Award-winning Native American sculptor hosts free talk at BSC

She’s the first Native American to ever have an outdoor sculpture installed at the National Mall in Washington D.C. and was recently honored by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Nora Naranjo Morse is serious about the power of women and the legacy of the Pueblos.

Don’t miss Morse’s upcoming talk at Birmingham-Southern College, where she’ll share her insights about the most prolific clay workers of the Southwest. It’s free!

The award-winning artist, writer and film producer will speak on the social changes within Pueblo Indian culture, on Thursday, April 6, as part of this year’s Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program.

“For hundreds of years Pueblo people have treasured their powerful relationship with clay,” she wrote in her artist’s statement for her National Mall installation. “Veins of colored earth run along the hillsides of New Mexico, covering remote trails with golden flecks of mica. Channels of brown and scarlet mud wash across the valleys, dipping and climbing with the sprawling landscape. Intricately woven patterns of clay fan out under the topsoil, carrying the life of pottery to the Pueblo people.”

Morse creates art in many forms as a sculptor, a painter, a jewelry maker and with her work in monoprints and bronze. She’ll be visiting BSC through April 7, engaging with students and faculty in the honors and art departments.

A resident of Espanola, New Mexico, Morse is widely recognized for her work with clay and organic materials. Beyond New Mexico and Washington  D.C., her work can be seen at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She is the author of a poetry collection, “Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay” and a children’s book, “Kaa Povi”.

Since 1956, the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has offered undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America’s most distinguished scholars. The program fosters an exchange of ideas between the visiting scholars, the students and the faculty.

The event is open to the public and admission is free. For more information, call (205) 226-4803.