Courtney M. Leonard — Level/Land (through Oct. 26) and Breach: Log 14 (through December), Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 108 Cathedral Place, 505-983-8900

Most of the work in Level/Land, on view in the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts’ Lloyd Kiva New Gallery (located in the museum store) is informed by Shinnecock artist Courtney M. Leonard’s exploration of word meanings. Each piece is designated by a single-word title, playing off the multiple meanings of words in English.

This show, one of the museum’s two interrelated exhibits of Leonard’s art, includes ceramics, mixed-media paintings, and jewelry. One particularly handsome installation, Sustenance, is a series of hand-painted ceramic vessels set in handcrafted wooden display cases. Its title appears to refer to drinking vessels or libations — perhaps some form of offering. But for Leonard, who decorates each vessel with maritime imagery, specifically whales, sustenance also refers to our dependence on natural resources; some of the pieces in Level/Land address our misuse of water and the effects of that on ecosystems and marine life.