Raven Halfmoon’s (b. 1991, Caddo Nation; lives and works in Norman, Oklahoma) touring solo exhibition will span both of The Contemporary Austin’s sites with an indoor exhibition at the Jones Center and an outdoor sculpture, Flagbearer, which will be installed at the museum’s Laguna Gloria location in mid-February. Halfmoon’s practice spans torso-scaled and colossal-sized stoneware sculptures, with some soaring up to twelve feet and weighing over eight hundred pounds. With inspirations that span centuries, from ancient Indigenous pottery to Moai statues to Land Art, Halfmoon interrogates the intersection of tradition, history, gender, and personal experience. Born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, Halfmoon learned about ceramics as a teenager from Caddo elders. Her work fuses inherited Caddo pottery techniques, a tradition of making mostly done by women, with her own expressive mark making and contemporary lexicon of symbols. Her surfaces are expressive and show deep finger impressions and dramatic dripping glazes—a physicality that positions her as both maker and matter. Through stacking and repeating imagery, Halfmoon creates totemic forms that represent herself and her maternal ancestry while also reinforcing the multiplicities that exist inside all of us. Growing up in Oklahoma, a state with thirty-seven federally recognized Tribal Nations, Halfmoon reclaims space for herself and her Caddo lineage, asserting an Indigenous presence and resilience through her colossal figures.

Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers will feature a combination of new and recent works, with the artist’s first museum catalogue accompanying the presentation. The exhibition debuted at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (June 25, 2023 – January 7, 2024) and traveled to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (May 18 – September 15, 2024), and is co-curated by Rachel Adams, Chief Curator & Director of Programs, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE) and Amy Smith-Stewart, Chief Curator, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, CT). The Contemporary Austin’s presentation of Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers is organized by Julie Le, Assistant Curator.

About the Artist

Raven Halfmoon (b. 1991, Norman, Oklahoma, where she presently lives and works) is a sculptor and citizen of the Caddo Nation, and Choctaw, Delaware, and Otoe Missouria. Her practice spans human and monumental-scale stoneware sculptures, with some soaring up to twelve feet and weighing over eight hundred pounds. With inspirations that orbit centuries from ancient Indigenous pottery to Moai statues to Land Art, Halfmoon interrogates the intersection of tradition, history, gender, and personal experience. Her surfaces are expressive and show deep finger impressions and dramatic dripping glazes—a physicality that presences her as both maker and matter.

Her work has been featured in numerous in gallery exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and the Montclair Art Museum. In 2023, she was selected as an Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow (Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN), and in 2024, she was a finalist for the international Loewe Craft Prize (Loewe Foundation, Madrid, Spain). Halfmoon holds a double BA in ceramics/painting and cultural anthropology from the University of Arkansas. Halfmoon most recently participated in long-term artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts (Helena, MT) and California State University’s Long Beach Center for Contemporary Ceramics (CSULBC CCC).

Portrait of Raven Halfmoon. Image courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Audio

Listen to artist Raven Halfmoon, an enrolled citizen of the Caddo Nation, speak about her exhibition Flags of Our Mothers, the history of the Caddo Nation, and the symbols from the Caddo people that Halfmoon continues to use in her work.

Acknowledgements

Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers is organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. The exhibition is curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, Chief Curator at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Rachel Adams, Chief Curator and Director of Programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Support of The Aldrich’s presentation of Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers was provided by the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation. Generous support was provided by The Aldrich Council; the Amadeo Family; and Ellen and Andrew Celli. Significant support was provided by Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey; Michel Cohen, Collection Montparnasse; Agnes Gund; Henry Moore Foundation; and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. Additional support was provided by The Cowles Charitable Trust. The catalogue was supported by the Eric Diefenbach and James-Keith Brown Publications Fund; The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation; and Kouri + Corrao Gallery. Production support was provided by the Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey Commissions Fund. Preferred Art Logistics Provider: Crozier Fine Arts.

Support of Bemis Center’s presentation of Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers was generously supported, in part, by: Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund; Mutual of Omaha, Michel Cohen, Collection Montparnasse, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Nebraska Arts Council/Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Omaha Steaks, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts.

The Contemporary Austin’s Exhibition Program is supported in part by Malú Alvarez, Rachel and Jeff Arnold, Bettina and Brian Barrow, Adrienne and Christopher Bosh, Suzanne Deal Booth, Debbie Dupré and Richard Rothberg, Kathleen and Christopher Loughlin, Chris Mattsson, Danielle Nieciag and Brian Sharples, O’Shaughnessy – Rivers Family Fund, Zarmeena Vendal and anonymous donors. Exhibitions and programming are also made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Still Water Foundation, Every Page Foundation, and Stratus Properties.

The Contemporary Austin is supported by the generosity of its Board of Trustees, members and donors, and the citizens of Austin through the City of Austin Economic Development Department, Cultural Arts Division.

Press Release

The Contemporary Austin Announces Spring 2025 Program The Contemporary Austin Presents Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers