Join the Center of Southwest Studies at the closing celebration of As Seeds, We Grow: Student Reflections on Resilience, an exhibition curated by Fort Lewis College (FLC) alumna and Curatorial Fellow Elise Boulanger, citizen of the Osage Nation. The program will be held on Wednesday, April 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum, Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. 

A collaborative group exhibit, As Seeds, We Grow explores identity and cultural resilience with consideration to Fort Lewis College’s history as a federal Indian boarding school by highlighting contemporary art and personal belongings alongside the Center of Southwest Studies’ historical collections. The closing celebration will honor the exhibition’s contributors by commemorating each person’s relationship to this past and Fort Lewis College. Deidre Whiteman of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition will join us to speak on advocacy work, the coalition’s educational resources, and a future of justice and healing. The closing ceremony is free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be served. 

 Schedule of events:  

• Pre-event Makers’ Market – CSWS portico, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (rain location: CSWS foyer). 
• Opening remarks and exhibit catalog release – Elise Boulanger, Curatorial Fellow and Liz Quinn MacMillan, Museum Curator. 
• Special guest speaker – Deidre Whiteman, Director of Research and Education, The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Whiteman is Meskwaki, Dakota, Ojibwe, Hidatsa, and an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. 
• Prayer song – Skyhawk Nation. 

• Presentations – Student and alumni contributors to the exhibition. 

This exhibit aligns with FLC’s broader efforts to understand the legacy of boarding schools. Boulanger worked with 12 students, five alumni, and five family contributors, representing 10 federally recognized tribes. The aim was to bring together diverse narratives and empower Indigenous students and students of color by having them direct the conversation about this overlooked part of U.S. history. 

This exhibit was made possible by generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado Women & Girls of Color Fund, Alice & Eric Foultz, and the Ballantine Family Fund.  For more information on As Seeds, We Grow: Student Reflections on Resilience, you can view a Native Lens video by Joe Kinneen (Inupiaq and FLC alumnus, ’22) that goes behind the scenes with Curatorial Fellow Elise Boulanger, Museum Curator Liz Quinn MacMillan, and student contributor Ana Henry (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) to discuss the development of and intentions behind the exhibition.