Merging Tradition and Technology: Maya Peña and Jacklyn “Jackie” Fawn

First Peoples Fund welcomes two exceptional fellows from the 2025 First Peoples’ Artist in Business Leadership (ABL) fellowship! Graphic design illustrators Maya Pena (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Jacklyn “Jackie” Fawn (Yurok Washoe and Surigaonon). Their radical illustrations merge traditional design and values with technology as their medium.

We look forward to seeing their artistic and business developments expand with First Peoples Fund support.

‍Maya Pena

Graphic design and Artist in Business Leadership fellow Maya Pena (Santa Clara Pueblo) creates contemporary prints and illustrations that explore themes of identity, femininity, and environment, combined with vivid Pueblo patterns to represent modern and traditional influences. 

Maya is inspired by the upbringing of her parents, both musicians and artists, as well as the creativity that flourished in her community, from graffiti to pottery. Maya graduated from New Mexico School for the Arts with high honors and a certification in visual arts, where she was introduced to digital graphic design software and began hand-drawing. A pivotal moment for Maya was her senior project. She created a set of digital portraits and developed a style that merges her identity, traditional Pueblo motifs, and landscape.

“In my work, you'll see a lot of overlap between physical human form and the environment, and that's to signal our connection to the land, kind of, but also sort of convey the sense of comfort that I get, knowing that even in depth we go back to what we know.”

“In my work, you'll see a lot of overlap between physical human form and the environment, and that's to signal our connection to the land, kind of, but also sort of convey the sense of comfort that I get, knowing that even in depth we go back to what we know.”

She went on to attend Fort Lewis College in Durango, transferring to Southern New Hampshire University for a Business Administration degree, which expanded her insight into building a business foundation.  During this time, she started a career as a UI/UX product designer, completing commissions for renowned organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the City of Española. Maya has been featured in over 15 exhibitions nationwide and is currently working on an exhibition for the Millicent Rogers Museum.

“I am grateful that I had those influences, or was in an environment where creativity was always heavily encouraged. I aim to create a body of work that expands the public’s perception of Indigenous art beyond traditional crafts.”

“I am grateful that I had those influences, or was in an environment where creativity was always heavily encouraged. I aim to create a body of work that expands the public’s perception of Indigenous art beyond traditional crafts.”

With her Artists in Leadership fellowship, Maya’s project is to get some more equipment to establish a means of self-production. As an artist, she struggled to use third-party printers to get prints of her work. First Peoples Fund support will help Maya spearhead her own business, allowing for cost-effective printing and independent means of production, which expands her studio and business potential, which Maya hopes will support other artists.

“I want to focus on building up a community for my close friends and my family, creating safe spaces and creative spaces for them too. I want to offer that safety and security that I wish I had had when I was their age.”

“I want to focus on building up a community for my close friends and my family, creating safe spaces and creative spaces for them too. I want to offer that safety and security that I wish I had had when I was their age.”

Jacklyn “Jackie” Fawn

Jacklyn “Jackie”  Fawn (Yurok Washoe and Surigaonon) is a mixed media and graphic design illustrator currently based in Mohawk Territory, New York. As a kid, Jackie was drawn to art, but was increasingly drawn to digital art, watching TV shows and anime. Her curiosity and skills were encouraged by her father, who worked early mornings to get her first laptop and Wacom tablet. She explored software like Photoshop to create her first illustrations and self-educated herself through tutorials and homemade videos before classes or mainstream services were available. 

“It was so cool to see that pride on his face, ‘ I did that for my baby’. So I was like, okay, if he did that for me, I can't let go, and I have to keep going.”

Jacklyn still struggled to find a start in digital arts and become self-sufficient, but with discipline from her neighbors, aunties, and uncles, who pushed her to become self-educated in her education after attending Brooks Institute. However, it wasn’t until Jacklyn was invited to an art training with Greenpeace ten years ago that she got the push she needed. Jacklyn recalled mentors and trainers like Willie Martin, who enriched the experience and shifted her perception of Native arts.

“The arts training radicalized my work, not just my morals, but how I can use my craft to create change and educate about these issues that a lot of people don't know about. Suppose anyone can plug into any creative resistance, radical arts training. Do it because generally most of those trainers care about change and art and teach how to pursue that very specific and niche art path and nurture your relationship with art.”

“The arts training radicalized my work, not just my morals, but how I can use my craft to create change and educate about these issues that a lot of people don't know about. Suppose anyone can plug into any creative resistance, radical arts training. Do it because generally most of those trainers care about change and art and teach how to pursue that very specific and niche art path and nurture your relationship with art.”

In 2020, Jacklyn and her husband started Fishbear Studio, a graphic design and illustrative space, from their kitchen table in a little corner of their colonial house. Since then, Jacklyn’s art has been recognized and awarded by NDN Collective’s Radical Imagination (2021), Creatives Rebuild NY (2022), and Anonymous Was a Woman (2023). In recent years, Jackie’s work has begun to enter educational curricula, environmental organizations, and health campaigns to uplift Indigenous resiliency and healing. Jacklyn recently completed a week-long training to be an official trainer with arts cohorts like Greenpeace.

Jacklyn’s Artist in Business Leadership fellowship will allow her to focus on redeveloping her website and printing production of Fishbear Studios. Additionally, funds will pay for overhead costs and the completion of two coloring books in her educational series: Warrior Babes: Protect the Water, Defend the Land, and Resilient: Generational Knowledge and Healing. Funds will also be allocated for their long-term plan of renovating their colonial house and land into a local arts academy where folks can have access to screen printing, banner making, and art classes, and feature different community artists. 

Carrying the Vision

With the support of First Peoples Fund, Maya Pena and Jacklyn “Jackie” Fawn are evolving their businesses to think intergenerationally.  With similar backgrounds and start in graphic design illustration, these artists took on their curiosities to discipline and teach themselves a new technological language, creating radical imagery based on identity, environmental and political justice, and Native culture.  Maya and Jackie’s journeys are united in their creative and professional abilities to invigorate empowerment and change. These entrepreneurs are expanding their businesses to allow for further outreach of their artwork and to create intergenerational spaces for future artists in their communities, fostering legacies of cultural revitalization.