November 23 – December 21, 2024
Steve Turner is pleased to present High Rez, a solo exhibition by Tyrrell Tapaha featuring new weavings that focus on the fluidity and adaptability of Diné (Navajo) weaving for the artist’s remix of Diné culture and history with their own experiences. Using hand-processed materials and traditional iconography, Tapaha adds new symbols and ideas to those that precede them.
Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné, born 2001, Goat Springs, Arizona) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is centered around weaving, textiles, and fiber arts. They grew up on the Navajo Nation, where intergenerational pastoral living was passed down by their grandfather, great-grandmother, and other relatives. Working as a sheepherder, Tapaha’s process begins with the raising of sheep and ends with a weaving made on a loom. Their textiles are made with raw natural animal and plant fibers, hand-spun and hand-dyed with pigments made from local flora. Their compositions interweave their feelings, memories and experiences with the rich history and imagined future of their community.
Tapaha earned a BA at Northern Arizona University and has had solo exhibitions at The Valley, Taos (2024) and Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona (2022). Their work has also been included in group exhibitions at Kasmin Gallery, New York (2024); New Image, West Hollywood (2024); James Fuentes, New York (2023); Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe (2023); Bard Graduate Center, New York (2023); Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, California (2022) and Museum of Contemporary Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona (2021). Tapaha continues to live and work in the Four Corners Region of New Mexico and this is their debut solo exhibition with Steve Turner, Los Angeles.
Born 2001, Goat Springs, Arizona
Lives and works in the Four Corners region of Diné Bikeyah
Education
2020
BA, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
Solo Exhibitions
2024
High Rez, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Just a Sheepherder, The Valley, Taos, New Mexico
2022
Tales of a Sheepherder, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff
Group Exhibitions
2024
Crossings, Kasmin Gallery, New York
Threshold, New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles
Dallas Art Fair (with The Valley)
2023
Exploding Native Inevitable, curated by Brad Kahlhamer and Dan Mills, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
Young Elder, curated by Zach Feuer and Natalie Ball, James Fuentes Gallery, New York
Through-line, curated by Todd Bockley and Cara Romero, Cara Romero Studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Dine Textiles, curated by Hadley Jensen and Raphael Begay, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe
Shaped By Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest, curated by Hadley Jensen, Bard Graduate Center, New York
2022
Looking at Us: Examining Institutional Critique, curated by Roshii Montano and Ninabah Winton, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, California
2021
Creative of the Month Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Arts Flagstaff, Flagstaff
Residencies and Awards
2024
Heard Museum Jury Show: Best of Class, First Place, Conrad House Innovation Award
2023
Peter S. Reed Foundation Mixed Media Grant
2022
Textile Society of America Brandford-Elliot Award
Creative Flagstaff 14th Annual Viola Award for Emerging Artist
2020
Museum of Contemporary Arts Flagstaff Creative of the Month
Bibliography
2023
Joyce, Erin. “Potent Forms: Tyrrell Tapaha uses creativity in weaving to explore new ideas, and reject old ones,” Native American Art Magazine, August-September 2023
“The Queue: Tyrrell Tapaha,” American Craft Council, August 7
Montaño, Roshii. “Dazzling Pictorials: Diné fiber artist and sheepherder Tyrrell Tapaha combines the traditional with the personal,” American Craft Magazine, July 6
De Vore, Alex. “Where the Sky Meets the Land,” Santa Fe Reporter, July 19
Clahchischiligi, Sunnie R. “According to Custom,” Arizona Highways, March
2022
Joyce, Erin. “Tyrrell Tapaha’s Fresh Approach to Pictorial Navajo Textiles,” Hyperallergic, November 21
Slagle, Dylan. “From Sheep to Loom: Photo essay,” The Baltimore Sun, July 17
2021
Krisst, Rima. “‘It’s the future’: Fiber artists dispel myths with blended wool-hemp weaving,” Navajo Times, September 30
Biggers, Ashley. “Meet the Next Generation of Diné Weavers,” New Mexico Magazine, July 21
