Gina Adams

My ancestral memory, and the oral stories told to me by my family have imprinted my soul map and created who I am today. Learning to tan deer hides traditionally came from a place of wanting ancestral knowledge....learning to make coil pots came from the same yearning to recreate the past in order to grasp a sense of identity for the future. This work is about prolonging life....this moment...this breath...the eternal heartbeat....as even though I may not have those who have come before, I do have the continued remembrance of the words and the longing of what once was. You never lose the longing; it grows stronger and becomes like a heartbeat whose rhythm is a constant presence. For me this work is about survival of the spirit, of my spirit and that of my grandfather's people and their heartbeat that beats within my own body, mind and soul.
The forced integration of millions of natives is a truth that their descendants have come to know and deal with. My history of assimilation and my grandfathers forced boarding school experience at the Carlisle School is not unique. The feelings that have been passed down are now part of our genetic heritage. My current studio work deals with my ancestor's many stories of assimilation. For thi...

2013 MFA Kansas University
2002 BFA Maine College of Art

2014 Beautiful Games: American Indian Sport and Art, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.
2013 Common Denominator, Tremain Gallery, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut.
2013 AVA Selects, Ava Gallery, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
2013 RIVER MARKET REGIONAL EXHIBITION, Juried by Jerry Saltz, Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine, Artists Coalition’s Mallin and Charno Galleries, Kansas City, Missouri.
2013 ARDOR, Survival/Zhaabwiiwin, Maine College of Art Alumni Exhibition, Juried by Kate McNamara, Director of Boston University Art Gallery and Shannon Rankin, ICA, Portland, Maine.
2013 Woman Stands With A Fist, Curated by Ryan Rice, The Museum of the Contemporary Native American, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
2013 Solo, Survival/Zhaabwiiwin, Bemis Foundation Regional Juried Exhibition, Bemis Foundation, Omaha, Nebraska.
2013 Solo, Survival/Zhaabwiiwin, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
2013 Solo, TSKW Gallery, The Studios of Key West Gallery, Key West, Florida.
2003 - ‘13 Pierogi Flat Files, Pierogi Gallery, Williamsburg, New York.
2012 Selected Exhibiting Artist for Past, Memory, Nostalgia, Santorini Biennale of Arts 2012, Santorini, Greece.