NEW ORLEANS – Raven Halfmoon’s “Flags of Our Mothers” exhibit is set to open Sept. 13 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Organizers share, this major traveling exhibition by Caddo Nation ceramicist Raven Halfmoon pays tribute to the matriarchs in her life and honors the strength and resilience of Indigenous women – celebrating the stories, traditions and cultural legacies they’ve preserved.
About the art:
Halfmoon’s practice ranges from torso-scaled to colossal-sized glazed stoneware sculptures. Several of her recent works soar up to nine-feet high and weigh over a thousand pounds. Their enormous scale and visual power oppose existing stereotypes and biases, creating new monuments that honor the artist’s Caddo ancestors and traditions, including her elders who taught her ceramic techniques when she was a teenager.
Halfmoon’s inspirations orbit centuries—from ancient Indigenous pottery, specifically Caddo pottery traditions, to the colossal Olmec stone heads in Mexico, the Moai statues on Easter Island and the major earth mounds constructed by the artist’s ancestors for a variety of purposes, including ceremonial. Fusing Caddo pottery traditions, a history of making mostly done by women, with populist gestures—often tagging her work (a reference also to Caddo tattooing and ancient pottery motifs), her works reference stories of the Caddo Nation, specifically her feminist lineage and the power of its complexities.
Organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the show features new and recent work from the past five years.
For more information, visit the website here.
In anticipation of the opening date, the museum has installed Flagbearer, Halfmoon’s largest sculpture to date, standing over 12 feet tall, in the first floor atrium.
Additionally, join Ogden Museum for a Gallery Talk with artist Raven Halfmoon, along with Rachel Adams, chief curator and director of Programs at Bemis Center and Amy Smith-Stewart, Diana Bowes chief curator at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
This interactive talk will discuss Halfmoon’s exhibition, Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers, where the collective will explore the artist’s Caddo Nation heritage, the influence of pottery traditions and the feminist lineage that shapes her work.
Free and open to the community, but pre-registration is requested.