It all started when my daughter Ella Sky-Eagle was born. I am a Native American Veteran from the Osage Nation, my clan is Eagle, and I am an Artist and Fashion Designer. I started my journey into art when I was very young in Santa Fe, N.M., where I have taken many awards at the SWAIA Indian Market, and have artwork in private and museum collections. As the protege’ of Earl Biss and Gina Gray, I learned about art, design, and how to enjoy life!

After multiple tours overseas, in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Italy, I returned home, with many traumatic incidents locked deep inside my heart and soul. I needed a release, I needed therapy, so I opened my art and fashion studios. I paint, write poetry, sculpt, create art installations, and I am a Fashion Designer. I am honored with the work we have completed so far, and look forward to future projects.

After finding out about the missing and murdered Indigenous women epidemic (MMIW), I looked to my daughter, so little, and wanted to see what I could do to protect her, and protect my sisters. I began to design works that I hope inspire others, give them strength, pride, hope, empowerment, and resilience. This is when the Sky-Eagle Collection was born.

Many collectors have emailed me and talked to me, and said my designs bring them hope and are good medicine for them. Many of whom were directly impacted by MMIW, and victims themselves. The goal of Sky-Eagle Collection is to bring greater awareness to this issue and hopefully develop action.

I have also donated freely to individuals who were in dire financial straits. I hope to further support these efforts in the hopes that further legislation can be developed to mitigate the impact of MMIW issues, community capabilities established via awareness campaigns, inspire communities to act, and support groups who organize and march to bring awareness and action.

My Fashion House and Fine Art Gallery recently opened in Taos, NM, and I have been accepted to a London Fashion Show and New York Fashion Week. I am branching out into high end fashion and couture, I plan on becoming one of the first global Native and Veteran Fashion Brands.

Building these platforms allows me to continue the journey and to inspire others. Recently, The 400 Ribbon Skirt Project has been completed! Donations have been made to: the Pathfinder Center, the Strong Hearted Nature Women Coalition, the Three Sisters Programs, and the Mother Nation, Y Women’s Emergency Shelter in Kamloops.

The project is to design 400 ribbon skirts and donate all of these to battered women’s shelters on reservations in the USA and Canada. The idea is to create medicine bundles with 1 or 4 skirts and the hope is that these bundles give good medicine to the recipient. 400 ribbon skirts will be sent to the Four Directions.

And now that this project is completed, I will be able to start new projects. One being a compendium of poems to honor all those lost and murdered. There is an MMIW database, and I started to research each case, and felt sad knowing that my relatives were still lost, or their lives were not honored. This compendium of poetry will be produced and all will be donated.

Lastly, I plan on creating an Art and Fashion Scholarship. Details to follow. I still create artwork as way to express myself, and this journey has been healing and I am honored I am able to give back in any way that I can.