Edmonia Lewis, The Wooing of Hiawatha, 1866. Courtesy of SCAD
Symposium Overview
The Chisel & Razor exhibition and symposium is part of a citywide collaboration among the Montana State University (MSU) College of Arts & Architecture, Museum of the Rockies, and Tinworks Art.
This symposium examines creativity and migration among Black and Afro-Indigenous artists, designers, and performers from 1850-1900, exploring how they sought freedom and opportunity beyond U.S. boundaries.
The event features keynote speaker and cultural historian Dr. Jennifer DeVere Brody and will be moderated by art historian and award-winning author Dr. Tiya Miles.
Join them to compare the experiences of westward migrating “Exodusters” with expatriate artists who built careers abroad, emphasizing the interconnected cultural production across America's geographical and conceptual edges. This symposium is supported by a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
About the Exhibition
Chisel & Razor, Act III: Art, Entrepreneurship, and the Lewis Family
Oct 17, 2026 - Sept 12, 2027
Museum of the Rockies
Open daily, 9am–5pm
Included with MOR membership/admission
Featuring original artworks by Edmonia Lewis and historical artifacts related to both Lewis siblings, the exhibition tracks the parallel movement of Black migrants to the American West and abroad in the 1860s, with a special focus on entrepreneurship and creativity.
An exhibition copy of Edmonia Lewis’s centennial sculpture The Death of Cleopatra, created in collaboration with faculty and students at Montana Technological University, demonstrates how the cultural pursuits of Black settlers and territorial Montanans supported shared goals of full citizenship and national belonging for those living on America’s geographic and social margins.
This will be the first time Lewis’s sculptures will be displayed in Montana.
The exhibition is supported by the Dean’s Excellence Fund and curated by MSU's Dr. Melissa Ragain and Dr. Regina Gee in collaboration with a group of students and advisors, including Dr. Tiya Miles, 2011 MacArthur Fellow, author, and Professor of History at Harvard University who also serves on Tinworks Art’s Board of Directors; MSU Professor of Native American Studies Dr. Anita Moore-Nall; Montana-based filmmaker Nnamdi Kanaga; MSU professor in Sociology & Anthropology Dr. Jelani Mahiri; Montana-based artist Emily Gonzales; Montana-based writer Dr. Betsy Quammen; and Montana-based writer Dr. Anthony W. Wood.
