Seeing Her Artwork Dance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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