Circle of Empowerment: Education, Language, Culture, Tradition

On view are the 21 winning artworks and 9 winning writing pieces from the 4th Native American Student Artist Competition, which seeks to inspire students to explore the connection between education and Native culture. The winning pieces were selected on the basis of originality, relationship to the theme, creativity, composition, and control of material. This year's theme—Circle of Empowerment: Education, Language, Culture, Tradition—celebrates educational successes in Native Communities. Students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 participated in the competition; they represented 28 states and various American Indian and Alaska Native urban and rural communities.

The competition was held by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Indian Education (OIE), and juried by the National Museum of the American Indian, along with representatives of the OIE.