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Through Our Own Eyes: A Native American Youth Art Exhibition

Through Our Own Eyes is a temporary exhibit that features paintings by Native American students from Owyhee Combined School, located in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, Owyhee, Nevada.

The Duck Valley Indian Reservation is in both Nevada and Idaho, and is occupied by descendants of the Western Shoshone and Northern Paiute tribes. “Through Our Own Eyes:  A Native American Youth Art Exhibition” runs annually from July 1 thru October. This year’s exhibit includes 31 paintings by Owyhee junior high and high school students.

“The exhibit allows students to present their artwork in a gallery setting, and shown to the world. The title of the exhibit is, ‘Through Our Own Eyes,’ because students see the world around them differently than you and I,” said Kit Julianto, art teacher at Owyhee. “In this exhibit, students were able to express what they were feeling.”

Julianto worked closely with California Trail Interpretive Center staff to create the exhibit.

“There is a tremendous amount of talent and creativity at Owyhee Combined School,” said Supervisory Park Ranger Alex Rose. “The exhibit includes many provocative artist statements. The paintings, combined with the statements, allow the artists the opportunity to interpret their culture, experiences and insights through both paint and words.”

Paintings are sold in the Trail Center’s gift shop with 100% of the sale price going directly back to the artists. The exhibit is organized through the Southern Nevada Conservancy, a Trail Center partner.