The View From Here is Megan Driving Hawk’s second solo show as an Eye Lounge member. In this self-curated exhibition Driving Hawk continues to weave together her three creative practices of photography, poetry, and traditional needlework in new ways that reveal unique and relatable experiences of motherhood in the second year.
Each piece is made in ceremony and dedicated to various experiences of moving forward through change, failed moments in artmaking and parenting, moments of pause in the mundane, teachings of the land, healing trauma, celebrating the navel, honoring memory, and conflicting desires of parenthood.
Driving Hawk is an artist, mother, and educator practicing habits of the heart to facilitate connection, healing, and learning. Creatively she researches collective healing, generational trauma, memory, and time. Academically she researches culturally responsive teaching in art and Indigenous education.
Artist Statement
I work like a busy spider,
revealing, sewing, healing,
the unseen wounds and trauma,
moving from maiden to mother,
always in a state of postpartum.
I am a trained photographer but am a practicing interdisciplinary artist using photography, poetry, and traditional needlework. I layer multiple photographic exposures with poetry and often weave them together using beadwork, bookbinding, or textiles.
Time plays an important role in how and when I make art. Each piece starts with a base photograph that I’ve made while on a walk/run/hike/outside with my son. These images become multiple exposures that I pair with poems that are distilled from my journaling practice. Every summer, I decide how the previous year’s work will be bound together.
By sewing together the delicate weavings of life, death, decay, hope, light, darkness, and what gets left behind, I reveal connections to the Divine, ancestors, family, community, and the environment. I heal generational, childhood, and collective traumas as I navigate my journey as a white wife and mother in a Lakȟóta Thiwáhe.
Schedule of Events
Third Friday Opening: August 19, 6-9 pm Celebrate with Driving Hawk as she reveals her second solo show at Eye Lounge!
Opening Weekend: August 20, 1-5 pm & August 21, 11 am-3 pm Join Megan Driving Hawk in the gallery as she continues the celebration of her second solo show at Eye Lounge. She will be available to answer questions about her work and demonstrate some creative components all weekend.
Artist Talk: August 27, 2 pm Listen to Driving Hawk talk in depth about her creative journey and learn more about specific pieces in the exhibition. Bring questions for a Q&A session afterwards.
First Friday: September 2, 6-9 pm Join Megan Driving Hawk at the First Friday reception! Alcoholic beverages can be purchased at Greenwood Brewing just next door.
Visual Art Journaling Workshop: September 3, 2pm ($15) The artist will walk participants through a session of journaling to create poetry which will inspire a visual work of art. All proceeds will be donated to Native Seeds/SEARCH to adopt-a-crop in low supply and help farmers reconnect with traditional crops and share them with their communities. NS/S is a nonprofit seed conservation organization based in Tucson, Arizona.
Artist/Mother Meetup: September 10, 2 pm Are you an artist/mother in the Phoenix Valley and are interested in being in community with other artist/mothers in the area? This meetup is for self-identified womxn who wear/wore the hats of artist and primary/shared caregiver to others in some capacity. This meeting serves to gather the needs and desires of those interested in being in community with one another. The intention of this group is to be a local branch of the Artist/Mother Network. More information will be provided at the meet up.
Artist Instagram Takeover: TBA Join the artist on Instagram for a takeover! She will share behind-the-scenes process reels, images, and stories!