Cecelia Bernice Bull Bear

Cecelia Bernice Bull Bear is an artist, storyteller, and respected elder of the Teton Oglala Lakota Nation. Her spiritual name, “Ta Chumpa Luta Wakan Wi,” is interpreted in English to mean “Sacred Red Pipe Woman” – a name inherited from her great grandmother. On maternal and paternal sides of her lineage, Ms. Bull Bear descends from venerated Lakota leaders, including Chief Bull Bear, ChiefBen American Horse and the Crazy Horse Band. Her relatives fought to keep their families intact, their traditions alive and their connections to ancestral lands strong, in spite of persecution, land theft, relocation and genocide. Ms. Bull Bear continues to maintain her culture through traditional quillwork, teaching and storytelling, and through service to her community as an elder and spiritualleader.Ms. Bull Bear maintains strong ties with her tiospaye, meaning strong extended family, including her generation (although there are not many left) and the many younger generations of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and adopted relatives. As a Lakota woman, she speaks her language fluently and expresses it through her artwork. Because of her Ms. Bull Bear is a licensed tribal attorney and she has been a guest lecturer in classes at the University of Colorado Denver for more than 10 years.