Louie Gong

A member of the Nooksack tribe, Louie is a professional speaker and multimedia visual artist.  He is best known for his highly sought after, hand-drawn custom shoes, but has received international recognition for a body of work that - like his mixed heritage (Nooksack/Chinese/French/Scottish) - defies categorization. Louie launched a line of high-quality honor blankets to provide a Native-owned alternative to the Pendleton brand of blankets.

Louie views his art as an extension of his work as an educator and activist, he aims to inspire others through presentations, workshops, and online resources.

Louie is also the founder of Eighth Generation, through which he merges traditional Coast Salish art with icons from popular culture and influences from his mixed heritage to make strong statements about identity. His trend-setting aesthetic has been featured at the Smithsonian's NMAI, the Peobody Essex Museum, and the cover of Native People's Magazine. This is remarkable considering that Louie is a self-taught artist who began in making art in 2008.

Through Eighth Generation brand, Louie collaborates with select arts entrepreneurs to manufacture products, which not only expands the regional appeal of the Eighth Generation brand but also increases the capacity of the arts entrepreneurs and educates the public about the tangible costs of cultural appropriation.