Artist Statement 🌻🌿☀️☁️🌈🌎✨
I am a Chippewa Cree creative specializing in graphic design and digital illustration. Throughout my digital work, I thread the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation landscape, the Cree language, tribal stories, and Chippewa (Ojibwe) blossoms. I create pieces using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop where I can exact my signature bold, precise linework, and vibrant palettes. My other style of art involves a fusion of Japanese anime, manga, and American comic art. I bring Indigenous characters to life with this art style in fictional settings like superheroes, fantasy, and horror. As such, I often challenge the misrepresentations of Indigenous characters found in national and international pop culture. My art styles and themes grant me a sense of community to foster self-acceptance, hope, humor, and Indigenous ways of knowing.
Education:
University of Arizona (2019)
Master of Arts in Linguistics
Emphasis in Native American Languages & Linguistics
University of Montana-Missoula (2017)
Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies
Minor in Studio Art
Institute of American Indian Arts (2013)
Associate of Fine Arts in Interactive Graphic Design
Certificate in Business & Entrepreneurship
College Courses I've Taught:
· Spring 2022 ART 280: Photography
Stone Child College
· Spring 2022 ART 231: Graphic Design
Stone Child College
· Summer 2021 ART 231: Graphic Design
Stone Child College
· Spring 2021 GS 180: Digital Storytelling
Stone Child College
Conference and Workshop Presentations:
2022 Type Drives Culture: Ezhishin presented by Type Directors Club
“Panel III: Typography”
Moderated by Bobby Joe Smith III. FeaturingSébastien Aubin, Kevin Coochwytewa, Victor Pascual, Kaylene Big Knife
2021 American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI)
Workshop: “Digital Stories for Indigenous Languages” co-instructed with Dr. Wilson de Lima Silva
2020 Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Education Program (IKEEP) retreat
“Digital Storytelling Using Both/And Technologies” co-instructed with Marco Seiferle-Valencia, Teresa Cohn, and Iva Moss.
Workshop: “Using Microsoft PowerPoint & Photos to Create Comics”
2019 Symposium for American Indian Languages (SAIL)
Workshop: “Creating Digital Storytelling for Indigenous Languages”
2019 Symposium for American Indian Languages (SAIL)
Poster: “Creating Curriculum: Children Literacy in Cree Syllabics (Plains Cree Dialect)”
2017 Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium
Conference talk: “Language Activism through Digital Arts”
2017 Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium
Conference talk: “Speaking Like Our Ancestors: An exploration of learners’ word melody in Blackfoot” co-presented with Naatosi Fish, Caroline Allen, and Dr. Mizuki Miyashita
2017 5th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC)
Conference talk: “Promotion of Community Wellness Through Language Activism& Revitalization: A Student Perspective” co-presented with Jesse DeRosier, Danielle Yarbrough, Jake Lahr, and Willow Kipp
