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Opening in the newly renovated Mill
Building, the centerpiece of Act II is Ed-
monia Triumphalis, a large-scale work
featuring a triumphal arch made of local
rammed earth alongside a monumental
fountain by Auriea Harvey, whose sta-
tus as a Black, Catholic sculptor living in
Rome recalls Edmonia's own biography.
Act II will also see an homage to Lew-
is's Minnehaha and Hiawatha by Grand
Portage Ojibwe artist Andrea Carlson,
a large carving based on Lewis's copy of Michelangelo's Moses by interdisci-
plinary artist Sanford Biggers, and a beautiful piece called Niagara (Edge of the
Earth) by Húŋkpapȟa Lakota/Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe artist Athena LaTocha that
recalls the place where Edmonia lived as a child. Finally, black ash basketry and
copper weaving from Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Potawatomi and Ottawa artist
Kelly Church demonstrate some of the sculptural techniques and cultural val-
ues that Edmonia Lewis would have learned among her mother's people.
In addition, a life-size 3D-printed replica of The Death of Cleopatra (produced
by MSU researchers and Montana Tech engineering students based on Smith-
sonian scans) will be on display alongside Lewis family artifacts never before
exhibited in Montana at a companion show hosted at the Museum of the Rock-
Auriea Harvey, The Game (2021), Image courtesy of Heft gallery
Portrait of Auriea Harvey,
Image courtesy of artist
