Native American Arts and Entertainment

Victorialyn McCarthy grew up wanting to be a police officer like her grandfather but is now making her mark as a fashion designer.

“My grandfather always told me stories about catching the bad guys and all the places he got to travel to. I really wanted to have all the same kinds of adventures.”

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – HighWater Press has just published “Stone,” the first comic book in the graphic novel series “7 Generations,” by author David Robertson and artist Scott Henderson. The ongoing “7 Generations” is a four-part graphic novel series that spans three centuries of an aboriginal family.

SEATTLE – For the past two decades, Litefoot’s talent for writing lyrics then turning it into rap and scratch masterpieces has propelled him to the top of the Native hip hop genre. He began rapping during a time when there were few Native hip hop artists on the scene. He quickly gained popularity among Native youth, and snagged multiple Native American Music Awards along the way.

SULPHUR, Okla. – For generations, members of the Chickasaw Nation told the tribe’s stories of hardship and renewal through its families, community organizations and churches. Using money from its large casino operations, its culture and history is featured in a $40 million cultural center.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – From Sept. 4 – 5, Black Hawk State Historic Site, in Rock Island, Ill., will host a powwow that dates back to 1940. The Labor Day Weekend event has been dubbed the Sauk and Meskwaki Welcome Home Celebration and features the return to their traditional lands of peoples also known by their federally recognized names: the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma and the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, from the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama, Iowa.

DENVER – Walt Pourier’s year has its highlights – from All Nations Skate Jam at the Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, N.M. in April to ceremonies in Thunder Valley community, S.D. in midsummer to the Tusweca Tiospaye Lakota/Dakota/Nakota language summit in Rapid City, S.D. in November.

It all influences the Oglala Lakota’s art, seen in graphics on clothing, posters, paintings, and skateboard decks – things he uses to bring traditional tales and histories to present-day youth who might not relate to the traditional themes otherwise.

DENVER – When Denver Art Museum’s Native exhibits re-open to the public Jan. 23, 2011, they will present art across time rather than in blocs representing “historical” versus “contemporary” periods.

The Grand Canyon Music Festival will celebrate its 27th season from Aug. 27 – Sept. 12, with weekend and mid-week concerts in Grand Canyon National Park. The festival will also conduct its education outreach programs, the Native American Composers Apprentice Project and School of Rock, to Grand Canyon School and Native American reservation schools.

Jason “Smoke” Nichols and Stuart “Big S2” Perkins visited the Red Lake Nation Boys and Girls Club June 10 with motivational speeches about the downside of alcohol, drugs and gangs. “Smoke” on his fifth visit to Red Lake in less than three years, was there to visit with youth and perform a concert at the Boys and Girls Club.

WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. – Doug and Rachel Limon are Native American artists. He does bead work and she makes pottery, jewelry, paints and is a photographer. Their lives crossed paths inside her father’s photography studio because of their shared interest in a traditional Native American symbol, the turtle.

A few years later their son, Gavino, was born with a birthmark in the shape of a turtle on his cheek.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A $6 million donation by the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians will allow San Bernardino-based KVCR Television to launch the nation’s first 24-hour Native American television channel, tribal leaders and the station announced June 16.

JUNEAU, Alaska – Sealaska Corporation has purchased a downtown lot and plans to donate the site to the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute for a planned Southeast Alaska Native Cultural and Visitors Center.

SEATTLE – The leader of the Quileute Nation in northwest Washington first began hearing her tribe had a role in the popular “Twilight” saga from fans clamoring to know more about the place where a vampire tale of teenage love unfolds.

Some fans sent e-mails. The most dedicated among them made trips to the remote reservation that is home to the series’ heartthrob werewolf Jacob Black.