Impacted Nations

This ambitious traveling show focuses on the environmental destruction of native lands by energy interests–from dam building and coal mining to oil drilling and logging. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Michael Horse are some of the well-known names among the more than forty artists in the show, but there are a few compelling pieces by newer names, as well. For instance, Neal Ambrose-Smith’s Coyote Sees Two Worlds combines native forms and imagery with colors and composition that recall Constructivist-style propaganda posters, while America Meredith’s Pop-influenced Produced Water: Salt the Earth has the Morton Salt girl and a cowboy-hatted businessman walking arm in arm through an oilfield (toxic brine is one of the byproducts of oil drilling). While there’s plenty here to induce shame, despair, and anger, there’s also a sense of hope in the idea that Native Americans can and should take a place in developing renewable energy, like solar and wind power. 1113 Franklin Ave. E., Minneapolis; 612-870-7555; www.honorearth.org/impactednations