Akwesasne Mohawk potter Natasha Smoke Santiago served as artist-in-residence at the Everson Museum of Art. Over the past two years, Natasha maintained a studio in the Museum’s education area where she engaged the public by teaching classes for their learning and engagement department, and coordinating classes taught by other Indigenous artists. Natasha also organized programming for an exhibition by Onondaga painter Frank Buffalo Hyde, and collaborated with a Syracuse-based botanist and an archaeologist to conduct empirical tests on Indigenous seed cultivation and propagation techniques. Natasha’s work at the Everson culminated in a solo exhibition, “O’tá:ra,” that featured her ceramics and paintings as well as her seed keeping efforts. Natasha also worked with the New York State Museum in Albany, who loaned a selection of Haudenosaunee pottery shards, pipes, and pot rims for the length of the exhibition from April through August of 2024. During the run of the exhibition, Natasha also contributed to her own programming, conducting outreach and helping to coordinate a community day.

Through dynamic and meaningful encounters with modern and contemporary American art, the Everson Museum of Art engages diverse communities, inspires curiosity and lifelong learning, and contributes to a more vital and inclusive society.