G. Peter Jemison (born 1945, Seneca Nation, Heron Clan)

G. Peter Jemison, of the Heron Clan from the Cattaraugus Territory in the Seneca Nation, is a multi-media artist and retired site manager of Ganondagan, a New York State Historic Park spanning 569 acres in Victor, New York. Reflecting his heritage, Jemison creates art that embodies orenda, defined as “the traditional Haudenosaunee belief that every living thing and every part of creation contains a spiritual force.” Ganondagan Autumn represents the site’s traditional Bark Longhouse, a garden for the Three Sisters crops of corn, beans, and squash, sunflowers, and birds among Jemison’s memorable experiences. It was exhibited in Shared Light: G. Peter Jemison and Charles E. Burchfield, presented at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, September 9-December 31, 2022. Viewers could compare the highly individual, yet parallel aesthetic depictions of nature by two significant artists, a generation apart in age, who met by chance at Buffalo State College in 1964 when Peter was an art student.