Native American women in the arts include the following notable individuals. This list article is of women visual artists who are Native Americans/First Nations of the U.S and Canada. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 defines "Native American" as those being enrolled in either federally recognized tribes or state-recognized tribes or "an individual certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian Tribe." This list does not include non-Native American women artists who use Native American themes or motifs in their work. Additions to the list need to reference a recognized, documented source and specifically name the tribal affiliation according to federal and state lists.
Emily Waheneka, (born Kis-Sun-Y) Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute. b. 1919
Simnasho, Oregon. Beadworking and sewn work, represented in the permanent collection of the Museum of Northwest Art, and others.[12][13]
Ida Sahmie (born 1960), Navajo ceramic artist known for combining Hopi traditional pottery with Navajo iconography.[19]
Margaret Tafoya (August 13, 1904 – February 25, 2001), Tewa artist known for traditional pottery. Recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowship.[20]
Charlene Teters (Slum Tah), Spokane, born 1952 Spokane Reservation, Washington. Installation artist, painter, activist and educator.[26][27][28]
Jewelry
Denise Wallace (born 1957, Seattle), Sugpiaq (Eskimo). AA fine arts Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Santa Fe 1981. Jeweler; studied lapidary work and silversmithing in Seattle prior to IAIA. Movable jewelry includes doors, latches, removable parts; created from gold, silver, ivory fossil, semiprecious stones.[10]
Mixed media
Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Seminole/Creek/Navajo. born 1954 Phoenix. attended IAIA. BFA California College of Arts and Crafts (Oakland). Instructor at IAIA, SF Art Inst, UC Davis, California College of Arts and Crafts. Mixed media.[10]
Gail Tremblay, Onondaga/Micmac. born 1945 Buffalo New York. BA drama UNH 1967; MFA creative writing U Oregon 1969. As of publishing, member of faculty at
The Evergreen State College. Multi-media.[10]
Sara Bates, Cherokee, born 1944 Muskogee, Oklahoma BA Fine Art and Women's Studies, Cal State Bakersfield 1987; MFA Sculpture and Painting UCSB 1989, mixed media[10]
Painting
Pop Chalee ("Blue Flower") born Merina Lujan 1906 Castle Gate UT. Painter, muralist, performer.[10]
Helen Hardin, Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh ("Little Standing Spruce"), Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1943 Abq NM. Painter/printmaker in the collections of the Heard Museum, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Museum of New Mexico and others.[10][30]
Georgia Mills Jessup (March 19, 1926 – December 24, 2016), painter, sculptor, ceramicist, muralist, and collage artist of African-American and Pamunkey descent. [31]
Mary Longman (Aski-Piyesiwiskwew), Salteaux, Gordon First Nation. born 1964 Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. Painting, drawing, sculpture. Associate Professor at University of Saskatchewan specializing in aboriginal art history.[18]
Tonita Peña, Quah Ah, San Ildefonso Pueblo, born 1893 San Ildefonso, attended St. Catherine's Indian School. Painter and muralist.[10]
Pablita Velarde - Tse Tsan ("Golden Dawn"), Santa Clara Pueblo, born 1918 at Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. Attended St. Catherine's Indian School. Painter, book illustrator, muralist.[10]
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Salish/Cree/Shoshone, born 1940 St. Ignatius, Montana. BA art education, Framingham State College, 1976. MA art, UNM, 1980. Work includes paintings and other art.[10][24][32]
Kay WalkingStick, Cherokee. born 1935 Syracuse New York. BFA Beaver College (Pennsylvania) 1959; MFA Pratt Institute 1975. Painter.[10][33]
Emmi Whitehorse, Navajo. born 1956–1957, Crownpoint, New Mexico. BA painting UNM 1980. MA printmaking UM 1982. Painter.[10][34][35]
Performing arts
Rebecca Belmore (born March 22, 1960) Ojibwe performance artist. Residing in Canada, her performance and installation work has been exhibited internationally. [36]
Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel and Muriel Miguel, Kuna/Rappahanonock-Powhatan. Theater/comedy "Spiderwoman Theater Company".[10]
Malinda M. Maynor, Lumbee, born Robeson County North Carolina (probably on reservation). A.B. History and Literature Harvard 1995; MA documentary film and video, Stanford 1997. Won film awards Best Indian-Produced Short Documentary 1997 Red Earth Film Festival and Best Short Documentary at
South by Southwest Film Festival, 1997[10]
Photography
Carmelita Little Turtle (Carm Little Turtle), Apache, Tarahumara, born 1952 Santa Maria, California, attended Navajo Community College, UNM, College of the Redwoods; photography Shenandoah Films in Arcata[10][3]
Linda Lomahaftewa, Hope-Choctaw, born 1947 Phoenix; Assoc. Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, BFA and MFA San Francisco Art Institute 1970 and 1971. Photographer.[10][33]
Jolene Rickard, Tuscarora, born 1956 Niagara Falls New York. BFA Rochester Institute of Technology 1978. MA, PhD SUNY Buffalo 1996. Photographer.[10][18][33]
Phoebe Farris, Powhatan-Renape, born 1952 Washington DC, BA Fine Arts, CUNY 1975; MPS Art Therapy Pratt Inst. 1977; PhD. Art Ed. UMD College park, 1988. Photography.[10]
Shelley Niro, Mohawk, born 1954 Niagara Falls, New York, attended Durham College in Ontario, Ontario College of Art and Design HFA 1990. Photography.[10][18]
Jane Ash Poitras, Cree, born 1951 Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. MS microbiology, University of Alberta. BFA Columbia 1983. MFA Columbia 1985. Printmaker, mixed-media collage, writing.[10]
Jean LaMarr, Pit River/Paiute, born 1945 Susanville, California, attended San Jose City College, UCB, U Oregon; art instructor at SF Art Institute and U Oregon. Printmaker.[10]
Melanie Yazzie, Navajo. born 1966, Ganado, Arizona. BA studio art ASU 1990. MFA printmaking UC Boulder 1993.[39]
Sculpture
Kenojuak Ashevak (October 3, 1927 – January 8, 2013), Inuit artist from
Kinngait who specialized in
soapstone carving, drawing, etching, stone-cut, and print-making[40]
Lillian Pitt, Wa'-K-a-mu, Warm Springs Yakima Wasco, born 1943 Warm Springs, Oregon. AA, mental health and human services, Mt Hood Community College 1981. Maskmaker, bronze casting,
raku ware[10]
Roxanne Swentzell, Santa Clara Pueblo, born 1992 Taos, New Mexico. Attended Institute of American Indian Arts and Portland Museum Art School. Ceramic sculpture.[10][33]
Gwen Westerman[42] (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate). Fluent in the Dakota language; Professor of English and Director of the Humanities Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Writer, poet, fiber artist.[43]
Rose Powhatan, Pamunkey, born 1948 Washington, DC. BFA painting/art history Howard University. MA art education/art history, howard. Attended Catholic University DC, University of DC, and University of London. Wood totems, silkscreen prints.[10]
^"Elsie Allen, 1899-1990". Sonoma State University Library. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^Wycliffe, Lydia L. (2001). Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection at the Philbrook Museum of Art. Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art.
ISBN0-86659-024-2.
^Ahlberg Yohe, Jill; Greeves, Teri; Power, Susan (2019). ""Nellie Two Bears Gates: Chronicling History through Beadwork"". Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Art.
^Marching, Jane D. and Andrea Polli (2012). Far Field: Digital Culture, Climate Change, and the Poles. Chicago, IL: Intellect, The University of Chicago Press. pp. Chapter 8.
^
abcdMithlo, Nancy Marie; Fadden, Stephen; Wall, Stephen; Caro, Mario (2011). Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism. Albuquerque: Museum of Contemporary Native American Art.
ISBN978-0-615-48904-9.
^Macnair, Peter L.; Hoover, Alan L.; Neary, Kevin (1984). The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art. Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre.
Harlan, Theresa; Gully, Anne (1994), Watchful eyes: Native American women artists, Heard Museum,
ISBN9780934351478
Jacobs, Margaret D. (2003), "Shaping a new way: White women and the movement to promote Pueblo Indian arts and crafts, 1900–1935", in Ressler, Susan R. (ed.),
Women Artists of the American West, McFarland, pp. 83–96,
ISBN9780786410545