{"id":52298,"date":"2021-04-26T15:05:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T22:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/?p=52298"},"modified":"2024-02-29T07:59:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T15:59:49","slug":"meet-timothy-white-eagle-town-halls-spring-artist-in-residence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/meet-timothy-white-eagle-town-halls-spring-artist-in-residence\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Timothy White Eagle, Town Hall\u2019s Spring Artist-in-Residence"},"content":{"rendered":"

This spring, Town Hall is thrilled to welcome performance and visual artist Timothy White Eagle as our Artist-in-Residence. He has worked extensively over the past two decades exploring Native American, Pagan, and other earth-based spiritual practices. This will be a continued focus during his residency, as he interrogates the differences between early Indigenous peoples\u2019 handling of death and the Christian colonizer approach to death, a topic that has been heavy on his mind in the time of COVID.<\/p>\n

One of the roots of his work is thinking about how to decolonize a room that is shaped like a crucifix. Considering that relationship becomes even more poignant when thinking about our Town Hall historic building, which was originally the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist. As with many Christian Science churches, this one is built to resemble a public building, with no religious symbolism inside or out\u2014except<\/strong> the cross shape of the 860-seat sanctuary, now called the Great Hall, where White Eagle will present the culmination project of his residency on Sunday, June 20 during a six-hour durational open house performance.<\/p>\n

White Eagle is a mixed-race, undocumented, urbanized Indigenous American artist and storyteller who was raised by adoptive white parents in working class Montesano, Washington. He was adopted at birth, and due to the circumstances of his adoption is not a registered member of any tribe. His art practices craft experiences and objects designed to heal both creator and audience, with his preferred mediums including objects, photography, performance, and installed stage. \u201cAll of my artwork stems from a ritual practice,\u201d White Eagle said, in a video produced by The Stranger<\/em> last spring. \u201cI, with my work, am looking to heal parts of myself and parts of my community, and I have spent the last 20 years in some pretty intense environments learning about ritual and learning about traditional practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

This work began in the late 1990s, when White Eagle curated and performed in his landmark art\/coffee house performance venue in Seattle called The Coffee Messiah, a space that is still lovingly missed by reviewers and community members. He spent his 20s exploring performance-based art, and in 1995, he began a mentor\/prot\u00e9g\u00e9 relationship with a Shoshone-Metis teacher, Clyde Hall<\/a>. Around that same time, White Eagle began helping to craft personal and community rituals within his spiritual circles.<\/p>\n

\"\"In 2006, he began collaborating with photographer Adrain Chesser, which led to the release of their book The Return<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n

White Eagle started working with MacArthur \u201cGenius Grant\u201d award winner Taylor Mac as a consultant on Native American content for Mac\u2019s \u201cA 24 Decade History of Popular Music<\/a>,\u201d which went on to become a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2017. His consulting work led to a small role in the show\u2019s NYC premiere, which further led to a job as Dandy Minion Artistic Director for the touring company of the same show.<\/p>\n