Miller Family Museum Free Day

SOLD OUT – a limited number of tickets will be available at the box office.

Enjoy free admission all day in celebration of the special exhibitions special exhibitions Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe and Jeffrey Gibson’s They Come From Fire and To Name An Other. Families and children are invited to storytelling sessions and art making activities with Indigenous educators, Karen Kitchen and Sunshine Guzman, along with an array of presentations, performances and activities planned in collaboration with Future Generations Collaborative, a public health collective impact partnership between Native and Native-serving organizations, institutions, and governments.

Free Day Schedule

11 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Storytelling with Karen Kitchen & Art Making with Sunshine Guzman [Miller]

• 11-11:45 a.m. – Storytelling
• 12-12:45 p.m. – Art Making
• 1-1:45 p.m. – Storytelling
• 2-2:45 p.m. – Art Making

11 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Future Generations Collaborative Activations 

• 11-4 p.m.- Photobooth [Sunken] OHA Vaccines & Foodbox Giveaway (first come, first served) [Courtyard]

• 12-4 p.m. – Beading with Chenoa Landry [Stevens]

• 2-3 p.m. – Poetry/Open Mic with MC Fabian Quenelle, Natural Helper [Sunken]

4 – 5:30 p.m. – Canoe Families Presentation and Closing with 7 Waters Canoe Family and Portland All Nations Canoe Family [Sunken]

Karen Kitchen (Osage Nation) is a Prek-12 educator with over three decades of service in urban Title VI Indian Education programs.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts. at Portland State, her Masters of Arts in Teaching at University of Portland, and her Educational Leadership IAL at Lewis & Clark College. She is a proponent of STEAM engagement and Native Montessori preschools for American Indian and Indigenous youth.  Her TEK collaborations include Roots of Wisdom, Lenses on the Sky, and Celebrate Urban Birds. Karen hosts Multnomah County Library’s Native Story Hour, a program to promote Native authors, illustrators and publishers, and engage children and their families through story and song. Karen enjoys performing tribally-specific songs to inspire and educate Native and non-Native audiences about Indigenous history, contemporary issues, and the diversity and beauty of American Indian music. Karen also enjoys reading, gardening, fishing, kayaking, and traveling.

Sunshine Guzman is an enrolled member of the Ne We people (Shoshone-Bannock). The Ne We are well known for their beadwork. Sunshine attended an all Native University and earned her degree in American Indian Studies. While attending school, she took pottery, drawing, painting and multiple art classes available. Sharing and learning. She also worked teaching beading classes while in college.

Sunshine’s family is culturally connected and participate in tribal activities. She is a mother of two. Her art varies in mediums and strongly influenced by her culture. She enjoys drawing and working with students. She has been working with Native students in the Portland area for the past 10+ years through PPS Indian Education Program. You may have seen her Native stickers around town on backs of cars, but mainly on laptops and cup.

Ohh, and she likes Cats! Sūn Dĕ Hī (Blessing)

The Future Generations Collaborative (FGC) began in 2011 as a public health collective impact partnership between Native and Native-serving organizations, institutions, and governments. Our Mode Leads guide us in four directions of Community Engagement, Education and Technical Assistance, Research and Evaluation, and Policy and Advocacy. Our Elders and Natural Helpers and Community Health Workers give life to our community programming.Together, we address the lasting impacts of FASD. As we’ve grown our work has expanded to address public health issues impacting the Native community with a Culturally Congruent Trauma and Healing Informed approach. We are stronger together.

Annually, 1/3 of all visitors enjoy the Museum for free or receive admission at highly reduced prices.

Since 2008, the Museum’s quarterly Miller Family Free Days have welcomed the community to visit for free and enjoy special exhibitions and programming.

Other options available year-round include free admission for children 17 and under, plus more here: Admission Access Programs

Miller Family Free Days are generously supported by Sharon L. Miller and Family. Museum access programs are generously supported by the Gordon D. Sondland and Katherine J. Durant Foundation, Bank of America, the William H. and Mary L. Bauman Foundation, the Lamb Baldwin Foundation, the Joseph E. Weston Public Foundation of the Oregon Community Foundation, the Pamplin Foundation Endowment for the Arts, Members of the Portland Art Museum, and the Citizens of Portland through the Arts and Education Access Fund.