Native Stargazer

@nativestargazer.bsky.social

Celebrating and sharing Indigenous perspectives on the cosmos. From constellations rooted in Indigenous traditions to astrophotography, we want to share the unique stories and beauty of space. Website | www.nativestargazers.org

“Fire Dwellers” by Sheldon Harvey (Navajo/Diné). Bold, layered, and full of movement Harvey’s abstract figures feel like they’re emerging and dissolving at the same time. Working in oil, he blends sharp geometry with fluid transitions, creating a sense of tension between order and motion.

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“Path of Life” by Al Qoyawayma (Hopi) is known for his minimalist yet deeply expressive pottery. Al Qoyawayma creates silhouettes that feel timeless. This hand-coiled clay piece reflects the smooth contours of the high desert landscape, stone polished to create a polished surface.

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This Cherokee Splint Basket goes back thousands of years, historically used for gathering, storage, and daily life. These baskets are made by splitting wood, often white oak, into thin strips and weaving them into strong, functional forms.

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Model Tipi Cover, Cheyenne Nation (c. 1860) Made from hide, sinew, and natural pigments, this stunning piece is on display at the Toledo Museum of Art. Even in this smaller, model form, it holds the presence of a full world.

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Yam Leaf Dreaming by Rosemary Petyarre (Anmatyerre) continues the legacy of Bush Medicine and Yam Leaf Dreaming, a story she has painted through her family lineage. In this piece, layers of color and sweeping movement echo the rhythm of leaves drying and shifting in the desert wind.

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Part of Unraveling (2021), this collaboration between Terrol Dew Johnson and Aranda\Lasch. These works (Horse Hair and Wood 01 & 02) are rooted in the O’odham coiling tradition: beginning at a center point and spiraling outward, building structure through pattern.

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Lehuauakea’s work reimagines traditional kapa (barkcloth) through contemporary forms. Rooted in Indigenous environmental stewardship and Kanaka ʻŌiwi identity. Blending tradition with innovation, this work invites us to see Indigenous knowledge systems as living, evolving, and deeply connected.

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Night Skies, Infinity Rim Bowl by Frederica Antonio (Acoma Pueblo) is known for her distinctive “Infinity Rim” vessels, bowls whose rims curve inward as they are coil-built, creating the illusion that the designs flow endlessly into the piece.

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Gourd, bear grass Tohono O’odham master artist Terrol Dew Johnson was celebrated for transforming traditional basketry into sculptural forms. Johnson carves openings into a gourd and fills them with intricate weaving made from bear grass, blending traditional materials with contemporary design.

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Eye Dazzler Vase by Paula Estevan (Acoma Pueblo). Paula created this stunning vase with geometric patterns that create mesmerizing optical movement across the surface of the vessel. A self-taught artist, Paula comes from a pottery lineage, daughter of Patsy Mike and sister of Marcia Estevan.

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Sarah Rosalena (Wixárika) Compass Star Series In All Directions Smoked Stoneware In this series, Sarah Rosalena (Wixárika) reimagines the compass star as a multidirectional system—one that resists fixed orientation and unsettles colonial grids of space and measurement.

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Gunga, 2022 Earth pigments on stringybark by Muluymuluy Wirrpanda (Yolŋu) Painted with natural earth pigments on stringybark, Gunga carries the intricate linework and sacred patterning central to Yolŋu visual language. The rhythmic cross-hatching and flowing forms incorporates ancestral knowledge.

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Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) by Janice Stanley is third-generation artist from the Stanley family of Ernabella in the APY Lands, Janice paints the salt lakes (Pantu in Pitjantjatjara) near Attila (Mt Connor), close to the Northern Territory border.

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Pencil Yam Seed by Eileen Bird Kngwarreye (Utopia). Eileen paints the seeds (kame) of the Arlatyeye, her country’s pencil yam. In Dreaming there are two yam species; the Arlatyeye belongs to Eileen’s land, its small tubular roots and trailing green vines sustaining both body and story.

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Stars over Ce:dagi Wahia, 2022 by Thomas “Breeze” Marcus (Tohono O’odham) A stunning nightscape grounded in Tohono O’odham homelands, Stars over Ce:dagi Wahia weaves geometry, land, and sky into a contemplative vision of place.

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Lupe Huinahā II (Four-Sided Kite)create by Lehua Uakea (Native Hawaiian) uses earth pigments, hibiscus branches and cordage, and kapa (barkcloth) to create this four-sided kite using ʻike (ancestral knowledge) meet.

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Roen Hufford (Hawaiian) Roen's kapa are inspired by the stars, sea mountains, and legends of Hawaii. Kapa is a sacred Hawaiian art form made from wauke (paper mulberry), transformed through cultivation, beating, and adornment into cloth used for ceremony, clothing, and storytelling.

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YARUNG-BAH (Place of Sand) by Goompi Ugerabah is rooted in Country, memory, and ancestral knowledge, Yarung-bah unfolds as a living map of place. Through layered dotting, concentric forms, and shifting patterns, Goompi Ugerabah evokes sand, water, and movement.

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Wild Flowers and Bush Medicine Leaves Gloria Petyarre is celebrated Anmatyerre artist from Utopia, Gloria Petyarre is renowned for her iconic Bush Medicine Leaf paintings, rhythmic, sweeping compositions that evoke leaves carried by wind and the healing power of native plants.

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Star Rose, Rose Star by Sarah Rosalena (Wixárika) Bridging ancestral craft and emerging technology, Sarah Rosalena’s work weaves together digital Jacquard processes, beadwork, and 3D-printed ceramics. This was on view at Sargent’s Daughters in early 2025.

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Woven Mat (Nganiyal) by Mary Malibirr Matjandatja Traditionally used as both an insect screen and a sitting mat, Nganiyal hold an important place in daily life and Ceremony. Woven with natural fibres, this work reflects the balance of function, form, and cultural knowledge.

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Bush Hen / Bush Medicine Dreaming by Abie Loy Kemarre (Utopia). She is an Eastern Anmatyerre artist from Mosquito Bore, Utopia, Abie Loy Kemarre carries a powerful lineage of women artists, including her grandmother Kathleen Petyarre and aunt Gloria Petyarre.

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Lupe Hīhīmanu (Manta Ray Kite) by Lupe Hīhīmanu (Kanaka ʻŌiwi). She uses earth pigments, hibiscus cordage, bamboo, and kapa (barkcloth) in this striking manta ray–shaped kite. Rooted in Hawaiian ʻike (knowledge), the work reflects movement, balance, and a deep relationship to wind, ocean, and sky.

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