Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

My favorite art to create is narrative formline, murals, illustration, regalia, enamel jewelry, and logo work rooted in ancestral knowledge and migration. I am drawn to work that carries story, movement, and lineage across land and ocean. I create pieces meant to be lived with, worn, held, or experienced in community. Regalia made from copper, cedar bark and salmon leather holds presence and memory, while murals and book illustration bring that same visual language into public space.

Where do you find inspiration?

My Ancestors, nature, and music are my primary sources of inspiration. The ocean is a teacher, and I draw from Haida Gwaii, Southeast Alaska, Hawaiʻi, and Aotearoa. Canoe culture, materials, and Indigenous knowledge guide my work. I love collaborating with artists and community, deepening these exchanges. Inspiration comes through making, through cedar, salmon, ink, and movement, and through time spent on the water, learning directly from place and practice.

What would you do with $25,000?

I would invest in new tools and materials to expand my carving, weaving, and enamel work. I have been working with the same kiln and core tools for over 15 years, many of them my first tools from when I started 24 years ago. This funding would allow me to upgrade essential equipment, strengthen my studio practice, and support large-scale projects currently underway.