Jemison, now five decades into a legendary career, has had his work collected by museums throughout the country, including the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Later this month, he will travel to Paris to showcase his work at The Musée du Quai Branly.
Aaron Ott, the AKG’s curator of public art, said the partnership with Jemison sets a high bar for future collaborations between the Sabres and the AKG.
“Bringing in somebody who is so deeply respected in the Seneca community and the Indigenous community like Peter Jemison to be the first collaboration between these institutions shows that these organizations can bring together the very best that our region has to offer,” Ott said.
Jemison’s design features a tumpline draped over the Sabres crest. Jemison describes the tumpline – a strap used to carry heavy loads – as an advanced art form stemming from Seneca culture.
A functional item by nature, tumplines were given artistic quality through a painstaking, meticulous weaving process that utilized dyed moose hair to form a colored pattern on the item’s exterior. Jemison described the process as weaving with dental floss, but without the aid of modern lightning.
“The tumpline signifies a high degree of artistic ability and imagination that has been carried out with materials that are not common materials,” Jemison said. “I just see it as a very highly evolved art form.”
The tumpline on Jemison’s design includes the black, red, gray, and white from the Sabres’ alternate logo. The pattern is intentionally asymmetrical.
“In the history of art, it’s as though the idea of abstraction came from Europe,” Jemison. “But in fact, abstract design was here, is a native design from the very beginning. I want to stress that – that our people have always worked with both geometry and natural forms in the art that we’ve created.”
Once confined mostly to private collections, multiple centuries-old tumplines are now on display at the Seneca Art & Culture Center at Ganondagan State Historic Site, for which Jemison worked as historic site manager. Find out more about Ganondagan here.
