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Honor Song is published to coincide with the first major retrospective exhibition of the artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, known internationally for his conceptual artwork—colorful text-based prints, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and public interventions—that addresses Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and relationships to place.
Organized with the artist, the book spans more than four decades of his making, tracing Heap of Birds’ trajectory from the 1970s to the present through prints, drawings, abstract paintings, blown-glass vessels, and public sculptures. The publication includes texts by exhibition co-curators Pablo N. Barrera (Wixáritari) and Anna Vittoria Pickett, David Levi Strauss, Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation/ Hotvlkvlke Mvskokvlke, Nuyakv), Kiona Millirons, and Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds (Navajo Nation).
The work of Edgar Heap of Birds is housed in numerous public collections worldwide, including Art Basel U.S. Corp. (NY), the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art Gallery (NY), FORGE Project Collection (NY, Unceded lands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck), Museum of Modern Art (NY), Walker Art Center (MN), and Whitney Museum of American Art (NY).
Exhibition dates:
January 30–October 20, 2025 | Mary LeFlore Clements Oklahoma Gallery
February 20–August 4, 2025 | Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery
Opening April 24, 2025 | Campbell Art Park
About the author
Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (b. 1954, Kansas) is a multidisciplinary artist and citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation. He is the recipient of numerous awards, has participated in over 200 national and international exhibitions since the early 1980s, and his works are housed in museum collections worldwide. For thirty years, Heap of Birds was a professor of Fine Arts and Native American Studies, serving as visiting lecturer in over fourteen countries.
Pablo N. Barrera (Wixáritari) is Adjunct Curator at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and has independently curated shows in London, Seoul and New York.
Anna Vittoria Pickett is Director of Exhibitions at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. She is a nonprofit professional experienced in education and a visual artist with a practice encompassing ceramics, printmaking, and installation.
David Levi Strauss (b. 1953, Kansas) is an American poet, essayist, art and cultural critic, and educator. He is the author of a book of poetry, four books of essays, and numerous monographs and catalogues on artists. He was Chair of the graduate program in Art Writing at the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 2007-2021.
Suzan Shown Harjo (b. 1945, Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation/ Hotvlkvlke Mvskokvlke, Nuyakv) is a poet, writer, lecturer, curator, and advocate who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of tribal lands. Among her many positions over the last fifty years, she served as Congressional Liaison for Indian Affairs under President Carter and later as President of the National Council of American Indians. Currently, she is the President of the Morning Star Institute.
Kiona Millirons is a visual and teaching artist. She is passionate about art and its impact on human development and positive change. Kiona holds a BFA from Oklahoma City University and a MFA from the University of Oklahoma.
Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds (Diné/Navajo) is an art historian, writer, and independent curator focused on contemporary Native American/Indigenous visual artists and performance studies. She has taught at the University of Oklahoma, Norman and at the University of Tulsa and is currently on the board of Spiderwoman Theater Company (the longest running Native American feminist theater group in the USA).
