This two-part exhibition unites, for the first time, the stories of Edmonia Lewis, the first internationally acclaimed Black and Anishinaabe sculptor, and that of her brother, Samuel W. Lewis—a Bozeman-based performer, entrepreneur, and community leader who was central to Edmonia’s success.

The second exhibition installment inaugurates Tinworks’ newly restored Mill Building and centers on Edmonia’s life and work. It includes a major commission by Auriea Harvey who, like Edmonia Lewis, is a Black, Catholic, expatriate artist living in Rome. Harvey’s immersive installation, Edmonia Triumphalis, memorializes an imaginary journey by Lewis to visit her brother in Bozeman, a journey she was never able to make in her lifetime.

The work features a triumphal arch constructed from local rammed earth and a monumental fountain inspired by Lewis’s classical and Baroque influences. Through research-based storytelling and sculptural innovation, Harvey bridges Rome and Montana, illuminating the global networks that underpinned the siblings’ lives. Other artists whose work will be presented, including Sanford Biggers, Andrea Carlson, and Athena LaTocha, likewise consider how ancient traditions from North America, Northern Africa, and the Mediterranean remain vital to the practices of contemporary artists.

Chisel & Razor, Act I will remain on view in the Warehouse Building through October 25, 2026.

In addition to the works on view at Tinworks’ Ida site, Chisel & Razor: Art, Entrepreneurship, and the Lewis Family will be presented at Museum of the Rockies in partnership with Montana State University College of Arts & Architecture. The exhibition, running from October 17, 2026–September 12, 2027, will include original artworks by Edmonia Lewis. This will be the first time Lewis’s sculptures will be displayed in Montana.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Melissa Ragain in collaboration with a group of advisors, including Dr. Tiya Miles, 2011 MacArthur Fellow, author, and Professor of History at Harvard University who also serves on Tinworks’ 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.

Tinworks Art gratefully acknowledges the generous support of VIA Art Fund for the production and exhibition of Edmonia Triumphalis by Auriea Harvey, and the Vilcek Foundation for their support of Sunflowers, to follow the wheat by Agnes Denes, an ongoing ecological intervention in Tinworks’ field. Major program support for Tinworks Art is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Tinworks Founding Director’s Council. Additional support is provided by coal tax revenues allocated to Montana’s Cultural and Aesthetic Projects Trust Fund.