Rose B. Simpson

Simpson studied art at the University of New Mexico and the Institute of American Indian Arts, in Santa Fe, where she received her BFA degree in 2007.{{cite web |title=Rose B. Simpson |url=https://www.artisansantafe.com/past-featured-artists-old/rose-b-simpson/ |publisher=Artisan |accessdate=21 June 2019}} She went on to receive an MFA degree in ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011;{{Cite web|title=DUO: Rose B. Simpson {{!}} RISD Alumni|url=https://alumni.risd.edu/news-events/duo-rose-b-simpson|access-date=2020-02-13|website=alumni.risd.edu|archive-date=2020-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213230119/https://alumni.risd.edu/news-events/duo-rose-b-simpson|url-status=dead}} and another MFA degree in creative non-fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2018.{{Cite web|last=Duke|first=Ellie|date=2020-03-09|title=Meet the US Southwest's Art Community: Rose B. Simpson Believes Culture Is for "Conscious Nurturing"|url=https://hyperallergic.com/546316/meet-the-art-community-of-the-us-southwest-rose-b-simpson-believes-culture-is-for-conscious-nurturing/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US}} She is also a graduate of the now defunct automotive science program at Northern New Mexico College in Española, New Mexico.{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfreporter.com/arts/3questions/2016/05/17/3-questions/|title=3 Questions|work=Arc Publishing|access-date=2018-03-24|language=en-US}}

Simpson is a mixed-media artist whose artwork investigates the complex issues of past, present and future aspects of humanity's tenuous survival in our current ecological condition.{{cite news |last1=Duke |first1=Ellie |title=Meet the Art Community of the US Southwest: Rose B. Simpson Believes Culture Is for "Conscious Nurturing" |url=https://hyperallergic.com/546316/meet-the-art-community-of-the-us-southwest-rose-b-simpson-believes-culture-is-for-conscious-nurturing/ |accessdate=10 March 2020 |publisher=Hyperallergic |date=March 9, 2020}} Common themes that appear in her artwork include identity, maternity, and ancestry.

Although Simpson is an indigenous person, she aims to occupy her own space within the art world rather than be confined to expectations of what Native art should be.{{Cite book |last1=Swentzell |first1=Porter |title=Lit: The Work of Rose B. Simpson |last2=Chavez |first2=Yve |publisher=Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian |year=2019 |isbn=978-0997310917 |location=Santa Fe}} Simpson creates art that challenges western hierarchies of fine art by embracing cultural techniques and ideas passed down through her family heritage. She comes from a line of woman ceramic artists who passed their knowledge to her, and she still works alongside her mother, Roxanne Swentzell, and her young daughter when creating her art.Kukielski, Tina. “Rose B. Simpson in ‘Everyday Icons.” 2023. Art21, 13:40. https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s11/rose-b-simpson-in-everyday-icons/ Reflective of this matrilineal knowledge-sharing, femininity and maternity are communicated through her emphasis on creation—her artistic process.{{Cite book |last=Epp Buller |first=Rachel |title=Inappropriate Bodies: Art, Design, and Maternity |publisher=Demeter Press |year=2019 |location=Bradford}} Simpson developed her own signature clay-making technique called “slap-slab,” in which she tears off pieces from very thin slabs of clay and assembles them together while intentionally leaving imperfections visible.{{Cite news |last=Finkel |first=Jori |date=16 June 2022 |title=Rose B. Simpson Thinks in Clay |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/16/arts/design/rose-b-simpson-clay-sculpture.html |access-date=2 May 2024 |work=New York Times}} To her, evidence of process is a deep truth she does not want to conceal, so fingerprints, marks, and painterly brushstrokes are clearly visible in her ceramic works. Her style as an artist is also inspired by the Japanese aesthetic tradition and kintsugi ("golden joinery") which spiritual represents self-love and forgiveness.

Simpson also creates performance art that she calls “transformances” because her intention with them is to transform herself and her audience. In her transformances, she works with other participants to take up space and march in public spaces wearing post-apocalyptic indigenous regalia to cause a transformation of perspective.

In 2021, Simpson opened the large-scale solo exhibition "Countdown," at Savannah College of Art and Design.{{Cite web|title=Rose B. Simpson exhibition: 'Countdown'|url=https://www.scad.edu/event/2021-01-19-rose-b-simpson-exhibition-countdown|access-date=2021-04-12|website=SCAD.edu|language=en}}

In 2019 to 2020, her work was featured in the traveling exhibition, "Hearts of Our People".{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-groundbreaking-exhibition-finally-tells-the-stories-of-native-women-artists|title=A groundbreaking exhibition finally tells the stories of Native women artists|date=2019-10-18|website=PBS NewsHour|language=en-us|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{cite news |last1=Catwhipple |title=Exhibit is first major show of artwork by Native women |url=http://thecirclenews.org/cover-story/exhibit-is-first-major-show-of-artwork-by-native-women/ |accessdate=10 March 2020 |publisher=The Circle: Native American News and Arts |date=June 5, 2019}} Simpson exhibited the sculptural work, Maria, an homage to the San Ildefonso Native American ceramicist, Maria Martinez in which she modified and customized a 1985 Chevy El Camino with San Ildefonso blackware (glossy black on matte black) pottery designs.{{cite news |last1=Keats |first1=Jonathan |title=A Spectacular Exhibit Of Indigenous Women Artists Counters 500 Years Of Exploitation And Ignorance |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/2019/06/10/hearts-of-our-people/#40009f66482d |accessdate=10 March 2020 |work=Forbes |date=June 10, 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Allaire |first1=Christian |title=In "Hearts of Our People," Indigenous Women Reclaim Space Through Art |journal=Vogue |date=June 3, 2019 |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/hearts-of-our-people-native-women-artists-art-exhibit |accessdate=10 March 2020}}

In 2018 to 2019 Simpson had a solo museum retrospective exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe New Mexico, titled LIT: The Work of Rose B. Simpson.{{cite web|title=Exhibitions › LIT: The Work of Rose B. Simpson|url=https://wheelwright.org/exhibitions/lit/|publisher=Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian|accessdate=20 June 2019}} The museum produced a catalog of Simpson's work in conjunction with the exhibition.{{cite book|last1=Swentzell|first1=Porter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6cUyAEACAAJ|title=Lit: The Work of Rose B. Simpson|last2=Chavez|first2=Yve|date=2018|publisher=Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian|isbn=9780997310917|location=Santa Fe, NM|accessdate=10 March 2020}}{{cite news|date=August 24, 2019|title=Rose B. Simpson|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/san-francisco-chronicle/20190824/282531545061465|accessdate=10 March 2020}}

In 2016 she had a solo exhibition, entitled Ground, at the Pomona College Museum of Art, California.{{cite web|title=Rose B. Simpson: Ground|url=https://www.pomona.edu/museum/exhibitions/2016/rose-b-simpson|publisher=Pomona College Museum of Art|accessdate=21 June 2019}}

In this exhibition she acted within the role of artist and curator. She mined the museum's collections to recontextualize historical objects among her own sculptures to "obliterate the western dichotomy of aesthetic versus utilitarian objects to propose an indigenous aesthetic of use and human connectedness'. Her intention in doing so was "to ground oneself is to reconnect physically to the earth, to root, to restore power, to build a strong foundation."

In 2016, her work was included in Con Cariño: Artists Inspired by Lowriders at the New Mexico Museum of Art.{{Cite news|last=Sanchez|first=Casey|title=Auto-body experience: Rose B. Simpson and her El Camino|language=en|work=The Santa Fe New Mexican|url=http://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/auto-body-experience-rose-b-simpson-and-her-el-camino/article_8707be00-c56d-57e4-9e09-8a96df4a81c4.html|access-date=2018-03-24}}

In 2024 to 2025, she has an upcoming solo exhibition, entitled Strata at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Strata will be features in the Ames Family Atrium, and are "25-foot-tall figural sculptures that tower above the heads of visitors" constructed of clay and metalwork.{{cite web |title=Rose B. Simpson: Strata {{!}} Cleveland Museum of Art |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/exhibitions/rose-b-simpson-strata |website=www.clevelandart.org |access-date=21 March 2024}}

In 2014, Simpson created Maria, a modified and customized 1985 Chevrolet El Camino. In many ways, the automobile sculpture is rooted in place. First, it is inspired by her time living in Española, New Mexico, which is considered to be the lowrider capitol of the world. Through its title, Maria also tells a story of the potter Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), who is known for creating the “black-on-black style” which Simpson incorporated on the car's exterior by using matte black paint as the base and glossy black paint for the traditional decorative designs. Finally, her choice of a car as the medium is a reflection of the time she spent studying automotive technology at Northern New Mexico College.{{Cite web |last=Archer |first=Sarah |date=19 June 2018 |title=Power Object: Rose B. Simpson's Maria |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/power-object-rose-b-simpsons-maria |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=American Craft Council |language=en}}

In 2023, Simpson created a site-specific sculpture installation to be shown at the Field Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The sculpture consists of 12 concrete-cast human-like figures that each stand 10 feet tall. The hollow-eyed figures are adorned with ceramic and found objects. Counterculture is a site-specific sculpture because the Field Farm is located on the ancestral homeland of the indigenous Mohican people, who were forcibly displaced by settler colonialism.{{Cite web |last=Joyce |first=Erin |date=24 March 2024 |title=Rose B. Simpson's Antidote to Postcolonial Stress Disorder |url=https://hyperallergic.com/879425/rose-b-simpsons-antidote-to-postcolonial-stress-disorder/ |access-date=2 May 2024 |website=Hyperallergic}} Simpson created this series of beings to represent ancestors who act as witnesses to the landscape and its history. They also stand as a way of remembering the indigenous people who once inhabited the land.

{{div col}}

• Clay Art Center, Port Chester, New York
• Cleveland Museum of Art{{cite web |title=Heights III | website=Cleveland Museum of Art|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.49 | access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Denver Art Museum{{cite web|title=Rose Simpson, "Nurturer"|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/object/2014.222|website=Online Collections|publisher=Denver Art Museum|accessdate=21 June 2019}}{{cite web|title=Rose B. Simpson, "Warrior"|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/object/2014.221A-E|website=Online Collections|publisher=Denver Art Museum|accessdate=21 June 2019}}{{cite web|title=Rose B. Simpson, "Explorer"|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/object/2014.223|website=Online Collections|publisher=Denver Art Museum|accessdate=21 June 2019}}
• Hood Museum of Art{{cite web |title=Heights I| website=Hood Museum of Art|url=https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/objects/2023.8| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston{{cite web |title=Countdown III - ICA Boston| website=Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston|url=https://www.icaboston.org/art/rose-b-simpson/countdown-iii/| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Metropolitan Museum of Art{{cite web |title=Release| website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/897893| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston{{cite web |title=Reclamation II (2019-330)| website=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/698190/maria?ctx=b680ca49-321a-4c08-bf58-607afbc1bb71| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Museum of Modern Art{{cite web |title=Rose B. Simpson. Maria. 2021| website=Museum of Modern Art|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/469895| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Portland Art Museum{{cite web |title=Rose B. Simpson |url=http://portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=19027;type=701 |website=Online Collections |publisher=Portland Art Museum |accessdate=21 June 2019}}
• Princeton University Art Museum{{cite web |title=Reclamation II (2019-330)| website=Princeton University Art Museum|url=https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/135975| access-date=4 January 2025}}{{cite web |title=Heights I (2023-230)| website=Princeton University Art Museum|url=https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/141586| access-date=4 January 2025}}
• Peabody Essex Museum
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art{{Cite web|title=Simpson, Rose B. · SFMOMA|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Rose_B_Simpson/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}}
• Whitney Museum of American Art{{cite web |title=Counterculture| website=Whitney Museum of American Art|url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/67491| access-date=4 January 2025}}

{{div col end}}

• 2021 – Joan Mitchell Fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation{{Cite web|title=Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Inaugural Fellows|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/joan-mitchell-foundation-announces-inaugural-fellows-86915|access-date=2021-11-19|website=www.artforum.com|date=13 October 2021 |language=en-US}}
• 2021 – Production and Exhibition Grant, Via Art Fund, Boston, MA{{Cite web|title=VIA Art Fund {{!}} Rose B. Simpson: Title TBD|url=http://viaartfund.org/grants/rose-b-simpson/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=VIA Art Fund|language=en-US}}
• 2021 – Residency, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA{{Cite web|title=FWM Announces 2021-2022 Cohort of Artists-in-Residence|url=https://fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/pressreleases/fwm-announces-2021-2022-cohort-of-artists-in-residence/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=The Fabric Workshop and Museum|language=en-US}}
• 2021 – Residency, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM{{Cite web|title=Rose B. Simpson {{!}} Tamarind Institute|url=https://tamarind.unm.edu/artist/rose-b-simpson/|access-date=2021-04-12|language=en-US}}
• 2020 – Residency, Anderson Ranch Arts Residency, Snowmass, CO{{Cite web|date=2020-02-03|title=Visiting Artist: Rose B. Simpson|url=https://www.andersonranch.org/blog/visiting-artist-rose-b-simpson/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=Anderson Ranch Arts Center|language=en}}
• 2020 – President's Award for Art and Activism, Women's Caucus for Art, Chicago, IL{{Cite web|last=admin|date=2018-09-19|title=Awards {{!}} Women's Caucus for Art|url=https://nationalwca.org/awards/|access-date=2021-04-12|language=en-US}}
• 2017 – Fellowship from the National Parks Foundation for a residency at Aztec Ruins National Monument{{cite news |last1=Wainright |first1=Cecilia |title=Santa Clara Artist Rose B. Simpson, Revives Ancient Arts With Contemporary Context |url=https://www.jemezpost.com/2017/08/18/santa-clara-artist-rose-b-simpson-revives-ancient-arts-with-contemporary-context/ |accessdate=10 March 2020 |publisher=Jemez Post |archive-date=29 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429061606/https://www.jemezpost.com/2017/08/18/santa-clara-artist-rose-b-simpson-revives-ancient-arts-with-contemporary-context/ |url-status=dead }}
• 2013 – National Artist Fellowship, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation{{cite web|title=Rose Simpson: 2013 National Artist Fellowship|date=5 December 2012 |url=https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/rose-simpson|publisher=Native Arts & Cultures Foundation|accessdate=21 June 2019}}

Simpson comes from a long line of Santa Clara Pueblo ceramic artists, including her mother Roxanne Swentzell,{{Cite web|date=2020-06-17|title=My Mother, The Builder|url=https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/my-mother-the-builder-rose-simpson-roxanne-swentzell/|access-date=2021-04-12|website=www.newmexico.org|language=en-us}} her grandmother Rina Swentzell,{{Cite news |last=Chaisson |first=Caitlin |date=2022-09-20 |title=Rose B. Simpson's Kinship in Clay |url=https://www.frieze.com/article/rose-b-simpson-legacies-2022-review |access-date=2024-05-14 |work=Frieze |language=en |issue=231 |issn=0962-0672}} her great-aunt Nora Naranjo-Morse, her great-grandmother Rose Naranjo and her great-uncle Michael Naranjo.{{cite journal |last1=Simpson |first1=Rose B. |title=FOUND(ATION) |journal=New Mexico Magazine |date=November 2018 |url=https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/rose-b-simpson/ |accessdate=21 June 2019}} Her father is the sculptor, Patrick Simpson.{{cite news |last1=Diaz |first1=RoseMary |title=Art Characters |url=https://www.taosnews.com/stories/art-characters,45190 |accessdate=10 March 2020 |publisher=Taos News |date=December 26, 2017}}

For a number of years, Simpson was the lead singer in the Native American punk band, Chocolate Helicopter.{{cite journal |last1=Montiel |first1=Anna |title=Rose Bean Simpson: Pueblo Multimedia Artist challenges the viewer to think differently about gender, ethnicity and culture |journal=National Museum of the American Indian Magazine |date=Fall 2009 |pages=14–19 |url=https://brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/ceramics09/files/9760327.pdf |accessdate=10 March 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=Rob |title=Santa Fe: Its 400th Year : Exploring the Past, Defining the Future |date=2010 |publisher=Sunstone Press |isbn=9780865347953 |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDyKm73co20C&q=Rose+B.+Simpson&pg=PA228 |accessdate=10 March 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Walsh |first1=Candice |last2=Diaz |first2=Rosemary |title=Native Innovators: A look at some of New Mexico's 'It Artists' |journal=New Mexico Magazine |date=12 September 2012 |url=https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/native-innovators-77139/ |accessdate=10 March 2020}} She also played in the hip-hop band, Garbage Pail Kidz.{{cite news |last1=Weideman |first1=Paul |title=Rose B. Simpson: Get back you dominant paradigms! |url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/pasatiempo/20100101/281775625275116 |accessdate=10 March 2020 |publisher=Pasatiempo Magazine (New Mexican newspaper weekly arts mag) |date=January 1, 2010}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Rose B.}}

Category:1983 births

Category:Artists from New Mexico

Category:Institute of American Indian Arts alumni

Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Santa Clara Pueblo people

Category:20th-century American artists

Category:20th-century Native American artists

Category:21st-century American artists

Category:21st-century Native American artists

Category:21st-century American women artists

Category:20th-century Native American women

Category:21st-century Native American women

Category:Native American women artists

Category:Native American ceramists