Chisel & Razor, Act I: The Artistic Legacies of Edmonia & Samuel Lewis
June 19 @ 12:00pm
This two-part exhibition unites, for the first time, the stories of Mary 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 first installation of this two-part show brings together a selection of work, some newly commissioned, that celebrates the life and legacy of Samuel W. Lewis, who served as his sister’s benefactor and support system. Samuel’s life in Bozeman between 1868 and 1896 reveals a West shaped by the ideology of Manifest Destiny. The presence of Black settlers, whose participation in westward expansion has yet to be fully recognized, undermined the racial justifications for appropriating Native land. At the same time, Black settlers shared their neighbors’ aspirations to freedom and social mobility.
Los Angeles-based artist Edgar Arceneaux will present a theatrical reconstruction, co-written with Frank Lawson, of the siblings’ lives developed with local Bozeman actors, encouraging audiences to reflect upon and imagine the lives of these adventurous figures and to consider broader Black histories of the West. After its presentation, the play will be reconfigured into an installation of painting and video, which will remain on view in the Warehouse space at Tinworks. Additional artists whose work will be presented in the Tinworks Warehouse space, including Terry Adkins, Sonya Clark, Maud Sulter, and Nate Young, will explore how the stories we tell about the past shape present realities.
Chisel & Razor, Act II will be presented from October 3, 2026–April 4, 2027.
