The National Endowment for the Arts has approved Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s exhibition, Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest, for a grant of $45,000. In addition to the exhibition, the grant will support associated public programs that feature Indigenous weaving practices. Shaped by Loom is the first online and gallery exhibition to showcase the American Museum of Natural History’s collection of Indigenous textiles from the greater American Southwest. Fifth-generation Navajo weavers Linda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas, additional guest weavers, loom and toolmakers, natural dye experts, multimedia experts, and other specialists from the Navajo Nation will share contemporary understanding of skill, expertise, and art of traditional weaving, bringing to life the objects in the exhibition.

According to Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, the NEA “is proud to support arts projects in communities nationwide. … Projects such as this one with Bard Graduate Center strengthen arts and cultural ecosystems, provide equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, and contribute to the health of our communities and our economy.”