Native American Heritage Celebration

Art activities, traditional dancing, stories.

Together with the Montclair Art Museum, the library has planned a celebration of Native American heritage hosted by the new Judy Weston Garden in Watchung Park. Join us for fun art activities, traditional dancing, and captivating stories that showcase Native American history, art, and culture. In addition, the library’s eTuk mobile lending library will be on hand, serving as a hub for children’s story times highlighting Native American themes.

Participating Native American artists are actor/playwright and theater founder Opalanietet Ryan Pierce (Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal nation of New Jersey) and visual artist Renelle White Buffalo (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe).

Watchung Park Native American Heritage

Celebration

Join us for an afternoon of fun, art, and stories exploring Native American history, art, and culture on November 5th, at Judy Weston Garden in Watchung Park, from 1-4:00 pm!

Schedule of Events

• 1:30pm  Montclair Public Library story reading  of Native American-theme books for young children
• 2:00pm  Performance and Land Acknowledgement by Ryan Victor Pierce ”Opalanietet”
• 2:30 pm Montclair Public Library story reading of Native American-theme books for young children
• Ongoing: Family Art Project - Nature Print-making with Renelle White Buffalo and the Montclair Art Museum
• 3:30 pm Montclair Public Library story reading of Native American-theme books for young children
• Plus: the Montclair Public Library bookmobile, “eTuk,” refreshments and more!  

Feel Free to Bring Chairs and Blankets for seating. 

Ryan Victor Pierce or "Opalanietet" is a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal nation of New Jersey.  Upon graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Opalanietet has performed in workshops and productions at such renown New York theatrical institutions as New Dramatists, LaMaMa E.T.C. and New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.  In November of 2020, Opalanietet made history by giving the first-ever Lenape Land Acknowledgement at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. In 2012, Opalanietet founded Eagle Project, a theater company dedicated to exploring the American identity through the performing arts and our Native American heritage, http://www.eagleprojectarts.org. Through his leadership, Eagle Project has collaborated with and performed at the Public Theater, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and Ashtar
Theater in Palestine.  In April of 2020, Eagle Project collaborated with the American Indian Community House of New York City and First Nations Theatre Guild to create Native Theatre Thursdays, a virtual reading series of new Native work. Opalanietet is currently studying for his doctorate in Theatre and Performances Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and has been a teacher of Contemporary Indigenous Theatre and Performance at The New School in New York City.

Renelle White Buffalo (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe) is a visual artist, born and raised in rural South Dakota. She is now based in the New York City Area. Incorporating her Lakota heritage and upbringing, her identity as an indigenous woman, and focus on environmental connection, White Buffalo primarily works with acrylic and collage on canvas as well as printmaking. White Buffalo has exhibited nationally including at K Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY), Southampton Arts Center (Southampton, NY), All My Relations Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), Blue Rain Gallery (Santa Fe, NM) and Self Help Graphics (Los Angeles, CA). White Buffalo has participated in residencies including Jentel Foundation (Sheridan, WY) and Modern Multiples (Los Angeles, CA). White Buffalo has been a guest speaker at St. John’s University, Kupferberg Holocaust Center and Northern State University. White Buffalo holds a BFA in Studio Arts from Iowa State University (2011).

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