Students from Catherine Puranananda’s LAHS AP English Literature and Composition class visited the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, focusing on the current “Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country” exhibition. Photo Courtesy LAPS

Hailey Duran, a member of both Tesuque and Nambe pueblos and president of Los Alamos High School’s Native American Culture Club, served as an impromptu guide for the group, explaining crucial elements of the culture depicted in the artwork. Photo Courtesy LAPS

AP English Literature and Composition student Sara Khan studies one of the paintings/Photo Courtesy LAPS

Students from Los Alamos High School’s AP English Literature and Composition class recently visited the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe where they had the opportunity to
analyze contemporary Tewa art.

Following a comprehensive tour of the O’Keeffe galleries, which included a lecture about her life and the development of her artistic style students focused on the current “Tewa
Nangeh/Tewa Country” exhibition. The exhibition asks that viewers consider the widely known moniker of Northern New Mexico as “O’Keeffe Country” in contrast to the reality that our land has been home to the Tewa people for millennia, noted Catherine Puranananda, AP
English Literature and Composition teacher.

Over the course of the school year, students in Ms. Puranananda’s class discussed voice and the relationship between identity, narrative and power. Classmate Hailey Duran, a member of both Tesuque and Nambe pueblos and president of Los Alamos High School’s Native American Culture Club, served as an impromptu guide for the group, explaining crucial elements of the culture depicted in the artwork.

Student Irina Maiorov felt the visit allowed her to “see the relationship between Tewa art and O’Keeffe’s landscape work” and “highlighted the importance of remembering New Mexico’s ancestry.” Student Olivia Hamilton noted that she was “left with the idea that feelings and emotions can be portrayed in many ways, while not always understood by others – that is the beauty of abstract work”.