CCS BARD

As part of a series co-presented by Forge Project and CCS Bard—interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker Monique Tyndall (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans Citizen,Omaha & Muskogee-Creek, Lynx Clan (maternal) & Elk Clan (paternal)) will talk about her work and artistic practice.

Monique Tyndall is a third generation artist with a foundation in Indigenous arts influenced by her family’s unbroken loyalty to their ancestral nations, The Mohican and Munsee-Lenape known today as the Federally Recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans. Her work illuminates the lived intergenerational experiences of her lineage spanning from service in the Revolutionary War, removal from ancestral lands in the Hudson River Valley and Western Massachusetts, the complexities of reservation life in Wisconsin as a community dispossessed from their ancestral lands.

Tyndall’s work interrogates the human experience under Federal Indian Policy through the eyes of the dispossessed and landless with the intention of providing an authentic representation of Mohican and Munsee-Lenape peoples while visioning a sustainable future for Turtle Island. Her arts instruction commenced at age 5 from her late grandmother Evelyn Bowman (1927-2012) in fashion design, with a focus in traditional and contemporary Mohican and Munsee-Lenape aesthetics. Receiving her Bachelors of Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2007, Tyndall has continued her research of Mohican and Munsee-Lenape artists and writings on the intersectionality of family history and cultural expression while attending Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland where she received her Masters in Cultural Sustainability and the Rory Turner Award. In 2018 Tyndall received an apprenticeship through the Wisconsin Arts Board Folk and Traditional Arts Program, resulting in the Restringing the Bundle Series (2010 - Present) which focuses on the intersectionality of dispossession, history, clanship, and reclamation of Mohican and Lenape aesthetics. Pieces from her series have been featured in exhibits at the Albany Institute for Art and History and the New York State Phillipse Manor Hall in Yonkers.

Her recent work “Aanãakoomãacheek” draws from historic writings, language revitalization, and family photographs. Through the support of MASS MoCA and the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, "Aanãakoomãacheek,” is on view at The River Street Billboard Project through December 31, 2025.

In television and film, Tyndall has appeared in New Red Order’s “Forge Reciprocal Relations” (2024). She is a recipient of a Chicago Emmy Award for her production role on PBS-WI Education’s Electa Quinney: Mohican Teacher and Mentor (2024). Her contributions to PBS national programming include WBH Kids’ Molly of Denali Season 5 Episode 1, “Big Gust to a River Rush” (2025) where she served as a story advisor and live action producer; and The American Revolution(2025) as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community advisor to the production and research team.

This event is part of ongoing programming co-presented by Forge Project and CCS Bard and is organized by Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Executive Director & Chief Curator, Forge Project, and Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies, CCS Bard.

Forge Project Talks

Forge Project Talks are part of a set of broader initiatives at Bard College that seek to place Native American and Indigenous Studies at the heart of curricular innovation, which includes programming organized by the Center for Indigenous Studies and the Rethinking Place initiative.

These programs are made possible by the Forge Endowed Fund for Indigenous Studies at Bard College, generously supported by the Gochman Family Foundation along with George Soros and the Open Society Foundations.

Accessibility for Public Programs

American Sign Language Interpretation
ASL-English interpretation is available for public programs upon request with two weeks advance notice. To place a request, please contact CCSVisits@bard.edu. Relay and voice calls welcome.

Verbal Description
Verbal description is available for public programs upon request with two weeks advance notice. To place a request, please contact CCSVisits@bard.edu. Relay and voice calls welcome.

Captioning
When public programs are held over Zoom, live transcription is available.