Panelists | Performers | Market Artists
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Mihku Paul
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Kingsclear
PANEL: Native Freedom of Expression
ARTIST STATEMENT
Mihku Paul is a Maliseet Elder who was raised on a wild Maine river. She is enrolled at
Kingsclear First Nation, N.B. Canada and holds a BA in Human Development and Communication,as well as an MFA from Stonecoast. Her background is in Early Childhood Ed, and she has spent decades presenting Waponahki culture and history in Portland Public Schools. Her poetry is published internationally and has been translated to French and Spanish. Mihku now works in Food Sovereignty and serves on the board of Maine Writers and Publishers. She lives and works in Portland.
Geo Soctomah Neptune
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Clothing, Diverse-Arts
MARKET PERFORMER: Sunday, July 12, 10-10:30 a.m. on the Market Stage
BIOGRAPHY
Geo Neptune is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe from Indian Township, Maine, and is a Master Basketmaker, a Drag Queen, an Activist and an Educator. As a person who identifies as a two-spirit, an indigenous cultural gender role that is a sacred blend of both male and female, Geo uses they/them gender-neutral pronouns.
At four years old, Geo had already been asking their grandmother Molly Neptune Parker to teach them how to weave baskets; after being told to wait until they were older, Geo found another elder that would teach them, and presented their grandmother with their first completed basket. Later that year, after turning five years old, Geo wove their first basket with their grandmother, beginning a lifelong apprenticeship.
After graduating from eighth grade at the Indian Township School, Geo attended Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, where they were able to explore more artistic outlets before becoming a member of the Dartmouth College Class of 2010. Proficient in Spanish and a performing arts major, Geo studied abroad in both Barcelona and London during their time at Dartmouth.
When Geo graduated from Dartmouth College and returned to the Indian Township reservation, they began to focus heavily on their weaving, and developing their own individual artistic style. Experimenting with their family's signature woven flowers mixed with natural elements of twigs and branches, Geo began forming what would eventually be known as their signature sculptural style of whimsical, elegant, traditionally-informed basketmaking. During their time at home, Geo was also the Cultural Activities Coordinator and Drama Instructor for the Indian Township After School and Summer Programs, and eventually went on to serve as the Unit Director for the Passamaquoddy Boys and Girls Club. In 2012, Geo attended the Santa Fe Indian Market for the first time, accepted the position of Museum Educator at the Abbe Museum, and watched their grandmother receive the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship before moving to Bar Harbor.
Living in Bar Harbor, Geo maintained a life as a basketmaker, actor, drag queen, and activist in addition to serving as the Museum Educator. Participating in Idle No More protests here in Maine, Geo was invited as the first Indigenous youth delegate to the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Capetown, South Africa in 2014. After attending the Summit again in 2015, returning to Barcelona, Geo was then invited to attend a PeaceJam conference in Winchester, England, where they met Rigoberta Menchu Tum, the first and only Indigenous woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2016, Geo was the first drag queen on the cover of Native Peoples Magazine, with their story featured in the magazine's first official LGBTQ Pride issue. In late 2016, Geo decided to pursue their art and activism full time, and they now live back in their community at Indian Township. At home, they are able to spend more time with their apprentice and youngest sister Emma--who, at thirteen years old, has won numerous more awards for her basketry than Geo has--and with their grandmother, keeping the family and cultural tradition of basketry alive. Geo hopes to be able to work to embrace the sacred role of the two-spirit, truly becoming a keeper of tradition and a teacher and role model for Passamaquoddy and other Wabanaki youth. Most importantly, Geo hopes to inspire other two-spirits from across turtle island to accept their truth and embrace their sacred responsibility, and travels across the state and country educating learners of all ages about Wabanaki history and culture, the art of basketmaking, and what it means to them to be a Two-Spirit.
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Theresa Secord
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Basketry
ARTIST STATEMENT
Theresa Secord (born 1958, Portland Maine) is a traditional Penobscot basket maker and the founding director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA). After earning a Master’s degree in geology and working for an oil company in the early 1980s, she returned to Maine to work for her tribe, heading up a mineral assessment program on 300,000 acres of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy lands.
Soon after, in 1988 Secord learned to weave on Indian Island—the village where her mother was born—from an elder in the community, Madeline Tomer Shay. During her 21 years of leadership, MIBA was credited with saving the endangered art of ash and sweet grass basketry in the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes.
Theresa has won a number of awards for her artistry and community work, including the Best of Basketry in the Santa Fe Indian Market twice, a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and an honorary doctorate from Colby College. Her work is featured in private collections and museums throughout the nation, including recent acquisitions (2026) by the Fuller Craft Museum, (2024) by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and (2023) and the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 2021, she was named a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow and in 2024, an inaugural Taproot Fellow. In 2025, she was honored with a Ruth Arts Fellowship, a United States Artist Fellowship and a Cultural Capital Fellowship (First Peoples Fund). Theresa has mentored many to weave baskets and lives and works in Maine.
Tania Morey
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Tobique
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash
MARKET PERFORMER: Saturday, July 11, 10-10:30 a.m. on the Market Stage
ARTIST STATEMENT
My name is Tania Maria Morey. My grandparents were Donald and Mary Sanipass from The Aroostook Band of Micmacs. Grammy was from Eskasoni, Novia Scotia, and Grampy from Elsipogtog, New Brunswick.
I first learned to make a basket with my Grandmother at age 7. My dad’s parents were Simon Morey from Neqotkuk First Nation, and Irene Morey. I learned that grampy used to sing in a band in Perth Andover, NB. My parents were John and Marline Morey.
I grew up traveling with my maternal grandparents going to basket shows, blueberry raking, and helping to teach others how to make ash baskets. Creator blessed me with 5 daughters, Tiana, Mimiques, Gesigewie Tebgunset, Mishun, and Zi’gwan. My children are my light, and my greatest gifts here on Mother Earth.
I have passed down the art of weaving to my girls, and they carry the gift of song with them. I am now a Migajoo, Grandmother to Walquann, who is our newest little song bird. My earliest memory of singing I remember I was walking in the woods of Chapman, Maine. I could hear a rustling sound coming from the trees. I looked up, and asked them if they wanted me to sing to them; their leaves rustled in agreement. As I sang to them their leaves swayed to and fro.
When Mother Earth is my audience, that is when I truly feel Life flowing through me. This is where the wind answers as I pray through frequency. I am thankful for each day that I am blessed to be a part of this beautiful journey.
We’lalin
Sherry Soctomah
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Tobique
MEDIUM: Beadwork
ARTIST STATEMENT
Sherry is descended from Maliseet and Passamaquoddy grandparents and is a member of the Tobique First Nations living in Argyle, Maine.
She grew up in the United States away from her culture and community in Canada. As an adult, Sherry went home to Tobique territory to reclaim what was lost to her. She learned how to make her first dreamcatcher from her cousin’s wife, Terri-Ann Sappier, and with this she found her Medicine. She describes the process of making each dreamcatcher as feeling like remembering.
Sherry’s dreamcatchers are one-of-a-kind heirlooms; none are exactly the same. She incorporates healing stones and crystals in her signature web.
Sarah Sockbeson
Photo by Robin Farrin
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Jewelry
BIOGRAPHY
Sarah Sockbeson is an award-winning Native American Artist, culture bearer, and member of the Penobscot tribe, creating traditional yet contemporary brown ash and sweetgrass baskets. She is part of a new generation of basketmakers who've pushed the boundaries of Wabanaki cultural art to an exciting new level.
Growing up within the homelands of the Penobscot, Sarah always had a deep appreciation for traditional art, baskets in particular. Coming from a long line of basketmakers, it was unfortunate that the line of knowledge stopped when her great-grandmother passed away before teaching her generation.
In 2004, Sarah was introduced to the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, an organization dedicated to preserving cultural knowledge, and it was then that she had the opportunity to apprentice with renowned basketmaker Jennifer Sapiel, Penobscot.
Since then, Sarah has honed her skills with each basket woven, becoming an integral part of the Wabanaki arts community. She continues to serve as an active participant, teacher/ mentor, and innovator among her tribe and the national Indigenous arts community. While her work is undeniably tied to cultural tradition, she infuses a style all her own, in the hopes that her work will serve as an inspiration to future generations of Native American artists.
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Navaquoddy Crafts - Sanora Isaac and Wilfred Neptune Sr.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Navajo Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Beadwork, Jewelry
ARTIST STATEMENT
Wilfred J. Neptune Sr., Passamaquoddy from Pleasant Point, Maine, a descendant of the hereditary Chief Neptunes. Sanora Isaac, Navajo from Arizona, comes from a line of artist/educator.
Our crafts originate from our cultural upbringing of Navajo and Passamaquoddy backgrounds. Together, we create a combination of unique, genuine handmade jewelry of beaded earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings with semi-precious/shell/stones using our natural materials from local nature byproduct and resources. Antler necklaces with seed beads, peyote stitched on leather and War Clubs from Maine rocks & wood handles. Dreamcatchers made from Maine red willow with sinew & feather.
The greatest form of crafting is remembering the tool given to us to express and create by our parents, our ancestors.
Sage Phillips
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Beadwork
ARTIST STATEMENT
Sage Phillips (she/her) is a proud citizen of the Penobscot Nation. Her inspiration for her beadwork comes from her Grandmother, the late Linda Phillips and her Aunt, the late Lorraine Dana. Both were very talented Penobscot artists who were always incorporating double curves and florals into their work—oftentimes in their family’s regalia pieces. As such, Sage has decided to carry their legacy forward through beading earrings, medallions, and belts that represent her Wabanaki culture. She is sure to include double curves whenever she can, pulling inspiration from birch bark baskets created by her grandfather Butch Phillips who passed away in July.
Richard Silliboy
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq Nation
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash
PANEL: Wabanaki Forestry Futures
ARTIST STATEMENT
Richard Silliboy is a Mi’kmaq basketmaker. He has been harvesting ash and weaving potato baskets, pack baskets, and other traditional styles for decades. Growing up in Houlton, Maine, Richard’s mother taught him basketmaking. Richard often conducts workshops on basketry. He served as the President of the Maine Indian Basketmakers’ Alliance for ten years and now serves on the Board of Directors. He also has made presentations at various conferences about the significance of tribal history and traditions. Richard has been invited to attend various conferences. He is highly respected for his knowledge of brown ash and his concern for the threat of the emerald ash borer, an insect that has decimated brown ash trees in the Midwest. He has also been asked by the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance to take on apprentices to learn brown ash basketmaking. Integral to the Micmac culture is the belief in giving back to the Creator, and there has been a tradition among Micmacs who harvest a natural resource to leave something behind after the harvest, such as tobacco or some other item. Richard continues to harvest brown ash trees, and his giving back has taken on an even broader meaning through his willingness to share his knowledge of brown ash basketry with others.
Norma Randi Marshall
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Painting/Illustration
BIOGRAPHY
Norma Randi Marshall is a Passamaquoddy artist from Sipayik, where she grew up on the eastern coastal edge of Maine, Peskotomuhkatikuk, and still lives in this rural area to this day.
She is known for her large oil landscapes that depict the rugged beauty of downeast, her digital artwork, and other creations that reflect her life, heritage, and connections to Wabanakik.
Norma attended the University of Maine at Machias where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts with a focus on painting. Her style is inspired by traditional art found within her culture, contemporary Northeastern Indigenous artists, and Western realism.
Her artwork has been featured at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, The Maine State Capitol and more. She has works in the Abbe Museum’s permanent collections in Bar Harbor. She illustrated the children’s book “Gluskabe and the gift of Maple Trees”. One can also see her collaborative signage work highlighting Wabanaki history and values where it is connected to the land at the Erickson Fields in Rockport as part of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust sites, the Town of Yarmouth at their Sipuhsisuwi Kcihq - Riverfront Woods Trails, at Hog Island in Bremen and at the Puffin Project Visitor Center in Rockland, Maine.
Artist Statement
Norma Randi’s rich indigenous heritage background is the foundation for her artwork. With deep connections to the rugged coast and interior landscapes of Wabanakik around her, she paints the lands her ancestors traversed for many millennia while also considering the the lives they lived, culturally, spiritually, and physically as they navigated and coexisted with the natural world around them.
She uses her art as a form of connection and learning about her heritage, researching history that has been buried by oppression and assimilation while also learning through her kin and community. Her landscapes have a spiritual connection, providing the presence that this land once knew of her people.
Her other artwork is also used for teaching people about the Wabanaki Nations; their cultural connections to the land they’ve always inhabited and the shared responsibilities to the beings, waterways, and land we all call home. Overall, her artwork provides a healing effect to overcome the genocidal and traumatic experiences in her ancestral genetic code while also bringing pride and inspiring optimism contemporarily for those who who feel the weight of colonialism within her communities.
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Nicole Paul
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Home & Body
BIOGRAPHY
Nicole works with pressed botanicals to create floral motifs to adorn soy wax candles and sachets. She also creates jewelry with natural fibers and materials. An avid language learner, you can find touches of the Wabanaki languages throughout her work, connecting scents to both place and indigenous humor.
Lydia Soctomah
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash
BIOGRAPHY
Lydia Soctomah, a Passamaquoddy tribal member from Motahkmikuk where she lives with her two beautiful children. She was taught how to make baskets by her late grandmother Molly Jeannette Parker and assisted at a variety of markets selling baskets. This past year, Lydia has been reintroducing herself to the art of basketry and finds it to bring a sense of peace within herself. Basketry was a major part of her grandmother's life and practicing this art keeps a piece of her alive; along with the ancestors who passed this knowledge down from generation to generation. Preserving the culture comes in many forms, basket making was a way in which her late grandmother preserved her piece. It was her grandmother's wish that we continue her legacy and teach future generations, as it is for all aspects of the culture. There is a sense of healing in practicing our traditions that Lydia hopes she can share with others as she learns them.
Lydia hopes to absorb as much Indigenous Knowledge as possible and carry that knowledge into the generations to come. Her career and education are rooted in the service of guiding the youth in positive directions, whether it be in an educational setting as a teacher or a support in substance abuse prevention and intervention within the Passamaquoddy Youth Wellness Court. Lydia hopes to help identify needs and build bridges for tribal youth to lead positive lives in the modern day world, with the strength of their cultural roots grounding them.
Leigh Neptune
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Beadwork
BIOGRAPHY
Leigh Neptune is a self-taught Wabanaki beadwork artist from the Penobscot Nation. She has been beading for three years and enjoys curating themed collections of beaded earrings. In addition to her beadwork, Leigh is also a Registered Dietitian and PhD candidate in the Food and Nutrition Sciences program at the University of Maine.
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Kat Nelson
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Jewelry, Beadwork
BIOGRAPHY
Kat studied in several dimensions at the Institute of American Indian arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico and upon graduating focused on silversmithing, she continued to work in silver until a serious accident made it too difficult to tolerate the strenuousness of the application. Now faced with a life-changing decision, she decided to move back to Maine and eventually settled on Indian Island, where she now resides. During her recuperation Kat considered various mediums to express herself and decided on working with sweetgrass and beadwork.
Being on Indian island brought Kat into contact with Elder artisans who were instrumental in her development of these new mediums. She studied the traditional methods of sweetgrass artistry under Charlene Francis and benefited from the mentorship of Barbara D. Francis. Having survived a near death experience Kat is once again able to create artwork in appreciation of life. She now works daily on various applications creating jewelry, adorning clothing articles with beadwork, and creating miniature articles of sweetgrass.
Frances Soctomah
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Beadwork
BIOGRAPHY
Frances Soctomah (she/her) is a Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) artist from Motahkomikuk who engages video, audio, animation, graphic art, and traditional Wabanaki arts practices to explore and articulate relationships between people, Mother Earth, and our non-human relatives. Family, memory, responsibility, reciprocity, and interconnection are concepts often woven throughout her work. She grounds her practice in story, incorporating teachings from conversations with her family and community members.
Frances is one of eleven children who come from a long line of Passamaquoddy artistry. She began her journey as an artist at age seven when her late-grandmother Molly Neptune Parker – a renowned basketmaker and matriarch of four generations of weavers – began teaching her to make brown ash and sweetgrass baskets. While learning to weave fancy baskets in styles passed down to her family through generations, Molly shared stories of growing up in Motahkomikuk and the many places she lived. She passed down teachings from their ancestors, often reflecting on how our relationships with each other have shifted through time. The stories of community and connection that were woven during their time together inspired Frances to seek out other teachers in her community. She later apprenticed with Gabriel Frey, a Passamaquoddy cultural knowledge carrier, to expand her knowledge of basketmaking and harvesting practices as well as Jennifer Sapiel Neptune, a Penobscot cultural knowledge carrier, to learn traditional bead embroidery techniques.
Creating in community paved the way for Frances to expand her arts practice to include digital material, centering and amplifying voices from her community and through her work. In 2019 she enrolled in the Intermedia Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Maine. She is expected to complete her studies in December 2022.
In addition to her creative practice, Frances is committed to supporting spaces for Wabanaki artists to create, connect, thrive, and be seen. She is active in art, museum, and nonprofit circles where she advocates for cultivating sustaining relationships with Wabanaki artists.
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Erica Nelson Menard
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Indian Nation
MEDIUM: Basketry
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a traditional Penobscot basket maker. As a young child, I observed my grandmother, Philomene Saulis Nelson, preparing materials for her ash and sweetgrass baskets. I loved the vibrant colors she dyed her ash; her color combinations were stunning! When I was in college I asked her to teach me how to make baskets, but it was not meant to be at that time.
It wasn’t until my late 40s that I had the unique and unexpected opportunity to apprentice with my mentor and cousin, Theresa Secord. As part of my apprenticeship I had the opportunity to use my grandmother's molds and could feel her guiding presence. My inspiration and ancestral designs come from Penobscot-style baskets produced by my grandmother, Philomene, and my cousin, Theresa. I like to weave ash and sweetgrass boxes, sweetgrass flats, and other baskets with braided sweetgrass in the family style. Continuing my family's traditional art form is an honor and privilege. I am also mentoring my daughter and granddaughter so other generations of basket weavers will continue the ancestral tradition. Plus, we are learning Wabanaki language terms associated with traditional basketry.
Emma Soctomah
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Tribe
MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash
BIOGRAPHY
Emma Soctomah is a proud Passamaquoddy citizen from Motahkomikuk who comes from a distinguished lineage of basketmakers; more specifically, her grandmother, Molly Jeanette Parker. Through Molly’s leadership and example, Emma has continued to be inspired to carry on their family tradition of the creation of brown ash baskets. Emma spent many years as an apprentice of her older sibling, Geo Neptune. Over the years, she has won numerous awards multiple years in a row, including 1st place, 2nd place, and Best in Division at the Santa Fe Indian Market and Heard Museum Indian Market.
She seeks to honor the strength and legacy of the women who shaped her, as well as those who came before them, by contributing to the advancement and overall well-being of the Wabanaki.
Deborah Spears-Moorehead
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribal Nation
MEDIUM: Painting, music,
ARTIST STATEMENT
Deborah Spears Moorehead is an award-winning, internationally recognized Native American Fine Artist. She earned a Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College in 2013 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Sculpture from the University of Massachusetts in 1981. She also attended continuing education courses at Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and Rhode Island College. .Deborah is a published Author and Cultural Bearer of Traditional Storytelling and Eastern Woodland Native American Music.
She is the owner and Director of Painted Arrow Studio, Talking Water Productions, and a founding member of Nettukkusqk Singers. All of her artistic expressions, literature, and music performances serve to recover, educate, assert, promote, value, and validate the identity of the past, present, and future generations of Eastern Woodland Tribal Nations. Her creative expressions, which include paintings, murals, music, lectures, sculptures, clothing, and greeting cards, have been featured in museums, magazines, and galleries all over the world. Each piece I create tells a unique story. inspired by my people, our culture, and our homelands. In 2014, Deborah authored the books "Finding Balance: The Oral and Written History and Genealogy of Massasoit's People,” published by Blue Hand Books, and "Four Directions at Weybossett Crossings.” In 2019, her book “Finding Balance” is a Native American-inspired reflective recovery of the systematic erasure of Eastern Woodland Native American people. It emphasizes and responds to the unbalanced, overly biased version of educational curricula taught as the History of the United States. In 2025, the International Society of Ethnology and Folklore invited Deborah to present her paper at their conference at the University of Aberdeen. Scotland..” Currently, Deborah is a”2022-2026 “Distinguished Scholar and Artists in Residency"at Bunker Hill Community College, Boston.
Debrah Spears Moorehead is a Massachusetts State Recognized Enrolled Member of The Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribal Nation. She is a direct descendant of many Eastern Woodland Native American tribal leaders. One notable ancestor is Ossamequin, who was the Massasoit (Great Leader) of the Pokanoket Wampanoag Confederation in the seventeenth century. His significant role in U.S. history includes entering into a peace agreement and treaty in 1620 with the lost and starving Pilgrim colonists, with whom he saved their lives. Additionally, this connection extends to Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. Her most recent project, titled "Fighting For Freedom,” commemorates the contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, and men of mixed ethnicities, who saw enlisting on the colonists' side in the Revolutionary War as an opportunity to gain their freedom from the men and society that enslaved them. The “Fighting For Freedom Project” includes a mural, a coloring book, panel discussions, and a music composition. Also in 2025, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Regional Office in Hadley, MA. exhibited Moorehead’s solo art show. Gather Rhode Island commissioned Deborah for two portraits for their gallery’s permanent collection. In 2024, Deborah retired from working for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, where she had been employed for over thirty years. Her original painting, “Granny Squant, “won the 13 Moon exhibit, Art Award from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. “ The Quinnipiac Museum of Guilford, Connecticut, at Dudley Farm, procured two paintings from Moorehead in 2022, and the Pocumtuck Memorial Museum purchased an original mural titled "Fifty Mishoonash " for their permanent collection. The image of Fifty Mishoonash traveled to forty-nine educational institutions to educate on the history of the region. In 2024, Deborah illustrated the cover design for Dr. Drew Lopenzina's forthcoming book about a historic Pequot Wampanoag named William Appes. In 2022/23, Deborah was the Fitts Family Grant recipient and Artist in Residency at The John Nicholas Brown home, which houses the Humanities Department of Brown University. During the 2021 pandemic, she created two murals: a community mural for the Collective Museum in Wakefield, R.I., and another for the Nolumbeka Project in Turner Falls, MA. In 2020, the Tomaquaug Museum honored her with a Princess Redwing Art Award. Also, in 2020, she collaborated with Artist Alison Newsome on a sculpture for the Culture and Tourism Department for the City of Providence, PVD festival. "The Three Sisters Sculpture" was procured by the New England Historical Society. and make its permanent home at Casey Farm in Narragansett, R.I.
In 2018-2021. Moorehead was also awarded a Folk Art Master Apprentice Grant through the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts to teach a mentee traditional Native American music. At this time, she painted two murals in Providence: a 16-foot Land Acknowledgment Mural on the bridge on Cypress Street, commissioned by a Community Health Initiative Grant through Brown University, and the Providence Preservation Society funded the second mural. Her rendered color pencil drawing " Whoosh " won the Art Contest award for the National Congress of American Indians in 2015. The Rhode Island State Council for the Arts honored Moorehead with a Community Leadership Award. In 2013.-her painting, Good Energy, was displayed in Congressman David Ciciline's office. In 2012, the University of Rhode Island honored her as a "Woman of Distinction. In 2005, she won the "Youth Mural Award "from the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institute.
Dawn Spears
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Narragansett Indian Tribe
MEDIUM: Clothing, Diverse Arts, Painting/Illustration
ARTIST STATEMENT
I try to capture the vibrant colors of our natural world; they are my inspiration along with my appreciation of the symbolism within our indigenous culture. I enjoy opportunities that allow us to share our work and give us space to be able to dispel the myths and stereotypes that our people have been forced to endure. Misconceptions about Native American art continue today, for years I was discouraged from pursuing my own style of work because it was not “Native American” enough, it didn’t show horses, and scenes from the wild west.
I channel my creativity in my work by making a range of art; corn husk dolls, illustrations/drawings, painting, and capturing the beauty of our natural world in photography. I work in both contemporary and traditional mediums; I use both traditional and unconventional tools. I like to experiment with these mediums and create amazing colors. In the last few years I have added custom sneakers, shoes, and handbags to my list, and I even tag jeans and jackets and have participated in fashion shows with my designs. I feel like the possibilities are endless.
A Narragansett/Choctaw, my mother, Diosa Summers (Choctaw), was an artist and educator, and I grew up attending and assisting her. She taught me the fundamentals early; I was immersed in the arts at a young age and I easily became an educator of Eastern Woodland Native Culture myself, my art and work professionally reflect all facets of my life. It was inevitable that I would end up with similar interests as my mother.
Over the last twenty-five years plus years, I have taught youth and adult classes, coordinated cultural events, dance troupes and created educational programs and materials for native language and arts. Alongside my role as a mother, grandmother and wife of thirty-nine years, I find that being able to create original art that typifies Eastern Woodland culture and tradition to be a true outlet.
BIOGRAPHY
Dawn Spears (Narragansett) is the Director of the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance (NIAA). For more than twenty-five years Dawn has worked to support Indigenous arts as an artist, educator, demonstrator, and organizer. Most recently Dawn produced two of the largest and most significant markets in New England, the Indigenous Fine Arts Market East in 2016 and the inaugural Abbe Museum Indian Market in 2018. She is a 2020 Assets for Artists grantee, a 2015 RI State Council for the Arts (RISCA) Master Apprenticeship grantee and was the Community Artist in Residence at the New Bedford Art Museum in 2021. Dawn has exhibited at the most prestigious Indian art markets across the country including the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum in Glendale, CA, Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, AZ, and the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM. Dawn has served on the board of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum and Native Americans in Philanthropy and sits on several advisory’s (Brown University, Yellow Farmhouse, Tomaquag Museum, Abbe Museum’) continues to work consulting regionally and nationally supporting arts programming and business training for artists.
An active member of her tribal community, Dawn served as the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s Tribal Secretary for two terms and currently serves as chair on the Narragansett Indian Tribal Election Committee and vice chair for the Economic Development Commission. In 2014 Dawn and her husband of thirty-eight years formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people. They currently own and operate Ashawaug Farm in Ashaway RI. Dawn also enjoys her role as mother and grandmother. Dawn's work within her family, community, and in the arts is driven by her belief in the preservation and education of culture and traditions.
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David Lonebear Sanipass
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi'kmaq Nation
MEDIUM: Painting; Jewelry; Woodwork
ARTIST STATEMENT
My name is David Lonebear Sanipass, I grew up in northern Maine. I am from the Mi’kmaq Nation. I am a carver, make flutes, I paint and sketch. As an artist you want to be able to represent your art. I find the best way is to be able to talk about what it means. Some of what I do is so intricate you’re not really looking at what it means. The representation has been lost through interpretation. Part of the beauty isn't appreciated because it doesn’t speak to you. We have found a way for my art to speak with you, to come from my spirit, so it can be better appreciated and you will know more where I am coming from.
