2024 Dreamstarter Creatives are using their art to share and preserve both traditional and modern Native Stories. Art is a way to record and celebrate Native cultures. Each tribe has its own symbols, motifs, and aesthetics that help tell the stories of its rich culture and history. Since June, these Dreamstarter Creatives have been working hard and creating new pieces to celebrate and continue this legacy.
Aubree Fast Horse
Aubree is reclaiming the traditional practice of creating Cradle boards and helping to revitalize it in her community by documenting her process of making the boards and compiling the histories of the practice into a booklet that can be distributed and used by others.
Aubree has been studying and practicing the traditional flower beadwork that adorns these cradle boards. She has developed the design she will use to decorate her boards, completed most of the beadwork, and is currently working on assembling and building the boards. Additionally, Aubree has been researching different tribes and their styles of cradle boards, which she will include in her informational booklet. She is dedicated to making her cradle board with good energy and wonderful craftsmanship and is excited to use it with her son, whom she recently welcomed into the world. Running Strong congratulates Aubree and her growing family and is excited to see her creations.
Janelle Cronin
Janelle is documenting her family’s legacy and culture through the creation of four multimedia works featuring paint, textiles, and beadwork depicting four generations of women in her family. These paintings will be accompanied by the writing she is doing on art as a collective memory and act as a visual representation of oral histories her family has passed down.
An integral part of Janelle’s project is delving into family histories and stories. Much of her preparation has been spent reflecting and talking about stories she had heard while growing up and learning more about the women who came before her. For each portrait, Janelle collected mediums and supplies that reflected each woman’s skills and preferred medium. Janelle is excited to create a new family heirloom that tells her family’s story.
Eva Ellingson
Eva is committed to making sure Native-made, high-quality art and jewelry are affordable and accessible to everyone. She will achieve this goal by investing in high-quality equipment that will help her expand the styles and quantity of work she can create.
Eva has purchased a portable laser cutter and engraver that has allowed her to create new designs and work on new materials such as leather, pine nuts, and wood that would otherwise be difficult to work with. Eva has also used the engraver to add her logo onto the pieces she creates to attract new and repeat customers and make space for herself in the art world. She is excited to have the latest equipment to experiment with and has felt her creativity expand with these new options for her work. She feels she can maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Fredrick Scott
Fredrick is revitalizing the Yurok language through his art. He is creating items used in daily life, with their names and labels on them, to promote an easy and practical way to learn basic terms and inspire his community to learn the traditional Yurok language so they can continue to tell their stories in their traditional language.
Fredrick has also purchased a portable laser cutter and engraver that he is using to engrave items with their names and related words on them. So far, he has created labeled doormats, canteens, and flatware. With the grant money to help buffer costs, Fredrick was also able to give away items he had created to the community free of charge. Fredrick was proud to be able to gift children in his community canteens that said water in their tribal language and looks forward to further promoting language revitalization in his community.
Charlie Scott
Charlie is creating a zine that will combine creative writing with graphic design to preserve traditional stories and create a more inclusive future by rewriting traditional Navajo Creation Stories to be inclusive towards Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Relatives. The zine will feature art from local graphic design artists, act as a community builder, and serve as a reminder of the beauty and strength of the Two-Spirit and Trans Black and Indigenous community.
To ensure that the retellings are true retellings of traditional stories, Charlie has been preparing to write by reading creation stories documented by scholars and authors and being in close contact with a traditional Navajo medicine man. Also, Charlie purchased equipment to print and distribute the zine. Charlie is excited to collaborate with local artists to help their stories come to life and looks forward to distributing the completed work to the community.
Paulette Scott
Paulette’s dream is to pass down traditional cultural knowledge and practices and create an inclusive and affirming environment for LGBTQ+ Relatives. Paulette will focus on creating rugs in the traditional way, using raw wool from sheep, natural dyes, and handmade weaving tools. As she creates, she will lead a small group of LGBTQ+ youth in traditional weaving to help create pieces that will celebrate and honor themselves and the queer Native Community and promote healing through weaving.
Paulette started her work quickly by purchasing the tools and equipment needed to create the rugs. So far, she has finished one large rug and has plans to weave three additional medium-sized rugs. Paulette’s rugs will honor tradition and inclusion with designs that feature traditional geometric patterns and symbols adorned with the colors of the LGBTQ+ Pride Flag and the Trans flag. With help from her daughter, she is documenting the traditional weaving process and is sharing the information via social media websites.
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