Artist Archives - Native Arts and Cultures Foundation

Laura Wong-Whitebear

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Basketry, Colville, Cultural Preservation, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Sinixt, Traditional Arts, Washington

Laura Wong-Whitebear is dedicated to utilizing and preserving traditional basket-weaving knowledge and has chosen an apprentice with the same commitment.

Cara Romero

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Chemehuevi, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, New Mexico, Photography, Visual Arts

Cara Romero is a visual storyteller whose dynamic photographs challenge preconceived notions of Native art, culture, and peoples.

Jackson Polys

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Alaska, Artist, Carving, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Tlingit, Visual Arts

Jackson opens opportunity for dialogue to reconsider the meanings and functions of traditional Northwest Coast art forms through his carved sculptures.

Dyani White Hawk

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Minnesota, Mixed Media, Sicangu Lakota, Visual Arts

Dyani White Hawk has been blessed with opportunities to learn beadwork, porcupine quillwork, sewing, and traditional art forms that are vital for her to share.

Delbert “Smutcoom” Miller

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Carving, Chehalis, Cultural Preservation, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Skokomish, Traditional Arts, Washington

Miller follows what was passed to him by his tribal elders. He teaches the Tuwaduq (Skokomish) words that correspond with the artwork that his students create as well as the traditional practices that go along with crafting the art. He wants those he teaches to also pass on this traditional knowledge and in doing so, this generation may become the advisors and leaders of the Skokomish and Chehalis people in the future.

Shirod Younker

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Carving, Coos, Coquille, Cultural Preservation, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Oregon, Traditional Arts

Shirod Younker is an experienced culture bearer having researched his tribe’s lost historic and traditional knowledge, and now teaching it to the next generation.

Delina White

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Cultural Preservation, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Minnesota, Ojibwe, Textile Art, Traditional Arts

Delina White is devoted to Anishinaabe Inendamowin (thought/ways of thinking) and keeps her Anishinaabe woodland designs and history alive through her artwork.

TahNibaa Naataanii

2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellows2017, Artist, Cultural Preservation, Dine, Grantee, Mentor Artist Fellowship, Mentoring, Navajo, New Mexico, Textile Art, Traditional Arts

Navajo weaving has been passed for generations in TahNibaa Naataanii’s family along with songs or stories that come along with each woven piece.

Kelli Jo Ford

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Artist, Cherokee, Grantee, Literature, National Artist Fellowship, Virginia

Kelli Jo Ford, who graduated Magna Cum Laude with an MFA in English and writing from George Mason University, is known for engaging her readers with her story telling, character portrayals and flair for the dramatic.

Mark Keali`i Ho`omalu

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Artist, Grantee, Hawaii, Music, National Artist Fellowship, Native Hawaiian

Mark Keali`i Ho`omalu creates groundbreaking dance and chant driven by his love and passion for hula.

Susan Power

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Artist, Grantee, Literature, Minnesota, National Artist Fellowship, Yanktonai Dakota

Award-winning author Susan Power has published three books and her short fiction stories and essays are widely anthologized and reprinted in many textbooks.

Courtesy of Native Arts and Cultures Foundation

Theresa Secord

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Artist, Arts & Education, Basketry, Environmental Stewardship, Maine, Mentoring, National Artist Fellowship, Penobscot, Traditional Arts

As the founding executive director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Theresa Secord has dedicated her life to learning, revitalizing and perpetuating the tradition of Wabanaki basket making.

TJ Young, Sgwaayaans

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Alaska, Artist, Carving, Community Engagement, Grantee, Haida, National Artist Fellowship, Traditional Arts

TJ Young has garnered the respect of his community and elders by being named to the highly regarded role of “head carver”—an impressive accomplishment for a young artist.

Mateo Romero

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Artist, Cochiti Pueblo, Grantee, National Artist Fellowship, Native Identity, New Mexico, Visual Arts

Mateo Romero’s paintings are rooted in both his culture and the history of the paintings that preceded his, right down to their mark making, surface, texture and use of color.

Erica Tremblay

2016 NACF ARTIST FELLOWSHIP, FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, NACF2016, Advocacy, Artist, Film, Grantee, National Artist Fellowship, New York, Seneca-Cayuga

Filmmaker Erica Tremblay selects highly sensitive and difficult social subjects for her films, yet manages to incorporate an inspirational element into each difficult story.