Posts

New York Spirit

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Acrylic on Canvas
39” x 48”
With approximately 90,000 Native Americans living in NYC, it is home to the largest urban Indigenous population in the US. Seated on Lenape territory, built with significant labor contributions from Mohawk ironworkers, and inhabited by peoples from countless nations across Turtle Island, NYC is a mecca of Indigenous diversity. NYC is also known as the home of immigrants and their descendants, many of whom fled the oppressive effects of colonization in their own homelands. The common dream that all New Yorkers share is for a better future for their generations. The protection of water and land, and resistance to capitalistic exploitation, are becoming increasingly vital to that dream. Due to its cultural diversity, NYC is home to the United Nations, where the world has come together to create the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Thunderbird Warrior

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Acrylic on Canvas

18″ x 24″

In Permanent collection of Royal Alberta Museum

18″ x 24″ Acrylic on Canvas

Description:
The coming of thunder in the spring is a gift from the Thunderbeings, a promise of renewal and awakening. It marks a spiritual salve for the losses of the past year, a healing after the harsh and unforgiving winters. This season brings a time for warriors to heal, grow strong again, and prepare. The return of the Thunderbeings provides the recharge needed for a warrior to rise once more, to embody courage and selflessness for the people.

Artist Mike Holden carries “Coming of Thunder” as his traditional spirit name. He is also the son of a lightning strike survivor who carries a name to honor the Thunderbeings: Lead Thunderbird Man. The Thunderbird is depicted in this painting to represent the unseen bringers of thunder and lightning. The rifles symbolize the harnessed power of the Thunderbeings, once believed to be powerful instruments meant to provide for and protect the people. Behind the warrior is the sun, which returns along with the thunder to renew the warrior’s strength.

 

She Dances for our Stolen Sisters

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Acrylic on Canvas

Although not overly common, women have always been a part of warrior culture, historically. In modern
times this has shifted, and women have taken the lead as warriors, through land defense and through
protecting and finding justice for our stolen sisters against the missing and murdered indigenous women
and girls epidemic. As mothers, women are the knowledge keepers and the ones who have the most
responsibility to pass on cultural traditions and ways. While facing genocidal fallout, the reclamation and
resilience of culture is one of the most vital acts of resistance. Where bows and arrows were once used to
defend the people, now songs, stories, ceremonies, and dances have taken over. All across Turtle Island
young girls and old women and mothers can be found dancing in the streets, at powwows, in ceremonies,
and on government building lawns, in prayer and recognition for their stolen sisters.

Six Nations

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Acrylic on Canvas

16″ x 20″

Maskwa Iskwew

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Acrylic on Canvas

36″ x 24″

Wolf Clan

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 Acrylic on Canvas

44″ x 32″

Every Child Matters. They Tried to Bury Us (they didn’t know we were seeds)

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Acrylic on Canvas

48″ x 36″

For all those who did not survive the brutal Indian Residential/Boarding School legacy that lasted from the 1870s in the US and ended in 1996 in Canada. The voices of our children have continued to call to us for more than a century. We reclaim the spirit of our people through the reclamation of our children. We unearth the truth of ourselves with each precious child we unearth to reclaim as our kin. May their spirits rise and grow toward the sun, and may our heavy hearts and weary spirits be lifted with them. We dance for our children to make this so.

Medicine Carrier

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Acrylic on Canvas

36″ x 24″

The Eagle has come

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Acrylic on Canvas

In a world of skyscrapers and concrete, our spirits get lost in these cold streets. In the times when we most feel lost, we must remember the teachings of the eagle, to persevere, to fly higher.
Never forget we are children of the Earth and our mother protects

Maskwa Iskwew Part ll

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Acrylic on Canvas

32″ x 40″