HOCHUNK, OJIBWE, ODAWA, BODEWADMI, & LAKOTA
AGE: 9
My name is Aydrian. I am 9 years old. My Anishinaabe name is Northern Lights Sky Dancer. Before I was born I told my name giver “I want to dance and sing forever.” I think I was saying I want our culture to live on forever. I chose a family full of artists to be born in to. Being surrounded by many art forms my whole life I found it easy to learn especially with my Mom and Dad making art on a daily basis. I love our traditional art and want to carry it on.
My art piece is a lane stitch style beaded cuff and earrings set. I call it “Galaxy” because it looks like the Milky Way and all the stars in the sky. It’s made of my Mom’s leftover beads, she said there’s beads in there from my Grandma and Great Grandma too. I grew up knowing I belong to an awesome strong culture. We are the future and with our art we will make our people even stronger! “Galaxy” represents all our ancestors and it’s cool because I used 4 generations of beads just in one piece.