Jackstraw

Artist / Maker Emmi Whitehorse (Diné (Navjao), born 1957)

Date1999

MediumLithograph on white Thai Mulberry paper

Dimensions22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm)

ClassificationsPrints and Printing Plates

Credit LineGift of Diane Greenlee for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in Politics. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU2003.35

Status

On view

Collections

CultureNative American - Diné (Navajo)

Label TextWhen I did this print I was thinking particularly about the West, since this is a print for the Women of the West Museum. Jackstraw refers to something or someone perceived of as worthless or barren. While the far West was being exuberantly settled, the U.S. government considered the midsection relatively worthless and relegated it to the Native people. For me, this land is important. It is what shaped and what sustained people. This work was a continuation of looking at a particular geography of the West. The colors certainly reflect that. I was thinking of the prairie--the colors in the print remind me of the high desert country. This is the color that comes to mind when I think of the word jackstraw. It is also the texture I think of when I think of prairie--kind of grubby, bleached out, dry grass. --Emmi Whitehorse

Locations