Phoebe Farris papers

Born in 1952, Phoebe Farris established herself as a well-known artist, a professor, a licensed CCR/DUNS art curator/dealer, a registered art therapist, a documentary photographer, an author, and an editor. Under these plethora of roles, she explored issues relating to race, gender, indigenous sovereignty, Native American Studies, peace, social justice, and the environment.

Born into a family deeply involved in literary and visual art, Farris received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the City College of the City University of New York in 1974, a Master’s degree in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute, New York, in 1977, and a Doctorate in Art Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1988. She proudly identified herself as a part of the Powhatan-Renape/Pamunkey, a Native American tribe, and was forthcoming in dealing with national/international indigenous rights issues.

Seeking out and pursuing areas for which she had great passion, Farris was able to set an exciting and enviable career path for herself. She embarked on her career as a painter/printmaker but soon took interest in photography. In addition to photographing structures of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans, Farris turned to photography as a means of documenting and sharing stories of cultural survival and contemporary cultural expression.

Phoebe Farris played an active role in many art shows and exhibitions. She was one amongst thirty-nine artists whose works are featured in the traveling exhibition The Map Is Not The Territory, Parallel Paths: Palestinians, Native Americans, Irish. Apart from the many exhibitions she had been a part of, she also wrote and reviewed many publications related to topics encompassing Art Education, Cultural Research, Native American, African American and Latin American heritage. Two significant publications of hers are Voices of Color: Art and Society in the Americas and Women Artists of Color: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook to 20th Century Artists in the Americas and these evoke amongst the readers, the understanding of the relationship between social activism and the arts.

Phoebe Farris was a professor of art design and women’s studies at Purdue University for twenty-two years. She considered this period of her career as the peak of her professional endeavors. As a professor, she was able to travel to different countries, and collaborate on projects with individuals who shared the same interests. Moreover, Farris consulted for the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian Art and taught at the Corcoran School of Arts.