The Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe / Sacred Red Rock Project
Led by members of the Kaw Nation, Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe / Sacred Red Rock Project is focused upon the return and relocation of Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe, a red Siouxan quartzite boulder, from a park in Lawrence, Kansas, to the Kaw People, who have a centuries’ long relationship with the Rock and value it as a sacred item of prayer. In addition to the rematriation of Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe, our project will facilitate imagining workshops with communities in Lawrence that will explore Robinson Park’s (where Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe was located for ninety-four years) interconnected stories and engage residents in envisioning new ways of interpreting and understanding this place’s meaning and significance.
Dave Loewenstein is a muralist, printmaker and community organizer based in Lawrence, Kansas. In addition to his more than twenty public works in Kansas, examples of his dynamic and richly colored community-based murals can be found across the United States, and in Northern Ireland, South Korea and Brazil. Loewenstein’s prints, which focus on social justice issues, are exhibited internationally and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Yale University, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. He is the co-author of Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guide, a 2007 Kansas Notable Book Award Winner, and is the subject of “Called to Walls,” a feature length documentary about his work. With Pauline Sharp and others, Dave has been co-leading the Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe / Sacred Red Rock Project, which received a Mellon Monuments Project grant in 2022.
Sydney Pursel is the first Curator for Public Practice at the Spencer Museum of Art. In this role, Pursel is initiating ways to involve community in research and curatorial processes and incorporate community feedback in exhibitions, programs, and events. Her research interests include:
- collaborative, community-based, public, and socially engaged art
- Indigenous art, culture, identity, and representation
- disability art, accessibility, and multisensory learning
- activism and social justice in contemporary art
Pursel serves on the Native Faculty and Staff Council, the KU FNSA Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival Committee, and the Indigenous Arts Initiative program. She is an enrolled member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska (ITKN) where she serves on the Arts and Culture Committee and Powwow Committee. Pursel is also a practicing artist. She received her MFA in Expanded Media from the University of Kansas in 2017 and her BFA in Painting from the University of Missouri in 2011.
sydney jane brooke campbell maybrier pursel (sydneypursel.com)