Angela (she/her) is a queer Anishinaabe from Bay Mills Indian Community and is an engineer in addition to a self-taught artist and meshes concepts from her radiation physics background alongside her Ojibwe culture into the paintings and marker works she produces. Themes in her art explore the emphasized experience within the physical body vessel.

Sam St. John (she/her) is an Indigenous multimedia artist. Sam’s art is grounded in the essence of storytelling, resilience, authenticity, and vulnerability. Sam believes that creating art, in any form, is a means of self-healing. Her colorful art is rooted in the soul and evokes emotions, fosters connections, and builds community. Sam is also an art facilitator and has worked at an art-therapy-informed art studio. Sam is passionate about art transforming lives.

Jearica Fountain (she/her) is a self-taught Indigenous visual artist whose work serves as a powerful form of activism, decolonization, and cultural empowerment. Through her art, she challenges colonialism, stereotypes, and harmful perceptions, creating visual narratives that foster understanding and provoke critical thought. Jearica’s practice focuses on dismantling colonial structures and amplifying Indigenous voices, while exploring themes of identity, community, environmental protection, and social change. Her work uses art as a tool for education, healing, and advocacy, aiming to inspire a future shaped by compassion, understanding, and progression. Jearica is committed to preserving and honoring Indigenous cultural identities.

Chi’ikwezens (she/they/ve/xem/pur/per/eri) is an Indigenous artist descendant of White Earth and Prairie Island.

“I've been all creative my whole life, it's been a form of freedom for me for a long time, my whole self goes into my work 100% of the time, my process is complete relaxed immersion, I let my mind go and I just create, nothing is ever planned and I find that beautiful, it's an experience rather than just a person making something, art is deeper than that, it's a language, it's the artist plastering who they are into their work, it's etching the one true human existence into something one of a kind.

I'm a 23yo with wild dreams and expectations to match, I’m resilient and my work, even the lazy pieces reflect a piece of my soul from a moment in time.”

You can find more from them via Etsy + Instagram @ChiikiCreations

Sami Downwind (he/she) is a multi media artist that also utilizes storytelling through art in the form of comics.

“ I hail from the Red Lake Nation; I’m an emerging artist (digital, paint, crochet) I have some of my artwork on display in Cloquet library and in a giftshop.”

Dusty Rose (ze/zir) is an Indigenous multi media artist descendent from the Cherokee Nation, currently based on the Dakota land of Mni Sota.

“My creative process is shaped by queer, trans, and Indigenous 2-spirit history, revolution, agitation, reindigenization, and queer joy. I draw inspiration from drag, vintage archival media, zines, DIY culture, 70’s punk, glam rock, cult films, camp, and dark humor. As a mixed-media artist, I work with clay, metal, textiles, neon, sound, and digital media. Encouraged & inspired by my late father who was a Native artist, art has been my passion since childhood. My style is bold, maximalist, unapologetic and direct, reflecting my identity as a mixed-race, trans, 2-spirit, disabled person resisting capitalist and colonial oppression.”

You may reach the artist for more of their prints at www.dustysdivinedesign.com.

Julian Tollefson (they/them) is an Indigenous artist and descendent of the Red Lake Nation. They simply describe themself as: “A 22 year old nonbinary student who is learning to live and breathe art.”

You can see more from them @f0xxfyre on instagram

Sierra Ikwe Edwards (she/they) is a queer person of mixed identity—Ojibwe (Mille Lacs and Red Lake), African American, and white. As a lifelong learner and creative, Ikwe has found joy in the exploration of many different mediums, such as cyanotype, intaglio printmaking, poetry, and acrylic painting. However, they have cultivated a special relationship with the practices of collage and beadwork. Through these varied mediums, Sierra often finds herself returning to themes of identity, place, and temporality.

In 2023, Ikwe graduated with honors from Stanford University where she majored in Black Studies and minored in Indigenous studies. Now, they are the Community Engagement Coordinator at the Walker Art Center where they help shape public and community-based programs. Sierra is driven by the possibilities of art as a tool to gather, build, and celebrate community—both as a creative and as a programmer.

Two Spirit Corn Maiden Community Arts is a project of Sam Graystar (they/them).
Their work that represents what the artist calls their everyday regalia that represents who they are as non-binary two-spirit/indigiqueer person.

Originally from Saint Paul, Leila Verley (she/her) is pursuing a BFA in printmaking at The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Being of mixed Ojibwe, Mvskoke, and settler heritage, her work pushes the boundaries of what Native American art can look like. Her intentional use of color and graphic drawing style convey difficult subjects in conventionally beautiful packages. Drawing inspiration from her community, family dynamics, and personal hardships she examines important themes of queer identity, escapism, and the cyclical patterns of intergenerational trauma.

See more from Leila by following @nishiimecreates on Instagram.