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It was at a living room table in his childhood home that Mel Losh (Ojibwe) first learned the tedious and painstaking methods of traditional Ojibwe beadwork and quillwork.

At the age of 16, Losh began what was to become a lifelong passion that has turned in to a journey of artistic discovery, hard work and accolades, including a 2015 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award from First Peoples Fund. Losh, now 68, lives in Bena, Minnesota, located on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.

When Losh first started out, he studied with Ojibwe artist Josephine Ryan, who told Losh's parents that he had a special way of working with the beads. Losh spent the first 10 years making medallions, outfits and belt buckles, before taking a five-year break. But it was during a Michigan powwow that he met accomplished quillworker Catherine Baldwin. She taught him new skills, including how to insert quills into birch bark using an awl and tweezers. His passion was renewed and he started working at it again.

His hard work has paid off. The Minnesota Historical Society's Mille Lacs Museum has since purchased his bandolier bags, and the Plains Art Museum and Smithsonian own his quill boxes. He recently won "Best of Show" at the Bemidji State University annual Art Expo.

Losh said when he was a teen, he didn't realize the importance of carrying on the traditional art form. He thought he was simply doing something he loved.

"It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I realized the importance of this work to our people," said Losh.

The process to do the quillwork is Losh's greatest passion. It begins with collecting porcupine quills—often from "road kill"—and cleaning, drying and sorting them. He draws a pattern onto the birch bark, sorts the quills and insets the quill into one of two holes. The quill is then bent and the free end is inserted into the other end. It is repeated until the design is complete. While working, there are times when Losh has hundreds of quills in his mouth, preparing to insert them in to the bark.

Passing on the traditional work can be intense, he said, because of the detail that is required. And, pushing quills through birch bark can be painful, but it's one of the aspects Losh loves.

"The feeling is just amazing," he said.

It's something he enjoys sharing. When women in the community heard that Losh could do the traditional work, they asked to be taught. "They kept 'bothering' me to do a workshop," he said.

He applied for a grant and was able to host several quill work workshops, but struggled at first to keep people coming.

"People back out when they see how much is involved," he said. "One women almost cried when she learned how difficult this work can be."

But that attitude is changing now, Losh said. He led seven groups last summer with 18 people, ages ranging from five to 72.

Losh is dedicated to teaching others with patience, said fellow artists Douglas Limón (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin), and has been generous with his beadwork and quillwork talents.

"He creates burial moccasins for grieving families, not to benefit him monetarily, but to comfort the families and to help the loved ones on their journey," he wrote in his nomination letter. "He does this generously and many times, he will work a straight 40 hours without any sleep to get the burial moccasins made for the funeral. This is very comforting to families."

The support from First Peoples Fund has inspired Losh to live out a handful of his lifelong dreams, including a trip to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, to view Native artwork.

"And there's something I've always wanted to do," he said. "It's a full-beaded bandolier bag and a woman's complete traditional dance outfit."

Losh said financial challenges made it difficult to do large projects.

"My income isn't very big," he said. "I've worked 37 years and I never planned for retirement. Quill boxes and beadwork help. This honor from First Peoples Fund is going to free me up to do those things I want to do."

He's taken the first step toward those dreams, he said, by buying the canvas for the cap of the traditional dress.

"I can hardly wait to get started," he said.

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A Cultural Capital Fellowship from First Peoples Fund will be used this year to promote a documentary on the life and work of a prominent Alaskan culture bearer—and 2003 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award honoree.

Delores Churchill (Haida), alongside filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein, has received a Cultural Capital fellowship to help promote "Tracing Roots," a 35-minute documentary portrait of Churchill's homeland, art and work to preserve her culture and traditions.

First Peoples Fund's Cultural Capital Fellowship Program provides tradition bearers of tribal communities the opportunity to further their work by providing additional resources, technical assistance and capacity building.

The documentary project began in 2009 when Frankenstein began documenting Churchill as she traveled the Northwest Coast, teaching basketry and weaving. The project led to the "Tracing Roots" documentary, specifically focused on Churchill's life and work.

"It was this journey we went on together. In the making of the film, I learned what a wonderful, amazing person Delores was."

The film was finished in September and began showing later that month.

Churchill learned Haida weaving from her mother and was schooled in the traditions by Tlingit and Tsimshian elders. "Once I took this path of teaching and sharing, I've stayed on it," Churchill wrote when applying for the Cultural Capital fellowship. "I'm passionate about learning new endings and techniques so those too can be passed on. This art is integral to who we are and how we live in this region."

Frankenstein said the fellowship could also be used to help promote a book Churchill is writing with her daughter, but the main focus will be on the film, including having it aired on the National Public Television.

"We will use the funding well," she said.

The film is so strong, Frankenstein said, because of Churchill's captivating presence. "There's something about her spirit in the film," Frankenstein said.

She embodies the idea that it's never too late to ask questions, search for answers and learn, Frankenstein added. "Nothing stops this elder when she wants to know something," she said. "Delores captivates everybody."

Frankenstein, who has been working with artists and creating documentaries for 25 years, said she loves her work, especially when it encourages people to continue their stories.

"Art is a part of life," she said. "Western civilization divides everything out. But it's about heritage as a living element of life and culture and beauty and legacy—it is about who we are."

First Peoples Fund is supporting the important idea that history and tradition matter, she added.

"If we don't connect the past with the present, where are we?" she said.

The organization also gives artists the boost they need to complete projects. "We all have ideas, but seeing them to the finish line is complex," she said.

For more information on "Tracing Roots" and to see a preview of the documentary, visit www.tracingrootsfilm.com.

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When Keone Nunes (Native Hawaiian) wanted to get a traditional Hawaiian/Polynesian tattoo, but couldn't find a tattoo artist in his native Hawaii that didn't use machines, he decided to take things in to his own hands.

Nunes, who has been named as a 2015 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award honoree, first learned about traditional tattooing from elders as they taught him about the Polynesian culture and tradition. It wasn't until later that Nunes realized his situation was unique.

"I thought it was common knowledge," he said. "Later on, I realized not everyone had that knowledge."

Nunes, who has tattoos on his wrists, shoulders and chest, was encouraged to become a tattooist while he was getting a tattoo. He started learning the art form by machine, but quickly realized he had a different calling.

"I tried to make and use traditional tools, with disastrous results," he said with a big laugh.

In 1996, a mentor and well-known traditional tattoo artist contacted Nunes and offered to teach him the traditional way. The two went on a trip and Nunes learned how to make a traditional tool—the right way.

"That really changed things. There wasn't a lot of traditional Polynesian work and for the first time, people were offered a true choice, machine or traditional."

Traditional tattooing is done by tapping one stick on to another, all of it without a machine. It's also set apart from machine by traditional ceremony. Nunes does his work in the Nanakuli Valley near his home, with interested students often sitting at his feet to learn.

"Machines are very seductive," Nunes said. "They're like an artist's pen. It gets you out of tight binds, but for me, it was a crutch."

Nunes said his vision of the importance of tradition has been transformed through his work. "My whole attitude has changed," he said. "I've allowed the tools to teach me. There are very few things in this world that we can say we are doing exactly the same way they were done 100, 200, 500 years ago. When a person lays down on the mat to get a tattoo, they are feeling the same emotions and feelings as their ancestors. It's very powerful."

Nunes has had a powerful effect on the resurgence of traditional Hawaiian culture, said Kapulani Landgraf (Native Hawaiian), an Hawaiian art and photography professor at Kapi'olani Community College where Nunes has led demonstrations and lectures.

"As a Native Hawaiian artist, I have seen over the years the richness of Keone's artistic work that resonates with impeccable scholarship, meticulous craftsmanship and deep layers of meaning," Landgraf said when nominating Nunes for the Community Spirit Award. "Keone plays many roles in our Hawaiian community, but the major contribution to our Hawaiian people is providing a connection to our ancestors, our place and our responsibilities as a Hawaiian in these contemporary times."

Nunes said he hopes his work will inspire other Indigenous people to look to their own history as well.

"To me that is very, very important," he said. "Some people in the western world still don't get it, but that's okay. There's no judgment, but I'm very passionate about people looking at their own traditions and reclaiming them."

Nunes is looking ahead to a busy year. He is currently mentoring students in the traditional art form, but said there is still work to be done.

"It's important to start laying that foundation," he said.

He'd also like to connect with other people in other cultures and share the Polynesian culture.

"It's important to share this in other areas of the United States and the world so they can see the beauty of what we do, It gives it so much more depth. We're not just musicians or dancers, there's so much depth in our cultures."

Nunes has worked with tribes in Northern California and New Zealand, and an artist in the contiguous United States who is trying to learn traditional Pilipino tattooing. He has also been asked to represent Hawaii during the Festival of Pacific Arts to be held in Guam in 2016.

The Community Spirit Award is humbling, he said.

"I'm very honored," he said. "Traditional people don't look at tattoo artists as caretakers of the culture, so I take this very seriously. I'm honored to be chosen and I can't really express it in words."

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Robert Martinez (Northern Arapaho) has a vision for what a Cultural Capital Fellowship will do for his Native community on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and it's about spreading the word.

"There are many people here who are artists, but it's not known that they're professional and you can make a living," said Martinez, who has been an artist for two decades.

It's what moved Martinez to found the Northern Arapaho Artist's Society (NAAS) in 2012, which helps combat the challenges Native artists face on his reservation. The goal of the society is to promote Arapaho artists and create opportunities for them to showcase their work.

That movement will be furthered by a 2015 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship awarded to Martinez this year.

Since 2012, the NAAS has secured and scheduled 10 professional art shows. Helping other artists, particularly young people, is at the heart of the society and what Martinez hopes to accomplish with the grant. The grant will be used to assist the society members to travel to local schools and communities to host workshops and information sessions to guide artists in how to expand or start their careers. The NAAS artists will also provide individual demonstrations on Arapaho art technique and talk to students about mentorship activities and the growing support for emerging artists in the area.

It's a different path than what Martinez, who was previously a First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow and is currently an artist success coach through First Peoples Fund's Native Artist Professional Development Training Program, experienced as he established his art career.

"I had to fight my way through and figure it out on my own," he said. "There's not a lot of help for professional artists, especially here."

Martinez has been teaching and mentoring youth on the reservation for more than 15 years. He has worked as a Title IV Indian education coordinator, working with high school students to help them focus on their education and graduate. He also served as the dean of students for the Fremont County School District, working with at-risk youth.

Martinez has started the presentations in the local community and plans to visit the local college and high school next month. His continuing connection with the schools is encouraging, he said.

"The schools are very willing to have us speak," he added.

Martinez hopes that the grant will jump start art as an economic engine on the Wind River Reservation and encourage the continuity of the Northern Arapaho culture.

"We have good Arapaho artists in the area and we want the opportunity to showcase their art," he said.

The support for First Peoples Fund has been invaluable. "It's very important," he said. "Without First Peoples Fund and this grant, I wouldn't be as far in my career as I am now."

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There was no way to know that David Boxley Jr.'s (Tsimshian) first drawing lessons with his father at the age of four would turn in to a lifetime of artistry and achievement. But it was those early lessons, Boxley said, that helped teach him not only the mechanics of drawing—and later carving—at the age of six, but a respect for his Native culture and traditions.

Boxley, who has been named one of the 2015 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award honorees, will be honored in his hometown of Metlakatla, Alaska, later this year. Boxley is Tsimshian from the Metlakatla Indian Community.

Boxley's father, David A. Boxley, was also named a Community Spirit Award recipient in 2012.

"I have very big shoes to fill. It's lovely to be selected for something like this. First Peoples Fund is choosing to acknowledge people who make things better for their people and communities, and they deserve a big thanks for that."

Boxley said his father was a respected artist and culture bearer in their Alaskan community, adding that one of the strengths of his youth was witnessing a resurgence of their culture because of people like him. "I got to watch our culture come back," he said.

Their story is a perfect example of the strength and wisdom that can be passed from generation to generation, said First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier.

"The Boxley family has demonstrated just what can happen when we are purposeful about teaching our kids not only the hands-on traditions and ceremonies of our people, but also the strength, integrity and drive that enables our culture to remain intact and thrive to this day," Pourier said. "We are thrilled to honor David this year, and celebrate the legacy this family has built."

Boxley, whose art includes totem pole carvings, paintings, rattles and masks, said it's impossible for him to separate his work as an artist with the Native traditions. "I disagree with Native artists who only do the art and not the ceremonies," he said. "I don't see how that's possible. You can't have one without the other."

Boxley had originally planned to be an illustrator, first completing an apprenticeship in high school with an illustrator and later attending college to study more.

"But then I realized that most of the field is now digital," he said, "and that doesn't do it for me."

He returned to an old love—carving—and has since made it his life's work to revive his tribe's dying language, pass on the art to the younger generation, and perpetuate their traditions.

"I am what I do and I do what I am," Boxley said. "It's not a nine-to-five job, and even when I'm off, I'm still thinking about aspects of it. Whether it's the art or a language class or a piece, my thoughts are with my art and culture all the time."

Boxley said he experiences the most fulfillment when doing his tribe's ceremonies. "At the end of the day, when we're doing the ceremonies is when it's truly fulfilling and that's the real thing. That's why the art is made."

Boxley has no plans of slowing down this year. He is currently part of a group that plans to organize potlatches, or gatherings, to establish their village's old-style tribal name. Tribal names used to signify the land of where a group of people came from.

"One step back to reclaiming our heritage is to have a proper name on the tribe or village," he said.

In August, people will gather to hear information from Boxley and others about why they should rename the village. A totem pole will then be raised in 2017 and the new name will become official.

Boxley is also at the center of an effort to revitalize his tribe's language. He will join a group of people who will study and become fluent in the language, part of an effort to create fluent speakers who can then lead immersion schools. "We can hopefully extend the life of the language another 50 years," he said. "I know I will have to sacrifice art time, but there's nothing more important."

Language is the distinguishing factor for tribes, he said.

"One thing that makes my people unique is our language," he said. "All of the tribes on the Northwest Coast have totem poles. Language revitalization and preservation is the most important issue of our time. We'll have to spend the rest of our lives fighting for it."

For the language project, Boxley will move from Washington back to Alaska. Ironically, he's at the same age his father was when he made a life-changing move years ago. "My dad was teaching, owned an ice cream shop, and carved," he said. "And he moved to Washington to carve full-time, which was very risky if you think about it. I'm at that same age."

It's all coming full circle, Boxley said.

"Everything I've done so far is sending me back home with a good set of skills to help my people," he said. "When you're in your 30s, you start thinking, 'What am I leaving the world?' If I can solidify that return to tradition and culture and a sense of belonging for where we live, that will be enough."

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When Lauren Good Day  (Arikara, Hidatsa, Blackfeet and Plains Cree) saw an open retail location in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota, she immediately envisioned what it could be.

“I always wanted to have a gallery setting,” said Good Day, who moved to Rapid City from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous liberal studies at the Institute of American Indian Art.

Good Day, 27, is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes—Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara—of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. She is a three-time First Peoples Fund fellow, including two Artist in Business Leadership fellowships. She has also participated in First Peoples Fund's Native Artist Professional Development Training Program, the Train the Trainer Program, and most recently, led an arts business workshop on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as part of a partnership with First Peoples Fund, Lakota Funds, and Artspace.

Good Day and her sister, Vanessa Frank, and her mother, Deborah Painte, opened Sage and Silver Americana at 629 Main Street in downtown Rapid City in October. Half of the store features Good Day's artwork as well as local and national artists. The other half features fine western wear that incorporates Native iconography and tribal prints.

“A full gallery is hard to do here because the arts market is still being developed,” Good Day said. “So, I incorporated my two loves—artwork and fashion.”

The store is not only important because it offers the Black Hills a quality art gallery, but it also gives Native artists a voice. “It’s extremely important,” she said. “Here we represent contemporary Native American artwork. We focus on our culture and lives today. We have a younger generation of artists and I wanted to give a voice to that younger generation.”

The store also offers space for traditional artwork, which Good Day says best describes her work. From a ranching family, Good Day said she enjoys highlighting western life, particularly from the standpoint that Native culture has evolved during the years.

“It’s the new west,” she said. “We have careers and ranches.”

The artwork, as well as the clothing, reflects that. “It’s bright and vibrant and has different techniques going on,” she said.

Having the support of First Peoples Fund has been an important foundation in her work.

“They really did help me at the beginning of my career.”

As an emerging artist five years ago, Good Day faced the challenge of purchasing the tools and equipment to start. She used funding from First Peoples Fund to purchase the portable walls needed to set up booths at art shows around the country. She also used the funding to purchase a camera and computer, develop a website, and pay for the accounting software and training needed to effectively run a business.

With the second Artist in Business Leadership fellowship, Good Day purchased a printing machine to reproduce her original ledger art drawings. Because the drawings were originals, Good Day felt she was missing customers who couldn’t afford the art.

“I wanted to hit customers at a lower price point,” she said.

The printing machine was invaluable, she said.

Since then, Good Day has shown her artwork at some of the most prestigious Native American juried art shows, including the Santa Fe Indian Market in New Mexico, the Heard Guild Museum Market in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Autry American Indian Arts Marketplace in Los Angeles, California.

“As a Native woman artist, I wanted to share my art with more people,” she said, and both the store and First People Fund have been a great avenue for that. “Without them, I don’t know if I would have achieved where I am at so fast. I really do appreciate them.”

Learn more about Lauren on her artist website

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For Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), there is something missing on the palette of America's greatest cuisine—Native American menus.

Sherman, who grew up on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is opening the Sioux Chef restaurant in the Twin Cities, and will cater this year's First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Awards events in Minneapolis.

The Community Spirit Awards honor recipients who have demonstrated exceptional passion, wisdom and purpose in their communities. Sherman catered the honoring in 2012 as well, and said it is an honor to be involved again. He hopes the participants at the event are inspired by the plate in front of them, and understand that the flavors and dishes can be traced back to some of their ancestors.

"All those food pieces have a story to tell."

Sherman first got the idea to open The Sioux Chef in 2007 when he was interested in writing a Lakota cookbook. When Sherman started his research, he was disappointed to find very little information on the diets of Native Americans before European influence and forced assimilation. There were even fewer restaurants that offered pre-colonized flavors, ingredients and food, he said.

"There were lots of fry breads and commodity food and that was it," he said, so he began studying the plants and animals that were once staples of the Plains and Midwest Native diet.

"It was learning how to identify and play with flavors," he said. "I looked at how things were processed, how people used dried foods and spent time preparing and harvesting for winter."

Food items like corn, beans and an abundant variety of squash were commonly used in the winter season in the Dakotas. The fall is a great time for plums, crab apples and rose hips.

"There are a lot of flavors. I'm trying to utilize things people had in their pantries," he said. "Those things have now disappeared."

In high school, Sherman moved to Spearfish, South Dakota, where he attended college. His first restaurant job was at the age of 13. His passion for the culinary field grew and he eventually earned a position as an executive chef at a popular restaurant in the city.

Most of Sherman's knowledge has come from his own initiative.

"I've been self-taught," he said. "I read tons of books. I took European trips. It took me a long time to get to the point where I wanted to do it professionally."

He hopes Sioux Chef is the start of better education—and good food—in America.

"There's a great Native American cuisine and food culture," he said. "You can go to all kinds of restaurants and it's the one that's missing right now. I'm seeking to change that."

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When Wade Fernandez (Menominee) performs at this year's First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Awards ceremony, he knows exactly what the honorees will be feeling.

As a 2010 recipient of the Community Spirit Award, Fernandez still has vivid memories of the night he was honored.

"What I hope—and I know it will happen—is that they are going to go home feeling rejuvenated and strong for their communities," said Fernandez, who will join fellow musical artist Frank Waln (Sicangu Lakota) onstage in a unique mash-up between the two artists. Over the past couple of weeks, Fernandez and Waln have been writing a new song for the event.

Fernandez said it will be the first time the two have been able to collaborate during a performance.

"We're hoping to give back what we've been given through our music."

The Community Spirit Awards ceremony, held October 18 at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis, will also feature performing artists Pua Ali'i 'Ilima with Vicky Holt Takamine, Jennifer Kreisberg, Heid E. Erdrich, Gavino Limón, and the Oneida Smoke Dancers. The honors are given to recognize the exceptional passion, wisdom and purpose the recipients bring to their art and the communities they serve.

Fernandez, an enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin and an accomplished musician, and music and video producer, is also a fellow of the First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program and a recipient of the Rural Business Enterprise grant. He has spent several years working to preserve the Menominee language by incorporating it in his music.

His performance history is extensive, dating back several decades and includes concerts at Woodstock in 1994 in New York, the Aboriginal People's Choice Awards live on Canadian National TV, and performances in Europe.

Since his partnership with First Peoples Fund, Fernandez has taken a lyric writing, master recording, and music marketing class. He is currently in the middle of creating a Menominee language CD and has continued touring, including a stint back in Europe this past July. He will return to Germany, Switzerland and Austria this fall, taking the stage with one of his five kids.

"All of my kids like music," he said. "They're in different stages of finding their own passions."

Fernandez often has his kids with him on the road, even overseas.

"It is really wonderful to have my children see the world," he said, and even sweeter when they get to be onstage with him. "They're right up there with me, instead of just sitting in the audience."

Several of the projects Fernandez has been involved in have been supported by FPF.

"They have really opened up a lot of doors," he said of his relationship with the organization, which started with his Community Spirit Award. "They remind me to keep going, even when it gets hard. It's increased my network of community-inspired people. The business can sometimes be cold. The First Peoples Fund community brings the heart and soul back to it."

Fernandez said it will be nice to be back in the company of FPF staff and fellow grantees when he attends the ceremony at The Cowles. He still vividly remembers the night he was honored four years ago.

"I felt unworthy," he said. "They had wonderful stories and were wonderful people. It's really opened up a lot of doors to meeting people in Indian country and being inspired by them."

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This summer, Lori Pourier, president of First Peoples Fund, sat down for a discussion with Jody Naranjo Folwell-Turipa, one of this year's Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards honorees. Here, Lori reflects on their time together in Santa Clara as she prepares to welcome this year's four honorees to the First Peoples Fund family this weekend.

Her work has broken so many barriers. In her community, and in the Indigenous art world.

She is a women, a grandmother, a mother, and a sister.

She is an artist, a potter, and an activist.

She is—in my humble opinion—the very essence of Collective Spirit.

And it is the quiet things she does within her community, and in her studio in Santa Clara, New Mexico, that have inspired new generations of potters within her family, and her tribe. For this—and more—Jody Naranjo Folwell-Turipa (Santa Clara/Tewa) will be honored with a 2014 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award from First Peoples Fund.

"Leadership is about people who are selflessly giving of themselves because they know it is the right thing to do," she said to me in her home earlier this summer. "My great-grandparents and parents taught me from a very young age that, with all your heart and with all your soul, you should always reach out and help others."

To sit across Jody—to listen to her speak her truth, her experiences, her passion and her strength, was so moving to me. In fact, it was enchanting.

"Pottery is the most magical way of communication," she said as she recalled a turning point in her life that awakened her to the power art has on community. "I was sitting in an underground home at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado, teaching students. We sat in semi-dark, mixing the clay, and could sense the spiritual effect that the act of creating was having on us. We were one unit as we sat mixing the clay. The quiet gave way to sharing stories."

Art, you see, was creating a collective community.

Jody inherited her family's tradition of pottery making as a child, first sculpting traditional blackware and redware, progressing to clay, and culminating today into cutting edge modern, fine art ceramics. She continues to dig her own clay, where it is then coil-built, stone polished and fired.

"But before we dig, we pray, and thank the Clay Mother for giving us the earth, our ability to create pots, and hopefully, our ability to sell our work to take care of ourselves, our families, and our community," she said.

Jody was the first female potter ever to win Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Her artwork, which is a balance of traditional and contemporary, often touches on political or social events and issues.

"I believe that if you are going to devote your life to being a fine artist, then you have to have the courage to make unique contributions to the world," she noted. "No issue is too big to address."

To me, that is what sets her apart. She not only continues the legacy of traditional Pueblo pottery, but she also breaks down stereotypes about contemporary Native art. She is not afraid to speak a narrative through her artwork—about social justice and current events—that has broken new ground for artists in and outside her community.

That tradition has also been passed down to her children and grandchildren. Her two daughters—Susan and Polly—are both potters today who are forging their own path. Jody told me that they are going beyond anything she could ever dream of doing herself.

A big smile—pride, I think—came across her face in that moment.

"They have been given this ability to create from the generations and generations and generations of potters that have come before them," Jody said. "They are the continuation of this work, and our traditions."

Perhaps most especially, they have been given this gift because a Pueblo woman—their mother—opened doors that have kept centuries-old traditions, and a rich culture, alive.

"We are made of clay, we live through clay, and one day, we will return to clay," she said. "That is the whole process of human nature—not just for Pueblo potters, but for everyone in this world. It connects us."

The Community Spirit Awards will be held on Saturday, October 18 at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. Tickets start at just $25 and are available online here.

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Anna Brown Ehlers (T'lingit) was just four-years old when she watched her uncle, a retired military veteran, walk in Alaska's first Fourth of July parade.

"Alaska had just become a state in 1959," she said. "My uncle was wearing a chilkat blanket. I saw the graceful movement on the fringe and I knew that's all I wanted to do."

She didn't know it at the time, but it was the planting of a seed that has since grown into a lifetime career as a Native artist, much of her work centered on the very thing she fell in love with so many years ago—chilkat weaving.

"It's fabulous," Ehlers said from her home in Juneau, Alaska. "It's what I always dreamed of doing."

Ehlers is a familiar face to the First Peoples Fund family and says the support she has received from the organization helped propel her career to new levels. Ehlers was a 2000 Community Spirit Award honoree and she has since received multiple fellowships and grants, including the Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship.

"It's magnificent," she said, of the relationship she continues with First Peoples Fund today. "That's what's kept me going through the years."

The funding she has received has helped her with the logistical side of business—keeping her office going, paying for the Internet, and purchasing cameras. And just as important, Ehlers said, it has meant a lot to be funded and encouraged by a national organization with such expertise.

"It's just really nice when somebody believes in you," she said.

Ehlers began weaving in her twenties, learning from a family friend who was 92 at the time and also from a military background. The strict learning environment was challenging, Ehlers said, but is probably the reason she became so good at the art.

"She was very mean," Ehlers said, laughing. "She'd pinch the upper part of my arms and tell me to take it out. She'd kick me under the table. But, she was a good teacher."

Since then, Ehlers has become well known for her chilkat weavings; most recently weaving her largest ever chilkat piece—an 8-by-7 foot blanket that will be auctioned off online. The design was done by a friend who also designs totem poles.

"I wanted a design from him for years," Ehlers said. "It took him 25 years before he finally got this design made."

The blanket is the design of a killer whale with an angled top reminiscent of an old tribal longhouse. Ehlers said the blanket was almost done one night when she did some research on killer whales and discovered that newborn killer whales are between 7.5 and 8 feet long when they are born and weigh about 400 pounds.

"So, it ended up being the size of a newborn killer whale," she said.

Ehlers is far from the end of her career. She continues her work today making large blankets, tunics, regalia and aprons. She is currently working on a project for the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which includes a chilkat apron that will be sewn on to the smoked moose hide.

And then in the spring, it will be time for one of Ehlers' favorite activities—collecting cedar bark for the art pieces that are made out of wool and yellow cedar bark. Because there are no cedar trees in Juno, she must travel to the coast to collect the materials.

She remembers one trip fondly—the time she took her daughter and one of her grandkids, the three of them combing the woods for trees with straight grain and fewer branches.

"You make a cut like the bottom of a box on the south side of the tree," she said. "You wear gloves and you take that bark and you run. And then, when you feel like it's reaching the top, then you jump and it rips off the top of the tree."

It's one of the beautiful, traditional activities Ehlers anticipated so many years ago when she first headed down the path of artistry.

"It's a whole lot of fun," she said.

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Tribe (if applicable): Confederate Tribes of Siletz Indians
Location: Siletz, Oregon
Job Title: Language and Tradition Arts Instructor for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz

Bud Lane III (Confederate Tribes of Siletz Indians) was first introduced to First Peoples Fund in 2009 when he was honored with the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award. Now, he returns to the organization as a member of the board of directors.

Lane is no stranger to leadership roles in Indian Country. He was elected to the Northwest Native American Basket Weavers Association's board of directors in 2005, and is currently serving as the board's president. He has been a featured weaver many times at the association's annual gathering. Here, Lane shares how he hopes his work, life and experiences will contribute to First Peoples Fund in the years ahead.

1) What do you do today, and how do you think it will help you in your work on the First Peoples Fund board?
I am a language and tradition arts instructor for the Confederate Tribes of Siletz Indians. I have been involved in work with tribes before I was a language teacher. I served on tribal councils, first elected in 1984. I was young—26 at the time, and have been on the council now since 2004. With the basket weavers association, we are trying to make sure young people learn, and that is a slice of what First Peoples Fund does. I look forward to bringing these experiences to our work together.

2) How has that work shaped the way you understand the issues facing tribes?
I understand a lot of issues from a political standpoint, and from being a father and grandfather... the importance of the language, tradition and arts and how we need to perpetuate them and make sure they remain intact for generations to come.

3) What are you looking forward to most in serving on the board?
I am on a bit of a learning curve right now. I have been to one board meeting. First Peoples Fund, through their processes, has furthered the arts in big ways, and in smaller ones as well. Most artists struggle. First Peoples Fund has been successful in putting artists forward and that is so important. First Peoples Fund greases the skids and makes it helpful and easier for people to practice traditional arts and make a living at it.

4) How has being a language and traditional arts teacher given you insight to the challenges facing Native artists today as they work to pass the traditions on to the younger generations?
I have seen the things that have affected tribes—the history of lumping tribes together, boarding schools, and societal exclusion. It wasn't cool to speak the language for so long. That's changed a little bit, and I hope that will continue to grow in the years and decades ahead.

5) What has Native art, language and cultural preservation looked like in Siletz?
We are working to bring that back, partly by helping young people to understand the cultural and personal significance to them and make them want to learn. That's hard. In Siletz, in the last 25 years, we've really been able to turn those things around. We've experienced a renaissance of traditional arts and traditions, but we've got to work at it all the time.

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A woman who has been celebrated in her community as the driving force behind the way Native Hawaiian art and culture has been preserved will take the stage alongside her fellow dancers at this year's 2014 Community Spirit Awards.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with other past recipients and the new honorees," said Vicky Holt Takamine (Native Hawaiian), who was honored with a Community Spirit Award in 2013. She will be traveling to Minneapolis with students from her Pua Ali'i 'Ilima dance studio in Hawaii to perform at this year's honoring.

Takamine, who owns and directs the Pua Ali'i 'Ilima dance studio, has made it her life's work to preserve traditional hula dance and traditional Hawaiian language.

"When you are at the ceremonies, you are among a unique group of select individuals," she said. "These are the people who have accepted the responsibility to carry on these traditions and share them with the next generation. We are excited to share a piece of our culture with the audience in Minneapolis."

Takamine is bringing six dancers and one chanter to perform during the ceremony, which will be held October 18 at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis. She will also be onstage as a chanter. She anticipates that it will be an unfamiliar experience for some in the audience.

"I can't presume that all of us from different communities are familiar with Native Hawaiian dance," she said. "Most people have an idea of what it is by what is marketed to them. Their experience that night will be different."

The traditional hula dance, or hula "kahiko" ancient style dance, is the original dance of the Native Hawaiians.

"We'll give them a taste of traditional practices, rather than what the tourist industry often promotes in videos and commercials," she said of the dance, which can also be celebrated and taught, but is an evolved form from the original dances.

Takamine's work following her Community Spirit Award celebration last year has continued wholeheartedly. Several projects have moved forward, including a Honolulu arts and cultural center built through the PA'I Foundation. The center has been a partnership with Artspace, a Minneapolis-based organization that is Amerca's leader in artist-led community transformation. The center will be a place for Native Hawaiian artists, activists, environmentalists, and educators.

"Artspace is thrilled to partner with PA’I Foundation to create the Ola Ka ‘Ilima Artspace Lofts, which will provide 84 artist live/work lofts, community gathering space and a new home for the PA‘I Native Hawaiian Cultural Center," said Greg Handberg, senior vice president of properties at Artspace. "Vicky's work with us has been instrumental in creating this new place for Native Hawaiian artists."

It was more than a decade ago that Takamine started attending meetings, organizing demonstrations during the legislative session, and speaking out about the importance of Native artwork and culture. She never intended to become an activist, she said, but a family history in politics and her deep love and appreciation of the islands led her to it.

It was that spirit and determination that was celebrated in 2013 during the Community Spirit Award ceremony, hosted in her community in Hawaii. The event was special, Takamine said, because it provided an opportunity for her to celebrate with her peers, community and students.

"To have that in my community was very special," she said.

First Peoples Fund has done an excellent job of highlighting and honoring people who are already recognized in their community as having made a difference, she added.

"First Peoples Fund does a great job of putting these artists forward—and celebrating them—as leaders," she said, and it is even more special that the nominations originate from those communities. "You can have people from the outside say, 'That person is doing a good job.' But when it comes from within your own community, it is even more valuable."

See Takamine and Pua Ali'i 'Ilima perform at the Community Spirit Awards on Saturday, October 18 at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. Tickets start at just $25 and are available online here.

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