Talking Stick Project: Healing Forward
Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse University
Workshop, 2026
Date & Time: Friday, March 21, 2026 11:30 1m to 3:00 pm
Event Location: Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse University
About this Event:
The Talking Stick Project
is an interactive community art experience rooted in dialogue, reflection, and collective intention. Designed and facilitated by interdisciplinary visual artist Amber Robles-Gordon, this workshop draws from her long-standing exploration of public and participatory art, social memory, and storytelling. The Talking Stick Project invites participants to engage with artistic practice through the creation of “talking sticks” — objects historically used by Indigenous cultures worldwide to designate the authority to speak and to encourage respectful listening and shared reflection.
Inspired in part by Robles-Gordon’s work exploring the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks — whose cells have had a profound impact on medical research — this workshop situates art-making as a space for exploring personal and collective narratives, connecting individual intention with broader histories and futures.
Across iterations of the Talking Stick Project — such as Salisbury University, National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum and recently Syracuse Univiersity — participants have been encouraged to use their creations as expressive tools: to share memories of home, reflect on social issues, and envision positive, community-oriented futures.
In this inclusive art workshop participants will where learn about the cultural significance of talking sticks, create your own symbolic object, and set intentions for the collective future of your neighborhood, community and yourself— all guided by the creative leadership of Amber Robles-Gordon, whose work foregrounds hybridity, memory, and community engagement through creating, and participatory art. The talking sticks are then used to formulate a site responsive (indoor or out door) public art installation
Format: In this instance Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse University National Museum of African American History and Culture commissioned the workshop format on this project.
Time Period: The workshop was held from 11:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Additional Information:
The Talking Stick Project is a Site-Specific Endeavor: The site, reasoning for the workshop, number of participants, amount of talking sticks created, and location of installation unfolds differently.
Location: In this instance the installation was presented indoors. However, The Talking Stick Project can be presented both indoors and outdoors.
Therefore, so does the formulation of the Talking Stick Installations.
For additional information regarding hosting/commissioning your own Talking Stick Project Workshop contact: amberroblesgordon@gmail.com.
Check out the newest episode of the short film series, Black Arts Speak, with @dr._monconjae featuring the visionary artist Amber Robles-Gordon @amberroblesgordon and filmed by @blackcubproductions
This episode arrives on the heels of her powerful retrospective exhibition, Healing Forward: Rituals of Self-Repair, Cultivation of Community, and Collective Activation, which recently closed on April 30th at the Community Folk Art Center.
🎥 Click to watch the full episode and engage with Amber’s journey.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DX7srHpS-EH/
This video is a compilation of segments from Amber Robles-Gordon’s artist talk, interview with curator Tanisha Jackson and her commissioned Talking Stick Project Workshop, March 22, 2026 at the Community Folk Art Center.
