I grew up on the Shoalwater Bay Tribal reservation, located on a rural corner of the Olympic peninsula. I moved to Seattle in 2019 where I worked became a SOIL member, and worked to gain knowledge to bring home. I moved back to the reservation in November 2023. Much of my work is inspired by the experience of growing up on traditional coastal land surrounded by my tribal community, and then the transition to life away from and back to those roots.
While I have a background in painting, during the time I lived in Seattle I began to learn to bead. My chicha (grandmother) Lorraine Anderson was a master beadworker, and she passed away when I was young due to Alzheimers, so I didn’t get to hear her talk about her memories while we were on this planet together. I started beading out of homesickness, because I wanted to understand her better, as well as to reconnect to my heritage while living off-reservation. It became a meditation and a life line. These beaded paintings are how I capture individual moments of how my life now fits into this ancient coastline, through a practice that connects me to my heritage and community.
