” In it, students created their own interpretations of famous works from artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Klee, and Jasper Johns.
The exhibition, which highlighted art from 25 students, was broken into two phases. The first, with art from 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, opened in October. The following year student art from 6th-12th graders was rotated in. “The Mosaic exhibit is a type of gathering of all the different creative minds and styles from all the students,” former Museum Programs Officer Paul Perry shared. “It’s simply a lot of tiny pieces to form a whole picture of this exhibition.”
This new undertaking highlighted a desire from the Museum to create a space for students to show off their work and share it with the community. “This is a brand-new initiative in the sense that we wanted to feature the students’ artwork from all grades,” Perry said about the exhibitions. “We wanted to erect a dedicated student art exhibit at the museum.” In the years since, the Museum has worked hard to share these student exhibitions annually.
The Mosaic Gallery, where these student exhibits are installed, soon became that dedicated community space. Featuring not only student art but community sourced art, it has become an incredible reflection of the Seminole Tribe of today. The Museum’s description of the space reads: “The Mosaic Gallery is an ongoing collaborative exhibit space that features a rotation of displays featuring the artistic talents of Seminole Tribal members of all ages including students from the Tribal schools, or work from artists closely associated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.”
Community Centered
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum held an opening reception for their annual PECS student exhibit on May 3, 2018. That year, the exhibit was slightly smaller, a response to the interruptions caused by Hurricane Irma. Below, you can see the PECS artists at the reception.
ATTK Museum, via the Seminole Tribune
In a Seminole Tribune article about the 2018 PECS exhibit, former Curator of Exhibits Rebecca Fell-Mazeroski spoke on why it is so incredibly important to highlight this student art and reinforce the idea of the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum being for the community.
“It’s really an opportunity to show off community and celebrate community, to make people feel like this is their museum,” Fell-Mazeroski said. “I think that’s one of the things we really strive for at this museum and one of the things that make us different from other museums is that we’re not trying to say ‘this is the history of the Seminole people,’ we’re saying, ‘look what’s going on right now, what’s happening today.’ We do want to share the history and the culture but we also want to give that extra piece of connection and we want to make sure the community feels that way.”
She continued by emphasizing that the Museum is constantly trying to tap into the community as a whole, asking people at events and in passing what they want featured at the Museum, what they think visitors should learn, and ideas of people they want to see celebrated.
“We could just have a museum that just tells the history and have a lot of non-Seminole visitors come in and there’s a lot of value in that,” Fell-Mazeroski said. “But I think the greater value for us is to make sure the community feels like they’re welcomed and that this is their museum.”
Ahfachkee Student Exhibit 2020
In early 2020, the world, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, was reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Just prior to the beginning of the shutdown, one of the most expansive student exhibitions in recent years was launched in the Mosaic Gallery. Opened on January 29, 2020, the exhibition featured not only 2D paintings and drawings, but also a selection of 3D sculptural designs. Papier Mache fish floated above the gallery space, and an additional gallery case housed smaller pieces (below).
Photo by Analicia Austin, via the Seminole Tribune.
One of the beautiful things about the student exhibitions is the opportunity it gives the youth to explore their art, as well as having it installed in a formal museum. At the opening, Ahfachkee art teacher Jennifer Brittingham spoke about that opportunity in particular. “It’s huge. I was telling the kids earlier it’s something that they can take with them their whole lives and put on their resume, and I was explaining how professional artists often never even have this opportunity.”
Over the years, the talent and creativity found in these youth’s pieces is a common thread. Some even go on to fold art into their careers and lives as a whole. “There really has been a lot of growth in the kids’ skills and for me seeing some of the kids over and over again and just seeing how they’ve grown its part of what exciting about this,” said Rebecca Fell-Mazeroski, then-manager of interpretation at the museum. “It’s been phenomenal, and there have been a few kids over the years that have gone off to art school.”
Virtual Tour
The 2020 Ahfachkee Student Exhibit, above, has been immortalized in the Museum’s Virtual Tour. The Virtual Tour was in part a response to the stresses of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Museum realized the “increased importance of distancing and hygiene forces us to create alternative ways to interact and learn. Preparing for in-person attendance challenges us to re-imagine our spaces. Always ready for opportunities to engage with the community, we strive to tell the Seminole story in different ways and places.”
While seeking out more ways to engage with the greater community on a bigger platform, they realized the opportunity they had to take a snapshot of these special exhibits. Prior to dismantling the exhibit, they took steps to preserve it virtually, including 3D renderings and animations.
We encourage you to explore this Virtual Tour, which was featured on the blog is 2022 as well! It preserved not only the student exhibit outlined above, but also the other rotating and permanent exhibits that were installed at the time.
“Home is Where the Heart is”
While the 2020 Ahfachkee Exhibit was the last glimpse of the “before” of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 exhibition “Home is Where the Heart is” represents the response. After two long years of hiatus, the Museum reopened, and student art again found its home in the Mosaic Gallery. This exhibition was thus the culmination of all the emotions, struggles, and excitement of the return to the studio after the long pandemic closure. Not just the art, the exhibition is also about the threads that tie the students and community together, and a celebration of being able to be with each other again.
In the exhibit description, Ahfachkee Art Instructor Jennifer Brittingham wrote “When the reservation went into lockdown, it robbed students of their sense of community and their sense of home. As a result, this artwork is a response to students’ reaction returning to campus and working together towards a unified goal…. This year’s show speaks volumes of working together after coming out of a long period of isolation; students working hand and hand, pouring their hearts out on paper, canvas, and plaster.”
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum held the opening reception, below, June 8, 2022. The exhibition featured approximately 50 individual and collaborative pieces. They used “paint, paper, plaster and other mediums to create the art. They also created three-dimensional pieces, including molded sculptures of their hands, and a few small frescos made the same way as in the 1500s, painted on wet plaster to create a durable mural fit for the outdoors.”
Two collaborative pieces, one inspired by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (left in our featured image) and the other by Jim Dine (right in the featured image) were also part of the exhibition. At the reception, Brittingham emphasize that art in so many ways is about learning; about yourself and your art, stating that “It isn’t always the end product that counts in life, it’s the process; that’s how we learn.”
Visit Today
Want to experience one of these incredible student exhibits for yourself? Stop by the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum today to see the latest student installation in the Mosaic Gallery – Miniature Marvels: Masterpieces Reimagined. In this exhibit, explore the student’s interpretations of famous, recognizable works of art from their own perspective.
Need another reason to stop by? You can also visit the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum December 13-14th from 10:00am to 4:00pm for the 4th Annual Big Cypress Holiday Market. Check off those Christmas and holiday lists with Authentic Native arts, crafts, clothing, and jewelry for sale.
Author Bio
Originally from Washington state, Deanna Butler received her BA in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Washington in 2014. Deanna moved to Florida in 2016. Soon, she began working for the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Deanna was the THPO’s Archaeological Collections Assistant from 2017-2021. While at the THPO, Deanna worked to preserve, support, and process the Tribe’s archaeological collection. She often wrote the popular Artifact of the Month series and worked on many community and educational outreach programs. She lives in Lakeland, FL with her husband, two sons, and dog.
