UCROSS AWARDS SPRING 2021 NATIVE AMERICAN VISUAL FELLOWSHIP TO ARTIST ELIZA NARANJO MORSE

Ucross, WY—March 23, 2021—Ucross, the renowned artist residency program, today announced artist Eliza Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo) will receive the Spring 2021 Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists. Naranjo Morse is the seventh Native American artist to receive this award, which includes a four-week residency at Ucross. Naranjo Morse is an artist whose work explores aspects of life's journey through drawing and sculpture. She is receiving uninterrupted time, studio space, and living accommodations on Ucross’s spectacular 20,000-acre ranch at the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, as well as a $2,000 stipend and a featured exhibition.

“Eliza is an extraordinary multi-disciplinary artist; we are so fortunate to have her join us this year. It is contemporary and diverse artists like her that will continue to shape the artistic landscape of this country. Now more than ever artists need our support, and we are pleased to welcome Eliza as a Native American Visual Fellow,” said Sharon Dynak, President and Executive Director at Ucross.

Informed, inspired, and challenged by current events, generational exchange and spiritual existence, Naranjo Morse’s artworks tell stories about who we are. Her aesthetic and narrative expression weave the land-based, creative, and cultural information of her elders, the cartoons she grew up watching, and global art history together. Naranjo Morse was born in 1980 in New Mexico where she lives and works. She is also the proud art teacher at Kha'p'o Community School in Santa Clara Pueblo.

Naranjo Morse has shown her work nationally and internationally including: Cumbre de el Tajin (Veracruz, Mexico), Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts (Ekaterinburg, Russia), Chelsea Art Museum (New York, New York), SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico), Axle Contemporary (Santa Fe, New Mexico), Heard Museum (Phoenix, Arizona), and the Museum of Contemporary Native Art (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

“Being invited to experience Ucross on this Apsaalooke land reaffirms to me two things: 1). That a stunning and interconnected strength comes from individuals who have plenty using their resources to support others to grow, and 2). That creating a respectful and loving relationship with land uncovers its all-encompassing power. I am humbled to bear witness to this combination of power expressed in this precious place and am thankful to all those who have put their hands into making it so,” stated Naranjo Morse.

At Ucross, artists in residence experience an inspiring combination of solitude and community, with expansive time for private work, as well as lively exchanges at group dinners with fellow artists. Facilities include four visual arts studios, four writers’ studios, two composers’ studios, and a large loft space suitable for dance and theatre collaborations.

Since its first residencies in 1983, more than 2,500 artists have received the gift of time and space at Ucross. Residencies are awarded to 100 artists each year. Ten artists are in residence at one time, typically a mix of four visual artists, four writers, and two composers.

The Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists was established in 2018. Two Ucross Fellowships for Native American Visual Artists are awarded each year. Those selected for the fellowship are offered a four-week residency, a stipend of $2,000, and a featured gallery exhibition at Ucross the following year. The current exhibition, MARKING TIME: Heidi Brandow + Luzene Hill, which features the 2019 Ucross Native American Fellows, is on view in the Ucross Art Gallery through March 26, 2021. The exhibition will then travel to the Yellowstone Art Museum to be on view April 8 to June 27, 2021.

Ucross has provided residencies to such distinguished fellows as Annie Proulx, Terry Tempest Williams, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Ricky Ian Gordon, Bill Morrison, Theaster Gates, Anthony Hernandez, and Tayari Jones. Recent National Book Award winners Susan Choi, Sigrid Nunez, and Sarah M. Broom have been residents, as have Academy Award and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Emmy Award winner Billy Porter, recent Pulitzer Prize winners Michael R. Jackson and Colson Whitehead, and current United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.