SEATTLE — It is considered the biggest Native-American-owned business in Seattle and it is making artistic dreams come true. Now this business, with humble beginnings, is making a big splash in the art world.

In early July, Eighth Generation moved from its location inside the Pike Place Market to a First Avenue storefront. But that small move was a giant leap toward selling authentic Native American art to the masses.

And one Seattle artist started it all.

“Here in Seattle, we are right in the middle of the coast salish cultural region,” said Louie Gong.  “We have this distinct art that is beautiful but it’s been suppressed.”

He calls himself a self-taught “cultural artist.”

But it is Gong’s entrepreneurial spirit that brought to vibrant life this store selling the work of Native American artists.

He named it “Eighth Generation.”

“‘Eighth Generation’ got its name from my desire to honor both sides of my family,” said Gong. “I’m Native and there’s this intertribal value of seven generations. So, by naming the business ‘Eighth Generation,’ I was paying respect to the previous seven generations that put me in a position to excel. And also ‘eight,’ when you say it in Cantonese, sounds like the word ‘prosperity.’ So, it was a very auspicious number to have in your business name.”

As it happens, Gong is part Chinese. “Yeah, I’m Native and Chinese and white and all parts of my heritage are important to me.”

Gong grew up on the Nooksak Reservation near Bellingham. So, central to his mission is elevating the art of the Coast Salish tribes, their work supplanted by Alaska natives, even in Seattle, named for the most famous of their chiefs.

“This is all changing,” said Gong. “From Vancouver almost down to Portland, there are amazing contemporary Coast Salish artists doing things in their communities that are transforming this idea of what kind of art represents the communities that we are embedded in. It’s a Coast Salish resurgence.”

Part of that resurgence is in the form of artwork, like these prized blankets manufactured and labeled in Georgetown.

“So, this is an incredible design by Kira Murillo who is an incredible tattoo artist,” said CEO Colleen Echohawk, showing off some of Eighth Generation’s wares.

Echohawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Tribe, says the artwork is not limited to the Pacific Northwest.

“There’s well over 560 tribes,” Echohawk said. “So, artists are from all over the country. We’re intentional about that, about making sure we have geographical representation.”

This milestone in the life of the Eighth Gen is just a few weeks old.  But already Louie Gong has much grander visions for this company born of necessity some sixteen years ago.

“What I would love to see is Eighth Generation, this Native-owned business that I started in my living room, then sold to the Snoqualmie Tribe who’s working in collaboration with an amazing superstar like Colleen Echohawk, that it becomes a global brand,” said Gong. “That Eighth Generation is on the tip of people’s tongues in Holland, in Germany, in Japan, and all around the world. The sky is the limit.”

A limitless sky for a vision without limits, too.

Eighth Generation already sells its authentic Native American artwork around the world through its website. Here’s a link to their website.

©2023 Cox Media Group

The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts will be hosting its annual Santa Fe Indian Market this weekend where Indigenous artists from across North America come to sell their work, including jewelry, pottery, paintings, and more.

Amy Denet Deal, a Diné designer and founder of 4Kinship will be hosting a fashion experience highlighting Indigenous artists, designers, and more. She talks with KUNM about how 4Kinship is amplifying Indigenous voices on Canyon Road.

DENET DEAL: It started really just as a way for me to do things in a more thoughtful, conscious way. I was a young mom at that time but at that point I just made the decision that working in corporate fashion was really damaging the future of her generation. So I was like, I need to figure something out that makes more sense in an authentic way for my own child. So that’s when we started the brand.

We kind of did that together as a mommy daughter just kind of starting off in small batch handcrafted pieces. And it’s grown to where it is today, which is a full blown Artists Collective, really looking at reimagination, restoration, re-colorization of things from the past.

KUNM: And where originally were you from?

DENET DEAL: I was adopted out as a child of part of our displaced children from the 60s, I grew up in a really loving home in the Midwest with adopted parents, and finally made my way back in 2019, right before COVID hit. So it’s been a long pathway for me to make my way back home. But certainly, now that I’m here, it definitely feels like this is really where I’m going to be for the rest of my time on Earth. And certainly, it’s a comfort to be with a community, being based out of Santa Fe, and being based out in New Mexico has given me such a closeness to not only my tribe, which is the Diné tribe, but all the tribes of the Southwest and all the people here. So it’s just been just a huge healing journey for me to finally kind of be part of this and to be of service.

KUNM: What is 4Kinship all about? What does it stand for?

DENET DEAL: I have had a long career in fashion, I’ve been in fashion nearly 40 years. But to actually build a brand platform that works to amplify community projects, we work on community needs, in addition to housing a bunch of Native folks here that have a place they can sell that’s, you know, not on the ground at the Plaza. I feel like by offering space here in the shop for up and coming artists, that’s really what you would call being a good auntie or being a good relative is. I want the next generation to thrive, I want them to have the opportunity to create the wealth they need to have a shop down the street next to me, that only comes with that type of mentorship and partnerships with young Native artists. I’m on their side.

KUNM: Do you feel it’s important for Natives to have more representation in Santa Fe not just this weekend but all year round?

DENET DEAL: So I think that’s a big reason we painted on the top of the building ‘we belong here.’ It’s not that we’re still here, which we say a lot as Native people that we’re still here. We need to be visible. For me being in this town is that we’ve always been here, we belong here. It’s just as important for Native people to have commerce or to be a store here in Santa Fe as all the other businesses here, we just need to have a broader representation within this town because it is a thriving town of tourism for Native arts and culture.

KUNM: What kinds of artists will be a part of your event?

DENET DEAL: We’re going to have all different artists within the store. So that’s Sheridan MacKnight, Sean Shine Harrison who’s one of our skate mentors, Peyton Alex, again, one of our young ones that mentors kids out in Escape Garden Project, Di’Orr Greenwood, Leah Rose has her photography here. We have a really beautiful piece coming in from Steven Paul Judd that he did for really helping us raise funding for some of our community work. So that was just such a thoughtful gift from a world renowned artist.

My highlight is Josh Tafoya who we’ve represented for over a year, who comes from mixed heritage up in the Taos area. But he was indicted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America this year as an interim member. So he’s got his third collection that we’re launching which I think he’s like stayed up all night for like three weeks and he’s got like 13 or 14 pieces that he’s bringing that are all hand woven, one of a kind of bespoke pieces, that we’re all just kind of drooling, waiting for that to show up because his work is just so expansive over different platforms of weaving, pattern making, sewing and its color sense. It’s just out of this world.

KUNM: You mentioned that 4Kinship does community projects, what type of projects is that?

DENET DEAL: We started a nonprofit fund called 4Kinship Indigenous Future Fund, where we’re raising funds currently to distribute to all the creative artists that are part of the event on Saturday. To help their careers, whether that’s in dance, in spoken word, as models, as graphic people like working in graphic arts, you know, so everybody gets an additional distribution from even being part of this event. And I think it’s so important, we let them know their worth, and that we support them in this way, because it’s just to know that we hold space for them as you know, their elders as their older community that we value them, and that we’re there for them.

KUNM: What do you hope comes out of this weekend with your event but also with your own retail store?

DENET DEAL: Honestly, I think that’s the beauty of having an old house up here on the street. I mean, it is a store. But when you walk in, everybody that is part of our Native community always walks in, and they’re like, oh, my gosh, it just, it feels like home, because they look around, and all they see are things made by Native people.

For the artists just for them just to be able to be amplified and elevated in the press and media, because sometimes we lose focus of these amazing people that are part of our events and organizations, right. So I want them to benefit from this and for the world to see how just spectacular they are. So that’s just for me as an auntie, that’s my hope is that, you know, we get to showcase some amazing creatives, and that we can all celebrate that as a community.

Santa Fe Indian Market will be in Santa Fe near and around the plaza and will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, 2023 and will continue on through Sunday, August 20, 2023. You can find more information here.

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) are urging the federal government to hold off on implementing proposed amendments to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA), a truth-in-advertising law that prohibits misrepresentation in the marketing of Indian art and craft products within the United States.

At a hearing today in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a panel from the U.S. Dept. of the Interior heard testimony from Indigenous people, including Tlingit artist Crystal Worl, who testified on behalf of IAIA in Santa Fe and SHI, where she serves on the institute’s Native Artist Committee representing IAIA.

In her testimony, Worl said the intent of the draft amendments is unclear and that some passages could seriously undermine the proper functioning of the IACA in protecting genuine Native American products.

She also said the department should focus more on strengthening the IACA and its board, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB).

“We recommend that the department take a step back and reconsider the overall structure of the regulations implementing the IACA,” said Worl, who testified along with SHI’s Chief Operating Officer, Lee Kadinger, and SHI’s legal counsel, Jacob Adams.

According to the department, the draft revisions seek to modernize the IACA’s regulations, which are implemented by its board.

The draft revisions bring a co-equal focus to promotional activities, expand the definition of Indian Product, allow for non-Indian labor to work on Indian Products in certain situations, and use a new certification trademark to certify that an item is an Indian Product, according to a letter to tribal leaders sent by the department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Joan Mooney from Policy, Management, and Budget, and Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland from Indian Affairs.

The panel was seeking input on the following questions:

•    The draft revisions propose that additional items would be eligible to be marketed as an “Indian Product.” Do the revisions sufficiently account for the range of Indian art and crafts that Indian artists are presently creating?
•    Should Native Hawaiian Organizations be included in the definition of “Indian Tribe” for purposes of regulations implementing the Indian Arts and Crafts Act?
•    The draft revisions do not modify enforcement activities. Would additional enforcement tools, such as administrative forfeiture, provide confidence to Indian artists?

On the first question, Worl testified that the attempt to broaden the “Indian Products” definition is problematic.

“While we support the idea of exploring the scope of ‘Indian Products’ definition, we are strongly opposed to the consultation draft’s approach and believe that this discussion needs to begin with the question of whether, and to what extent, the definition needs to be modified,” she said.

Worl said SHI supports the inclusion of Native Hawaiians under the IACA, but that the text should be clearly drafted so that inclusion is not overly broad and unmanageable.

On the last question, Worl testified that currently, a number of means exist by which the terms of the IACA can be enforced, through administrative, criminal, and civil legal recourse.

“While refining the IACA enforcement provisions is welcome, we support an approach that prioritizes a discussion of proactively protecting and supporting Indian arts and crafts to make it more difficult for bad actors to peddle fake Native art in the first place. Enforcement is reactive instead of proactive.  It is SHI’s position that efforts focused on the proactive foundation would be beneficial. We feel that the greatest impact on supporting Indian arts and crafts, and in turn the Indian arts and crafts market, could be made by thoughtfully and substantially developing and building upon the powers given to the IACA board—specifically the establishment, management, and enforcement of a federal nation-wide certification trademark for genuine Indian arts and crafts, that is a voluntary system,” said Worl, who took time away from her booth at the world-famous Santa Fe Indian Market to testify.

She encouraged the department to implement a strong and effective certification trademark system.

Friday’s hearing wrapped a series of consultations that also were held in Las Vegas, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Fairbanks, Alaska.

The department also held a Zoom consultation.

The deadline to submit written comments to consultation@bia.gov is Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) is a truth-in-advertising law that prohibits misrepresentation in the marketing of Indian art and craft products within the United States.

It is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell, any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States. 

For a first time violation of the IACA, an individual can face civil or criminal penalties up to a $250,000 fine or a 5-year prison term, or both. 

If a business violates the IACA, it can face civil penalties or can be prosecuted and fined up to $1,000,000.

Under the IACA, an Indian is defined as a member of any federally or officially State recognized tribe of the United States or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian tribe.

The law covers all Indian and Indian-style traditional and contemporary arts and crafts produced after 1934. 

The IACA broadly applies to the marketing of arts and crafts by any person in the United States. 

Some traditional items frequently copied by non-Indians include Indian-style jewelry, pottery, baskets, carved stone fetishes, woven rugs, kachina dolls, and clothing.

From the humor of Indigenous people to the self-determination of Black homesteaders. Vibrant colors, to the contrasting basics of black and white.

Two artists are showcased this summer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. And while they may seem very different and disconnected, the opposite is actually quite true.

They are Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe and Anna Tsouhlarakis: Indigenous Absurdities.

MCA calls Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe a mid-career survey of nearly a decade of Jackson’s work across disciplines and provides an overview of the threads in Jackson’s practice and her varied use of materials.

Anna Tsouhlarakis: Indigenous Absurdities features new work by the Boulder-based artist as she explores Native American identity. To redefine Native art, Tsouhlarakis uses video, performance, sculpture, photography, and installation to push aesthetic and intellectual boundaries.

Curators found that both artists are deeply engaged in cultural conversations

Planning for these exhibitions goes back as early as 2019, and includes trips to Miami and  Greece. That only heightened the energy in the spaces during the installation in MCA Denver. 

Miranda Lash, the Ellen Bruss Senior Curator at MCA Denver, oversaw Jackson’s exhibit.  She said with less than a week left for installation, both artists were in the space. “They met each other and immediately hit it off, and started talking about their shared interests. And by the end, Tomashi was taking selfies with Anna. And, they were both talking about their respective time studying at Yale and participating in the Skowhegan residency. So it was very cool to see them connect.” 

Leilani Lynch, the associate curator at MCA Denver, worked on Tsouhlarakis’s exhibit. She agrees that installation time holds a special place in the exhibition process. “Because so much of the work prior to that takes place through studio visits or virtually, and just a lot of coordination and email, phone calls. And then you’re really on the ground, your feet are there, you’re standing up, you’re looking at the works in space.” 

Photo by Scott Bauer.

Lynch said this was especially true for Anna Tsouhlarakis as this was the first time seeing everything done. “And I know in Tomashi’s case, there were works that she hadn’t seen in person for a long time. And so it’s kind of a homecoming of all the works just kind of coming together in space.”

The way these exhibitions communicate with one another was by design. Both artists are deeply engaged in cultural conversations around specific communities and deep histories, involving systemic racism, and how we can push forward as a community in conversations. 

Lynch also noted the aesthetic contrast. “Tomashi uses a lot of color to explore the various themes and subject matter in her work. Whereas Anna, sort of stays with a more minimalist black and white palette, with some sort of natural colored exceptions. So I also liked how that, thinking about how that would play out, visually in the spaces.”

Across the Universe derived from one of the artist’s favorite works

The name for Tomashi Jackson’s exhibition, Across the Universe, was derived from one of the artist’s favorite pieces from her last body of work, called The Great Society, which opened at Tilton Gallery in New York in November of 2022.

“I painted black, halftone lines of an audience rising to their feet after Nina Simone performed ‘To be Young, Gifted and Black’ at Morehouse College in 1969,” Tomashi Jackson said.  “It looks like a universe. It looks like a starry night. It looks like a number of things. And, a lot of my pieces take their titles from music that I love, or that I loved along with my mother. And, I was a big Beatles fan in high school, and ‘Across the Universe’ was kind of a natural conclusion for me.”

Courtesy photo.

This is Tomashi Jackson’s first exhibition in Colorado, but she spent significant time here to develop the new works for this show. “I’m really in love with Colorado. They brought me out here last summer for a residency, a partnership with Swoon Art House that is a product of the Scintilla Foundation, a philanthropic arts and humanities-focused foundation based in Boulder,” Jackson said. She was given six weeks to explore and meet people.

“When I got here last summer. I was so moved, as I continued to learn more and more about the history of the organization before there was a big fancy building and the community-centered programs and efforts and strategies that were founded before the museum had this building,” Jackson said.  “I really left here quite hopeful. I wasn’t expecting to leave with my heart so full, but the people that I’ve met here and the places that I’ve been, the working people who’ve embraced me, I just fell in love.”

Jackson created new pieces specific to Colorado, with additional inspiration from the documentary, This is Not Who We Are. “I really ended up focusing on images of Black people in Colorado from the 1800s to the present, producing spaces for self-determination, facilitating spaces for joy, for peace, and for self-determination,” Jackson said. That includes images from the Deerfield Colony, images of Black tourists who visited Pikes Peak in 1925, intersected with an image of Black young adults gathered in a lectern in Boulder for what at the time had been organized as Saturday Freedom Schools.

Artist highlights how humor can infiltrate a community and culture

Boulder-based artist Anna Tsouhlarakis also created new works specifically for this exhibition at MCA Denver. This began through a 2021 award from Creative Capital, a New York-based foundation. Tsouhlarakis said she knew early on that she wanted this project to focus on indigenous humor. “But not just be about jokes or ideas of humor, but, the kind of ways that humor infiltrates a community or culture,” Tsouhlarakis said. “And absurdity seemed to be a way to kind of encapsulate that larger idea of how humor infiltrates a people, a community.”

Courtesy photo.

For Indigenous Absurdities, Tsouhlarakis has created six sculptures, six large-scale collages, and one video installation. She describes her pallet as monotone. “I’ve always had a very complicated relationship with color. I think a lot of my work deals with native identity, and I feel like color, specifically, skin tone tends to be a big part of the conversation when we talk about culture and identity and those types of things. And I feel like it can really skew a conversation and kind of push it one way or another,” Tsouhlarakis said. “That’s not something I’m interested in talking about. And so early on I kind of decided that the palette that I would be using would be more minimalist kind of across my practice.”

Tsouhlarakis said she hopes one of the biggest takeaways is that Natives aren’t only serious people. “People know that natives are still around and that we’re here, but that we’re not all just serious while we have attorneys and people doing fights about water and land and for our native children, that there is this other side of us that is a bit goofy and ridiculous and that we can make connections through that as well,” Tsouhlarakis said.  

You can see the current exhibits, Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe and Anna Tsouhlarakis: Indigenous Absurdities, open now through Sunday, Sept. 10.

Artist Jennifer Tafoya (Santa Clara Pueblo) is awarded Best of Show at Santa Fe Indian Market’s 2023 Awards Luncheon in the Pottery Classification

SANTA FE, N.M., Aug. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Santa Fe Indian Market is pleased to announce this year’s Best of Show, Best of Classification and Special Award winners in a variety of classifications. Since 1922, Santa Fe Indian Market, the world’s largest and most prestigious Native North American art market, has awarded Best of Show winners to the nation’s exceptional Indigenous artists in a variety of juried categories.

Over 60 judges, experts in various mediums, spent most of the day Thursday, August 17, reviewing and critiquing this year’s entries and determining the winners. The announcement of the Best of Show, Best of Class and Special Award winners was made public at the Best of Show Ceremony on Friday afternoon. 

All the Best of Show winners’ extraordinary artwork is available this weekend during Santa Fe Indian Market on the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe.

The 2023 Best of Classification winners are:
Class I: Jewelry
Lyndon Tsosie (Navajo)
“Untitled” Silver Sea turtle pendant with movable flippers
4 ½ x 3 in.

Sterling stamped silver, inlay: coral, turquoise, lapis, Boulder opal, hand-fabricated

Class II: Pottery {BEST OF SHOW}
Jennifer Tafoya (Santa Clara Pueblo)
“Caught by Surprise” etched black pot with dinosaurs.
4 ¼ x 4 ¼ in.

Hand-dug Santa Clara Clay, coil method, stone polished, etched and then painted with hand-dug natural clay paint

Class III: Painting, Drawing, Graphics & Photography 
Dan HorseChief (Pawnee/ Cherokee)
 “Judgement Day Manifest, The Greasy Grass 1976 Keough’s Stand.”Painting.
24 x 36 in.

Water-based oil on canvas

Class IV: Wooden Pueblo Figurative Carving & Sculpture
Arthur Holmes Jr. (Hopi)
Talavi Morning Katsina
18 ½ x 9 ½ in.

Root of cottonwood tree, fine wood burner, knives and oil paint

Class V: Sculpture
Ryan Benally (Navajo)
“Dreamscapes of Love” 3-dimensional sculpture. 
 Dimensions: 5 ft 8 x 22 x 12 in.

Calcite Onyx, black Indian granite, hand-carved stone, electric and hand tools

Class VI: Textiles
TahNibaa Naataanii (Navajo)
“Autumn Rose Carnival” Navajo weaving created using 2 sheds. Shawl and purse.
Dimensions: 16 ½ x 62 in.

Sheep wool with 26 aniline acid dyes in different colors

Class VII: Diverse Arts
Victoria G. Adams (Southern Cheyenne/ Arapaho)
“Sundance on Muddy Creek” Tripod with glass containers, diverse artwork/sculpture.
64 x 36 x 32 in.

Copper, Deerskin, American Indian-head pennies, dating from 1878 to 1910; glass, steel chain, wrought-iron, wood, acrylic paint, cotton fabric, sweet grass, snake root, Big Medicine, bee balm, sweet pine, sage, yellow ochre pigment, red ochre pigment, Ammonite fossils, sterling silver, mother-of-pearl beads, photographs, Edward Sheriff Curtis photo gravures

Class VIII: Beadwork & Quillwork
Jackie Larson Bread (Blackfeet)
“We Are Fierce” Blackfeet horse mask.
18 x 15 x 23 in.

Wool, seed beads, brass beads and bells, wood, plexiglass, satin, lane stitch, applique stitch and edge stitch

Class IX: Youth (Artists aged 17 and under)
Aydrian Day (HoChunk/Anishinaabe/Lakota)
Father’s Love (Ate Iyocicila) Lakota style cradle board.
24 x 9 in.

Size 11 true-cut sterling silver beads, 24-karat beads, smoked hide, brass sequins, pine and cotton

Class XI: Basketry
Carol Emarthle Douglas (Northern Arapaho- Seminole)
“Skywoman Watches” Coiled waxed linen basket.
7 x 9 ½ x 9 ½ in.

Waxed linen, thread, hemp, beads

2023 Special Award Winners
Excellence in traditional Hopi carvings: Shawn Deel
Excellence in lapidary: Benson Manygoats
Excellence in contemporary Hopi carvings: Arthur Holmes Jr.
Raw materials: Dominque Toya
Traditional Pottery Award: Delores Juanico
Mark Tahbo Memorial Award: Garrett Maho
Tony Da’ Memorial Award: Virgil Ortiz
Make Me Smile Youth Award: Aydrian Day
Margaret Tafoya Memorial Award: Chris Youngblood
Sarafina Tafoya Memorial Award: Sharon Naranjo-Garcia
Mela Youngblood Memorial Award: Chris Youngblood
Oqwa Pi Memorial Award for Excellence in Traditional Pueblo Painting: Rosie Yellowhair
Anita Da’ Memorial Award to Encourage the Work of a Young Potter: Xavian Suazo
IAIA Alumni Award: Terran Last Gun
The Native American Art Magazine Award of Excellence: Jason Garcia

Santa Fe Indian Market’s Best of Show Ceremony was sponsored by JoAnn and Bob Balzer and the Best of Show Luncheon was sponsored by the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). SWAIA is grateful for these generous contributions. A complete list of winners in all classifications will be posted on the SWAIA website this week. Congratulations to all the winners!

About SWAIA:
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) is a non-profit organization supporting Native American arts and culture. It creates economic and cultural opportunities for Native North American artists by producing and promoting the Santa Fe Indian Market —the biggest and most prestigious Indian art event in the world since 1922. SWAIA cultivates excellence and innovation across traditional and non-traditional art forms and develops programs and events that support, promote and honor Native American artists year-round. swaia.org 

IG: santafeindianmarket

SOURCE SWAIA/Santa Fe Indian Market

Details

By Native News Online Staff

August 18, 2023

The highly anticipated CIRCLES music festival is returning to Vancouver once again on August 26. The festival will showcase the richness of Indigenous culture and art at Sunset Beach Park. 

Presented by Decolonial Clothing and ALIVE society, the ground breaking event made history with 4,000 attendees in its first year, and Circles festival is now the largest Indigenous music and arts festival in North America. 

“CIRCLES festival moves beyond music, we foster healing through celebration by providing a safe and welcoming space to gather. Rooted in our cultural values of reciprocation, CIRCLES festival seeks to impact and uplift urban Indigenous communities and center the voices of Indigenous people,” Casey Desjarais, co-founder of host Decolonial Clothing, told Native News Online. 

Desjarlias along with Dakota Bear co-founded Decolonial Clothing, which works to increase the visibility of Indigenous people and encourages decolonization through clothing. 

“We’ve mentored over 100 plus Indigenous youth into business, and have been supporting our community in various ways to help bring positive change through our business,” Bear told Native News Online. 

CIRCLES celebrates the Indigenous community’s creativity and amplifies the voices of Indigenous youth. This year’s festival includes hip-hop musicians, dancers, speakers, and visual artists taking the stage. 

The festival’s headliners feature the MTV Video Music Award-winning hip-hop artist Drezus, Juno Award winner Fawn Wood, Afro-Indigenous hip-hop Juno nominated icon Boslen and Social Media influencer and traditional hoop dancer Notorious Cree. 

A Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and Girls (MMIWG+) fashion show tribute by Decolonial Clothing and Native by Nature will be showcased. The fashion show will be showcasing pieces the brands have created together to raise awareness on #searchthelandfill movement. 

“It is important that we create opportunities for the community to connect to culture and creativity and to inspire the youth to participate in building healthy spaces for gatherings,” said Desjarais.

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Artistic abilities flow through Caitlin Irene’s veins. Photography, painting and sketching make up a few of the Tall City native’s talents, but the versatility and therapeutic aspects the Midland High alum found in her college ceramics courses stole her heart.

After graduating from The University of Texas Permian Basin in 2021 with an art degree, Caitlin decided to try her hand at opening a small clay-based business. With just a little more than 10 pieces to her name, the creator headed to local farmers markets to test the waters. Soon, commissioned requests started coming.