The first event of the conference is an exhibition lacrosse game between the Iroquois National Team and Hobart Statesmen at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23 on McCooey Field, recalling the shared history between the two communities, which used to play lacrosse on the Quad.
The Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team represents the only indigenous confederacy in the world participating at an international level in sports. The game will open with a traditional peace blessing offered by film director and artist Peter Jemison with a half-time there performance by Ganondagan's Spirit Dancers. This event is free and open to the public.
G. Peter Jemison is the historic site manager of Ganondagan State Historic Site - the location of a 17th century Seneca town located in Victor, N.Y. - which is identified as a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, he is the representative for the Seneca Nation of Indians on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) as well as an Indian Tribe/Native Hawaiian Representative of the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).
Jemison is an artist, highly regarded for his paintings, videos, and mixed media works on parasols and brown paper bags. His works draw upon the concept of orenda, the traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) belief that every living thing and every part of creation contains a spiritual force. Presenting a challenge to reductive and exclusionary art historical structures, Jemison synthesizes the dual traditions of academic and traditional Native American arts. A member of the Heron Clan of the Seneca Nation, his work is also rooted in the framework of Native American art.
Jemison's contributions to Native American arts and culture extend beyond the objects of his own making - he is also an esteemed administrator, curator, editor and writer. In 2004, he was elected Board Member at Large of the American Association of Museums. He is also widely known as a curator of Native American arts. Jemison's most recent curatorial projects include "Pan-American Exposition Centennial: Images of the American Indian" at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, N.Y., and "Stan Hill: The Spirit Released/A Circle Complete" at the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y.
He is also a leading authority on the subject of Haudenosaunee history. In addition to co-editing Treaty of Canandaigua 1794: 200 Years of Treaty Relations between the Iroquois Confederacy and the United States (Clear Light), he frequently contributes writings on the repatriation of sacred objects, cultural patrimony, and the human remains of the Haudenosaunee to Heritage - the magazine of the New York State Historical Association - and other historical journals.
G. Peter Jemison has exhibited in numerous solo-exhibitions and group shows, and his works are included in such significant collections as The Heard Museum, Phoenix, Ariz.; The Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, N.M.; The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colo.; The British Museum, London; and the Museum der Weltkultern, Frankfurt, Germany.
Jemison was born in Silver Creek, N.Y., in 1945. He received his academic arts education from the University of Sienna in Sienna, Italy, before earning a bachelor's degree in arts education from Buffalo State College in 1967. He also holds an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the University of Buffalo.
Ganondagan's Spirit Dancers
This urban Native American youth/adult dance group was formed in 1995 as a way to teach youth about their culture and traditions. The Spirit Dancers have become ambassadors for Ganondagan. They have performed traditional Iroquois social dances for schools and festivals throughout the area, and have traveled to New Mexico and California sharing their culture through performance.
In 1998, the Young Spirit Dancers (now called 'Spirit Dancers') had the privilege of performing for former First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton and in 2002 for the National Museum of the American Indian's Children's Festival in New York City.
