Mona Cliff
Ancestry: Grós Ventré / Assinaboine
Based In: Lawrence, KS
Email: jonamane77@gmail.com
Social Media: @spottedcloud / @natives_now
Website: monacliff.com
About the Art
My practice traverses traditional Indigenous knowledge systems. In learning the teachings of the past and applying them to my practice, I aim to explore how Indigenous art/knowledge connects our understanding of our unique place in the universe. I pose questions of how we understand our connections to those which surround us. Continuous cultural evolution is of particular interest to me.
Generational knowledge connects me to my past, helps me find meaning in my presence as I look towards the future. As I create art through these traditional art practices, I feel connected to my ancestors. through meditation, and spiritual material imbuement of my art, this brings me a sense of bringing power back into my own being.
Interweaving these various types of crafts I want to create a new visual language. A language which preserves tradition and creates a discourse that has people question their own preconceptions of Native American art & craft.
About the Artist
Mona Cliff is a multidisciplinary visual artist who explores the subject of contemporary Indigenous identity and culture through her use of traditional Native crafting methods such as seed bead embroidery and fabric applique. Mona has embarked on a new series of regalia which explores the concept of Native futurism. Past/Presence/Future is ongoing work in which Cliff creates new forms of regalia by applying beadwork & sewing applique which are forms that have been a primary foundation of her artist practice.
Mona acquired a B.F.A in Printmaking from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. After graduating Mona pursued beadwork as a way to Re-indigenize her art practice after a European based art education. She learned bead embroidery and sewing from her grandmother and continued creating regalia for ceremonial purposes for the past 20 years. Honoring Native culture, She has continued to work on her art, combining contemporary subject matters with Indigenous methods of crafting. Mona pursues the concepts of generational knowledge while exploring other topics such as Native futurism and identity. Her beadwork is included in the traveling exhibit The World of Frida, exhibited in the U.S for the next 3 years. Her recent work of a beaded QR code was included in an exhibit at the Abrons Art Center in NYC. Mona has recently been awarded and concluded a year-long public art grant through Art Place America and the Lawrence Arts Center in which she focused on community public art. Her public art focused on bringing visibility to Native issues through art and celebrating Native American culture.
Mona Cliff was born in Prescott, AZ and raised partially in Portland, OR. She then lived with her father & brother for 10 years in Eastern Washington. Mona is married and has 3 children ages 10, 11& 13 years old. She currently resides in Lawrence, Kansas. Mona is an enrolled member of the Gros Ventre tribe (A'aninin/Nakota Nations) of Ft. Belknap, MT.
