Emmi Whitehorse

Emmi Whitehorse (born 1956) is a Native American painter.

She was born in Crownpoint, New Mexico and is a member of the Navajo Nation. She currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Emmi Whitehorse grew up on the open land northeast of Gallup, New Mexico in a family where only the Navajo Language was spoken.

In 1980, Whitehorse earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in painting from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque (UNW). She earned her master's degree in art in 1982, also from UNM, majoring in printmaking and minoring in art history.

Whitehorse's paintings draw upon a personal iconography, based on her reflections of her natural surroundings. She brings together Navajo cosmological perspectives with abstraction in her work. Whitehorse's work is deliberately apolitical. Her paintings are usually oil on paper, mounted on canvas. Her work is represented in public collections throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Uzbekistan and Morocco.

Now Emmi Whitehorse's abstract work is exhibited internationally, and she travels to Europe often.

Education

1980 B.A., Major in Painting, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

1982 M.A., Major in Printmaking, Minor in Art History, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Selected Solo Museum Exhibitions

2006 Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO

2004-05 Soul Weaving, KC Jewish Museum, Overland Park, KS

2001 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE

1997 Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

1993 Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM

1991 Neeznáá, The Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, NM

1988 Yuma Art Center, Yuma, AZ

1982 Sun Valley Center for Arts & Humanities, Sun Valley, ID

Group Museum Exhibitions

2012 Celebrating Diversities in Art, Springfield Art Museum. Springfield, MO

2011 Modern Times – Kunst der Indianischen Moderne und Postmoderne, Galerieverein Leonberg, Leonberg, Germany

2011 Pressing Ideas – 50 Years of Women’s Lithographs for Tamarind, National Museum of Women in the Arts

2011 Trio: Whitehorse, Cunningham, Fields, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2010 Into the Void: Abstract Art, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA

2008-09 Maverick Art, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA

2008 Common Ground: Art in New Mexico, Albuquerque Museum of Art, NM

2007 Unlimited Boundaries: Dichotomy of Place in Contemporary Native American Art, Albuquerque Museum of Art, NM

Off The Map, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY

2005 Rolling Thunder: Art from the Plains, Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO

2004 Expanded Visions: Four Woman Artists print the American West, Autry Museum,Los Angeles, CA

2003-04 Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art from the Peabody Essex Museum, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH,

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA,

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

2002-05 New Classics, Denver Art Museum, CO

2002 Common Ground: Contemporary Native American Art from the TMA Permanent Collection and Private Collections, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

2002 Western Visions: Pop, Perspective and Politics, Center for the Visual Arts, Metropolitan State College of Denver, CO

2001 Multiple Impressions: Native American Artist and the Print, traveling exhibition from the Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM

2000 New Art of the West 7, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN New Prints 2001, International Print Center, New York, NY

1998 Group Show, Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR

1997 Contemporary New Mexico Artists: Sketches Schemas, SITE Santa Fe, NM

1996-97 Contemporary Art in New Mexico, SITE Santa Fe, NM

1996 New Art of the West 5, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN

1995 Westtfalisches Museum, Munster, Germany

1994 American Academy of Arts and Letters, Purchase Exhibition, New York, NY

1993 Indianer Nord-Amerikas: Kunst und Mythos, Internationale Tage, Ingelheim, Germany. Of Paper and Glass, Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM

1991 Presswork, The Art of Women Printmakers, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (traveling show)

1990 Primavera, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

Centro Cultural de la Raza, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

1989 Six from Santa Fe, Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston, SC

1988 Mask, The Old Pueblo Museum, Tucson, AZ

1987 Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN

1985 Eight Artists, The Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Women of the American West, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT

1984 She Holds Her Own, The Green County Council on the Arts, Catskill, NY

Contemporary Native American Art Exhibition, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK

1982 Modern Native American Abstraction, The Philadelphia Art Alliance Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (traveling show)

1981 Confluences of Configuration and Change, Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA

Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX

The A.I.C.H. Gallery, NY, NY

The Brunnier Gallery, Iowa State University, Dubuque, IA

1981 Grey Canyon Group, The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ

Works on Paper, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (traveling show)

1980 Grey Canyon Group, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

The Southern Plains Museum, Anadarko, OK

The Sioux Land Heritage Museum, Sioux Falls, SD

Galleria de Cavalina, Venice, Italy

Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, NM (traveling show)

1979 Grey Canyon Group, Gallery Upstairs, Berkeley, CA

Downtown Center for the Arts, Albuquerque, NM (traveling show)

Selected Solo Gallery Exhibitions

2012 Opuntia, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2010 Emmi Whitehorse, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2009 Forth, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2008 Recommence, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2004 Vanier Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2002 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

Mainsite Gallery, Norman, OK

Vanier Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2001 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL

1999 Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL

Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, A

New Mexico Visions, Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR

LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

External links

• Artist's site
• Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art Santa Fe, New Mexico
• ArtNet page
• Peabody Essex Museum Salem, Massachusetts