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Ehren Kee Natay is a multimedia artist and a recognized member of the Navajo Nation. As a professional musician, he has toured and performed in venues in the Southwest and West-coast regions of the U.S. Several of his visual works are being preserved at two New Mexico Heritage Museums and at the Indian Arts Research Center. He has held exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His current work further infuses his musical craft with visual aesthetics via live-performance.

He is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sitting in the backseat of the family’s Ford Bronco during a road trip as a young boy, Ehren listened to the music of a Navajo singer playing in the cassette player. After several songs, his father said, “This is my dad; the voice of your grandfather.”

“Where is he?” If Ehren could hear his grandfather singing, surely he could meet him.

It wasn’t to be. His dad explained that Ehren’s grandfather, Ed Lee Natay, had passed before Ehren was born.

“But he was a famous singer, and his voice lives on through his recordings,” his dad added.

Ed Lee Natay was the first Native American to record an album for commercial release and was the first artist signed to Canyon Records. In early adulthood, Ehren downloaded “Natay, Navajo Singer” onto his iPod, replaying the tracks again and again.

“When I sing his songs, it is an energizing experience, as though his voice and his energy are resonating within my being.”

“The playback feature allowed me to pinpoint the subtle nuances of his unique vocables,” Ehren says. “When I sing his songs, it is an energizing experience, as though his voice and his energy are resonating within my being.”

Ehren joined his first band at age 12, evolving into a professional musician by the age of 19. Around that time, he realized he could apply the same dedication and discipline to master visual arts. Ehren began receiving acknowledgment for his visual artwork through fellowships, exhibitions, and awards. Before long, he had created another professional career.

Ehren combined music and visual arts through an original piece, “Natay, Navajo Singer” Circa 1958, of himself and his grandfather listening to a record.

Inspired by film noir of the 1950s, Ehren created his attire for the photo that he superimposed on the image with his grandfather. He sculpted a Flash Gordon-era space gun from sterling silver and turquoise and attached it to a kegoh, a Navajo bow guard. He also wears a sterling nahazha, a traditional symbol of protection.  The photographic image, the space gun, and a musical track are displayed together when it is exhibited.

“My grandfather’s works are, to me, an access point to reconnect my people and my culture,”

“My grandfather’s works are, to me, an access point to reconnect my people and my culture,” Ehren says. “I wanted to do it in a way that visually solidified that.”

Each year, First Peoples Fund has the opportunity to join communities in celebrating their exceptional culture bearers through the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards (CSA). Nominated by someone in their community, each CSA honoree has an unwavering devotion to their people, as evidenced by a lifetime commitment to learning and sharing cultural knowledge, stories and art forms with others. CSAs lift the spirit of their communities through passion and generosity throughout their day to day lives. Because of this compassion and love, community members gather to celebrate and thank these individuals through the Community Spirit Awards.

Please join us in recognizing the 2020 CSA recipients!

Corine Pearce

TRIBE: Redwood Valley Rancheria Little River Band of Pomo Indians

Redwood Valley, California

California fires raged during 2017 and 2018, flames consuming the plant life that Corine tended for weaving Pomo baskets and cradleboards.

At a weaving workshop Corine held after the fires, the magnitude of losses was represented by a nine year old student named Yoosha who had been weaving since he was five. Yoosha wanted to make a basket for his mother, who wasn’t able to save hers from the fires.

“He went right home and gave the basket to his mom,” Corine says. “It showed how much he loves her and his culture, and how to Yoosha, baskets represent cultural wealth.”

Ninety percent of the places Corine harvested from in Redwood Valley were burned. But she is replanting and cultivating the devastated plant life.

“As a traditional weaver, I plan baskets up to fifteen years ahead,” she says. “I source all my raw materials by harvesting and tending trees, grasses, ferns, bulrushes, and other plants and their habitats within my ancestors’ land base. The art is in the plants.”

Her older sister, Jacqueline Graumann (Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo Indians), nominated Corine for the CSA.

“Corine feels it is her duty to volunteer as much time as it takes to ensure that the Pomo basket weaving tradition does not die,” Jacqueline says.

“I weave to connect future generations to a living cultural identity and to remind them that they will also face struggles and triumphs,” Corine says. “We are reclaiming our culture through our basketry.”

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H'Klumaiyat Roberta Joy Kirk

TRIBE: Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, Diné

Warm Springs, Oregon

As a young girl, H’Klumaiyat (Roberta) endured her home burning along with all the family treasures — huckleberry baskets, beaded bags, and photographs. Most detrimental for her was the loss of traditional regalia that had been gifted to her mother. Other girls Roberta’s age wore beautiful beaded dresses passed down through their families. Roberta determined she must learn to make them herself and studied her older sister doing beadwork.

Roberta now makes traditional clothing for men, women, and children, though her specialty is Plateau Shell dresses.

“Mine include floral appliqué on the shoulder or yoke, front and back, and also have three rows of dentalium shells in the front and back,” she explains. “This dress is for ceremonies to be worn at the longhouse. The shell dress has been used by our people for many, many years, and it’s typical to adorn it with beads and shells or elk teeth.”

Executive Director of the Oregon Folklife Network Rachelle (Riki) Saltzman nominated Roberta for the CSA.

“I believe it is because of her deep cultural knowledge that Roberta is able to imbue her regalia-making with such spirit and devotion,” Riki says. “She embodies the Indigenous values of integrity, community, and generosity. With an eye to cultural continuity, she passes along the knowledge of her art form to the younger generation.”

TahNibaa Naataanii

TRIBE: Navajo

Shiprock, New Mexico

Desert solitude, majestic mesas, mighty rivers. Living on ancestral lands in New Mexico at Table Mesa, in the Sanostee community, Tahnibaa lives her art as a mother, daughter, Navajo weaver, and sheepherder.

She does her weaving on a traditional upright vertical loom. The warping is a figure-eight technique with designs created using vertical interlock, dovetail stacking, and diagonal stair-step. She explores “wrapping” around the warp technique, creating texture.

“This is a new adaptation of a traditional Navajo method,” Tahnibaa explains. “Tradition and transmission are often misunderstood. Copying work is transmission; it keeps alive our ancestors’ ways. Producing contemporary pieces incorporating time-honored ideas, symbols, and techniques is tradition — it keeps alive our spirit, unsullied. Being traditional can mean retaining transmitted notions while simultaneously producing something new. Tradition entails creating something novel with what is inherited.”

Tahnibaa works in all the stages of wool preparation: raising Navajo Churro sheep, shearing them, washing the wool, carding, and hand spinning and dyeing the wool if necessary.

Dr. Robert Hill, Professor Emeritus of the University of Georgia, nominated Tahnibaa for the CSA.

“Tahnibaa stands out as a quintessential model of someone who carries, and thus diffuses, cultural values and traits,” he says. “She is a community animator, art-practitioner, and cultural ambassador.”

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Virgil "Smoker" Marchand

TRIBE: Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Arrow Lakes

Omak, Washington

Rising up in the grasslands near Beebe Springs Natural Area, a young boy pulls salmon out of the creek; women dig for roots; a young girl puts meat on a drying rack while her mother tends salmon baking. For those steel sculptures, Virgil “Smoker” consulted with elders and community members to create these iconic scenes of their people. His grandmother gave him the name “Spa Poole,” which means smokey, or smoke in his Native language.

In his teens, Smoker’s brother encouraged him to pursue his art, helping him enroll at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Smoker graduated in 1971 and continued exploring various art mediums until he discovered a love for steel.

In the northwest across several reservations and into Canada, Smoker’s steel sculptures are on display along highways, parks, and building entrances. His large, lifelike sculpture of “Bigfoot” above a rock outcropping is a startling surprise to people driving along US Highway 155.

Kenneth “Butch” Stanger (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) nominated Smoker for the CSA. Growing up together, they have known one another for 60 years.

“Smoker may be local to us, but his talent should be shared with the entire country,” Kenneth says. “He has done many paintings of our people, tribal leaders, art that depicts our culture and traditions. Everyone deserves a chance to experience Smoker’s art.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation) Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Cover Image: Sunbeam / 101989, serigraph 5-color, by Terran Last Gun (Piikani)

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We are thrilled to enter a new decade with our 2020 cohort of Native artists in the Artist In Business Leadership (ABL) Fellowship and Cultural Capital (CC) Fellowship. 13 ABL fellows are joining the First Peoples Fund (FPF) family alongside 12 CC fellows. These artists have demonstrated three of FPF’s core principles: knowing our history and ourselves, honoring our ancestors and relations, sharing our stories and knowledge. Here is a brief introduction to the 2020 fellows. Watch for their individual stories throughout the coming year as we explore the heart of their work and the unique challenges they are overcoming.

ARTIST IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

Many Native artists rely on art as their sole source of income. To be successful, they need critical resources such as credit and capital, new markets, knowledge and training, informal networks, creative space, and supplies. The ABL fellowship gives them a financial boost while offering networks and training to level up their business.

2019 ABL Fellow Elexa Dawson (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) says, “A lot of things are happening [this year] that are projects I’ve worked on a long time, and now it’s all coming together fast.” A founding member of an all-female acoustic roots band, Elexa now travels primarily as a solo artist.

Funds from the ABL fellowship are a key to opening new doors for Native artists across the country, leading them places they hadn’t dreamed of. It often gives them the freedom they need to keep the practice of their art alive and well in their communities.

Living in Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Hawai’i, Oregon, North Dakota, and Texas, here are the 2020 Artist in Business Leadership Fellows:

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Aveda Adara (Dineh, Navajo)

Mixed Media, Storytelling

Houston, Texas

Joanne Brings Thunder (Eastern Shoshone - Wind River Wyoming)

Jewelry, Ledger Art, Painting, Regalia/Fashion Design

New Town, North Dakota

Marcella Hadden (Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe)

Photography

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Dennis DG Hatch (Chippewa Tribe of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan)

Carving, Mixed Media, Sculpture

Reedsport, Oregon

Anna Marie Kahalekulu (Native Hawaiian)

Regalia/Fashion Design

Wailuku, Hawai’i

Terran Last Gun (Piikani)

Printmaking, Painting, Photography

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jessica Mehta (Cherokee Nation)

Mixed Media, Poetry/Spoken Word, Storytelling, Writing

Hillsboro, Oregon

Ehren Natay (Diné)

Performing Arts

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Caitlin Newago (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)

Beadwork, Drawing, Painting, Regalia/Fashion Design

Ashland, Wisconsin

Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota)

Beadwork, Graphic Design, Jewelry, Painting

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Tiana Spotted Thunder (Oglala Sioux Tribe)

Music

Ashland, Montana

Delina White (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe/Minnesota Chippewa Tribe)

Mixed Media

Walker, Minnesota

Dennis Williams (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe-White Earth Nation)

Beadwork, Regalia/Fashion Design

Audubon, Minnesota  

2020 CULTURAL CAPITAL

Cultural bearers gather, retain, and share critical knowledge of art forms. These artists are vital to the continuation of Native arts, and they use funds from their CC fellowship for projects that impact their communities and beyond.

“I found that interactive participation is the only way to make ancestral wisdom and teachings come alive and take root in the hearts of the students,” says Kevin Locke (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), a 2019 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellow. He held workshops to reintroduce the original Indigenous North American Flute at schools.

We welcome the 2020 Cultural Capital Fellows and their upcoming projects:  

CooXooEii Black (Northern Arapaho)

Poetry/Spoken Word, Storytelling, Writing

Fort Washakie, Wyoming

Bruce Cook (Haida)

Carving, Drawing, Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture

Riverton, Wyoming

Darrell Eagle Staff (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe)

Photography

Eagle Butte, South Dakota

Stanley Hawkins (Oglala Lakota)

Beadwork, Jewelry, Leatherwork, Regalia/Fashion Design

Rapid City, South Dakota

Kinsale Hueston (Diné)

Poetry/Spoken Word

Corona del Mar, California

Flora Jones (Red Lake Ojibwe)

Beadwork, Jewelry, Quilting/Sewing

Redlake, Minnesota

Pelena Keeling (Native Hawaiian)

Dance, Music

Kailua Kona, Hawai’i

Dawnee LeBeau  (Cheyenne River Lakota)

Natural Light Photographer

Eagle Butte, South Dakota

Kelly Looking Horse (Oglala Lakota)

Dance, Music, Painting, Poetry/Spoken Word, Quillwork, Regalia/Fashion Design

Batesland, South Dakota

Cynthia Masterson (Comanche Nation of Oklahoma)

Beadwork

Seattle, Washington

Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Muskogee/Mvskoke/Creek Nation of Oklahoma)

Theatre/Acting, Writing

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Lance Twitchell (Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

Mixed Media, Painting, Poetry/Spoken Word, Regalia/Fashion Design, Writing

Juneau, Alaska  

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Marcella Ernest is an Ojibwe interdisciplinary artist and scholar. Her abstract filmmaking is brought to life by using multi-media installations, incorporating large-scale projections and experimental aesthetics.

Her award-winning pieces have screened and exhibited worldwide in numerous fine art galleries and film festivals, including at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, during the Venice Biennale, the Los Angeles Film Forum, the Autry Museum, and more. She lives in Sacramento, California. She is a 2019 Cultural Capital Fellow.

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Word hit the trail that Charlie Cook’s nieces were at Gunflint Lake in northern Minnesota. People fondly remember Charlie Cook from his lifetime of living on the peninsula on Gunflint Lake.

“He was a canoe guide, and made a lot of birch bark baskets,” says Marcella, a Cook family descendant. “He was the last person living up there until 1997 when he passed away at 87 years old. Thousands of tourists had the opportunity to meet him.”  

Trailer for one of Marcella’s previous films, “Ga ni tha”

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Marcella had taken her mom and aunt — Charlie’s nieces — and other relations to the area for her film project documenting the extraordinary history of the Cook family. Members of that family were the last Chippewa Indians to live on the traditional homelands of Gunflint Lake. Their land sat within the boundary waters, now the international boundary between the United States and Canada.

The producer of a local radio station in nearby Grand Marais invited Marcella and her family on air for an interview. Afterward, emails poured in as people shared memories of Gunflint Lake and Charlie Cook. A woman who had bought handmade birch bark baskets from Charlie offered to send three baskets to Marcella. Marcella kept one and gave the others to her mom and aunt.

“The woman didn’t ask anything for them,” Marcella says. “It was just awesome and so beautiful. History and people’s lives are being remembered, respected, and pieced back together. This process is bringing people back together. Making art has the power to do that.”

Marcella’s project, “The Indians of Gunflint Lake,” is supported in part by her 2019 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital program. It is divided into four synced videos to honor the four seasons of the Chippewa way of life, Ningo Gikinonwin, and presented as a two-screen projection with staggered detached screens, photos, and cultural objects.  

Trailer for one of Marcella’s previous films, “Odayin”

When they visited Gunflint Lake in June 2019, Marcella was able to take three generations of the Cook family onto the peninsula for one part of the film production. They also brought a relative from Leech Lake, who is a fluent Ojibwe speaker, to put the language back on the land. The area is quiet, remote, wild onion gardens left untouched for decades. One home remains standing in the village along the shores.

“The story of the Cook family, my family, is a story of the boundary waters, of endurance, and survival,” Marcella says. “It is a story of sustainability and traditional ecological knowledge. Descendants of the Cooks still remain.”

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Date of Travel: November 13th, 2019 - November 17th, 2019

Location of Travel: Spokane, WA

FPF Attending: Talon ShootsTheEnemy-Ducheneaux (Artist and consultant, pictured left, below)

Objective: Residency, site visit and meet with community partners

Purpose of Trip:

Narrative Description:  As soon as I flew into Spokane, on November 13th, I was greeted by James Just Jamez Pakootas at the airport. We began overviewing what the next few days would look like. James was sure to gauge whether I had specific preferences or areas of training in any of the software in particular that I wanted emphasized during the workshops. After that, we immediately entered the studio and began planning the album/project that would be worked on during the residency and what the goal for the end product would be. With assistance from T.S. the Solution and his lesson/workshop on album/studio time-management techniques, we organized a graph on a whiteboard. Mapping out every song aspect that needed to be completed, our initial goal was to record an album with 17 songs included. This provided me with a great deal of perspective on how to better organize how I am actually creating and working on material in order to maximize creativity and ensure completion of projects.  

Various artists were in and out of the studio, collaborating with us on the album and learning about the cultural history behind the project’s theme. Two photographers and a film crew came to document some of the process. Until about 3am each night of my stay, the energies flowed in and out of the studio. We made a total of 22 songs featuring producers and recording artists listed above. Throughout the process, T.S. the Solution, Darby Meegan (DJ Spicy Ketchup), and James taught me various aspects of how they professionally record and produce music. This included hands-on courses in working with Logic Pro DAW software, microphone placement respective to the artist recording, sound acoustics and studio environments, mixing audio tracks in Ableton DAW software, and overall studio etiquette/preparation for artists and producers. Most beneficial to me, as someone who runs a studio open to all ages, was how to maintain leadership roles in a studio and how to properly and appropriately enforce studio etiquette amongst artists/visitors/etc., while still maintaining an open and creative space.

While recording and producing the album, constant networking took place between myself and the artists - and also between themselves too, which was awesome to be a part of. It felt like a real community of artists was created during the residency. The Counting Coup Media film crew recorded video and conducted interviews with myself, James and T.S. Everyone in attendance was kept well fed and taken care of by Ravina Pakootas who cooked all of our meals throughout the residency in order to maximize productivity. The residency also opened itself up to the youth, and we were all lucky to have involved several Native artists around the ages of 16-19 in the album and in the studio.  This facilitated multiple levels of mentorship and the passing down of knowledge and values in music.  Artists like Tony Louie were extremely instrumental in empowering the youth with confidence while they shook off any nerves they had about recording. Again, this helped me a lot, as someone who runs a studio working with youth recording artists. First-hand I was able to see how James or T.S. might handle something like creative control and ensuring that we don’t put out hurtful or divisive lyrics while maintaining a balance of creative freedoms. Recording sessions spanned from 10am to 12pm start-times and ended from 3am-6am each night. Nobody was really pressured to do this, it was just that everyone was excited to share the energy and finish the goal that we had set for ourselves.  

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Ben Pease (Crow Tribe of Montana, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation) is a multidisciplinary artist and founding member of the Creative Indigenous Collective and Native Youth Art in Action. Together with Robert Martinez (Northern Arapaho, 2012 First Peoples Fund (FPF) Artist in Business Leadership Fellow, 2015 FPF Cultural Capital Fellow) and John Pepion (Piikani, 2017 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow), they host an annual youth mentorship workshop sponsored by the Indian People’s Action and the Montana Folk Festival.

Ben is a 2019 FPF Artist in Business Leadership Fellow and lives in Billings, Montana, with his family.

As a young boy, Ben watched in wonder as Kevin Red Star participated in the Quick Draw and Auction event at the Charlie Russell Art Week in Great Falls, Montana. Through Kevin Red Star, Ben’s eyes were opened to a world within a world for Indigenous creatives. It was the first time he witnessed a Native artist excelling in the mainstream.

“I then told myself that I wanted to be an artist with a message,” Ben says. “By high school, I had sold my first painting for $400, a fortune in my eyes. But it’s more than just making money, it’s more than the business; it’s a lifestyle.”  

To create his one of a kind pieces, Ben travels to antique stores, digs through attics, and searches online. He discovers paper money, mining deeds, water bonds, fashion magazines — American culture with historical context to relate to contemporary times. He explores what things meant, what they mean today, and what they might mean in the future. He prints his digital paintings — sourced from historic and contemporary photography of his own and others — collages that onto the canvas with the pieces of antique ephemera and papers, then goes back into the painting with acrylic, oil, spray paint, pastel, scriffitto, fire, and graphite.  

Ben is represented in seven galleries that he strives to keep stocked. He follows his art across the United States, Canada, and around the world in places like the Dubai & Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It recently took him on a journey to Germany, where he painted a part of the Berlin Wall for the anniversary of the wall’s falling.

The income Ben makes from his art goes to support others including his immediate family and relatives. He and his family host cultural events and do social work in their community.

“Each day, I see Indigenous creatives from around the world doing amazing things and speaking volumes to hoards of people,” he says. “I’m inspired to grow as a human.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Social media pages across the Colville Indian Reservation lit up after the tremendous announcement: James Pakootas’s (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) song “ Break These Chains ” won the 2019 ‘NAMMY’ for Best Hip Hop Music Video at the 19th Annual Native American Music Awards . The video features fellow tribal members Tony Louie and Daniel Nanamkin.  

“It was a powerful moment for our people,” James says. And an emotional time for he and his mother.  

“She saw me through all of the mayhem that I caused in my twenties, holding my community in bondage for so long,” he says. “Now, to give back to my community in such a big way and then to be awarded for one of the biggest passions I’ve always had — my mom was super proud.”

A few years ago, when James was released from the hospital after a car accident while under the influence, he was broken. His mother sat with him through the night, and the next day, he found a beat, a way to let the pain out. Later, the words he wrote became the first verse on “Break These Chains.”

“It wasn’t a message to my community or our youth at first,” he says. “It was a message to me, to remind myself that I’m a warrior too. I’ve lost the use of my arm, but I’m resilient, and I’m still going to make something out of this life. To win that award was probably the most pinnacle moment of my life up to this point. And it’s only the beginning.”  

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James is finishing his 2019 Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship. He became involved with the organization in 2017 when FPF held a meeting at the Colville Indian Reservation. It was the first time James called himself an artist, and that simple statement changed the course of his life. He is now a certified FPF trainer, and helped pilot the performing arts version of the Native Artist Professional Development (NAPD) curriculum.

First Peoples Fund is tracking the development of performing artist fellows like James who are seeing monumental success and growth in their fellowship year. At the 2019 FPF Fellows Convening, James and three other fellows wrote and recorded a song on the spot at a local studio. That initial collaboration gave birth to DCM — Dream Chasers Music Collective. The heart of the DCM Collective beats in James’s studio in Spokane, Washington. It is poised to create residencies and group tours for performing artists. Throughout 2019, they’ve done workshops on writing, beat-making, recording knowledge, and more.  

“There’s a lot of community engagement work which is always going to be our focus,” James says. “How do we add value to the community in which we’re in? We’re building partnerships with local nonprofits to handle the services so we can inspire our youth.”  

“The fellowship has gone way beyond my initial grant request to do my own album. First Peoples Fund helped me build the infrastructure to have 50 albums, and help other artists with their dreams. I feel worth, I feel value not only in myself, I’m doing something bigger than myself, making the world a better place in my eyes. Every day I wake up, and I’m thankful. This is the new norm. Every time I think of identifying myself as an artist, that first moment came at a meeting First Peoples Fund set up on our reservation. I feel like in a small way, I owe a piece of this [NAMMY] award to them.”

— James Pakootas (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) in regard to another performing artist from his community, Tony Louie (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation)

One of the performing artists who recorded on the impromptu song at the Fellows Convening was Talon Ducheneaux-Shoots The Enemy (Cheyenne River Lakhota / Crow Creek Dakota) of Wonahun Waste Studios. He continued to work closely with James and, through support from FPF, is now the first artist in residence of the Collective (read his narrative travel report here). He traveled to James’s basement studio at his home in Spokane, Washington, to finish recording an album he and James worked on long-distance for several months. A whole force of talent is driving the album, bringing in many voices. Talon calls the project, “Traveling the Multiverse with Ikto.”  

“I can say and write a lot, I’ve made a lot of songs in my time,” Talon says. “But I found through the studio and through collaboration, it really helps move a narrative when you have multiple people saying it in different ways.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Clad in recently restored regalia, young dancers met the ferry to begin the welcome ceremony for pieces of their culture returning to the Tlingit people. Removed from the village of Klukwan in Alaska’s Chilkat Valley during the 1970s, these cultural treasures have endured a four-decade long process began to bring them home. Kept at the Alaskan State Museum for safekeeping until the village had a facility to care for and display each piece, these items were the catalyst for building a space for preserving and perpetuating culture.

In 2016 — through funding from the Surdna Foundation, assistance through First Peoples Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services — the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center in Klukwan opened for the community and visitors. With a population of less than 100, the village of Tlingit people offers cultural education tours that draw 3,000 visitors annually.  

Executive Director of the Heritage Center Board, Lani Hotch (Tlingit), is a 2011 First Peoples Fund (FPF) Community Spirit Award Honoree, and a 2015 and 2016 Cultural Capital Fellow. She spearheaded the effort to revitalize Tlingit culture, learning and teaching the language, songs, and dances of her people. She discusses the meaning of the songs and how to portray that meaning through movement — movements that are based on animals or plants, like leaves quaking in the wind, or a salmon swimming upstream.

With the FPF Indigenous Arts Ecology Grant, Lani helped the Heritage Center oversee the repair of worn-out dance regalia pieces, and held vital workshops to expand the teaching of traditional songs and dances to youth.

“The dancers should know how to sing and drum the traditional songs, know what the songs mean, their appropriate use within the context of our culture, and how to correctly pronounce the words in Tlingit,” Lani says. “[At the workshops] we learned a couple of songs that were new to us. One is really old and came from another dance group that has been using it, but that song originated in Klukwan. We worked on that, and we’re working on composing our own song.”

Her dream has been to preserve and perpetuate the dances through young people. This spring, she saw it come to pass when the young people danced in rejuvenated regalia for the return ceremony for clan treasures coming home.  

“My brother Jack Strong (Tlingit) and I have been working with youth in training and teaching them, but they were still relying on us heavily because we’d always been there,” Lani says. “But then I had to leave, and my brother injured his back. Those young people really had to step up. It was a good thing we worked with them through the winter, giving them confidence. That was a good result of those singing and drumming workshops that were made possible by the [IAE] grant.”

After the ceremony at the ferry, a motorcade of sorts followed the U-Haul, escorting the pieces home. They stopped at clan houses for welcoming speeches and songs were sung in honor of elders who passed recently. The four-decade long journey for the pieces finally ended at the Heritage Center.

The pieces are now on display at the Heritage Center, a focal point for visitors. During the summer, the village offers cultural education tours through the fish camp, adzing/carving shed, and the camp clan house. In the clan house, there is storytelling, and traditional song and dance performances.  

Because of Jack’s injury, the youth continued stepping up to perform the dances held to share the beauty of their culture. Many of the people in the village work as artists, and the Heritage Center allows them to sell their work, welcome visitors, and perpetuate their culture through a vibrant arts ecosystem.

“We have 15 dancers, but we rotate them because we can’t have those same kids dancing every day. Kids need to be kids, and we may have three to five tours a day, so we rotate them,” says Lani. “Every kid dances at least a couple of times per week. Our dance performances might have a half a dozen with youth and two adult guides. We see our dance group as cultural ambassadors.”  

With thousands visiting the small village each year, the Heritage Center is not only facilitating the perpetuation of culture for its community, but educating others about Tlingit people as well.

“For people who know the value of the pieces displayed at the Heritage Center, and the history behind them, that’s the highlight of their trip,” Lani says. “It’s authentic, cultural pieces that have historic importance. The people are so grateful to be able to see them and that they’re open to the public.” The wall screens and totem pole, which date back to at least the 1820s, are now home and will enjoy care in the state of the art Heritage Center in Klukwan where they and the Tlingit people belong together. Their return ceremony marked a moment in time for the Tlingit people — past, present, and future.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

An award-winning artist, Terra Houska (Oglala Lakota) was born and raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A lifelong lover of Native American Arts, Terra has integrated her Lakota, Cheyenne, and Czech ancestries into her beading techniques for the past 15 years. While at Haskell Indian Nations University, Terra worked with the Frank Rinehart Collection and collected prints of Lakota people that she studies for inspiration in making regalia.

In June of 2018, Terra joined the B.Yellowtail Collective, and resides in Rapid City, South Dakota, with her daughter and sons. She is a 2019 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow.  

Terra’s baby girl stood before her, big brown eyes gazing up with a lollipop in her mouth as she waited for her first dance in a powwow arena at 18 months old. She had her own song at the Black Hills Powwow to recognize her entry into the arena where she wore the beaded baby bonnet Terra created long before she was born. Terra had dreamed of having a baby girl, and there she was, ready to make the artwork dance.

Terra was also honored with a special song during the powwow, her first to dance in since being diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I haven’t danced for quite some time because I haven’t had the energy,” she says. “I danced the special for my daughter, and also the one for my grandmother.”

Terra’s grandmother taught her how to make regalia — to do the lane stitch and work on a loom. Terra began dancing Northern Traditional Cloth in honor of her when she passed.

Her grandmother didn’t bead solely for the pleasure of it. She had bills to pay, taking care of children in her family. While perpetuating her legacy of beading, Terra is also carrying on her way of providing for her family. Working full-time and creating art supports Terra’s family in between chemo treatments every three weeks.  

“I have good days and bad days, just like everybody,” she says. “I think it’s going as best as could be compared to what I’ve been through.”  

Terra used her 2019 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership funds for buying a camera to take professional photos of her artwork for her website and popular Instagram page. She is purchasing panels to display jewelry and other pieces at shows. This year, she won an award for her hat at Native POP: People of the Plains. She was recently accepted into the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market and anticipates going to it for the first time.

At powwows, though, is where she can watch her artwork dance on her baby girl and even strangers.

“Seeing commissioned pieces out in the arena is really rewarding,” she says, “I love seeing things I create on people.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

“It’s important for our communities to understand what it takes for us to continue to thrive; it’s in celebrating the knowledge of our elders.” — Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne / Mescalero Apache), First Peoples Fund Board Member Beadwork artist.

Indian corn maker. Storyteller. Culture bearer. Veteran of two wars. 2019 Community Spirit Award Honoree. In all of these roles, George Martin (Lac Courtes Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians) has been a steward of his people’s culture. He and his wife, Sydney, live their culture every day, passing on their knowledge to the next generation, strengthening their communities.  

After serving 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, George and Sydney moved back to her homeland near Hopkins, Michigan, in 1969. George’s calendar fills a year or more in advance since he is often called on as Head Veteran dancer at the many powwows and events in the area.

“We live squarely in the middle of Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe) original territory,” he explains. “We are in the Salem Indian Settlement. I consider my home all of Anishinaabe land.”

George’s mother-in-law, Gladys Sands, also lived with them. She was a black ash basket weaver and knew the old ways of preparing Indian corn to eat. George credits Gladys for teaching him the art. His tools are ears of dried Indian corn, hardwood ashes, a large pot, stirring paddle, handheld sifters, an open fire, cold water, rinsing screen, and tarps to dry the processed corn. Tribes, colleges, and universities throughout the Great Lakes region invite him to teach Indian corn making.  

The dedication to this practice led to a feature of George on The Cooking Channel’s “My Grandmother’s Ravioli” series with host Mo Rocca. They followed George around as he lived the ancient lifeways of Anishinaabe people. He has practiced and shared the culinary artistry of corn soup making and peyote stitch beadwork for over 65 years.

“I believe my mission to become a full-time artist and teacher has been realized,” George says.  

Several large-scale revitalization efforts and food sovereignty projects have utilized George’s expertise to preserve and protect these practices.

“My granddaughter Carly Shananaquet is now becoming well-known in the food sovereignty movement,” he says. “She has watched me all of her life share the art of making Indian corn for a food source. She represents the next generation of our people that will carry forward the ways of our ancestors.”  

George’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren also see him beading every day. His hope is that they understand how beautiful their culture is and try to honor it as much as possible.

“I will be 84 years old this December,” he says. “Being an active elder in my Anishinaabe community shows others to keep going. Keep practicing, keep learning, and keep being involved with our culture and protection of it.”  

“He is a cultural icon, and yet a humble man content to bead, make soup, and share knowledge and stories with his people.”

— Lisa (Tiger) Martin, George's daughter-in-law and nominator for the CSA Award

George avidly practices the artistry of peyote stitch beadwork. He beads traditional dance sticks, talking sticks, coup sticks, moccasin game sticks, wooden spoon handles for ceremonial bundles, teaching sticks, walking canes, Veteran’s medallions, and household items.

“As a beadwork artist, George’s creations are singular and recognizable,” says Lisa Linda Lee Tiger (Muscogee [Creek] Nation). “His signature style of peaks and valleys lit by vibrant colors of greens, oranges, reds, and white dance on every piece he beads. His patterns bring to mind a rhythmic heartbeat, with beauty and emotion that are evident in the flawless landscapes he creates, tying together the past, present, and future into something that is often both beautiful and utilitarian. It’s as if he wishes for his art to be a part of someone’s daily life and not decoration only. His pieces live.”  

Lisa first met George in 2000 when she was selected as the Native American Programs Director for Central Michigan University. She nominated him for the 2019 First Peoples Fund (FPF) Community Spirit Award. “He is a cultural icon, and yet a humble man content to bead, make soup, and share knowledge and stories with his people,” she says.

For George’s Community Spirit Award (CSA) honoring, a misunderstanding led to one of the highlights of the day. Weeks beforehand, Lisa was scheduled to introduce George. Sydney asked her if she’d written her remarks yet. Lisa teased that yes, she was going to say them entirely in the Anishinaabe language.

“I don’t know the language, so I thought it was going to be funny,” Lisa recalls. “But Syd got excited and said, ‘Oh that’s wonderful!’ And I thought, ‘Oh, no!’”

Lisa immediately reached out to an Anishinaabe language speaker and spent the next two weeks practicing. That didn’t wholly alleviate her apprehension of pronouncing the words correctly, but friends at the gathering encouraged her.  

“They told me, ‘Just remember why you’re doing this. It is a gift that you’re trying to present,’” Lisa recalls. “When I went up, I specifically looked at George and told myself, ‘All right, this is why.’”  

“When we honored him with the star quilt, the blanket was wrapped around him and his wife, Syd. He acknowledged how important she has been to his life, and his ongoing commitment to everything Anishinaabe.”

— Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne / Mescalero Apache), First Peoples Fund Board Member

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Artists, community leaders, and culture bearers held space in solidarity and reflection on their experiences for the 2018-19 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) fellowship year. At the final place-based intensive for this ILI cohort in San Antonio during May 2019, some of the fellows expressed how they underwent spiritual and life transformations. Others were surprised at the level of knowledge and development they can take back to their own communities.

Nijeul X. Porter, a participant in the inaugural ILI cohort in 2017-18, was a Core Facilitator and Design Team Member this year. He facilitated virtual cohort convenings and provided direct support for the “Learning Pods.” These pods were smaller break-out teams of 4-5 program participants working together throughout the year to dive deeply into issues they identify around leadership, arts, and culture.  

“Holding this space for ILI 2.0 gives me that opportunity to still grow in my own leadership,” Nijeul said. “I understood that we were building the ship of interculturality as we were sailing it.” One of this year’s ILI fellows, Christopher D. Sims, shared his thoughts for ILI Voices [http://www.weareili.org/voices]. He is an internationally known poet, spoken word performer, and community organizer. He is also a race relations expert and a lay minister who speaks on social justice issues throughout the country.

“I have been around diversity and multiculturalism for most of my life,” Christopher said. “But this experience [ILI] is unlike anything I have taken part in — mostly because of the knowledge, the wisdom, and the ethnic heritage that we possess. The stories that leave the tongues of my fellow cohort’s mouths amaze and mesmerize me. To have listened to everyone, especially in the larger settings, gives me a deeper understanding of who people are and where they come from with their specific work. It is an enriching mosaic of existence and truth-telling.”

ILI is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC), and PA’I Foundation. The effort grew from the direct experiences of the leaders of these founding cultural organizations. This 2018–19 ILI cohort underwent three place-based intensives for their Fellowship Year. The initial intensive was hosted by First Peoples Fund (FPF) during September 2018. Held in South Dakota, the five-day leadership immersion brought shared learning, personal exchange, and direct experience with the true history and sacred places in Lakota Territory.  

“There is nothing like going to places to walk the land, breathe the air, and feel the warmth of the sun in a particular place,” Christopher said. “I enjoyed and embraced the dryness, the majestic stars in the night sky, and the animals we shared the same grounds with.”

His roommate was Robert Martinez (Northern Arapaho), a 2012 FPF Artist in Business Leadership and 2015 FPF Cultural Capital Fellow.

“Under the darkest skies, and in the light of the morning, Robert and I would share and discuss our experiences in South Dakota after each day,” Christopher said. “We laughed, we guessed, we appreciated being there, and we looked forward to the next day.”

Hawaiʻi was next on the ILI agenda, the intensive taking place in January 2019. The fellows were immersed in the history and revitalization efforts of Native Hawaiians.  

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PAʻI Foundation hosted this intensive that involved exposure to and practice of the Hawaiian language, a visit to sustainable farms, paddling out to an island and back, and an art museum tour. A cultural showcase at the end of the week provided a stage for ILI Fellows as artists and culture bearers to present their work.

ILI Fellow Liza Garza and former ILI Fellow Eli Lakes form the mother/son musical duo GROW. They performed during the gathering.

“The convenings are showing us that we still have a lot of work to do, but that we are surrounded by others who are ready and willing to do that work together,” Liza said. “That’s love in itself. A lot of what happens in the ILI convenings are very intimate hashing out of difficult things. And then we eat dinner together! There is healing coming out of that.”

The third and final place-based intensive was in San Antonio. The intensive, hosted by the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), was designed to help the fellows continue grounding their experience in the four core topics addressed in Lakota Territory and Hawaiʻi: “Who We Are, Where We Are, How We Work, Why We Matter.” It allowed the fellows to reflect on and articulate the changes that came about within themselves through ILI, and how they can take those personal qualities back to their communities and put what they learned into action.  

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By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Marty Two Bulls Jr. (Oglala Sioux Tribe) is an artist, musician, and educator. He grew up under the artistic tutelage of his father, an accomplished artist, designer, and cartoonist. Marty attended college at the Institute of American Indian Arts where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts focused in Printmaking and Ceramics.

In 2017, he returned to live in Rapid City, South Dakota, and teaches at the Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He built the Associates in Graphic Arts program, and continues to mentor other Lakota artists.

Crying, laughing, a blank stare, winking. Four of Marty’s glazed ceramic pieces were exhibited at the 2019 Native POP: People of the Plains show this summer. Veering from his typical aesthetics, he is experimenting with abstracts concepts to explore within his life and culture. He created a group of glazed ceramic sculptures — buffalos in cartoon form that won an award at the show.  

“I was looking at ideas around identity and culture and specifically my identity as a Lakota artist, how I exist today.”

— Marty Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota), 2019 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow

The small-sized sculptures might lead to larger pieces in similar form, but not having his own kiln hampers Marty’s abilities. Too often, a batch of work he has taken to fire at a foundry comes out broken.

“The creativity gets stifled by issues of transportation and firing,” he says. “There have been instances when someone else’s piece exploded, and my work was next to it. It’s a real gamble sometimes. I can be working for three months towards a show, and if I lose that work in the kiln, I don’t always have another three months before the exhibition.”

Marty’s 2019 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership grant is allowing him to purchase a 400-pound electric kiln.

“I’m looking forward to being able to increase the delicacy of my work,” he says. Marty explores art in a variety of forms beyond ceramics. When a vague idea or theme comes to mind, he grabs his sketchbook. Inspirations may come from found objects. He displayed two medicine cabinets and ceramic milk jugs at the LUX Art Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, an exhibit he curated in 2019.  

“I like to go to the re-store and find an old chewed up medicine cabinet, something that has a history of use,” he says. “It’s this personal place, and it’s also a brutally honest place. The only time we may see ourselves is in the reflection of its mirror.

“For this exhibition, there were two medicine cabinet pieces. I was looking at ideas around identity and culture and specifically my identity as a Lakota artist, how I exist today. I’m a Lakota artist, but I don’t necessarily make my work towards anyone else’s ideas around what that means. I get challenged sometimes about this work. I like that, it tells me that the person is looking at the work and engaging with it.”