Current & UPCOMING Projects
:: PUBLIC ART PROJECT :: Overburden / Overlook :: northeastern Minnesota :: July 2022 :: Overburden / Overlook is a multi-year project surfacing stories of women, work and water in an area of northeastern Minnesota known to some as the Iron Range. The final piece of this project is a new sculpture and public art tour. This mobile “mineview” or “overlook” was created to raise the visibility of overlooked stories of women water protectors and others who stand in opposition to resource extraction, including oil infrastructure and dangerous new mining projects. This sculpture will tour Aitkin and Itasca Counties in northeastern Minnesota on July 8th, stopping at sites associated with the movement to Stop the Line 3 oil pipeline for storytelling and community art activities. For more information about the tour, or to sign-up: https://shanai.work/overburdenoverlook
:: EXHIBITION :: Water Language at Cibrián Gallery :: San Sebastian, Spain :: May 13th - July 16th, 2022 :: The exhibition Water Language brings together new works by American artists Shanai Haana Matteson (b. 1982) and Oscar Tuazon (b. 1975). The two artists have a long-term engagement in their respective approaches with collaborative work and issues regarding water equity, climate resilience and social justice. Read more or view images from the exhibition, which includes several textile pieces and photographs I created in response to the Line 3 oil pipeline and movement to stop it: https://cibriangallery.com/expos/water_language/
Past WorkS
:: RESEARCH :: A Ship’s First Shape :: Spring 2020 :: In spring of 2020 I joined new collaborators Mae Davenport ( Center for Changing Landscapes) and Zak Sally (La Mano) on a research residency project through the Weisman Art Museum’s Collaboration Incubator. As part of this project, I followed Mae in her efforts to convene an emergent network of women who work with and around water and climate science, finding creative ways to listen and document their personal stories. In parallel to this, Zak Sally and I worked together to develop new ways of using posters, zines, and other popular print media to amplify and activate those stories in efforts to shape change in cultural landscapes. The project was meant to culminate in an exhibition and related activities at the Weisman’s Target Studio May 11th - June 16th, 2020, but this was canceled because of COVID.
:: EXHIBITION :: Mine / Not Mine :: Lyric Center for the Arts :: Virginia, MN :: October 2022 :: This exhibition of new visual artwork created as part of the Overburden / Overlook project included textiles, prints, and videos created in conversation and collaborations with Iron Range communities over the past several years. As part of this exhibition I also organized several gallery talks at the Lyric and online, in an effort to celebrate the land-based artworks and stories of women who live or have roots in the region.
:: RESEARCH PROJECT :: Overburden / Overlook :: 2016 - ongoing :: I am co-leading a new public art and narrative project called Overburden / Overlook with social science researcher Roopali Phadke and a network of women and organizations from across Minnesota’s Iron Range. This multi-phase creative project emerged a National Science Foundation research study on Mining Futures led by Phadke. I was invited to participate in this research as an artist with roots in northeastern Minnesota. The resulting collaboration has led to published scientific research, a community-focused public art pop-up, and multiple smaller art projects and collaborations. It will culminate in 2020-21 with an exhibition of my visual artwork, a public art piece and tour, as well as related literary work documenting and sharing he life and stories we’ve encountered along the way.
:: COLLABORATIVE ART / CULTURAL ORGANIZING :: Water Bar & Public Studio :: 2014 - Ongoing :: I’m one of the founding artists and Collaborative Directors of Water Bar & Public Studio. Water Bar began as a pop-up public art project in 2014. It has evolved into a public benefit corporation led by artists. We operate an art and community space that features the nation’s first tap-water only bar. We also nourish an emergent network of artists and others who serve water through arts and culture, providing creative products, services, and consulting to others who want to integrate socially-engaged art and cultural organizing into their water and climate change work. We serve water to build relationships that transform culture. Visit our website for more info >
:: RESEARCH PROJECT / CULTURAL ORGANIZING :: Ways of Knowing Water Research Collaborative :: 2019 - Ongoing :: I’m one of the Co-Conveners of this research collaborative of artists, scientists, activists, and healers with Weisman Art Museum, the University of Minnesota Institute on Environment, and Water & Public Studio. Read more on the Weisman Art Museum’s website >>>
:: CULTURAL ORGANIZING :: Dirt Party :: 2018 - Ongoing :: I am one of the neighbors co-creating this wild-built garden and community gathering space in Northeast Minneapolis, where we are growing food and community, in an effort to deepen our relationships with place, ecology, and practices of collective care. This is a completely de-centralized and non-hierarchical organizing project. You can connect with us here or by visiting on Wednesday evenings during the growing season.
:: PUBLIC ART / CULTURAL ORGANIZING :: Water Bar at the Minnesota State Fair :: 2017 - 2019 :: For three years in a row I helped to create a tap water bar with a statewide network of government and community partners at the Minnesota State Fair. In 12 days, we serve water and water stories from diverse communities across the State of Minnesota to over 22,000 State Fair visitors. Visit the State Fair page for this project >>
:: POP-UP WORKSHOP :: FELT HERE :: Summer 2019 :: A pop-up workshop space I created to surface stories of women, work, and water in communities across Minnesota’s Iron Range. This project emerged from my collaboration with researcher Roopali Phadke, and is part of the larger Overburden / Overlook project we are pursuing together. FELT HERE was a partnership with local artists and organizations, including the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability, and was funded through a Rural Art Project Grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC). You can see full project details here >>
Blue Star Ice Company (2016) was a collaborative exhibition project created by my collective, Works Progress Studio, at Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio, TX. We worked with local environmental justice organizers from the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center to create a series of installations highlighting their fight to stop the Vista Ridge Pipeline. Read more about the project or read an interview with our collaborator Gianna Rendon.
Water Bar (2014) at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas, was our first Water Bar museum installation, and part of the survey show State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now. We worked with local watershed organization IRWP to hire the very first group of “Water Tenders,” who worked to supply and staff the bar, carrying water and water stories from nearby communities to visitors from across the country. Read a reflection I wrote on this exhibition.