Wallpaper I

Jordan Ann Craig's artist book recontextualizes seven influential Indigenous ceramics as patterned prints resembling wallpaper swatches. She uses these patterns to deconstruct personal themes—her Pueblo kinship ties, the experience of moving to New Mexico, and ladybugs. The painting and wallpaper in this installation take inspiration from Craig's book.

The flower motif is taken from a fragment of an Acoma Pueblo parrot pot that Craig studied at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. The pot is an example of what is known to have been a 19th century Pueblo design innovation incorporating a bird depicted with berries inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch textiles. It is fitting that Wallpaper I was conceived during her artist residency in Amsterdam in response to how Indigenous masterworks are often missing or misrepresented in craft manuals referenced by contemporary designers.

Craig's adaptation illustrates what is alive and evolving in Indigenous design and reflects rich cultural exchange through time. By collecting patterns that laid the foundation for her hard-edge painting style, Craig created a book that simultaneously speaks to the gaps in Western art history and fulfills its purpose as a vital artistic source in contemporary art.