Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amber DuBoise-Shepherd. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Amber thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses

I come from a line of Native American artists in the arts of weaving, silversmithing, beadwork, and native fashion. I grew in a traditional Native American family and was taught various cultural traditions and was surrounded by various family members and their art forms.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up surrounded by my skilled and talented Native American family on both sides allowed for me to develop a strong appreciate of the arts. My late Navajo great-grandmother was a skilled Navajo weaver. My Navajo grandmother and grandfather worked in Navajo silversmithing, and my Navajo aunt creates traditional Navajo sash belts. My late Sac & Fox/Potawatomi grandmother was a talented seamstress and designed various traditional and contemporary Native fashion clothes. I have tried various art forms but found that oil painting and drawing to be the best way to express myself. Many of my artworks depict my traditional native background of Navajo, Sac & Fox, and Prairie Band Potawatomi. I have participated in over 30 plus exhibitions and have shared my culture through the narrative paintings I have created.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

In my artist statement I state that my drawings and paintings depict my experiences from my everyday life and visual show how I interpret the world around me with my strong Native American heritage and traditions. My pieces have an illustrative and narrative quality with them as I bridge the traditional Native American subjects with modern contemporary styles. I grew up in a home immersed with my different Native cultures and languages of my mother’s people, the Navajo, as well as my father’s people, the Sac & Fox, and Prairie Band Potawatomi. My mother and father taught my brothers and I our culture and spiritual ways. Each being different tribal people our ceremonial practices overlap, and we had to learn to balance our traditions. We learned of our legends and stories, as well as learning how to give offerings and to be thankful for things we have and do in our everyday lives. I work with old and new in various ways to create a bridge for viewers to see these traditions differently in a visual way. I want to invite the viewer to be a part of my world and see the traditions the way I see them in my everyday life. I want my artwork to reach out and connect with others; to let them know we may be different, but to know we are all human beings. This is what it looks like to be a Native in America and in Oklahoma today.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I believe that it is good to have mentors that you look up to. Developing a relationship with those mentors helps in guiding you on your creative journey. Whether it be in the arts or the other career fields, having one or a few mentors in that field does help you in your journey to succeed and in your goals. Another component is to read books or articles that correlate back to your career. I find that you have to research and learn what advice best suits what you are doing. I enjoy watching YouTube videos of successful artists that produce informative material for artists in the field. This also goes for other careers. I advise to only take the information you need to get to your next goal, as some advice may not fit into you plan to achieve that goal, but the information that does benefit you whether from a mentor, books, articles, or videos may be the small key to help boost you up into the next career step. Never stop learning.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amberlduboise-shepherdart.com
• Instagram: aldthewoods
• Facebook: Amber L. DuBoise-Shepherd Art

Image Credits
Photos by artist, Amber DuBoise-Shepherd