BBCW Artist in Residence: Holly Young

**With health requirements in mind, the Plains Indian Museum will move forward with the artist-in-residence program this summer.

Holly Young, a full-time artist from Standing Rock will visit the Center of the West, July 10th-14th, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. each day. During her five-day visit, she will demonstrate the use of her beadwork technique while chatting with guests.

From the Artist: “I was raised by my grandmother in a rural area of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. We lived in a small house, seven miles from town on a few acres of land. Today, I understand how being so close to the land in my childhood has influenced my art; the memories of plants and flowers, our relationship with the land, and the healing properties that come from those.

Just like the natural world is intertwined with life cycles and relationships dependent on survival, so is my art. I lean on my community and our traditions to inspire me. I am unable to flourish as an artist without them. The natural world has the power to regenerate itself, just like our communities. And as artists, we have the power to regenerate our traditions.

I have a passion for traditional Dakota floral styles and designs and have been committed to preserving and sharing these art forms and lifeways. Through art, I affirm myself as a Dakota woman and mother by practicing Winyan Omniciye, the circle of sharing knowledge – What you learn, you give back.

As a Dakota artist, my work embodies the love, patience, resiliency, and beauty of my ancestors’ legacies and the land that has provided since time immemorial. I use the traditional styles of Dakota beadwork, quillwork, and ledger art to be a seed from which my vision grows.”

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