Hello! I am a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT), made up of: Mojave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo. (CRIT members of Navajo descent). My dad is full Navajo and my mom is Caucasian. When I was growing up, my dad worked far away with a long commute. I spent the majority of time with my mom. I knew I was Native, but I didn’t have many opportunities for connecting with my Native culture. My grandmother lived on the reservation in Arizona, near California, but I didn’t get to see her very often. I never made it to the reservation until my late twenties. I was born and raised in Payson. When I was growing up I said, “ I can’t wait to get out of Payson.” Now I say I’ll never leave. I’ve decided I’m a small town girl.

I went to BYU. I earned my BS in Human Development, and a Master of Education in Applied Behavior Analysis. I worked as a Social Worker and now as a Behavior Specialist with the local Head Start program. When I started working at Head Start, I began connecting to my culture, because of Lapita Frewin. She’s a Social Worker. Our very first meeting, she came up and said, “You’re Navajo! Aren’t you?” She had me sit by her and took me to lunch that day…We’ve been best friends ever since then. She calls me daughter and I call her Mom. She’s also the one who started me as an artist.

She took me with her to a residency. She was teaching the children how to bead around the edge of an ornament. From there, it was like a whole new world was opened up to me. I learned along with the children. She taught me many different stitches and patterns. Once the beadwork got going, that’s when my curiosity peaked to learn more about my culture. As an individual, I express my personal heritage most with my dangling, beaded-earrings. This is because, when I was growing up, my Mom told me I looked like a true native when I wore dangly earrings. That gave me a sense of pride, I didn’t yet understand. 

Art gives us connection. My focus as a teaching artist would be on reconnecting with our own personal cultures. I will share the things that I have found to be most helpful as I went on my own personal journey of discovering my own culture: Foods, Art, Music, History, and Storytelling. I would enjoy working with any age group in any setting, but Elementary School children are my favorite. I can instruct children, teachers, and other participants in hands-on art-making such as beadwork, dreamcatchers, moccasins, and corn-husk dolls. I might start participants with a project and then share the meaning and purpose behind it, providing an immersive experience for them to make connections with their own heritage.