On Monday, October 10th, we celebrated Indigenous People’s Day in visual arts. Sixth graders looked at Mexican/Yaqui artist, Ester Hernandez, and her work Mis Madres, which she created to illustrate Alice Walker’s poem, “Her Blue Body Everything We Know.” Students interpreted the piece and then wrote and illustrated their own poems or letters to the Earth. Seventh graders watched Gregg Deal’s (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) performance art piece, The Last American Indian on Earth, and discussed what it means to be a “disruptor,” a title Deal uses to describe himself and his work which examines stereotypes. Eighth graders looked at Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s (Salish) work, Trade, and considered what it means to commodify a culture. These discussions will continue throughout our year in visual arts as we continue to critically examine contemporary art and the ways in which artists powerfully share their beliefs.