Biography
Steven J. Yazzie
Diné/Pueblo of Laguna/European Ancestry
Steven J. Yazzie (b.1970) is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, installation, video/film, photography and community collaboration. Yazzie is a member of the Navajo Nation and a veteran of the Gulf War, serving honorably with the United States Marine Corps, 1988-92. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Intermedia at Arizona State University and named 2014 Outstanding Graduate for the Herberger Institute for Design and Art; Yazzie was a Community Scholar for the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality, University of Denver, Colorado, 2019-20; Additionally, Yazzie was a founding member of Postcommodity, an indigenous arts collective, and the co-founder of the Museum of Walking.
Yazzie’s notable exhibitions include the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver Art Museum, Colorado; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona. Yazzie has been selected for the 2025 Sharjah Biennial 16, UAE.
Yazzie has participated in residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine; Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art Winnipeg, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Social Engagement Residency, Santa Fe, NM; Native Artist in Residence, Denver Art Museum, Colorado, Center For the Future, Slavonice, Czech. Yazzie is an Eiteljorg 2022 Contemporary Art Fellow, Indianapolis, IN; a 2024 Ucross Fellow, Wyoming. He lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Intermedia, Arizona State University
2006 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME
1988- 92 United States Marine Corps
Solo Exhibitions
2024-25 Vivarium, Albuquerque Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
2024-25 Knowing You Denver, Denver Art Museum, Denver CO
2024 Meandered, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver, CO
2023 Throwing Stars Over Monsters, Gerald Peters Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2017 BWBY, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2014 Looking For Tsosido, Museum of Walking, Scottsdale/Tempe, AZ
2013 The Mountain, Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM
2011 On Common Ground, Berlin Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2010 New Stories, Berlin Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2009 New Works, Berlin Gallery, Phoenix AZ
2008 The West is the Best & The Tsosido, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA
2008 Strata, Berlin Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2007 4x4 Motion Festival, Postcommodity, Prague, Czech Republic
2006 Draw Me A Picture, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2005 New Work, Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2003 The Last Painting Show, Buckaroo Parish, Phoenix, AZ
Selected Group Exhibitions from 2000 to the present
2024 Space - Sight - Line, The Church, Sag Harbor, NY
2023 Substance of Stars, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2022 Remembering the Future, Heard Museum, Phoenix AZ
2021 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship Exhibition, Indianapolis, IN
2020 Allegories of Transformation: Highlighting Indigenous Artists, Pace Art Center, Parker, CO
2020 Larger Than Memory, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2019 The Western Sublime: The Majestic Landscapes of the American West, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2019 Laughter and Resilience: Humor in Native American Art. Wheelwright Museum, NM
2018 Art For a New Understanding, Crystal Bridges, Museum of American Art, Arkansas
2016 Culture Shift: Art Mûr, Mccord Museum, Montréal, Quebec
2015 You are On Indian Land, Northern Arizona Museum, Flagstaff, AZ
2015 Fires of Change, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
2014 Build! Lego Exhibition, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2014 Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners at the Margins of the Americas,
UCLA Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2014 EMERGE (ASU) Phoenix, Arizona
2013 Sakahàn, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2012 All Our Relations 18th Sydney Biennale, Sydney Australia (Postcommodity)
2012 Great Outdoors Pace Digital Gallery, Pace University, New York, NY
2011 Don’t Stop Me Now, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
2010 On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, MOMA, New York, NY
2010 IN/SIGHT Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
2010 Re-imaging the West: Selections from the permanent collection, Scottsdale
Museum of Contemporary Art. Scottsdale, AZ
2010 P’oe iwe naví ûnp’oe dînmuu (My Blood is in the Water), Postcommodity Museum of
Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM
2009 World View Manipulation Therapy, Postcommodity, Phoenix, AZ
2009 Do You Remember When? Postcommodity, ASU Art Museum,Tempe, AZ
2009 Dead River, Postcommodity ”The Block Party” ASU Benefit,Phoenix, AZ
2009 Beyond Face Value, Heard Museum North, Scottsdale AZ
2009 Outsiders Within, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, AZ
2009 Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World, AGO, Toronto, Canada
2009 The Repellent Eye, Postcommodity, Ice-house, Phoenix AZ
2008 The Other Mainstream II, ASU Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
2008 Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World, NMAI, New York, NY
2007 Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2007 Intersections, Postcommodity, Slavonice, Czech Republic
2007 Hi ha alguna cosa de revolucionarien tot aco, Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain
2007 Drawing Outside the Lines, SMOCA, Scottsdale, AZ
2007 New Works, Berlin Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2003 - 07 Contemporary Forum Auction, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2006 Saints and Sirens, Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2005 Identity: Divided Transformations, Phoenix College, Phoenix, AZ
2005 Scapes, Credit Suisse First Boston, NYC, NY
2004 Contemporary Forum Grant Winners exhibit, Phoenix, Art Museum, AZ
2004 Shade Projects: Smithsonian Culture Fest Auction, Phoenix, AZ
2004 The Satellite Show, Smithsonian NMAI Exhibition, Washington, D.C.
2004 Indian Market Show LewAllen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2004 - 07 Native Views, Artrain USA, Intercontinental traveling exhibition
2004 Text, Tempe Public Library, Tempe, AZ
200 Native Inspiration, LewAllen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2003 War Show, City Gallery East, Atlanta, GA
2003 Arizona Biennial Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2003 Mimic of Calls, Central College of Arizona, Coolidge, AZ
2002 City of Tempe, U.S. Post Office, Tempe, AZ
2001 Palette-able Art, Buckaroo Parish, Phoenix, AZ
2000 The Way It Is, Gallery of Contemporary and Indigenous Art (GOCAIA), Tucson, AZ
Residencies
2024 Ucross Residency, Ucross, Wyoming
2022 Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-In-Residence, Denver, CO
2019-20 University of Denver, School of Social Work, Denver, CO
2014 Museum of Contemporary Native Art, (Social Engagement Residency), Santa Fe, NM
2014 Denver Art Museum (Director for: Jeffrey Gibson Film Project)
2010 Museum of Contemporary Native Art Santa Fe, NM
2010 Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art Winnipeg, Canada
2008 Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ (Pocha Nostra Residency)
2007 Center for the Future, Slavonice, Czech Republic
2006 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine
2004 South Mountain High School, Phoenix, AZ. Guest Artist in residence
2002 Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. “Tradition”, Installed Phoenix Children’s Hospital
2002 Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2002 Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ
2000 Heard Museum, Artist-in-Residence Program
Awards/Grants
2021 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art fellowship
2019-20 Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality,
Community Scholar Award, University of Denver, CO
2014 Arizona Commission on the Arts
2014 Art Matters Foundation
2010 Joan Mitchell Award (Postcommodity)
2009 Arizona Commission on the Arts “Project Grant” w/Postcommodity
2008 First Nations Composer Initiative Grant w/Postcommodity
2006 Professional Development Grant, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix, AZ
2006 Scholarship & Travel Grant, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine
2004 Contemporary Forum Materials Grant, Contemporary Forum, Phoenix, AZ
2002 Best of Show “Exotic Art 2002”, Alwun House Foundation, Phoenix, AZ
2000 National Endowment for the Arts(NEA) & Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation “Artists
Communities: America Creates for the Millennium”, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Articles, Essays, Publications
2023 Two Native Artists Want to Reclaim Their Landscapes and Textiles, Hyperallergic
2022 Call This Real Estate Company to Hear … a Poem, Hyperallergic
https://hyperallergic.com/748439/call-this-real-estate-company-to-hear-a-poem/
2022 New Generation of Land Artists Embodies a Call for Action, Hyperallergic
https://hyperallergic.com/725251/new-generation-of-land-artists-embodies-a-call-for-action/
2021 The O’Keeffe and Wheelwright Museums Present Following Enchantment’s Line Hyperallergic
2022 Studio Visit: SJY, Southwest Contemporary, https://southwestcontemporary.com/studio-visit-steven-yazzie/
2022 Artists Shine a Light on the History of Indian Boarding Schools, Hyperallergic
https://hyperallergic.com/750791/artists-shine-a-light-on-the-history-of-indian-boarding-schools/
2020 Contra Viento, Issue #3, Spring 2020
2018 Art for a New Understanding, Native voices, 1950’s to Now
2013 Sakahan, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
2011 Close Encounters: The Next 500 years, Plug in Editions, Winnipeg, Canada
2011 Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
2010 On-Line: Drawing Through The Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art, Butler and De Zegher, NY
2007 Art Papers, Sep, Oct: Future Anterior
2007 Remix: New Modernities in a Post Indian World (catalog)
2006 PHX Phoenix: 21st Century City, Edward Booth Cliborne
2004 Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture