Celebration of Basketry and Native Foods - Symposium Presenter Biographies

Celebration of Basketry and Native Foods - Symposium Presenter Biographies - Skip Links

Celebration of Basketry and Native Foods - Symposium Presenters

Rubi Orozco Santos: Rubi Orozco Santos is a health educator and ancestral wellness specialist who inherited her love of food from her Nahua grandmother, Amelia, while growing up in Morelos, Mexico. She studied under herbalist Vicenta Villalba Anaya in Amatlan, Morelos, and earned a Master of Public Health degree from UC Berkeley. She develops culturally-based nutrition education programs for non-profit organizations in West Texas/Southern New Mexico and authors the blog tradicionessanas.com.
Neftali Duran — Mixteco: Neftalí Durán was born in the Mexican state of Oaxaca to a Mixteco family, a family of cooks, healers, and campesinos. His interest in the region’s infinite gastronomy grew when he moved away, and started cooking in Los Angeles in 1997. Chef Duran is currently focused on educating around indigenous culinary traditions and cultivating synchronistic food styles that draw on Oaxacan roots. He is interested in documenting the culinary traditions of the different regions of Oaxaca as well as speaking up and reclaiming the roots and culture of the original peoples of the Americas. Duran also bakes sourdough bread in a wood-fired oven, enjoys cooking whole animals and serving up mean tacos for passionate crowds, and is a mezcal enthusiast that dreams of restoring maguey and mezcal production to his ancestral lands. Chef Duran has been featured on Food52.com, The Cooking Channel, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Chef Cooking Competition (2014), and as a signature pit master at the Cook 'n Scribble Longhouse Food Revival series in upstate New York
Beto De León — Lipan Apache/Xicano: Beto De Leon (Lipan Apache/Xicano) currently resides in San Antonio, TX. With a deep passion and respect for the study of native plants and people since childhood, he has spent much of his life learning and sharing both in herbal medicine, gardening workshops and traditional food discussions for adults and youth. He is also a community organizer with a focus on environmental justice, indigenous rights, TLGBQ issues and anti-racism efforts. Currently, he is helping Texas organize in preparation for the 2016 Peace and Dignity Journeys which are inter-tribal, transcontinental prayer run as well as working with local tribes/bands in justice actions and ceremony. He is committed to working with local tribes/bands in justice actions and ceremony to remember the ways of his ancestors and restore traditional lifeways among the overlooked indigenous communities of Southern Texas.
Nina Sajovec, Director, Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture: Nina was born in Slovenia into a family of farmers, herbalists and entrepreneurs. After completing her law degree, she pursued a graduate degree in environmental anthropology which brought her to Southern Arizona. She has spent the last 8 years as a food activist, farmer, educator and community organizer, including running beginning farmer and school garden programs on the Tohono O’odham Reservation, working for Tohono O’odham Community Action (2011-2014). Nina founded Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture in 2008 as a grassroots, community-based organization dedicated to creating a sustainable and just food system in Ajo, AZ. In addition to the food systems change work, some of the Center’s activities include the Authentically Ajo Farmers Market, Ajo Gardeners Network, Supper Club and Many Hands Urban Farm and Learning Center. The Many Hands Farm includes an heirloom orchard which contains the highest diversity of pomegranate varieties in Arizona, ranging from the Father Kino Heritage Fruit Tree Project to Ajo’s own backyard varieties. Nina is passionate about empowering people to help themselves through plants and knowledge.
Elizabeth Hoover — Mohawk/Mi’kmaq: Dr. Elizabeth Hoover is Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, where she also a co-leader of the Community Engagement Core of the Superfund Research Program. At Brown, Elizabeth teaches courses on Native food movements, environmental health and justice in Native communities, ethnic studies, and community engaged research. She is of Mohawk/Mi’kmaq ancestry from upstate New York, where she works with Kanenhi:io Ionkwaienthon:hakie (We Are Planting Good Seeds), a Mohawk gardening organization at Akwesasne. For the past several years, she’s been traveling to indigenous communities and food conferences, documenting Native American farming and gardening projects. You can see more about these sites at her blog www.gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.com and read more about her research and publications at https://vivo.brown.edu/display/emhoover
Frederick Wiseman: Dr. Frederick Wiseman was trained as a paleo-ethnobotanist at the University of Arizona, and he has published numerous books, book chapters and articles on prehistory, ethnohistory and ethnobotany of the Wabanaki (also known as the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac) First Nations. Since 2011, he has directed the Seeds of Renewal Project, an intertribal effort to restore Wabanaki agriculture as a fully integrated food system to the various federally and state recognized tribes in the Far Northeast. His work in food sovereignty/ justice includes seed of over twenty-five deep time Wabanaki crops, two rediscovered agro-engineering systems thought extinct since the mid 17th century, agricultural ceremony and song that barely survived into the 21st century as performance art, and cuisine, some of which apparently dated to the 18th century. His current research focuses on promoting the resilience of these "northern" deep-time crops and food systems in a time of climatic uncertainty.
Andrea Murdoch — Venezuelan/Inca: Andrea lives and works in Milwaukee, WI. She is a Culinary Institute of America graduate with training in both the baking and pastry and culinary fields. Time and a life changing event led Andrea to deeper explore her Indigenous and South American food history. She is now orchestrating pop up dinners and writing a business plan for a restaurant focused on Indigenous foods with a global influence
Roy Kady — Diné: In 2006 the Navajo Churro Lamb Presidium (NCLP) was established through the Slow Foods USA. The NCLP is a loose collective of Navajo Churro sheep producers, Diné sheepherders, meat producers, hand spinners and weavers. Currently we have presidium members who are from various communities across the Navajo Nation and the majority of the members are Navajo. “The Presidia also works on local projects to improve the infrastructure of artisan food productions. The goal of the Presidia is to guarantee a viable future for traditional foods by stabilizing production techniques, establishing stringent production standards and promoting local consumption.” Slow Food Foundation. Our current team members are Executive Indigenous Chef Franco Lee, White Mountain Apache, Projects Co-Coordinator Aretta Begay, Diné, and Clearing Agent/Founder Roy Kady, Diné.
Patrick McElroy: Chef Patrick McElroy joined the Dining Services team in June of 2010. Patrick, a native to Missouri, graduated from Sullivan College in Louisville, KY, where he studied Culinary Arts, as well as Baking & Pastry Sciences. After graduation, he came to St. Louis and worked at the Adams Mark Hotel. Patrick later traveled the country, cooking in cities throughout the country, finally settling back in St. Louis as Chef of the Hyatt Union Station. After several years with the Hyatt, Patrick opened Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in downtown St. Louis and, later, Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse at the River City Casino.
Felicia Ruiz — Xicana/Tiwa: A native of Arizona, Chef Ruiz would best describe herself as a Natural Chef. She is a mindful eater and strongly believes in the benefits of healthful eating and the preparation of REAL foods. Felicia’s passion for cooking began at an early age and she has cultivated a cooking style that has been influenced by her heritage, education, and a commitment to her beliefs. For the past two decades, Felicia has been greatly inspired by her local and international travels. She has spent that time studying various culinary techniques and increasing her understanding of the benefits of food as natural medicine. Felicia has adopted a philosophy that “Foods closest to the earth, foods that have been nurtured, offer the most valuable keys to wellness.” Chef Ruiz has opened two award-winning businesses in Phoenix, Arizona. With a particular focus on a natural, plant-based diet, she continues to conduct workshops and classes that promote wellness and healthful eating.
Twila Cassadore — San Carlos Apache: Twila Cassadore is San Carlos Apache Tribal member. For the past four years she has been focused on the Traditional Western Apache Diet Project and other cultural preservation projects, and is a caterer and food vendor. She is the founder of “Native Mothers Against Meth.”
Karlos Baca — Diné — Tewa: Chef M. Karlos Baca has nearly 20 years professional culinary experience. Chef Baca now has a focus on New American Cuisine while specializing in New Indigenous Cuisine and Farm to Table cookery. Baca is the founder of The Taste of Native Cuisine, a five year old enterprise that aims to bring together Native American chefs and cooks to provide traditional wild harvested and hunted foods to tribes in the Four Corners region of the United States. Chef Baca has worked with the Grand Canyon Trust, Dancing Earth, the Boys & Girls Club and the Southern Ute Cultural Center to teach about traditional medicine, foods and harvesting practices. Chef Karlos incorporates wild crafted plants with local and sustainable grown organic produce and meats, supplemented by his own heritage garden to offer a unique dining experience to guests. Chef Karlos Baca also facilitates outdoor learning spaces in foraging and harvesting techniques.
Sean Sherman — Oglala Lakota: Chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota, born in Pine Ridge, SD, has been cooking in MN, SD & MT for the last 27 years. In the last few years, his main culinary focus has been on the “prereservation” indigenous knowledge of wild and traditionally cultivated food history, flavor, and culinary technique. His studies have taken him to the Crow tribes of the Bighorn and Beartooth Mountain Ranges in Wyoming and Montana, to his native Lakota plains in the Dakotas, to the Ojibwe and Dakota forests and lake regions throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through documentation and experimentation with wild and indigenous flavor profiles and recreating and utilizing “ancient pantry” items, Chef Sherman has been readying his own concept of Modern & Traditional Native American Foods of the Dakota, Lakota & Ojibwe to bring to the public. This year, he opened his business titled, “The Sioux Chef” as a caterer and food educator to the Midwest. His focus now is providing catering, cooking classes, speeches and food demonstrations. He’s been able to source locally, using many regional Native run businesses to bring the flavors of these traditional foods to Minnesota region and ultimately to the world.
Diana Violet Bird — Cree: Diana Violet Bird is a Cree woman from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. She is the author of the Indigenous cook book, From The Bird: A First Nations Cook Book. It is a cook book comprised of traditional foods from the Cree First Nations culture in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Diana Bird along with her mother, Lena Riffel and her uncle, Lionel Bird, have come up with the recipes and merged traditional foods into contemporary, healthy dishes. In the remote northern communities there is little access to healthy foods and people rely on moose, deer, elk, rabbit, fish and berries for their main staples when other foods cannot be accessed. Because of the high rates of diabetes, low income and low education of the populations, there is also little access to nutritious healthy food. Over the course of 4 years, Diana and her family have come up with delicious and nutritious ways to use traditional foods in a contemporary way. The family is connected to the land and celebrate the bounty with beautiful delicious creations. The cook book is aimed at lowering the risk of diabetes and celebrating our traditional foods. Diana Violet Bird holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. She is also currently enrolled at the Frist Nations University of Canada, University of Regina for her Honors Degree in Indian Social Work. She has 15 years of experience working in various areas of Social Work such as Child Protection, Counseling, Program Coordinator, Career Advisor, Aboriginal Liaison Worker and Role Model. She lives with her 3 year old daughter Gabrielle, in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She enjoys cooking, fishing, going on hunting trips, picking berries and mushrooms, canning, gardening and coming up with new recipes. It is hoped that the cook book will become published so that she can travel to do information seminars to First Nation communities and create a home-based Indigenous Catering business. Nature, cooking and food are her passions.
Margaret McMurtrey: Margaret McMurtrey is a doctoral student in the Department of Religious Studies-Native American Studies emphasis at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). Her research focuses on the origin, provenance and embedded Choctaw spiritual beliefs of Choctaw Hymns written pre-removal. She recently completed a month fellowship at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. McMurtrey is founding co-convener of the American Indian and Indigenous Collective Research Focus group sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. At the UCSB she is a leader in the American Indian Graduate Student Alliance, advisor for the American Indian Student Association and co-founder of the UCSB Native and Indigenous Garden. She is a founding member of the Elders’ Council of the Central Coast, and Board Chair of the American Indian Health and Services, Corporation of Santa Barbara.
Lorena Andrade: Lorena Andrade is Executive Director of La Mujer Obrera a community/ women led organization in El Paso, Texas. La Mujer Obrera was founded in 1981 as a garment workers organization. When factory jobs were lost due to NAFTA in 1994, we began to develop our own economic alternatives. We organize for a food system that is informed by our ancestral traditions and by local practice. We advance our food access work through our restaurant, farmers market, community farm, daycare center, cultural festivals and Lummetik Trading Company.
Claudia Serrato — P’urhépecha: Claudia Serrato is a PhD candidate in the program of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Washington. Her dissertation research focuses on ancestral memory transmission through Indigenous foods and the body. This work addresses the various healing modalities of Indigenous ethnogastronomies towards Indigenous health revitalization. Claudia holds two Master degrees (Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies) and a Bachelor degree in Gender, Ethnic and Multicultural Studies. Outside of the institution, she is a community based chef, a birth worker, a mother of two, and a social justice activist.
Lois Ellen Frank, PhD., Chef - Kiowa: A Santa Fe, New Mexico based chef, author, Native foods historian and photographer Lois Ellen Frank was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, New York with her father's side of the family. She is from the Kiowa Nation on her mother's side and Sephardic on her father's side. Her first career experiences were as a professional cook and organic gardener. Lois has spent over 25 years documenting foods and life ways of Native American tribes from the Southwest. This lengthy immersion in Native American communities culminated in her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, featuring traditional and contemporary recipes. It won the James Beard Award in the Americana category and was the first Native American book to win the award. She has worked with world-renowned chefs, scientists and academicians and collaborated with them to publish many culinary posters and cookbooks. She has worked with National and International advertising agencies as well as many editorial clients as a chef and a photographer. Lois received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in Culinary Anthropology in July 2011. Her dissertation entitled The Discourse and Practice of Native American Cuisine: Native American Chefs and Native American Cooks in Contemporary Southwest Kitchens, will also be one of her next books, tentatively entitled The Turquoise Plate. She received her Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology in May, 1999 where she focused on the importance of corn as a common thread to all Indigenous tribes throughout the Americas.
Walter Whitewater — Diné: Walter Whitewater is Diné and grew up in Pinon, AZ on the Navajo Nation. A self-taught chef, he was the culinary advisor for the James Beard award-winning book Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations. He also the Culinary Consultant and Chef de Cuisine at Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC, a unique catering company that specializes in Native American food that are locally and nationally sourced.
Nephi Craig — White Mountain Apache/Diné: Chef Nephi Craig has 17 years culinary experience in America and around the world. Nephi Craig is an enrolled member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe and is half Navajo. Chef Craig is also the founder of the Native American Culinary Association (NACA), an organization/network that is dedicated to the research, refinement, and development of Native American Cuisine. Craig provides training, workshops and lecture sessions on Native American Cuisine to schools, restaurants and tribal entities from across America and abroad. A highlight of his work with NACA is when Nephi was able to help prepare a Native American themed menu for the renowned James Beard Foundation at the James Beard House in New York City. This was Craig’s second James Beard Dinner in two years. In March 2014, Chef Craig was a plenary speaker for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference in Chicago. Chef Craig was also a panelist on a food forum for the Chef’s Garden’s first annual ROOTS Conference at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. Chef Craig has also served as a stagier in a three (3) Michelin starred Restaurant Grace in Chicago 2013. Chef Craig was also featured in Food and Wine Magazine in August 2014 ‘Best of Summer’ issue. Chef Craig is also a published author. Craig has written pieces for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. and the Center for American Indian Elderly. Nephi Craig has served as head chef for four international tasting dinners. These culinary events were held in London, UK; Cologne, Germany; and Osaka, Japan. Chef Craig has also served as head chef in Sao Paulo, Brazil working for the United States Consulate and Senac College providing training, workshops, and various tasting dinners showcasing Native American Cuisine during the Shared Indigenous Heritage Festival in 2007. Chef Nephi Craig serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Native Food-ways Magazine. Chef Nephi Craig is currently the Executive Chef at the Sunrise Park Resort Hotel on the White Mountain Apache Tribe
Ofelia Zepeda — Tohono O'odham: Ofelia Zepeda, PhD is Regents’ Professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and co-founder of the nationally recognized American Indian Language Development Institute at the University of Arizona. She has been director of the Institute since 1989. She is a Native speaker and preservationist of the Tohono O'odham language. Professor Zepeda has published numerous works on the Tohono O'odham language based on her own fieldwork. In addition to her work on the Tohono O'odham language, Professor Zepeda has published and edited works on American Indian language issues, dialect variation, language preservation and Native American literature. She has won awards for her community outreach projects and for her service to graduate students. Poet in both Tohono O'odham and English, her poems have been published in two books and in anthologies. Professor Zepeda is a member of the VOVA Advisory Board.
Loretta Barrett Oden: Loretta Barret Oden began her passionate relationship with food as a small child at the side of her mother, grandmothers, and aunts in Oklahoma. She spent most of her adult years raising her family, cooking, studying, teaching and adapting recipes to preserve the culinary legacy of her upbringing. In the 1990s, she and her son, the late chef Clayton Oden, opened the Corn Dance Cafe, the first restaurant to showcase the amazing bounty of food indigenous to the Americas. She has been featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, In Food Today and Cooking Live, and in the following publications, The New York Times, Prevention Magazine, Sunset, Veranda, Food Arts, Native Peoples Magazine and National Geographic Traveler. She also served as a guest chef in the Robert Mondavi Great Chefs series and the 2006 Taste3 Celebration in Napa and on Barbara Pool Fenzl’s PBS series, Savor the Southwest. Loretta was the host of the Emmy award winning 5-part PBS series, Seasoned with Spirit, a culinary celebration of America's bounty combining Native American history and culture with delicious, healthy recipes inspired by indigenous foods.
Andrea Ramon, Tohono O'odham: Andrea Ramon was born and raised on the Tohono O'odham Nation. She has a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from the University of Arizona and a Master's degree in Language, Literacy, & SocioCultural Studies with a concentration in American Indian Education from the University of New Mexico. Her work focuses on Native American language & cultural revitalization, language immersion & cultural teaching, and training. She has coordinated Tohono O'odham language immersion and cultural camps for youth, community members, and educators; as well as, conduct trainings for Native American and Indigenous Mexican language teachers and community members across the U.S and Alaska. She is also a founding member of Ha:sañ Preparatory & Leadership School where she was the Tohono O'odham language and culture teacher, teacher trainer, and school board member. She is an adjunct faculty at the Tohono O'odham Community College where she teaches “Conversational Tohono O'odham” and “Tohono O'odham History and Culture” and has taught at the University of Arizona as a Guest Lecturer. Andrea Ramon is an educator, consultant, trainer, and also develops O'odham language & cultural materials for her consulting business: O'odhamkaj!, Her mission is to “Inspire, Empower, and Expand through Language and Culture”.
Lorencita Billiman, Diné: Chef Lorencita Billiman is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation from Buell Park, Arizona. Chef Billiman has 16 years food service industry and hospitality experience. Chef Billiman holds an Associates of Applied Science in the Culinary Arts from Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico. While working to obtain her AAS, chef Billiman was able to become certified by the American Culinary Federation as a ‘Sous Chef’. Chef Lorencita’s culinary work is informed and influenced by being raised on the Navajo Nation in a traditional household with her paternal grandmother Zonnie Billiman. This cultural upbringing has instilled a reverence for food as medicine and being fluent in Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) Lorencita intuitively understands the intricacies of Diné philosophy and way of life as they relate to food. Chef Billiman values and conducts independent research on Indigenous food culture and she is always expending her knowledge of the professional culinary arts. As a working chef, Lorencita is a mother as well as an assistant manager. Chef Billiman was scouted by the Native American Culinary Association for her consistent culinary work with Native Foods, her independent study, culinary achievements and commitment to the culinary arts. Lorencita has been selected to serve as a NACA Sous Chef during the 2015 NACA Indigenous Food Symposium in Tucson, Arizona for the ‘Taste of Native Cuisine’ benefit dinner. Lorencita will serve as Sous Chef to Chef Loretta Barret Oden.
Terri Ami, Diné/Hopi: Chef Terri Ami has 14 years of food service industry and hospitality experience, six (6) years of which have been dedicated to the professional culinary arts. Her appreciation and passion for the diversity of food culture has enabled her to excel in the realm of professional food service and Native Foods. Terri served as a supervisor for the Starbucks Coffee Company and is a certified coffee specialist, which Chef Ami credits this professional experience with leading her to the culinary world. Chef Terri attended Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico where she earned her AAS in Culinary Arts and Baking in 2010. Chef Ami has worked with Chef Brian Tatsukawa and Chef Robert Witte from NTU as well as Chef Sean Sherman aka ‘The Sioux Chef’. Chef Terri has a string of culinary awards. Chef Terri competed in the Chocolate Fantasy of Albuquerque competition, New Mexico on four separate occasions resulting in a second place award and not one, but three (3), First Place wins. Chef Terri also competed in the SkillsUSA Restaurant Service Competition winning two silver medals. Chef Terri Ami also won First Place during the Intertribal Indian Ceremonial First Annual Dessert Competition. Chef Ami also competed as sous chef to Chef Sean Sherman and together the two chefs won First Place during an Indigenous Foods Chef Competition in Idyllwild, California. Chef Terri has served as a stagier with NACA Chef & Founder Nephi Craig at Sunrise Park Resort in 2015. Chef Terri has a deep respect for Native Foods, cooking and service, which is evident from her string of accolades and success in her 6 year path as a chef. For all these reasons, Chef Terri Ami was scouted and selected to serve as a NACA Sous Chef during the 2015 NACA Indigenous Food Symposium in Tucson, Arizona during the ‘Taste of Native Cuisine’ benefit dinner. Terri will serve as Sous Chef to Lois Ellen Frank.
Jessica Foster, Snohomish: Jessica Foster is a 5th year environmental studies major with a minor in American and Indigenous studies as an undergraduate student at the University of California Santa Barbara. Jessica — from the Snohomish Tribe of Indians — grew up on an organic farm ran by her mother in the Pacific Northwest, where their native heritage flows from. The farm, called “Grandview Gardens,” produced the majority of the food that fed her family and was shared with the community. From a young age, Jessica was taught about the unwavering work ethic required from the whole family, and at times, even the community, to maintain a farm. Although she didn’t always appreciate it as a child, she realized when she left for college how integral the experience of growing her own food and working with the land so intimately on a daily basis was for her Native identity. Being distanced from family and one's native community is a prominent challenge of college for many native students, but feeling distanced from her intimate relationship with the land was a challenge Jessica especially felt as distressful. Feeling as though she was losing touch with her ancestors, Jessica sought out to reclaim these relationships by working with others to restore the land and the environment. She is now the Student Coordinator for the Associated Students Department of Public Worms, a student-run program that seeks to divert food waste from landfills through on-site composting and organic gardening; a student leader in the American Indian Student Association/American Indian Science and Engineering Society; a member of the American Indian and Indigenous Collective, and a leader in the Native and Indigenous Gardens project, which she is excitedly spearheading with counsel from elders of the community and careful guidance from her elder/advisor, Margaret McMurtrey, of the Choctaw Nation.
Carol Emarthle-Douglas, Arapaho: Carol is Northern Arapaho, her mother is from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and her father is from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Carol lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two sons. “I learned the art of basket weaving at the Basketry School of Seattle,” says Carol, taking classes while her sons were young. At her first class on coiling, she discovered her talent for weaving and working with her hands. Her style of basketry is constantly evolving; she uses the traditional method of coiling which is one of the oldest techniques of basketry. Her materials of choice are contemporary; waxed linen thread with a one rod core of spring hemp twine for her large coiled baskets and round reed, raffia and silk thread for her miniature baskets. These materials allow her to use an array of colors and she can shape baskets in a variety of distinctive forms. Since there are not many “Plains” basket weavers she incorporates her own designs which reflect her heritage. Buffalo, horses, and some ledger art have influenced her basket designs as a tribute to her Northern Arapaho heritage. She has also integrated the Seminole “patchwork” designs in her baskets as well. “As a contemporary weaver, I am always looking for ways to add new colors and textures to a basket,” says Carol. Carol has been weaving baskets for seventeen years and, as a result of her constant experimentation with old and new materials, she makes small “treasure” baskets and cedar “basket pouches” strung on glass beads and shell, with amazingly detailed designs that can be worn as jewelry. She makes miniature baskets small enough to be worn as earrings, and large baskets with intricate designs. Whatever the style, her baskets are always a delightful surprise. Her work is unique; no two baskets are ever alike. Carol participates in the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Show and has won awards for her basketry at both shows. Of note her latest accomplishment was winning Best of Show at the 94th Annual Santa Fe Indian Market in August 2015.