Robert Kentta: Extending the Conversation at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Robert Kentta: Extending the Conversation at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

The production of spiritual art in the form of ceremonial clothing and objects capable of holding and conveying spiritual power as created by a two spirit person in the tradition of the Siletz Tribe.

The money behind the project was granted by the National Endowment on the Arts, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Oregon Arts Commission, the City of Salem, and the Maribeth Collins Art Acquisition Fund. The project included the acquisition of an artwork, an onsite residency, and a short film about the artist and their work. Three Native American artists from the Pacific Northwest were selected for this program. In addition to Robert Kentta, the grant recipients also included Joe Feddersen, and Marie Watt.

In western terms, Robert Kentta is relegated to the status of an artist, one who creates pretty or interesting things for others to enjoy and possess. This western way of labeling his craft belies his spiritual role as a two spirit producer of ceremonial regalia and power objects. The name for two spirit people in his culture is Gitauk-uahi which is a ceremonial status, not just a gender designation.

So, Robert's work is not simply art. Rather, it is his spiritual practice to create sacred objects based on ancient sacred knowledge and techniques using natural materials by incorporating the Siletz designs that communicate the symbolic codes of his people. Robert might be funded or paid today as an artist, but he gets to earn that way because he is spiritually gifted in knowing how to use his attunement with all creation to evoke a sense of fellowship, communalism, and loyalty to a people's history among his people both living and dead, between the people and the earth, and between the people and all other living things. In that regard, Robert's creation of these materials and his commitment to sustaining the traditional patterns represent the dedication of his spiritual practice to the survival of his people and their cultural traditions. It is only a post-colonial process that continues to de-contextualize his essential spiritual practice and turn it into marketable and commercializable art.

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113739951