Upcoming Mural Installation by John Hitchcock

Mural in Motion: John Hitchcock and Emily Arthur at the Plains Indian Museum

July 20–25, 2025 | Plains Indian Museum

This July, the Plains Indian Museum welcomes acclaimed artists John Hitchcock (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and Comanche) and Emily Arthur (American) for a live mural installation titled Buffalo, Deer, Bird. Inspired by themes from our upcoming exhibition Buffalo Nation: The History of Our Future, the mural will visually connect the Buffalo Gallery with the People and Land of Many Gifts Gallery—celebrating the enduring relationships between land, people, and buffalo.

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Hitchcock is a renowned muralist, printmaker, and installation artist whose work draws on stories passed down by his Kiowa and Comanche grandparents. His art appears in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Plains Indian Museum. His recent projects include a mural for The Land Carries Our Ancestors at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., curated by the late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.

Emily Arthur, a Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, explores the intersections of people, land, and memory through contemporary printmaking. Her multidisciplinary collaborations span historians, Indigenous scholars, scientists, and poets. Arthur’s work resides in major collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Harvard’s Fine Arts Library, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Autry Museum of the American West.

Don’t miss this opportunity to watch two master artists at work as they create a powerful visual narrative rooted in Native traditions and the living landscapes of the Great Plains.

Artists will be assisted by Andie Almond and FiFi Lipscomb.