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The Center of Southwest Studies is pleased to host an artist talk with Diné weaver, fiber artist, and sixth-generation sheepherder, Tyrrell Tapaha (he/they), who is featured in the Center’s current exhibition Constellations of Place.Raised in the Carrizo Mountains of northeastern Arizona, Tyrrell’s work encapsulates the intergenerational agro-pastoral living handed down to them through their grandfather, great-grandmother, and other relatives willing to teach. Working as a sheepherder, Tyrrell’s practice begins with the raising of sheep and finishes on the loom.
Their textiles, installations, and mixed-media work are intimately interwoven with their feelings and memories, illuminating the complexity of their lived experience, the rich history of their Diné community, and imagined futures. “...[W]orking with the land, ecology, hydrology, migrating, grazing the animals, and thinking about and breeding for better fleece. I spend a lot of time looking at the minuscule and larger details of this lifestyle, and my weavings are a glimpse of that.”
Tyrrell has exhibited widely, including at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), Coconino Center for the Arts (Flagstaff, AZ), Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff (Flagstaff, AZ), Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (Santa Fe, NM), and they were featured in the film “Weaving the Future” by Shaun Price. They have lectured and engaged in archival and curatorial work at the Fowler Museum (Los Angeles, CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), and served as cultural advisor to major weaving exhibitions, including Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest at Bard Graduate Center (New York, NY) and Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (Santa Fe, NM). In 2022, they were the recipient of the Brandford/Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber Art by the Textile Society of America. Tyrrell continues to live and work in the Four Corners region of Diné Bikeyah.
Tyrrell Tapaha is a featured artist in Constellations of Place, an exhibition made possible with generous support from the Belonging Colorado initiative of The Denver Foundation and the Greater Good Science Center and is in partnership with the America 250-Colorado 150 Southwest regional “Power of Place” project.
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