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Joanne Brings Thunder is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe located on the Wind River Indian Reservation where she grew up in central Wyoming. She started learning traditional arts at age 5 from her mother and from her maternal grandmother Eva B. McAdams, a respected international beadwork artist.

An award-winning architect and interior designer for over 25 years, Joanne attended the Colorado Institute of Art and received her undergraduate degree in interior design. This was soon followed by a graduate degree in architecture from the University of Colorado. In 2012, she rediscovered her passion for traditional art and its healing properties. As a result, her day-to-day work reflects her love of culture and traditions mixed with a contemporary outlook. With her husband’s work, she currently splits her time between North Dakota and Wyoming.

When creating three-dimensional models for buildings, Joanne uses polycarbonate in the center of the foam core to straighten and strengthen the walls. It was when she was working on a 3D mock-up she was creating for a development group in Arizona, that Joanne suddenly started to view the architectural materials in a very different way.

At that moment, her jewelry art changed.

“I thought, ‘I wonder if I could use that [polycarbonate] as the backing for my earrings,’” she says.

After much frustration using parfleche and aspen wood for backings on her earring creations, Joanne switched to the new material three years ago.

Gripping a pair of aviation snippers, Joanne would cut the polycarbonate into chunky pieces, then use a utility knife to carve out her design.

But the toll on Joanne’s wrists and elbows quickly became evident; she developed carpal tunnel syndrome from hand cutting the polycarbonate.

The solution came through Greg Bellanger (White Earth Ojibwe), who owns Northland Visions in Minneapolis, Minn. where he promotes and mentors a multitude of artists. Greg showed Joanne the work of an artist in his shop who cuts sculptures with a laser. That was the beginning of yet another alteration she would make in her art making. And one that would ultimately introduce her to First Peoples Fund and its fellowship programs.

“He said, “You need to apply for that First Peoples Fund grant and see if you get it,” Joanne says. “And I did!”

Joanne applied for and was awarded a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellowship that will go toward purchasing a home-based 3D laser printer.

“The grant is such a godsend, and is going to help so much,” Joanne adds. “I no longer will be injuring myself by cutting jewelry by hand.”

The origin of Joanne’s art and determination for excellence goes back to when she was five, beading with her grandmother, who helped raise Joanne in the traditional way of their people.

“My grandmother was such a commanding force in who I am today,”

“My grandmother was such a commanding force in who I am today,” Joanne says. “She gave me such a good foundation of composition and color theory at a young age. Looking back, I know I was very privileged to grow up the way I did.”

First Peoples Fund (FPF) recently added new staff members who join our mission driven work of honoring culture bearers and being good allies. They bring additional knowledge and perspectives that will contribute to FPF’s work to serve Native artists and culture bearers in substantial ways.

Please join us in welcoming Sonya Paul Gavin, Sandra White Shield, and Hillary Presecan to the FPF family!

Meet Sonya Paul Gavin

Vice President of Advancement and Communication

“It’s so good to work in Indian Country once again.” That’s the feeling Sonya (Diné/Navajo) has as she joins the FPF team from Los Angeles, Calif.

When she was a young girl, Sonya’s mother, who was raised on the Navajo reservation, continually urged Sonya to pursue a good education and build a stable career. That mindset carried Sonya to the University of Colorado Boulder and on to work at the Native American Rights Fund and to the Alaska Public Radio Network. There, she helped empower Alaska Native villagers to operate their own stations.

Sonya and FPF President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) met some thirty years ago when Sonya worked at the Native American Rights Fund in Colorado.

Sonya later went to work at UCLA where she spent over 15 years until recently deciding to refocus her career around her passion for non-profits and Native communities.

One of many moments that told Sonya she was in the right place with her new position at FPF came when she attended a reception at the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. during her first week on the job in February 2020. In walked her director from the radio network in Alaska, someone she hadn’t seen since 1994.

““That’s when I knew I was supposed to be here, getting back into Indian Country with new skills and experiences that I can apply and make a difference. It was as if I had come full circle.”

— Sonya Paul Gavin

Her love for arts in her personal life is also reawakening as she explores creative writing and photography. She is already experiencing the immersion in Native arts that comes with the job at FPF. While in D.C., Sonya met Delores Churchill (Haida), a vibrant 90-year-old Alaska Native artist. Delores is an FPF Community Spirit Awards Honoree (2002), Cultural Capital Fellow (2006, 2015), and NEA National Heritage Fellow (2006).

“It was so serendipitous,” Sonya says. “We had a connection because of Alaska, and I became her unofficial escort for the day. Visiting with Delores and everything I experienced during the entire trip made for an outstanding experience in the world of Native arts. I am so happy to be here.”

Sonya will be focusing on diversifying funding sources for FPF and leading the communications efforts. She adds, “I’ve always been a mission-driven person. I truly love working in the Native space, uplifting and helping our communities.”

Meet Sandra White Shield

Executive Assistant/Grants Manager

Sandra (Sicangu Lakota) is a life-long resident of Rapid City, South Dakota where FPF is headquartered. She comes to FPF from the Graduate Studies Department of Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where she served as administrative assistant.

“I chose First Peoples Fund because of the work they do in impacting cultural knowledge transference and in building the ability for both individuals and communities to grow economically,” Sandra says. “I hope the skills I have can be added to the effort First Peoples Fund is doing.”

“I chose First Peoples Fund because of the work they do in impacting cultural knowledge transference and in building the ability for both individuals and communities to grow economically,”

Sandra’s 3-hour daily commute to her previous job at the college did have its rewards, such as the sunrise that inspired one of her star quits. She makes star quilts to give away to family and people who have added to her knowledge base.

“The giving of the star quilt is the best way I have to outwardly show respect and honor for people who mentor me, or who make me understand in a way that I didn’t understand before,” she says.

One thing Sandra does in her role at FPF is uplift the culture bearers who undergird and guide every aspect of our work.

“It’s because of them that there is a resurgence in people reclaiming their culture in an Indigenous way,” she says. “Our young people today need to look at those people and recognize that this is where they came from. When they see someone who is truly of the culture and who truly exemplifies the virtues of the cultures [through FPF Community Spirit Award Honorings], they know it and respect it.”

Meet Hillary Presecan

Program Manager of Community Development

Hillary initially encountered FPF while presenting at the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference in the summer of 2014.

“I was researching some of the partners and participants coming to the conference and noticed there was a representative from First Peoples Fund,” she says. “I loved their mission, vision, and values. I kept them in the back of my mind when I moved down here for a different job.”

Program Manager of Community Development, Hillary focuses on FPF’s Native Artist Professional Development Training (NAPD) by managing trainings, building relationships, and facilitating collaborations with tribal communities and FPF-certified NAPD Trainers.

“I enjoy getting to know tribal communities and learning about their needs and how we can bring technical assistance and other support with our trainings. I want to be a good ally.”

“I want to share resources and opportunities for Native artists anywhere that I can through this job,” she says. “I enjoy getting to know tribal communities and learning about their needs and how we can bring technical assistance and other support with our trainings. I want to be a good ally.”

Born and raised in southwest Michigan, Hillary earned her bachelor’s in art history from Kendall College of Art and Design before serving in the Peace Corps as a youth developer in Morocco. After Hillary completed her Peace Corps service, she was awarded the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellowship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she earned her master’s degree in Rural Development from the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development. She interned at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage and worked with Indigenous peoples in the arts and Tribal public health before finding her professional home at FPF.

Hillary serves on boards for the annual Rapid City Native art market and cultural celebration, Native POP: People of the Plains, and the Rapid City Arts Council. She sees art as the doorway into different cultures.

“The best way to get to know another culture is through the arts where that connection of understanding and commonality binds us together,” she says. “Indigenous artists express their ways of knowing, their stories, their histories, and who they are through art. I feel art is one way to connect the rest of the world to Indigenous people and their ways of knowing to have a better understanding of who they are and to share that with the rest of the world.”

Photographer Dawnee LeBeau is Itazipacola Oohenunpa of the Tetonwan Oyate. She was born and raised on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, and was introduced to her love of photography when gifted her first Nikon film camera while working on a tribal youth project.

Dawnee is inspired by portrait, landscape, and documentary photography. She currently resides on the Cheyenne River Reservation with her two beautiful wakanyeja (children). She gardens, promotes wellness, the Lakota language, cultural values, and minimalism, all while photographing the beautiful and talented oyate (people) of her community.

“On this day, we had a successful hunt to nourish our family

On this day, we had a battle

On this day, we had a child born, and it was beautiful

Pictographs spread across a buffalo hide tell of specific moments in time, records of everyday happenings. This is how Dawnee understands how Winter Counts were used by her people to tell a visual story of their history. It aligns with her desire to capture moments within her family and her community.

Photography creates community connection for Dawnee whether she takes portrait studios in a cozy space in her home or in open spaces.

“I work and move within the idea that the entire world is your studio,” Dawnee says. “You can capture an image of anybody or any landscape where you’re at, as long as you have consent. I’m super aware of other people’s spaces. But my community here on the reservation have opened their homes and said, ‘Yes, use that space anytime.’”

“I believe photography helps us to continue with a modern form of documentation for our Indigenous people,”

With her 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship, Dawnee plans to host photography camps for youth who will interact with family and community members of all ages.

“I want them to engage in how they’re doing preservation work within their families,” she says.

A similar time came for Dawnee when she took part in the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. The photojournalism project highlighted a diverse group of ranchers who live and work together on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

“It took a lot for me to ask, ‘Can I take these pictures of you and show them to the world?’” Dawnee says. “That’s asking a lot because this is our personal space, but I also feel the history should be told. Our wonderful livelihood and how we create community, that needs to be seen. My family and community were wonderful. They said, ‘Come on down. We’re feeding cows on this day; we’re giving shots to horses on that day.’”

Similar to Winter Counts, Dawnee is documenting everyday moments of life like her people have for centuries.

“I believe photography helps us to continue with a modern form of documentation for our Indigenous people,” she says.

Dawnee believes in the importance of combining today’s modern day lifestyle with the traditions of Tetonwan people. “It is essential for Indigenous people to have balance and to bring dialogue and diversity to conversations in the community and in the world,” she says.

Her project will bring the community together to share experiences while learning how to preserve the history of the community through photography.

Darrell Eaglestaff is a 64-year-old Mnicojou Lakota man from the Red Scaffold tiyospaye. He grew up on four different reservations in the Great Plains area. He worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for 23 years and retired as a Realty Specialist.

After taking up photography in 2010, Darrell chose to use it to capture positive moments of tribal members on the Cheyenne River Reservation where he lives. He has photographed weddings, high school seniors, sports (basketball, rodeo, Indian relay), pow wows, wildlife, and artifacts.

His mission is, “Helping to preserve my culture, one photograph at a time.”

The voice at the end of the history video asked the visitors to remain quiet and respectful as they entered Pearl Harbor. This was a place where people had died. That moment and memory deserved reverence.

As Darrell walked out to the memorial in Hawai’i, it struck him that they could do the same thing at the Wounded Knee Cemetery, near the site where a band of Lakota people was massacred in 1890. He envisioned having that quiet and respectful atmosphere for those who died.

“Just seeing the Pearl Harbor [National] Memorial and the respect there inspired me to bring that back to my community,” Darrell says.

One of Darrell’s relatives was among those killed. He found more details about this in probate papers where Darrell’s grandmother shared detailed family history, including testimony where she stated her husband’s nineteen-year-old half brother was killed at Wounded Knee. Through the document and family stories, Darrell discovered the young man had two names — Chase in the Winter and Afraid of Lightning.

“Not only is it my job to inform my children and grandchildren of their connection to the Wounded Knee Massacre, but all the children of Cheyenne River need to be informed.”

Darrell wants to share his family’s story through photography, and have answers available for people who want to learn the history. The Cheyenne River Preservation Office gave him their blessing to photograph Wounded Knee artifacts that are held in a climate-controlled room, including blood-stained ghost dance shirts and a baby bonnet.

“I would like to inform tribal people mainly, that those people killed at Wounded Knee were from Cheyenne River,” Darrell says. “Not only is it my job to inform my children and grandchildren of their connection to the Wounded Knee Massacre, but all the children of Cheyenne River need to be informed.”

Darrell’s 94-year-old mother, also retired from the BIA, volunteers at the Lakota Cultural Center in Eagle Butte on the Cheyenne River Reservation. She fields questions of those who desire to know more about this tragedy among their people. Darrell’s photos are on hand to help tell the stories.

He hopes his 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship project of sharing the story of Wounded Knee will create the reverence that he maintains when visiting the site and cemetery.

On a balmy -20 degree day in Minneapolis, Minn., Sarah Agaton Howes (Anishinaabe) stepped forward to wrap Oprah Winfrey in a “Renewal” blanket. Oprah had come to visit the KwePack, an Indigenous Women’s Running Group in Northern Minnesota. When they received an invitation to run during Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour, Sarah seized the opportunity to share her culture and her business by honoring someone who has inspired millions. The “Renewal” blanket was designed by Sarah and created as part of the Eighth Generation label.

Sarah, owner of contemporary Anishinaabe art retailer Heart Berry, is a stellar success story among Native artists who collaborate with Eighth Generation through the Inspired Natives Project. Eighth Generation is a Seattle-based company founded by artist and FPF Artist in Business Leadership alumnus Louie Gong (Nooksack), a visionary leader who hustled for more than a decade to bring his art and his company to the mainstream. He invested and reinvested his life savings into Eighth Generation along with the emotional labor it took to bring the company to life. FPF’s Our Nation’s Spaces program also contributed support through Evergreen State College.

Now a fast-growing multi-million dollar company — arguably the largest Native-owned arts company in the U.S. and Canada — Eighth Generation has reached the point of being able to launch and help sustain the careers of numerous Native artists, like Sarah.

For years, Eighth Generation worked on developing Indigenous artists across the U.S.. Sarah was among their first.

“Sarah is a star in our Inspired Natives Project”

“Sarah is a star in our Inspired Natives Project,” Louie says. “She came to us about three years ago as a beadwork artist who hardly made any money from her art. Now, she is the primary breadwinner in her family.”

The moment Sarah wrapped Oprah in the “Renewal” blanket marked a milestone in Sarah’s life, crossing a new finish line for not only the running club she founded, but in her outstanding business success.

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“When people look at that picture, they see Oprah in a blanket, and I think that’s great,” Louie says. “But I see Sarah is also in the picture and, on behalf of Eighth Generation, I feel pride in our ability to share tools that artists like Sarah need to have opportunities to seize the day.”

The root of this opportunity, and all of those created by Eighth Generation, can be traced back to Louie, an Indigenous artist who began drawing on shoes in 2008. Though he was best known for his hand-drawn custom shoes, Louie’s journey as an artist led him to wonder what could be done to push Native artists and their creations into the mainstream. That eventually became Eighth Generation and the Inspired Natives Project.

“It’s not just my effort,” Louie says. “I’ve had a lot of support in my journey, including from First Peoples Fund.”

In 2014 and again in 2016, Louie was a First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow. He remained in contact with artists from his cohort, hiring many of them as contractors.

Eighth Generation also received a First Peoples Fund Our Nations’ Spaces grant in 2016 to help grow a unique ecology for Native artists — one that supports individual artists in a way that filters money back into communities while reaching out on national and international levels. Eighth Generation is a model Indigenous Arts Ecology.

“I appreciate that kind of support, which we’ve received from key leaders within the Native communities like Lori [FPF President Lori Pourier], so thank you for that,” Louie says.

Fast forward to November 2019 when the Snoqualmie Tribe acquired the company,

“As Eighth Generation grew, the investment required to get to the next level got bigger,” Louie explains. “We reached the point where we needed to get some muscle behind the hustle.”

That meant selling the company — a big decision for Louie and his team, as well as the interested party — to the Snoqualmie Tribe, based in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. “The tribe want[ed] to demonstrate to their community that their resources are being used for investments aligned with their tradition and values,” Louie says. “And for me, there was no higher outcome for this labor of love than for hundreds of local Indigenous people to share ownership in Eighth Generation. There are a lot of dollars coming in from tribal communities, and we try to do our best to make sure the dollars Eighth Generation spends go back into some of those communities. If I look down at our activities from a high altitude, I like to see a cycle of support.”

One step at a time, Eighth Generation has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. and Canada, all while uplifting individual Native artists.

Louie is now in place as the CEO of Eighth Generation, ready to continue leading the company into new territory. This summer, they are opening a storefront near downtown Portland, Oregon, with cutting edge technology not yet widely used in retail stores. Interactive experiences and stunning Inspired Native art will draw in visitors to experience Indigenous cultures like never before.

Back in Seattle, the original Eighth Generation storefront has become a must-see stop for tourists. It is located in Pike Place Market, a destination that receives 10 million visitors annually.

Eighth Generation now leases 14,000 square feet of highly valuable and sought-after Seattle real estate. The Indigenous company is putting the space to good use with another groundbreaking endeavor — an urban manufacturing initiative.

“We’ll have a group of Native people developing expertise in technology that is absolutely the future of textiles. It’s revolutionary."

“From yarn all the way to a sales associate selling wool textiles to a customer in one of our brick and mortar stores, it will be Native people executing skills they learned on the job at Eighth Generation,” Louie says. “We’ll have a group of Native people developing expertise in technology that is absolutely the future of textiles. It’s revolutionary."

“By partnering with the Snoqualmie Tribe in this way, we’ll be able to bring our ideas like this to fruition faster and scale up the business so we can compete with more established national brands.”

It all starts with the individual artist taking a step in the right direction. Like Sarah. Louie. And John Pepion (Piikani), 2017 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow and another artist in the Inspired Natives Project.

“We’re getting artists to think about the big picture and to start doing one thing a day that helps them move toward their long-term goal,” Louie says. “For the artists we work with, it’s the same long-term goal — to make the art form you love, sustainable.”

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.”

The Waniyeta (Winter season) for the Lakota is a time for reflection and historically when the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) gathered to share significant events depicted in a Winter Count. A Winter Count is a recorded history in pictograph form in a chronological circular pattern drawn onto a buffalo hide. Waniyeta also represents a time of reflection for First Peoples Fund as we look back on the success of our programs, our partnerships and family of artists and culture bearers while preparing to transition into our next three year strategic plan.

For First Peoples Fund (FPF) and our family of culture bearers, artist entrepreneurs and community based partners, this promises to be an outstanding year. We enter the calendar year by welcoming 2020’s four Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award Honorees who will join more than 100 culture bearers and 60 tribal nations. Such as those honorees who came before, these individuals have dedicated their lives to passing on their ancestral knowledge and Indigenous lifeways. We look forward to joining their Nominator and community members as we prepare to honor them in their respective tribal Nations.

A significant milestone in August will be the grand opening of Oglala Lakota Artspace on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of the Rolling Rez Arts bus that has traveled more than 30,000 miles since 2017. We are anxious to see artists occupying the building and programing from the Rolling Rez Arts expanding into the building as well as a branch of the Oglala Lakota Federal Credit Union housed in the space. These artists possess abilities to have a greater impact on the economy of many families and the Pine Ridge Reservation as a whole through this new arts center. We humbly thank Artspace and Encompass Architects (Tammy Eagle Bull, Oglala Lakota tribal member) who have led the construction and the many donors who have made this vision a reality.

The Rolling Rez Arts (RRA) Bus will continue travelling across Pine Ridge delivering traditional Lakota arts classes, banking services through the Lakota Federal Credit Union, and buying days for Red Cloud Heritage Center. RRA will continue to extend its programming in partnership with the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s annual Red Can Graffiti Jam in Eagle Butte, slatted for June, Native POP Art Market in Rapid City in July, and the Indigenous Film Festival, coinciding with Oglala Lakota Nation Fair and Rodeo in August. We invite you to attend these events to see and support our artists.

Coming in March, 25 Artist in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital Fellows will gather in Minneapolis. This will be an opportunity for the Fellows to meet and network with each other and learn about business elements necessary for managing a thriving arts business. We are confident the Fellows will return home inspired with the knowledge added to their tool-kit for success.  

The Emerging Poets Fellowship Pilot Program is underway. Each of our four partners in the inaugural program — Dances with Words, Cheyenne River Youth Project, Nisto Inc., and Indigenous Peoples Task Force — have been hosting bi-weekly writing and professional artist development workshops with seven youth poets in their communities. At the end of this spring, each poet will create a chapbook and the groups will host a poetry reading for their communities.

A new spoken-word curriculum is nearing completion. We are eager to share it with mentors this spring for use with poets in the 2020-2021 school year. What do you suppose we will hear from our young poets this year?

Whether you are an artist or simply have an interest in the arts or our programs, check out the FPF Resource Library found on our website under the Programs Tab. There is information in the Resource Library about how to apply to our programs, networking, touring, community engagement, and even establishing a Native art market. We invite you to give it a look — you are sure to discover some useful information for your arts business.

Wherever you are, from the FPF family to yours, we sincerely hope each new season provides the best of all things to you and that our paths will cross until we find ourselves in the next Winiyeta.

Terran Last Gun (b. 1989) is a Piikani (Blackfeet) citizen and printmaker, who works mainly with serigraphy to produce fine original prints. Other mediums he has used include painting and photography. The interplay between color and form have been a focus of Last Gun’s artistic practice. He often draws from Piikani geometric aesthetics and collective narratives that deepen and extend his color and exploration of shape.

Born in Browning, Montana, Last Gun received his A.S. degree from the Blackfeet Community College in 2011, and his BFA in Museum Studies and AFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2016. He is a recipient of awards from First Peoples Fund, 2020 Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship; Santa Fe Art Institute, 2018 Story Maps Fellowship; and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 2016 Goodman Aspiring Artist Fellowship. He currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Terran inhaled the scent of buckskins worn by warriors of his people in the mid-1800s as he studied old symbols done in quill. He stood in the collections at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada viewing five Blackfoot warrior shirts, which had originated from his people. Terran was honored to represent the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksikaitsitapi) from the U.S. at the viewing.

“It was a powerful moment,” he says. “It made me realize I wanted to help in terms of the continuation of this work.”

That moment inspired him to pursue Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. While at the IAIA, Terran also began Studio Arts classes.

“This is one way of continuing on history and culture and also including my own interest in exploring colors, shape, and pop art.”

“I discovered that you could carry on some of this knowledge through visual art,” he says. “This is one way of continuing on history and culture and also including my own interest in exploring colors, shape, and pop art.”

While his dad is an artist, Terran didn’t consider himself one but fell in love with the hands-on process of printmaking. Screen printing quickly became his favorite.

“I like to mix my own colors and explore color interaction,” he says. “It’s the process and materials I’m working with that help determine some of my imagery, but also my own cultural research. We have a unique way of doing art. Our aesthetic is very geometric, so my work tends to be geometric and hard-edged. I draw a lot of inspiration from Blackfoot painted lodges.”

One of Terran’s favorite pieces from last year, “Sunbeam / 101989,” won the Santa Fe Indian market serigraph category. It’s inspired by Blackfoot painted lodges, and by Terran’s journey as an artist.

“I was drawn to that doorway shape and thinking about my own journey through art and where I am currently at in my life,” he says. “I was working with the square format and had a lot of fun with creating these compositions. The yellow and red remind me of the sun and the blue of big sky Montana.

“I feel like it’s doing what I’m trying to do as an artist — to continue on the symbols but in a very modern way, further elevating these geometric symbols. I feel my work is continuum art from my tribe and from my culture.”

Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota) grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She works primarily in printmaking and painting through the use of mixed media.

Mikayla has exhibited work at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Dahl Art Center in Rapid City, and The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge. In 2017, she was honored with an Emerging Artist Award from the Native POP: People of the Plains show in South Dakota. Her work has been showcased at Chiaroscuro in Santa Fe, and she was featured on the cover of Pasatiempo Magazine. Mikayla is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow, living in Santa Fe.

Standing at the sink, Mikayla dips her hands in water that is filled with scraps of paper and fabric. It reminds her of washing dishes as a child, being with her grandmother, doing everyday things. A sewer and quilt maker, Mikayla’s grandmother used scraps of anything and everything lying around to create quilts to give to her family.

“I remember her always being calm and quiet, but she really showed affection,” Mikayla says. “It was usually by the things she did with me, which was just hanging out and helping her around the house.”

Pulping paper out of scraps like washing dishes; sandwiching the paper with sheets to press it out like doing laundry — the process of creating the piece, Unci’s Love, is like a memory for Mikayla.

“After the paper [making] process was finished, the paper organically cradled the fabric,” Mikayla says. “I recently started making my own paper using leftover paper scraps in order to recycle and reduce but also to make a point that anything can be art.”

Several years ago, Mikayla relocated to New Mexico to continue her education at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Unable to afford college after the first year, she spent three years working to pay for tuition bills, then returned to IAIA in 2015, receiving her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Arts in 2019.

Mikayla relies on presses to produce her work, a labor-intensive process requiring that she stand and hand-crank the press for hours at a time. She uses non-toxic inks, oil pastels, pencil, stencils, and found materials such as cereal boxes, string, fabric, plants, and beads.

As a printmaker and painter, Mikayla is exploring matriarchal ideology by navigating its complexities through Lakota artistry, design, and geometric forms. She also focuses her time on jewelry making and digital designing, at times combining the two processes to produce her own unique artistry.

It is still moments of sensory experiences that truly motivates Mikayla to continue pushing herself to share and express. Her grandmother showed her that everyday things can be art.

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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