LIM: ‘Enduring Heart: Native American L.I.’ Histories of 5 Native Tribes / Opens 8.20th: Artifacts, Art, Wampum ….

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Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island

Exhibition at The Long Island Museum

August 20th thru December 20th

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New Exhibition at LIM’s Art Museum Celebrates the First People of Long Island,
Exploring the Historical Contours and Present-Day Artistic Legacies
of Native American Long Island

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As part of its semiquincentennial programming, The Long Island Museum has announced the opening of a new exhibition, Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island, celebrating the First People of Long Island. Featuring over 130 historical artifacts, archival and family photographs, contemporary paintings, and examples of contemporary beadwork, jewelry, and wampum, it is the Museum’s first exhibition to explore the historical contours and present-day artistic legacies of the complicated, interwoven, and ongoing story of Native American Long Island.

Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island will be on view from August 20th through December 20th at The Long Island Museum’s Art Museum, located at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook. The exhibition, which was developed in consultation with an advisory panel of Native American community members and scholarly experts*, shares an introduction to Long Island Native American history and speaks to the strong, continuing, vital, and resilient Native presence on Long Island, more than 10,000 years after the first Indigenous people arrived on these shores and nearly 400 years after their first contact with European settlers.

“Native American history and culture is alive and strong, and all Long Islanders deserve to have a better understanding and appreciation of Native stories, traditions, and how that continues through today. We are truly excited and honored to be able to bring this important exhibition to Long Island Museum visitors,” said Joshua Ruff, Co-Executive Director, Collections and Programming at The Long Island Museum. “We are profoundly grateful to the members of the Advisory Committee of this exhibition for their guidance, and to the participating artists and lenders represented through this space who have been generous in their time, knowledge, and talent in helping to create this truly meaningful exhibition here at LIM.”

Long Island’s Native American communities and people are at the heart of this region’s history, its present, and its future. Regardless of their ancestry, the 2.9 million Long Islanders of all backgrounds—who live in villages with Algonquian names that include Hauppauge, Ronkonkoma, Wantagh, Mastic, Montauk, and more—have a stake and a vested interest in gaining a much better understanding and appreciation of the complicated, interwoven, and ongoing story of Native Long Island. Enduring Heart has loans from more than 20 lenders, including the New York State Museum, the Heckscher Museum of Art, the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and Suffolk County Historic Services. Different galleries throughout the Art Museum will explore and present different aspects of Native American history, artifacts, artwork, and gatherings, divided into the following areas:

Histories of Long Island’s Current Five Tribal Nations – Matinecock, Montaukett, Setalcott, Shinnecock, and Unkechaug – which were completed in consultation with members from these communities.

Working the Sacred Land and Sea – examining the continuing story of land-based connections that are, and have been, essential to spirituality, stewardship of the land, and historical pursuits such as whaling, the making and use of mishoons (dugout canoes), decoy carving, and hunting.

Contemporary Art Expression and Family, Kinship, and Relationality – two separate areas presenting works by artists today who are inspired by the land, engaging stories, making powerful connections with ancestors, keeping traditional techniques alive, and reclaiming personal and community histories.

Gatherings: Resurgence and Revival – looking at the communal gatherings which include the June Meeting, Powwow, Harvest Ceremony, and Mid-Winter Feasts – and which have been an integral part of maintaining connections in both traditional and contemporary Native life on Long Island.

“There are also many examples in the exhibition of how contemporary artmaking through traditional themes and methods is a way to keep the past alive,” said Nina Sangimino, Curator at The Long Island Museum. “Lydia Ann Wallace-Chavez (Unkechaug/Kainai Blackfoot) learned wampum methods from mentor Courtney Anderson of the Nanticoke Indian tribe; Josephine Smith (Shinnecock) began her journey as an artist as a young child watching her mother and grandmother make fringed cloth regalia, embellished with beadwork, and learning loom work from her sisters; and Tohanash Tarrant (Shinnecock) learned the art of beadwork from her grandmother, a respected elder and leader in the Shinnecock community. ”

Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island features a diversity of artwork and artifacts which have been loaned from more than 20 different lenders, including public institutions, artists, and members of local Long Island Native American communities. Some specific items on view throughout the exhibition include:

Baby carrier (c. 1890), made on Poospatuck Reservation for Mary Treadwell’s great-great aunt Abbie Bright Moon Carl (1870-1969), gifted to Chief Red Fox, to Mary Treadwell, (Courtesy Mary Treadwell), as well as Unkechaug objects (a ceremonial rattle, beaded headband and necklace).

Native American regalia (c. 1995), worn by Setalcott Chief Blue Medicine (Theodore “Ted” Green, 1927-2007) including breastplate, tunic and breeches (Gift of the Green Family siblings).

Paintings by David Bunn Martine (Shinnecock-Montauk/Nde Daa’i (Nednai) Chiricahua Apache) including his 10-foot-wide June Meeting, 1871: Feast of the Moon of Flowers, 2022, Kelp Gathering, and Late Afternoon Rest, 2005 and historic photographs of a Shinnecock Presbyterian Church Dinner 1953 and 1954 Shinnecock Powwow, Southampton, NY.

In addition to Martine, the exhibition includes the work of 19 other contemporary artists and creative cultural producers: Lisa Bowen (Shinnecock); Chenae Bullock (Shinnecock/Montaukett); Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock Turkey clan, Montaukett, and Unkechaug); Selena Coverdale (Shinnecock); Adrienne Terry Cuffee (Shinnecock); Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock); Kelly Dennis (Shinnecock, Hassanamisco Nipmuc); Durrell Hunter (Shinnecock); John Kenney (Shinnecock/Matinecock); Richard Mayhew (Montaukett, Shinnecock, 1924–2024); Herbert Randall (Shinnecock); Heather Rogers (Shinnecock); Denise Silva-Dennis (Shinnecock/Hassanamisco-Nipmuc); Josephine Smith (Shinnecock); Tohanash Tarrant (Shinnecock, Hopi, and Ho-chunk); Lydia Ann Wallace-Chavez (Unkechaug/Kainai Blackfoot); Christian Weaver (Shinnecock); Rebekah Phoenix Wise (Shinnecock); Gordell Wright (Shinnecock).

A miniature Mishoon (a small dugout canoe, made for educational purposes), cedar, 2026, made by Chenae Bullock (Shinnecock/Montaukett), who started this culturally and sacredly significant work during a Nipmuc Mishoon Camp in Massachusetts, and completed it earlier this spring on the Eastern Pequot Reservation in North Stonington, Connecticut. Bullock will talk about her work in a Public Program at the LIM on the opening evening of the exhibition. As she says, “Creating mishoons on our traditional Tribal homelands allows us to maintain our relationship with fire and practice these ancestral traditions without interference, honoring the resilience, reciprocity, and living continuity of Indigenous cultures.”

A masterfully carved collection of 7 decoys, including black ducks, Hudsonian curlews, and other shorebirds, attributed to Charles Sumner Bunn (Shinnecock, 1865-1952), previously attributed to William Bowman (c: 1824 – c. 1906), which are part of The Long Island Museum’s collection.

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The exhibition also includes a Memorial to John A. Strong (1935 – 2025), foremost historian and steadfast friend of Long Island Native American Communities, featuring his books on display for browsing.

“The history and culture explored in Enduring Heart is vibrant and enduring, and understanding the complex, interconnected, and ongoing story of Native American Long Island deepens our appreciation of the place we all call home,” said Co-Executive Director Joshua Ruff.

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For more information about Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island,

including special programming and events in conjunction with the exhibition and a complete list of LIM’s

current exhibitions, programs and special events, visit longislandmuseum.org or call 631-751-0066.

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* Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island – Advisory Committee Members:

Sandi Brewster-walker, Executive Director, Montaukett Indian Nation

Jeremy Dennis, Executive Director, Ma’s House & BIPOC Studio

Allison McGovern, PhD, RPA, Anthropological archaeologist

David Bunn Martine, Artist and former head of Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum

Lorrie McCallister, Dean, University Library, Hofstra University

Joseph M. Pierce, Associate Professor and Founding Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, Stony Brook University

Helen (Hart of Morning Star) Sells, President, Setalcott Native American Council

Chief Harry Wallace, Unkechaug Indian Nation

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The Long Island Museum

Founded in 1939 and accredited by AAM since 1973, The Long Island Museum is home to more than 60,000 artifacts and is the only Smithsonian Affiliate in the region. The Long Island Museum inspires and engages visitors of diverse ages, backgrounds, and abilities by connecting them with the region’s art and history, a world-class carriage collection, and energizing programs that foster a creative and inclusive community.

For more about LIM’s exhibitions and programming, visit longislandmuseum.org.

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Visit AAQ Portfolio:

Long Island Museum / Stony Brook: Dorothy and Ward Melville Carriage Collection

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