Artist CV
Education
2012 Dartmouth College, B.A. In Studio Art, Minor in Native American Studies
Exhibited Work
2019 Foresight All My Relations Gallery, Minneapolis MN (group)
2017 Survivance Two Rivers Gallery, Minneapolis MN (group)
2016 Skin(s) Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis MN (group)
2016 Synthesis: Paintings by Aza Erdrich All My Relations Gallery, Minneapolis MN (solo, curated by Dyani White Hawk)
2015 On Our Way Two Rivers Gallery, Minneapolis MN (group)
2015 Asynchronous Reading Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis MN (group)
2013 Flagstaff Recycled Art Show Flagstaff AZ (group)
2012 Untitled Show Red Door Gallery, Wahpeton ND (group)
2012 Pilot Car Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, Fridley MN (group)
Published Work
2021 MPLS Sketchbook Project 2020 (group)
2013 Original Local by Heid E. Erdrich (Minnesota Historical Society Press) Illustrations
2012- Current Cover Art with Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Mighty Red (2024 Hardcover, Upcoming release)
The Sentence (2022 Hardcover, Paperback)
The Night Watchman (2021 Hardcover, Paperback)
Future Home Of The Living God (2017 Hardcover, 2018 Paperback, 2020 Olive Edition)
The Painted Drum (2018 Paperback Edition)
The Beet Queen (2017 Paperback Edition)
The Bingo Palace (2017 Paperback Edition)
Original Fire (2017 Paperback Edition)
Tracks (2017 Paperback Edition)
Four Souls (2017 Paperback Edition)
LaRose (2016 Hardcover, 2017 Paperback Edition)
Antelope Woman (2016 Revised Paperback Edition)
Shadow Tag (2016 Paperback Edition)
The Last Report On The Miracles At Little No Horse (2016 Paperback Edition)
The Master Butchers Singing Club (2014 Paperback Edition)
Books & Islands in Ojibwe Country (2014 Revised Paperback Edition)
Love Medicine (2013 Harper Perennial Edition, 2014 Paperback Edition)
The Round House (2013 Paperback Edition)
The Plague of Doves (2013 Harper Perennial Edition)
Tales of Burning Love (2013 Paperback Edition)
2011 Daga Anishinabemodaa: Let’s All Speak Ojibwe! Pebaambines Dennis Jones, WIigwaas Press, Illustrations & Cover
Awards & Honors
2017 Minneapolis City Pages Artist of the Year (January 2017 issue, ceased publication)
2016 Emerging Artists 3x5 Residency Program The Soap Factory, Minneapolis MN
2011 Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Aspen, CO) Painting workshop under Julia Jacquette
Press
2016 Through the Stereoscope with Aza Erdrich (essay) https://cargocollective.com/nrpy/filter/Race/Through-the-Stereoscope-with-Aza-Erdrich
2016 Synthesis: Paintings By Aza Erdrich, City Pages (announcement) https://wayback.archive-it.org/15552/20201213175247/http://www.citypages.com/calendar/synthesis-paintings-by-aza-erdrich-8107538
2015 A Book By Its Cover (Mallory Black) Native Peoples Magazine (ceased publication)
2013 Aza Erdrich and the Family Connection (Martin Robert) Midwest Independent Booksellers Association
Collections
2017 Minneapolis Institute of Art (Public)
2016 Jodie & Mike Whaling (Private)
2012 Hood Museum at Dartmouth College (Public)
Artist Statement (Synthesis 2016)
Throughout these works, I contemplate Anishinaabe identity, familial narrative and personal growth. My paintings unfold on a grid - mostly visible, sometimes imperceptible, but always present. My approach to gridwork is at times confrontational. For me, the grid evokes a Western imposition of boundaries and measurements. Whether it is in terms of geography, time or identity, my work acknowledges that contemporary society is heavily codified and digitized. Within this “modern” existence, Native people have been subject to extreme forms of measurement: lands allotted, artifacts and ancestors exhumed to be catalogued, and the blood quantum of individuals generationally mapped. These systems impose their structure on my lived identity as a fair-skinned Native woman. Concurrently, my goal is to experiment with the constraints of the grid by suffusing Anishinaabe symmetry into my work. This feels natural to me, as these cultural elements informed my artistic growth from an early age. If you were to visit my family’s home, you would witness our culture’s visual language, one of skillful love and balance, present in jewelry, baskets, beadwork, quilts and artwork. I am continually inspired by these designs and patterns, as well as how we choose to adorn our loved ones and life itself. I seek a visual synthesis, a way to harmonize this multitude of complexities into a form unique to my individual experience. Each piece is a re-imposition; sometimes I succumb to the grid, at times I shirk the grid, but my ultimate aim is to create a vantage point that transcends boundaries.
Brief Bio
I am an artist and mother living and working in Minneapolis. Lots more to say, wish I had the time, but for now please let my work speak for me.