Munsee

A part of the “Forge House” in Taghkanic, New York

The artist Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) and three other recipients have been awarded $25,000 fellowships from the Forge Project, an initiative launched this year that aims to address disparities around the representation of Indigenous artists. The residencies will take place for various durations in Taghkanic, New York, within a modular home the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei designed in 2006 for the art collector Christopher Tsai.

The initiative was founded by the American philanthropist Becky Gochman in collaboration with the directors Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) and Heather Bruegl (Oneida/Stockbridge-Munsee). It was envisioned as “a point of influence for the broader art world” that will support the creation of a comprehensive collection of Indigenous artworks and educational programmes that aim to prompt dialogue around decolonisation, according to Hopkins.

The project has amassed a collection of more than 100 works by living Indigenous artists, including Nicholas Galanin’s (Tlingit/Unangax̂) Never Forget (2021)—an appropriation of the Hollywood sign with the words Indian Land—and Cannupa Hanska Luger’s mirrored shields (2016) from the Standing Rock protests.

“There are some significant examples of an artist’s practice and contemporary art as a whole in the collection, and from the beginning it’s been intended to be a working collection,” Hopkins says. “It will be loaned, open for research and digitised and available online.”

She adds, “There’s a great imbalance between how works by Native artists are valued versus works by non-Native artists, and many Native artists don’t even have gallery representation. Part of what Forge can do through the collection is try to address that gap in value, make their work more public and give Native artists their due.”

Other recipients of the grant include the architect Chris T. Cornelius (Oneida), the…

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NEW BETHLEHEM – With the help of two area law enforcement agencies, the office of District Judge Jeffrey Miller conducted a warrant roundup on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

According to Miller, the one-day cooperative effort between the New Bethlehem Police Department and the Clarion County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the collection of more than $3,500 in outstanding fines and the arrest of three individuals.

“An arrest warrant is the last resort,” Miller said on Monday, explaining that his office is always willing to work with individuals on their payments if needed. “It happens because people simply don’t respond.”

As part of the roundup, Miller said, summary warrants involving 35 outstanding cases — ranging from traffic citations to bad checks and dog law violations — were served last Wednesday.

There are still remaining warrants to be served, officials noted.

New Bethlehem Police Chief Robert Malnofsky, who originally suggested the operation, emphasized the operation’s value.

“You have to show people that there are consequences if they don’t answer court documents,” he said, noting that the money from outstanding fines is revenue that the county is losing.

“I think it was a success,” he continued. “It’s a win for the district court because they get their warrants cleared, and it’s a win for my department because there’s either going to be a hearing or the fines will be paid.”

Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee agreed, noting that he was involved with a similar operation years ago with the state police, but this was the first such venture between the sheriff’s department and the NBPD.

“I want to give Chief Malnofsky equal credit here [since] it was his idea to do this,” Munsee said. “We agreed that it was a good idea, so it was a partnership between the two organizations.”

Munsee also said that the roundup focused solely on Miller’s jurisdiction, which includes all…

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