Creative Residencies
About the Project
Our collective hosts Creative Residencies on the land we caretake in South Seattle. Interdisciplinary Indigenous artists and thinkers are invited to complete a site-responsive project, followed by a public presentation.
Upcoming 2025 residents include carver Jen Wood (Yupik), sweatlodge leaders Alayna Eagle Shield and Red Rock Eagle Standing Perkins (Lakota), architect Jackie Crane (Cowlitz).
Current Creative Residency Artists
About the Artist: Jen Angaiak Wood
Jen is a Yup’ik, Irish, and Italian artist whose work is inspired by ancestral carvings from her Yukon delta roots. She says, “My artwork is rooted in historic design, but I incorporate modern materials to show that Yup’ik people are part of contemporary life.” During her residency, Jen helped integrate Indigenous teachings into the building process for the rematriation pavilion, working alongside Sawhorse Revolution youth to honor land, culture, and community.
This fall, Jen will be hosting a workshop at Indigenous Creatives Collective: Wood Carving from an Indigenous Perspective. In this workshop, we will be learning about the carving process, including processing wood rounds, creating designs, selecting tools, and working with wood. We will also touch on the wide range Indigenous carving traditions and communities. Read more about Jen’s work @yupikjen and on our recent blog post.
About the Artists: Dr. Alayna Eagle Shield & Red Rock Eagle Standing Perkins
This inspiring couple has dedicated their lives to strengthening community, land, and tradition through their work, teachings, and ongoing efforts in cultural revitalization. Red Rock, from the lands of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara), and Alayna, from the Standing Rock Nation, have been together for 14 years and are proud parents of five children.
Recently, they’ve collaborated with yəhaw̓ to help build a sweat lodge on the land that will serve as a space for healing, ceremony, and gathering for Indigenous community right here in Seattle. As Dr. Eagle Shield shares, “we want to help co-create a sweat lodge space that is respectfully stewarded. We will dress it and undress it, take care of it, always make sure it is cleaned, like a living thing. We want to learn the protocols of this land and also share what we've been taught.”
Their work extends beyond that. They’ve helped teach Indigenous language, co-founded the Native Family Learning Lodge to support families in passing on culture, language, and lifeways, and actively work to reconnect their community to ancestral teachings, especially in an urban setting.
About the Artist: Jackie Crane
Jackie Crane is an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and also descends from the Chinook Indian Nation. She recently earned her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington, focusing on Sustainable Systems and Design. Jackie’s work spans digital design, model making, ceramics, 3D printing, laser cutting, and more, blending traditional Indigenous building practices with contemporary architecture.
With a passion for revitalizing Indigenous methods, Jackie explores ways to work with cedar (“catáwiʔ”) through weaving, carving, and architecture. Her residency project involves designing and building a longhouse-inspired outdoor pavilion on the yəhaw̓ land, merging ancestral forms like the Chinook plankhouse with modern precedents and sustainable materials.
Follow Jackie at @jackiedcrane, and visit our recent blog post to learn more about Jackie’s work!
About the Artist: Elise Bill-Gerrish
Elise Bill-Gerrish is a Muckleshoot Tribal Member and Muckleshoot Language Caretaker. She recently earned her Masters in Education from the University of Washington Tacoma where she focused on best practices for Native and Indigenous students. Elise is a committed advocate for healing Native pathways, traditional plant medicine & food systems, Southern Lushootseed revitalization, and Native education.
For her Creative Residency project, Elise is tapping into her artistic side to weave a series of wool skirts for several significant Native women in her life. She will also be writing an article to tell the story of this project and how it represents another strand of reclaiming culture in her life.Elise plans to weave a series of wool skirts to gift several significant Native women in her life. She will also write a corresponding scholarly article to help tell the story of why she is doing this, how it connects to her culture and the land, and reclaiming parts of identities that have been lost due to intergenerational trauma.
Previous Creative Residency Artists
About the Artist: Owen Oliver
Our inaugural artist in residence is Owen Oliver (Quinault / Isleta Pueblo). Owen comes from the people of the Lower Columbia River, Salish Sea, and Southwest Pueblos of Isleta. He has a bachelor’s in American Indian Studies from the University of Washington and is currently pursuing a MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Owen has been drawn to writing as an outlet for creative expression since high school. But now, is strengthening his craft as a process of understanding and sharing landscape-learned knowledge of the Pacific Northwest through lyrical essays, poetry, and urban design. He recently published the Indigenous Walking tour of UW.
Owen will be composing a hybrid essay that amplifies the yəhaw̓ land through Salish & Chinook knowledge systems, wellness, language, and historical context. The essay will hone on the infancy of the plot and the reimagined futures of what kinship with the land looks like in urban Seattle.
Our Creative Residency program and presentation from 2023-2025 was funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, and welcome to all to attend public presentations.
