Grantee:  Shirod Younker
Native Citizenship:  Enrolled with the Coquille Indian Tribe
Location:  Portland, Ore.
Award:  2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellowship
Discipline:  Traditional Arts, Multi-disciplinary
Web Site:  None

Younker is one of the keepers of his tribe’s cultural knowledge. His passion and commitment for understanding, learning, and regaining what his tribe lost from policies of government assimilation has been unrelenting. He has spent countless hours and unending dedication researching historical archives so he may teach, practice, and revive valuable artistic ancestral practice and knowledge.

For his 2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellowship, Shirod Younker will mentor his apprentice, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (Klamath, Modoc), in traditional and contemporary tool making, canoe paddle carving and canoe model making. This craft once thrived among virtually every coastal and river tribe throughout the Pacific Northwest; however, today, too many youth are unaware of the cultural and historical significance of this art practice. Therefore, Shirod works to imbue these traditional wisdoms into his teachings so that his apprentices and students may fully comprehend the interconnectedness between spiritual wisdom and Native art aesthetics in both traditional and contemporary canoe model and canoe paddle making.

As a citizen of a restored tribe, much of his tribe’s cultural foundation has been recuperated from his collection of historic text and from community elders’ oral teachings about traditional knowledge. Thus, Younker’s years of research—through old unpublished documents and journals as well as artifact collections—has been critical in piecing together the progress his tribe has made recovering original language and art. Through his endeavor, he has been emotionally moved by the insight he has gained and wants to instill the tribe’s ancestral spiritual beliefs into art practices again, which may inspire artisans, crafters, and the community to learn more of their language and songs.

I teach because our connection to each other is the true lesson our ancestors want to show us with their art.
~ Shirod Younker


Mentor and Apprentice Joint Art Project:

Shirod Younker mentored five apprentices who collectively completed six paddles; ten adze blades; three canoe bailers; and nine knife blades. Younker and his apprentices then hosted a three-day workshop to share their work and teachings with Native students and community members at the University of Oregon.