Art came into my life from the maternal side of my family. I remember watching my mother draw as a child. Beautiful lines and patterns seemed to flow from her hand without effort. I was so amazed by this that I developed a desire to become an artist at a very early age. Drawing and painting were my first great passions, but I’ve always been peripherally interested in textiles. My mother inherited a saddle blanket that was woven by one of my relatives. Growing up, it hung prominently in our living room, and I was fascinated by it. Navajo weaving is a tradition that goes back several generations in my family, and my grandmother began teaching me this art form in 2003. In several of the pieces in this series of mixed-media artworks, which I call Shijéí (meaning my heart in Navajo) I have incorporated Navajo weaving or a reference to Navajo weaving. —Carolyn L. Anderson

Carolyn L. Anderson, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and an alumna of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in studio art in 2006. She has exhibited her paintings and mixed media artwork alongside other Indigenous artists in several exhibits and also has experience as a curator of Indigenous art. For 16 years, she worked for Birchbark Books in Minneapolis where she became a buyer of Native American art and jewelry. She was inspired by the beadwork that she would regularly purchase for resale at the store. In 2019, she decided to give beadworking a try and developed several of her own designs. Carolyn beads earrings with some of the tiniest glass seed beads available on the market today. Because it takes so long to finish a pair, she offers them on demand. You can preorder a pair in the beadwork section of this website.