Manuela Well-Off-Man

Manuela Well-Off-Man


photo Manuela Well-Off-Man

Manuela Well-Off-Man is an art historian and chief curator at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. She has more than 20 years of curatorial experience in museums and galleries. Well-Off-Man previously served as curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and as curator of art at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. She was born and raised in Eastern Westphalia, Germany. She came to Montana to work as an intern for the Art Museum of Missoula in Missoula, Montana and the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, and to extend her knowledge of contemporary Native American art. During her internship at the Art Museum of Missoula she conducted a meeting of Indian artists on the Rocky Boy Reservation when she met her future husband, John Well-Off-Man.

Manuela Well-Off-Man has authored exhibition catalogs, developed, organized and installed art exhibitions. She has a background in international contemporary art shows. In 1999 she curated an exhibition of contemporary American Indian art for the Westphalian State Museum of Natural History in Münster, Germany. She also translated catalogue texts and other texts from German into English for the Museum of Natural History in Münster. She also worked for the youth photo project "Photography, An Image of Each Other" as independent curator, catalogue author, and grant writer.

Manuela Well-Off-Man received a Ph.D. degree in Art History from the Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany in 1997. She graduated from University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany with and M.A. degree in Art History, Archaeology, and Pedagogy in 1994. She earned am Intermediate/B.A. degree in Art History, Archaeology, and Pedagogy at the University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany in 1990.


Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology catalog Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future catalog Art for a New Understanding catalog Action/Abstraction Redefined catalog Connective Tissue exhibition catalog Visual Voices catalog

George Longfish exhibition catalog Reflections After Lewis and Clark exhibition catalog photo catalogue Indian Reality Today photo catalogue

PUBLICATIONS:

  • Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology, content editor, co-author, catalog essays, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 2022
  • Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future, content editor, co-author, catalog essays, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 2020
  • Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950 to Now, co-author, catalog essays, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 2018
  • Action/Abstraction Redefined, content editor, co-author, catalog essays, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, 2018
  • Visual Voices: Contemporary Chickasaw Art, catalog essay, Chickasaw Press, 2018
  • Connective Tissue: New Approaches to Fiber in Contemporary Native Art, content editor and catalog essay, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, 2017
  • A Closer View: Emmi Whitehorse's Outset Launching Progression, in: C Magazine, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 2016
  • Celebrating the American Spirit, Masterworks from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, catalog essays on paintings by Lyonel Feininger, Oscar Bluemner, Charles Demuth, Joseph Stella, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Edward
    Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Romare Bearden, David Smith, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Sheeler, Hudson Hills Press, Manchester, Vermont, 2011
  • George Longfish: A Retrospective, exhibition catalog foreword, MMAC, Missoula, MT, 2007
  • Contemporary Native American Art - Reflections After Lewis & Clark, exhibition catalog text and layout, MMAC, Missoula, MT 2005
  • Interview with Corwin Clairmont, in: Corwin Clairmont. Halfway Between Here and There, exhibition catalog published by The Art Museum of Missoula, Missoula MT 2002, ISBN #0-9720003-9
  • Photogaphy, An Image of Each Other. A Cross Cultural Youth Program, catalogue published by Images on Paper, Missoula, Montana, 2001
  • Indian Reality Today. Contemporary Indian Art of North America, exhibition catalgue, edited by Alfred Hendricks, Westphalian State Museum of Natural History, Münster, Germany, 1999, ISBN #3-932959-12-4
  • Contemporary Native American paintings, in: Magazin für Amerikanistik, Wyk auf Foehr, Germany, edition 4/4 1998 and 1/1 1999
  • Artist biographies and bibliographies, in: "Expresionismo Aleman", Gran Canaria, 1995

    • PUBLIC LECTURES:

  • Arctic Highways Artists Panel, moderator, artist panel discussion with Tomas Colbengtson (Sami) and Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Athabascan/Inupiaq), House of Sweden, Washington DC, 03/04/22
  • In Spite of Modernism: A Conversation with Manuela Well-Off-Man and Esteban Ramon Perez, Zoom panel discussion, Arlington Arts Center, 02/17/22
  • Lloyd Kiva New: Artist, Educator, Visionary, Zoom Webinar, Delaplane Arts Center, 01/14/22
  • Native Stories: Indigenous Arts and People from America and Arabia (QatarAmerica Museum Panel Series), panelist, Qatar Ameria Institute for Culture online panel, 05/25/21
  • Exhibiting Culture, panel moderator, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, 08/21/17
  • Samuel Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention, art talk, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 01/30/16
  • Alfred Maurer: Art on the Edge, art talk, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 10/19/15
  • Masters of Color: Van Goth to Rothko, art talk, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 02/28/15
  • John Ridge: A Portrait of Indian Removal, gallery talk accompanying the exhibition Faces of History: Charles Bird King Portrait of John Ridge, Crystal Bridges Museum of
    American Art, 05/15/14
  • Modernist Styles 101: L'Estaque by Paul Cezanne, Odalisque with a Tambourine by Henri Matisse, and Boy Leading a Horse by Pablo Picasso, art talk accompanying the exhibition The William S. Paley Collection: A
    Taste for Modernism, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 03/20/14
  • The European and Mexican Artists in the Stieglitz Collection , gallery talk for Scholars Symposium on Alfred Stieglitz in conjunction with exhibition The Artists' Eye: Georgia O'Keeffe and the Alfred Stieglitz
    Collection, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 01/14/14
  • This Land , panel discussion accompanying the exhibition This Land: Picturing a Changing America in the 1930s and 1940s (American paintings, photographs, prints from the Great Depression Era), Crystal Bridges
    Museum of American Art, 09/27/13
  • Abstractions on Paper, gallery talk accompanying exhibition featuring paintings, drawings and prints from Abstract Expressionism to Post-Modernism, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 04/20/13
  • Separating Fact from Fiction: 19th and 20th Century Art from the Permanent Collection Representing the West., Wild West conference presentation and panel discussion, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 09/26/12
  • Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur Dove and the Second Stieglitz Circle, Art Night Out presentation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 09/27/12
  • Edward Curtis and the Oklahoma Tribes, gallery talk, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 09/20/12
  • George Longfish - A Retrospective, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT, 09/16/08
  • Abstract Expressionism - Innovation and Traditions, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 05/22/08
  • Nature in Native American Art from the 19th century to the present, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 01/24/08
  • Late Pop Art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 02/15/07
  • Postmodernism in Contemporary Art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 01/04/07
  • Contemporary Native American Art, Montana Art Education Association conference, Lubrecht Forest, Missoula, MT, 10/20/06
  • Art History of Photography, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 10/12/06
  • Lewis & Clark Among the Native Americans, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 05/05/06
  • The Curving Line of the Horizon: Henry Meloy's Landscape, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 08/11/05
  • Profile of a Generous Collector: Gilbert Millikan, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 08/11/05
  • Native American Traditions in Contemporary Native American Art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 06/22/05
  • Representing Identity in Native American Art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 06/08/05
  • Humor in Native American Art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 05/25/05

    • EXHIBITIONS:

  • Indian Reality Today - Contemporary Indian Art of North America (traveling exhibition, catalog, co-curated with Dr. Alfred Hendricks, paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, mixed media works), Westphalian State
    Museum of Natural History, Muenster, Germany and other venues, 09/99 - 04/00

  • Contemporary Prints from the Collection: The 1970 (prints by Warhol, Ruscha, Blake, Caulfield, Motherwell and others), Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT, 05/02 - 07/02
  • George Gogas: A Retrospective(traveling exhibition, catalog, paintings by George Gogas), Montana Museum of Art & Culture, 08/02 - 09/02
  • Henry Meloy - Centennial (paintings by Henry Meloy), 12/02 - 02/03, Montana Museum of Art & Culture
  • Centennial and Bicentennial: Lewis and Clark in Perspective (exhibition, brochure in conjunction with symposium A Confluence of Cultures: Native Americans and the Expedition of Lewis and Clark, paintings, prints,
    photographs, sculptures), 05/03 - 09/03
  • Jeneese Hilton: Yielding Lines(paintings by Blackfeet artist Jeneese Hilton), 09/03 - 11/03
  • Bauhaus Connection (ceramics by Peter Voulkos, Rudy Autio and Frances Senska, brochure), 11/03 - 03/04
  • Henry Meloy: The Female Form (paintings, drawings by Henry Meloy), 04/04 - 05/04
  • Charles Fritz. An Artist With the Corps of Discovery. The Lewis & Clark Journal Suite (traveling exhibit, catalog, paintings by Charles Fritz),05/04 - 09/04
  • Preservation & Conservation: A Documentary. Conservation of Works from the Collection (paintings, prints from the permanent collection),09/04 - 10/04
  • The Best of The West Art Auction Preview (paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, auction catalog), 10/04
  • Lee Nye. Transitions in the Nude: 1955 - 1999 (black and white photographs by Lee Nye, brochure), 11/04 - 01/05
  • Images of Leisure: Works from the Fra Dana Collection (paintings by Alfred Maurer, William Merritt Chase, Joseph Henry Sharp and Fra Dana, memorabilia), 02/05 - 03/05
  • Contemporary Native American Art - Reflections After Lewis & Clark (traveling exhibit, catalog, paintings, prints, photographs sculptures by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Jim Denomie, Lillian Pitt, Duane Slick, Maxx Stevens
    and others), 04/05 - 06/05
  • Millikan Faces, Meloy Places (paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures from the Millikan and Meloy collections), 07/05 - 08/05
  • The Beauty in Her: Paintings by Dirk Lee (paintings and drawings by Dirk Lee), 10/05 - 12/05
  • Creatures from the Permanent Collection (paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures), 11/05 - 12/05
  • David Sally, R.B. Kitaj & Peter Blake (co-curated by Prof. Valerie Hedquist) and Prints of the 1970s from the Permanent Collection, 03/06 - 04/06
  • Landscapes along the Lewis & Clark Trail (paintings and prints from the permanent collection), 05/06 - 08/06
  • Watershed Stories (photographs, in conjunction with the Milltown Dam removal) and
  • Rephotographing Atget: Christopher Rauschenberg (photographs by Christopher Rauschenberg), 09/06 - 10/06
  • Children of the Permanent Collection; Children's Art from the Community (paintings from the permanent collection and artworks by students from Lowell Elementary School), 11/06 - 12/06
  • The Collector's Art (paintings, prints, mixed media works by Warhol, Rauschenberg, Ruscha, Rosenquist and others)
  • 40 Years of Campus Art Awards (paintings, prints, ceramics, mixed media works, sculptures), 01/07 - 03/07
  • George Longfish: A Retrospective (traveling exhibit, catalog, mixed media paintings by George Longfish), 03/07 - 04/07
  • Marilyn Bruya: A Retrospective (paintings by Marilyn Bruya), 04/07 - 06/07
  • Henry Meloy: The Portraits (traveling exhibit, paintings and drawings by Henry Meloy), 07/07 - 09/07
  • Richard Buswell: Traces - Montana's Frontier Re-visited (black and white photographs by Richard Buswell) and
  • Mike Catlin, Butte: The 1970s (black and white photographs by Mike Catlin), 09/07 - 10/07
  • Everyday Objects in Art: Works from the Permanent Collection (sculptures, mixed media objects), 10/07 - 12/07
  • Miracles and Myths: Mapping the World from 1572 to 1921 (historic maps, mapping instruments), 03/08 - 04/08
  • The Poindexter Collection (paintings by Willem deKooning, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline, Richard Diebenkorn and others), 05/08 - 08/08
  • Weaving Cultures: Highlights of the Helen Cappadocia Collection of Southeast Asian Textiles (textiles by Hmong and Thai Lao ethnic groups) and
  • notions: Steven Young Lee (ceramics by Steven Young Lee), 09/08 - 10/08
  • Montana Modernists: Robert DeWeese and His Legacy (paintings, prints and sculptures) and
  • Henry Meloy and His Horses (paintings, drawings and ceramics by Henry Meloy), 11/08 - 12/08

  • Explorer Artists of the 1820s and 1830s (paintings, prints and drawings by Peter Rindisbacher, Karl Bodmer, George Catlin and George Winter), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 11/11-02/12
  • Sharing Our Story: Daily Life in Northwest Arkansas (historic artifacts from the collection of six regional partner museums), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 11/11-01/13
  • Edward Curtis and the Oklahoma Tribes (17 photogravures from Curtis' North American Indians Portfolio), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 08/12-12/12
  • Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) - Naturalist and Landscape Artist (hand-colored aquatints), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 11/12-08/13
  • This Land: Picturing a Changing America in the 1930s and 1940s (45 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs by artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Joe Jones, Marvin Cone,Joseph Vorst, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn,
    Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, Mark Freeman, Irving Lehman, Howard Norton Cook, James Allen), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 08/13-01/14
  • Abstractions on Paper: From Abstract Expressionism to Post-Minimalism (26 drawings and prints on loan from the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 01/13-04/13
  • People and Places (artifacts from the collections of six regional partner museums), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 02/13-01/14
  • Karl Bodmer: Scenes from the 1833/34 Upper-Missouri Expedition(hand-colored aquatints), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,09/13-12/14
  • Linking the Past to the Present: Recent Works by Anita Fields & Tony Tiger (ceramic sculptures, paintings, prints), Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, AR, 11/13-01/14
  • Faces of History: Charles Bird King's Portrait of John Ridge (painting by Charles Bird King, color plate book and lithograph by Thomas Loraine McKenney), co-curated with Aaron Jones, Crystal Bridges Museum of
    American Art, 01/14-12/14
  • Edward Hopper: Journey to Blackwell's Island (paintings and drawings by Edward Hopper), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 01/14-04/14
  • Born of Fire: Ceramic Art from Regional Collections, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 02/14-05/15
  • The European Connection (paintings by American modernists accompanying from the permanent collection accompanying MoMA's exhibition The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism), Crystal Bridges
    Museum of American Art, 03/14-07/14
  • The Alfred Stieglitz Collection (paintings and sculptures from the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, co-owned by Fisk University) , Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 02/14-12/15
  • John James Audubon and the Artist as Naturalist (paintings, drawings, prints, color plate books by John James Audubon, John Woodhouse Audubon, Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, Karl Bodmer, Martin Johnson Heade,
    Fidelia Bridges, Lucia Smith Carpenter Bliss) , Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art incl. loans from the National Gallery of Art, New York Historical Society and Gilcrease Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 09/14-01/15

  • Athena LaTocha: Inside the Forces of Nature (drawings and mixed media paintings), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 01/17-05/17
  • Connective Tissue: New Approaches to Fiber in Contemporary Native Art (paintings, works on paper, weavings, sculptures, installations by Natalie Ball, Kelly Church, Melissa Cody, Velma Kee Craig, Wally Dion, Anita
    Fields, Nicholas Galanin, David Gaussoin, David Hannan, Merritt Johnson, Brian Jungen, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Marlowe Katoney, Amy Malbeuf, Melissa Melero-Moose, Meghann O'Brien, Mark Preston, Marie Watt, Tania Willard), catalog, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 07/17-01/18
  • Action/Abstraction Redefined (Abstract Expressionist, Color Field and Hard-edge paintings, drawings, prints by George Morrison, Fritz Scholder, Lloyd Kiva New, T.C. Cannon, Neil Parsons, Alfred Young Man and others),
    co-curated with Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer and Dr. Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation), traveling exhibition and catalog, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 07/17-07/19
  • Holly Wilson: On Turtle's Back (sculptures), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 08/15/18-01/27/19
  • Expanding Horizons: Darren Vigil Gray (paintings), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts,08/15/18-02/16/19
  • Art for a New Understanding: Native Perspectives, 1950s to Now (paintings, sculptures, installations, videos), national traveling exhibition and catalog, co-curated with Mindy Besaw and Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish),
    organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 01/25/19-07/19/19
  • Dwayne Wilcox: Visual/Language (ledger drawings, paper sculptures), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 02/28/19-05/12/19
  • Reconciliation (installations), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 05/30/19-01/19/20
  • Visual Voices: Contemporary Chickasaw Art (paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs, installations, jewelry, fashion), national traveling exhibition and catalog, co-curated with Karen Whitecotton
    (Potawatomi), AIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 08/16/19-01/19/20
  • G. Peter Jemison: Iroquois Creation Story (paintings, drawings, installation, video), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 11/15/19-03/01/20
  • Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future (paintings, drawings, photography, sculptures, beadwork, installations, videos), co-curated with Suzanne Fricke and Chelsea Herr (Choctaw), catalog, IAIA Museum
    of Contemporary Native Arts, 02/13/20-01/03/21
  • Tom Jones: Strong Unrelenting Spirits (photographs), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 06/04/20-03/28/21
  • Tamara Ann Burgh and Luanne Redeye: FRAMED (sculptures, fiber art, beaded mixed media works), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 06/04/20-01/24/21
  • Michael Namingha: Altered Landscapes (digital photographs mounted on acrylic), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 02/05/21-07/04/21
  • Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology (paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, installations, videos), national traveling exhibition and catalog, co-curated with iBiennale Director Dr. Koan Jeff Baysa; Nuuk Art
    Museum Director Nivi Christensen (Inuit); Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art Chief Curator Satomi Igarashi; Art Gallery of New South Wales Assistant Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Erin Vink (Ngiyampaa), and independent curator Tania Willard (Secwepemc Nation), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 08/20/21-07/10/22


    • COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

  • 01/15: Juror, National Museum of Women in the Arts - Arkansas State Committee
  • 10/14: Juror, Heart of America Artists Association's Illinois River Salon
  • 09/14: Presenter, Faces of History: Charles Bird King's Portrait of Ridge teacher professional development, Crystal Bridges
  • 09/14: Juror, Arkansas League of Artists Annual Art Show, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Little Rock, AR
  • 06/14: Juror, River Valley Invitational Art Show, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, Fort Smith, AR
  • 07/13: Juror, River Valley Invitational Art Show, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, Fort Smith, AR
  • 07/12: Juror, 2012 Juried Art Competition, South Arkansas Arts Center, El Dorado, AR
  • 07/10: Juror, Bountiful Arkansas Art Exhibition, Winthrop Rockefeller Institution, Petit Jean Mountain, AR
  • 06/10: Juror, ArtsFest, Bentonville, AR
  • 04/10-present: Juror, Congressional Art Competition for high school students
  • 08/06 - 08/08: Juror, Art Exhibition, River City Roots Festival, Missoula, MT