Free To Be Me: Diversity at MSUB
Part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings
Saturday, September 15, 2018  (2:30 – 4:30)
MSUBillings Student Union Building, Rooms A & B (lower floor and east through the cafeteria) and Free Speech Lawn
1500 University Dr, Billings, MT

• Facilitator: Reverend Dwight Welch/United Campus Ministry, 

• Community discussion about discoveries made while sharing our stories and identities facilitated by Rev. Dwight R. Welch of United Campus Ministry, and Parsa Hajy Abbasi (student from Iran), Tristen Belgrade (student from Rocky Boy (student from Chippewa-Cree tribe), Morgan Syring (MSUB Art Club Collective), Mitch Bohn (speaking from disabled student perspective), Jen Lynn (MSUB Women's and Gender Studies) and Patricia Vettel-Becker (MSUB Art Department Chair). 
• Parsa spoke about learning to acknowledge, not oppose, when people misunderstood him because of his language and that he chose to become an ambassador for his culture. Tristen spoke about learning to expect racism, but not to let it stop him from his goals, despite historical efforts to make his people extinct. Morgan grew up in small towns with a single mother who emphasized supportive, civil listening and the importance of accumulating knowledge of others, Mitch told us about how fellow students expected that he must be in special education because he is in a wheelchair, but that accessibility is growing on campus. Patricia and Jen said that, since 2016, there is more intentional inclusivity and efforts to be more vocal for humanity and human rights. Dwight suggested we watch MLK's "What is Your Life's Blueprint" speech to middle school students. 
• Inspired by politician’s campaign signage, For Freedoms lawn signs were available for  participants to produce and publicly display their own definition of freedom by filling out signs that say: Freedom Of..., Freedom From..., Freedom For..., and Freedom To…
•  Discussion followed by creation and installation of Freedom signs on the Free Speech Lawn at MSUB
• Facilitation assisted by Sherri Cornett (Artist/Project Director, for Freedoms 50 State Initiative Billings)

Native American Race Relations and Healing Series “For Freedoms”
Part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings 
Thursday, September 13, 2018, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.,
Billings Public Library
510 N Broadway, Billings, MT

• Moderator: Russell Rowland, Co-Director of this series and main contact for this event, rowlandrussell@gmail.com.
• Russell Rowland led a discussion with former Northern Cheyenne Tribal Chairman and current tribal judge John Robinson,  a member of the Kit Fox Warrior Society and veteran of the United States Army as well as a participant at Wounded Knee and the occupation of Alcatraz, and Carolyn Pease-Lopez, who represented District 42 of the Montana State Legislature for four terms, where she serves on the Agriculture, Human Services, Judiciary, and Legislative Administration committees. She was recently instrumental in preventing the passage of House Bill 615, which would have allowed county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, on the grounds that this kind of discrimination would spread to the way she and her people are treated as well.She is a native of Crow Agency, 

Fitzgerald Clark reported the following live on Facebook:

• John Robinson pointed out that the separation of migrant children at the border reminds him of the separation of native children from their families at boarding schools and all of these children will face massive PTSD as a result just like generations of native children did.
• One big myth about Native Americans is that they all receive free money from the government. This is not true!
  
•  Carolyn Lopez spoke about intergenerational trauma and how it can have physical and psychological effects. There is a great need for trained trauma informed counselors and professionals in Indian country. Especially to work with the children. She refers to these folks as "people whisperers".
  
• Many people don't know that you can find colleges on tribal reservations. Chief Dull Knife college is in Northern Cheyenne and Little Big Horn college is on the Crow reservation.
  
•  Bethany Yellow Tail is a Crow and Northern Cheyenne woman who has made a splash in the fashion world.
  
• Carolyn pointed out that while there are seven reservations in Montana there are actually eleven tribes.
  
• John spoke about the quandary of well intentioned people coming onto the reservation without any understanding of tribal culture and more often than not failing.
  
• ​Carolyn Lopez speaks about the importance of Native languages in preserving Native cultures.
  

Thanks to all who came out for the “A Series of Fragments of Memories” show and “Luminous” in the other gallery! Lots of interaction and sharing of experiences at my piece “What [(Is It) About My] Memory” made this first mini-installation so satisfying.

Collin Kriner, Emily Botel, Courtney and Chris Scott, Judy Johnson-williams, Durba Ghatak Sen, Rebecca Stroth-Pickens

And loved sharing the evening with the artists:
Shannon Amidon, Katelyn Dorroh, Sally Beth Edelstein, Penny McElroy, Priscilla Otani, Blond Jenny and David Weinberg and especially Karen Gutfreund, the curator and artist.

What [(Is It) About My] Memory? What about my memory? What memory?

Somas http://www.sherricornett.com/somas-what-is-it-about-my-memory.html
Memory Cards http://www.sherricornett.com/memory-cards-what-is-it-about-my-memory.html

This show, these artists, their art, the conversations and the community that formed around it all ... one of my most powerful curatorial experiences to date. 

Karen and I (Gutfreund Cornett Art) looked to employ artwork as weapons in the fight for 
basic human and civil rights, which have been abridged and jeopardized within a judicial system that has eroded confidence and trust, and with racism propagated through groups that have systemic power to institutionalize prejudice in the forms of laws, policies, and ideologies that exclude and oppress others. Human rights can no longer be thought of as separate and belonging to a privileged few, but rather that these rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible for all. We believe the artist voices will help to foster these important dialogues.

Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All
Saint Mary's College Museum of Art
September 18 - December 11, 2016
In Conversation with the Artists, September 18
Exhibition Reception, September 18
Curators: Sherri Cornett and Karen Gutfreund, Gutfreund Cornett Art
Special Recognition Juror: Sandra Fluke, social justice attorney and women's rights activist

For more information about this exhibition https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/info-social-justice.html

“It is a big question, a question of the work we have to do to eventually get to a place where there is freedom in the world. It is a huge question and it calls for a huge answer, but that huge answer consists of small steps and we can begin engaging in those small steps today . . . I have always discovered that it is artists who guide us into arenas that we have not necessarily known before . . .” Angela Davis 
​
Though there are certainly improvements on many social justice fronts, the frequency and intensity of injustices, directly experienced or brought in front of us via the myriad news and social media sources, can be paralyzing and exhibitions, like this one, can provide us a place to contemplate, discuss and formulate responses to these injustices.

From my exhibition catalog essay "Why" for our Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All:

"Artists have many media into which to place these emotions, to process our distress, share our concerns and implore viewers to take action. Karen and I, through our curatorial partnership Gutfreund Cornett Art, are channeling our anguish, as well as hope, into the creation of exhibitions such as Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All . . . [The communities that form around these exhibitions] may only be temporary or they might ripple outward from the gallery spaces into permanent bonds. But, they are born within the structure of activist-themed exhibitions, such as this one, and pull us back into our genetic need for connection, the comfort of a collective experience and the satisfaction of common-focused work and problem solving. They give us hope and reassurance that others in the world are concerned and evaluating and determining their next steps, along with us. They are also asking themselves and us how to best navigate through the world and be an engaged citizen. Interacting with others strengthens our beliefs in cooperation that may lead to better decision-making and policies from the local to global arenas. This sense of community can empower those least likely to speak out, to do so and to respond and take action with whatever skills and insights they have. We are creating a space from which action moves forth from these communities to larger ones. As Berthold Brecht has advised, we are showing the world it is capable of changing."
​
For more about the exhibition: https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/social-justice-it-happens-to-one-it-happens-to-all-2016.html

FLOW: Interactive Exhibition and Community Project

Another big project ... another endeavor to encapsulate the many woven together parts of rewarding and meaningful community engagement. 

It began with a big, but, initially, manageable goal, given our backgrounds - to bring more people into the gallery and to engage them across departments, across the city and between the two institutes of higher education in Billings around the theme of water issues and focused on the Yellowstone River. Early on, we consulted MSU Billings' long-range plans, goals, & strategies and ... Leanne Gilbertson, a Ph.D of Art History and Nothcutt Steele Gallery Director at MSU Billings and me, an artist curator with a passion for community engagement, were soon neck deep in conversations with potential partners, who were enthusiastic and willing to sign on. 

The gallery was set up as a laboratory and nexus for exploration and dialogue with an exhibition of my Grottoes - mixed media wall sculptures with video meditations on water - and juried works by students and alumni. We commissioned two students, Bonny  Beth Luhman and Ariel Grossfield, to create an animated short about river users. Art Ed students discussed water issues with the Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls and other K-8 students, who then made 5 x 7 panels with their responses. Presentation of research by Rocky Mountain College students.  Precious MacKenzie, teacher of English at Rocky Mountain College, donated her water-themed children's books to the MSU Billings library, which became the anchor for pre-school readings there.  Poetry and jazz students held a water-themed reading and improvisation night. Northern Plains Resource Council and Eric Warren presented his film "Mixing Oil and Water" featuring conversations about oil & gas development along the river. Dr. Susan Gilbertz offered a course for students from both campus about the findings from the Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory, which was part of the 16 year, most comprehensive study in the world on a watershed, our Yellowstone River, which was the basis for our keynote symposium, which included Dr. Gilbertz' students, some of the key scientists of that study (Warren Kellogg, Burt Williams and Kayhan Ostovar)  as well as a beautiful argument for personhood rights for rivers. 

The amount of creativity and information shared and the community of collaborators, brainstormers, participants and supporters was a heart-warming overlay and reward for the intensity of coordination:  Gerard Baker, Sue Beug, Karin Calabrese, Reno Charette, Michelle Dyk, Teresa Erickson, Megan Fetters, Samantha Finch, Karen Gutfreund, Leanne Gilbertson, Ph.D, Susan Gilbertz, Ph.D, Ilene Goddard, Ariel Grossfield, Tami Haaland, Ruby Hahn, Joy Honea, Hannah Hostetter, Warren Kellogg, Luke Kestner, Korilynn Kessler, Carrie La Seur, Ph.D, J.D., Jodi Lightner, Bonny Beth Luhman, Larry Mayer, Precious McKenzie, Joel Miller, Patrick Mueller, Kelsey Nix, Carolyn Ostby, Kayhan Ostovar, Mara Pierce, Ph.D., Megan Poulette, Tabetha Rindahl, Brent Roberts, John Roberts, Maria Selvig, Stephanie Slavin, Rebecca Summers, Peter Tolton, Patricia Vettel-Becker, Ph.D., Eric Warren, Burt Williams, Patrick Williams, Dylan Woods and so many more who came to share their thoughts, listen and expand the dialogue around water issues, rights, access and conservation in our region.  

Project overview page with links to further details at https://www.sherricornett.com/flow-interactive-exhibition-and-community-project.html

When Priscilla Otani and I decided to piggy back on the success of her previous postcard projects for the Women's Caucus for Art and the United Nations, we had no long range goals other than to give women, men and children a chance to consider the impacts women have had on the economy, human rights, education, the environment, world health religion, the arts, sports, politics and peace. We were inspired by the work of the UN Women's  HeForShe campaign and its Beijing+20 program, celebrating the First World Women's Conference. 

The call went out and the cards came in - steadily and from around the world, starting with a post card making gathering at my house and including gatherings in the Bay Area and classrooms around the country.  The growing collection traveled, in 2015, to the WC and CAA Conferences, to the UN Commission on the Status of Women Conference and our International Caucus UN Program parallel event there, to Honey's Cafe in Red Lodge, Montana, and, in 2016, to the Torpedo Factory Art Center in DC, the Women's History Month Exhibition at St. Louis Florissant Valley Community College (near Ferguson), Arc Project Gallery in San Francisco and ... all were collected in our online gallery.  Some samples are above.

The resulting mosaic of cards is a rich and inspiring diversity of media and message and women! 

Thank you to all who nurtured this along its path, including Maureen Burns-Bowie, Janice Nesser, Maggy Hiltner, Kerry Wolfson, Cherie Redlinger, Michael Yochum, and Stephen Wagner.

More information and photos of events at https://www.sherricornett.com/women-do-it-traveling-postcard-exhibition.html