Kite:
Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream)

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River Valley Arts Collective is delighted to present Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream), an exhibition in which the Oglála Lakȟóta artist Kite (aka Dr. Suzanne Kite) seeks to bring knowledge from the nonhuman realms of machines, animals, and spirits into the human realm of creation. In a series of leather wall hangings, Kite translates fragments of her dreams into Lakȟóta geometries that she embroiders onto deer hides sourced from the Laurentian mountains. Rendered in sparkling beadwork and non-electrified conductive thread, the compositions contribute to a Lakȟóta visual language that allows multiple meanings to orbit around core semiotic associations. The hides also function as “tactile music scores” in dialog with a sound piece that corresponds with each dream segment. Other dreams take shape in a draped fabric installation that cascades from the gallery wall with punctuations of stone arrangements. Drawing on Kite’s doctoral research into the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), Indigenous methodologies, and Lakȟóta ontology, the work references the Wanáǧi-Tȟačháŋku (Ghost Trail, known in Western astronomy as the Milky Way galaxy), which connotes not a ghost’s path but the trace a tear leaves on one’s cheek.

Kite: Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream) is curated by RVAC Director and Curator Sophie Landres. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Al Held Foundation in Boiceville, NY, includes work created while the artist was in residence at STONELEAF RETREAT, and has been generously supported by The Coby Foundation.

Kite aka Suzanne Kite is an Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist, and composer raised in Southern California, with a BFA from CalArts in music composition, and an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School. Kite’s scholarship and practice investigate contemporary Lakota ontologies through research-creation, computational media, and performance. Recently, Kite has been developing a body interface for movement performances, carbon fiber sculptures, immersive video and sound installations, as well as co-running the experimental electronic imprint, Unheard Records. Kite has also published in several journals and magazines, including in The Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press), where the award winning article, “Making Kin with Machines,” co-authored with Jason Lewis, Noelani Arista, and Archer Pechawis, was featured. Kite is currently a 2023 Creative Capital Award Winner, 2023 USA Fellow, and a 2022-2023 Creative Time Open Call artist with Alisha B. Wormsley. Kite is a Research Assistant for the Initiative for Indigenous Futures, and Artist in Residence and Visiting Scholar at Bard College.

River Valley Arts Collective is a Hudson Valley-based, W.A.G.E. certified organization committed to fostering an inclusive creative community that is responsive and attuned to the ecology of our region. Through partnerships with neighboring arts organizations, foundations, studios, and farms, we curate exhibitions, commission new work, organize outdoor installations, give artists both material and monetary grants, coordinate residencies, host workshops, and spark vital discussions. As a nexus for regional artists and artisans to connect and collaborate with each other as well as with the broader community, we create a generative space for experimentation and shared learning. Our efforts foster the production of work that is as aesthetically and conceptually groundbreaking as it is environmentally aware.

Since 2020, River Valley Arts Collective has been proud to partner with the Al Held Foundation on a series of exhibitions presented in Al Held’s former drawing studio as well as outdoor installations on the foundation's grounds.

The Al Held Foundation is charged with the stewardship of Al Held’s art and creative legacy. Based in Boiceville, NY at Held's former home and studio, the Foundation’s mission is to foster the appreciation and advancement of the principles of modern art and the public’s understanding of Held’s contribution to art of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In the last decade the Foundation has facilitated the organization of exhibitions, lent works of art, promoted scholarly research, and conducted educational programs in the United States and abroad. The Foundation is represented by White Cube.

River Valley Arts Collective is grateful for generous support from: Mara Held, Daniel Belasco / The Al Held Foundation, ASD Fund of the Essex County Community Foundation, Athena Foundation, Cabbage Hill Farm Foundation, Nicole Cherubini and Patrick Purcell, The Coby Foundation, Mark Dion, Kristen Dodge, Stef Halmos / Foreland, John B. Koegel, Esq., The New York Foundation for the Arts, The O’Grady Foundation, Robin Panovka, Clay Rockefeller, Rydingsvard Greengard Foundation, Richard Salomon Family Foundation, Hart Perry / Southwood Wood Products, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, Helen Toomer / Stoneleaf Retreat, Luke Ives Pontifell / The Thornwillow Institute, and SJ Weiler Fund.

Kite: Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream) is curated by Sophie Landres. For more information, please contact info@RVACollective.org.

The Al Held Foundation is not open to the public, however guided private tours of the exhibition are available by appointment.