Too many people think only of “beads and feathers” when they hear the term Native American art, says Merritt Johnson, a multi-disciplinary artist of Mohawk and Blackfoot descent. But her sculptures, paintings and performance art go well beyond that. Johnson was one of nine Native American artists featured in an exhibition called “Cross Currents,” which debuted this spring at Metropolitan State University of Denver and will soon travel to Durango, Colorado.

Cecily Cullen is the show’s curator. She said she chose the artists because each of them drew from their indigenous past and also used contemporary practices to frame a modern reality. “Each of these artists are masters of poetic expression, visual metaphor, wit and mystery. And they use those skills to pull you in, to investigate a deeper meaning of what it means to be indigenous.”