Justin Beatty
ArtsHub of Western Mass DEI Consultant Justin Beatty works as a visual artist, cultural educator, Native American intertribal powwow singer, and powwow emcee. As a visual artist Justin is a recipient of the Valley Creates / Assets4Artist Capital Building Mini-Grant and is a member of the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance's inaugural New England Native Arts Entrepreneurial Cohort. In November of 2021, Justin curated the dual exhibits “November Red” in the gallery at the Paper City Clothing Company in Holyoke, MA & “SKY: Native Art Exhibit” at the 50 Arrow Gallery in the Eastworks building in Easthampton, MA. He is the founder of the Odenong Powwow. Justin also created the 5-College Native American & Indigenous Alumni & Community Network and sits on the Board of Directors for the Social Distance Powwow. He works with various Native American communities & artists throughout New England while focusing on raising the visibility of Native American & Indigenous artists in Western Massachusetts.
Justin Beatty is a multi-disciplinary artist of Native American (Ojibwe, Saponi) & African-American descent. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts with a concentration in Indigenous Policy, Culture, & Art, a self-created interdisciplinary curriculum through the University Without Walls degree program. As a visual artist, Justin's work includes digital art which he then prints onto canvas and museum-grade canvas paper, sculpting, drawing (pen & ink, marker, charcoal, pastels, and pencil), painting, & clothing. His current focus in visual art is primarily dedicated to taking a deeper look into the cultural, political, spiritual, and social issues affecting current Native American & First Nations people. Frequently alternating between challenging the stereotypes of Indigenous people as relics of the past and creating new images around traditional symbology, his work explores the tropes, misconceptions, and erroneous beliefs the general public often carries about Indigenous people in North America & the Caribbean.
