Elisa Harkins, Teach Me A Song at Crisp-Ellert Art Museum

Overview

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum and Flagler College are pleased to present video, sculpture, and photography from the ongoing body of work Teach Me a Song by Tulsa-based artist and composer Elisa Harkins (Cherokee/Muscogee).

In 2019 Harkins (Cherokee/Muscogee) began the project Teach Me a Song that draws on her long-time interest in translation and language preservation. At the heart of the exhibition is a video that threads together a series of nine intertribal song exchanges that traverse musical genres. Harkins’ introduces viewers to songs – ceremonial, religious, country, rock & roll or electronica – that are imbued with both personal and cultural import. In addition to documenting the songs via the recording and video, Harkins also transcribes and translates each song into sheet music. These will be exhibited alongside a photograph of each performer and a handmade shawl that captures the spirits of the performers and the songs themselves.

The songs included in the exhibition are: American Indian Movement (AIM) Song by Louis Gray (Osage); Dakota Prayer Song by Eli Hirtle (Nêhiyah (Cree), British and German); Thunderhawks Cry Too Thunderhawks Cry Too by Cheyenne Rain LeGrande (Nehiyah Isko); Mekusape Fullana by Alice Sweat, Emma Fish, Vtvssv Lavatta, Jewel Lavatta, Reina Micco, and Rita Gopher (Seminole); We Live in the Woods by Agalisiga “Chuj” Mackey (Cherokee); Spotted Bird by Kayln Fay (Cherokee); Grandmother’s Song by The White Buffalo Singers (Blackfoot); Hold Her Pillow Tight by Marilyn Contois (Anishinaabe); and Greasewood Song by Travis Mammedaty (Kiowa/Seneca-Cayuga).

The museum is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 48 Sevilla St., St. Augustine. 904-826-8530 www.flagler.edu/ceam