The Savannah College of Art & Design is hosting "Countdown," a Rose B. Simpson exhibition, consisting of four imposing figures that peer out of vitrines into the street. These androgynous totems, which are hand-made in clay and laser-cut metal, seem to float weightlessly and see everything. They are emblems of the reality that empowerment is not synonymous with liberation. These ghostly sentinels have immense authority and influence, but little freedom of movement. They are vigils of the progress of others, from their tally of many rising and setting suns to their observance of the lives of passersby. These Simpson sculptures celebrate sovereignty and the supreme power of place.
Simpson was born on the Santa Clara Pueblo reservation in New Mexico, a site where her tribe has dwelled for thousands of years. Throughout her travels and her MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design, Simpson has positioned this native land as the wellspring of her creative force. As an artist descended from a matrilineal line of many generations of ceramicists, she partakes in a tradition in which earth has been literally transformed into art. However, Simpson's work transcends the local by combining indigenous methods with machinated metalwork and a deep engagement with the global contemporary.
Rose B. Simpson's "Countdown" is on view at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, GA, until June 26, 2021.
Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983, Santa Clara Pueblo, NM) has a BFA from the University of New Mexico, an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has enjoyed solo shows in the following public institutions: SCAD Museum of Art, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, NM; Pomona College Museum of Art; and Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Her work is in the permanent collections of: the Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Portland Art Museum; Princeton University Art Museum; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Later this year, Simpson will enjoy solo exhibitions at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and the Nevada Museum of Art. Simpson lives and works on the Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.

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