When you walk in the doors of the North Boulder Library, there are eight pieces of art hanging on display on the first wall to your left. They range from a vibrant red deer woman to traditional braided hair.
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Nineteen-year-old Maxx Wapasha Lake, who’s part of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a descendant of the Navajo Nation, has two of her works up on the wall. One called Partners in the Living Land depicts wildlife in the mountains.
“It’s essentially a love letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the outdoors,” Lake said. “I have my two turkeys in there, which are some of my favorite animals, the black bear, which I did specifically in place of a grizzly, because grizzlies have been hunted out, as well as an elk to signify the fact that we have the largest elk herd in the world.”
Lake is one of four emerging Indigenous women artists that was selected to show their work in a summer exhibition. It’s part of the Art + Place program put on by the NoBo Arts District in collaboration with Thunder Wolf Native Arts and Culture. The goal is to highlight their work in high-traffic areas and support the future of young Native artists, since all of the women participants are under the age of 25.
Tom Myer is part of the Cayuga of the Haudenosaunee and Ngäbe-Bugle tribes. He’s also the curator of this exhibit and the founder of Thunder Wolf Native. He said the show is a learning experience for the artists, especially for ones that have never sold or shown their work outside small markets.
“A lot of them didn't know how to do, like, a gallery showing setup for their art,” Myer said. “We walked them through how to do the wire hangers and prepare your artwork for a long-term showing.”
But it’s also a chance for the public to be educated about Native history. Lake said their other work, Under The Ancestors Sky, showcases a teepee lit by a campfire. She wanted people to imagine what the Front Range could have looked like for Natives before settlers came in. Lake specifically referenced the history of Chief Niowat, who welcomed white settlers to the Rocky Mountain region.
Finding this creative depiction of Native experiences and history can be hard to find outside of Native art markets and Native-themed events, Myer said.
"If you were just a complete and utter stranger to the Front Range, and you were going around to art galleries, you would not know that Native peoples existed anywhere in this area at any point in time," he said. "(We need to) just keep putting Natives in front of people and say, ‘We're still here, and we're still doing things,’” he said.
And, without that kind of education, people often make assumptions about what Native art looks like, Lake said.
“We don't really do anything that different from most people,” Lake said. “There's a theme here where we're all doing something more Native-focused, but I think if you really looked at our sketchbooks, you would see the same thing you would see in any other kids' sketchbook.”
Lake had a hard time growing up in Broomfield and felt different in a community that was mostly white. She hopes her work can be an example for other Native kids who want to be creative.
“They grew up thinking, ‘Why am I different, why do I not see artists like myself, and if I do, why are they all from 200 years ago?’” Lake said. “It helps every little native child that comes out, sees this, and says, 'Hey, I can do something like that too.’”
The gallery is open during library hours through the end of August, and every piece is for sale. NoBo Art District also plans to host events where people can meet the artists later this summer.
