CURRENT + PAST COLLABORATING ARTISTS

dg nanouk okpik | Poetry Master Artist, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Master Artist Series
dg is an Inupiaq-Inuit poet whose lyric pastoral poems are set in her native Alaskan landscape and are embodied expressions of movement and sensory precision; she often incorporates elements of mapmaking and mythology into her writing and teaching. dg’s debut poetry collection, Corpse Whale (2012), won the American Book Award, and her most recent collection Blood Snow was named a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. dg’s work has been featured in Effigies: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from the Pacific Rim (2009) and Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas (2011). She earned a BFA at the Institute of American Indian Arts and an MFA at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast College. dg has taught at the Institute for American Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian School, and has been part of the Identity Project family as Poetry Master Artist since 2017.

Stephen Fadden | Storytelling Master Artist, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Master Artist Series
Stephen Fadden is a passionate, life-long educator, accomplished musician and professional storyteller. Most recently, Stephen was appointed Director of Programming at the Poeh Cultural Center and Museum in Pojoaque. Before his appointment at Poeh, he spent more than a decade teaching courses in Native American studies, literature and art history at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Stephen passions include recording oral traditions, digital museum curation, and anthropology. Stephen has been part of the Identity Project family as Storytelling Master Artist since 2017.

Byron Aspaas | Poetry Master Artist, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Master Artist Series
Byron F. Aspaas uses experience to etch landscape onto white space. He is Diné. Aspaas holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. His work is scattered throughout journals and anthologies, which include: RedInk, Yellow Medicine Review, 200 New Mexico Poems, Weber: The Contemporary West, As/Us: A Space for Women of the World, Semicolon, The Denver Quarterly, International Writing Program Collections, The Rumpus, and CloudThroat. He is Red Running into the Water, born for Bitter Water. Byron resides northeast of the Four Sacred Mountains with his partner, three cats, and six dogs in Colorado Springs. Currently, Byron is working on a collection of essays, short stories, and poems. Byron has been part of the Identity Project family as Poetry Master Artist since 2020.

Trey Pickett | Performing Arts Master Artist
Trey Pickett is of mixed heritage (West African, Aniyunwiya, French, Irish) and comes from a performing arts family. For 20 years Trey has shared love and culture through the arts as dancer, teacher, choreographer, filmmaker, actor, model and rap artist. As a movement artist his physical fluency includes martial arts, urban street forms, african diasporic, social dances, ballet, and contemporary forms.  As a performing artist with Dancing Earth Creations, Trey’s performance highlights include the following, tours to Toronto’s Planet Indigenous at the Harbourfront Centre, originating roles in three production premieres at  ASU Gammage, Ft. Lewis Concert Hall, a special appearance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and a command performance for Ndaba Mandela (author, activist and grandson of Nelson Mandela) at the International Folk Art Market (Santa Fe, NM). Trey has been part of the Identity Project family since 2017.

Leland Chapin | Graphic Arts Master Artist, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Master Artist Series
Leland Chapin is a contemporary graphic artist and life-long arts educator.  Leland earned his BFA in Illustration and his MAT in Teaching Visual Art from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. As an educator, Leland passionately believes art has the power to uplift individuals, unite communities, and broaden our human language of connection. His workshops are often bilingual Spanish/English, and engage a wide variety of techniques and modalities from color mixing to children’s book illustration to large-scale collaborative mural art. As Graphic Arts Master Artist with the MIAC Master Artist Series, Leland has developed a specialized workshop for The Identity Project entitled Creating Your Personal Identity Map. Through imaginative drawing and storytelling students travel in their mind's eye through the different geographies and landscapes of New Mexico to create their own hand-drawn maps. Student maps connect personal memories, identities, experiences, and languages, all while exploring essential questions around the complex history of map-making and border drawing. Leland has been part of the Identity Project family as Graphic Arts Master Artist since 2020.

Roanna Shebala | Spoken Word Master Artist
Roanna Shebala is a Native American of the Diné (Navajo Nation). She is from Fort Defiance, AZ, of the Navajo Nation. Shebala earned her B.S. in Theater at Northern Arizona University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing - Poetry at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. Spoken Word Artist who has been on four National Poetry Slam teams, a five-time representative on the Women of the World Poetry Slam, and a two-time representative for the Individual World Poetry Slam. Her work has been featured in The Rumpus Magazine, Button Poetry, Indian Country Today, Annick Press, Red Ink, Wicked Banshee Press, and Suspect Press. Shebala has performed her spoken word poetry at the Lincoln Center for the Out of Doors Project and nationally. She credits her father for gifting her with storytelling; her works combine story, poetry, and performance. She is also a member of Saad Bee Hozho: Dine Writers' Collective. Rowie has been part of the Identity Project family as Spoken Word Master Artist since 2023.

Topaz Jones | Artist Educator
Topaz Jones is a multidisciplinary artist who originates from the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin regions. She is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley Indian Reservation, with descendancy ties to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and the Lummi Nation. Topaz’s Native American heritage and modern-day nomadic roots add to her unique perspective on people and places, impacting the narratives surrounding her works. She earned a BFA in Studio Arts and a certificate in Museum Studies from IAIA, during which time she was awarded a sculpture apprenticeship that took her to Samsun, Turkey, to create artwork for exhibit; and the Journey Home Internship where she worked and created a large mural for the Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center in Grand Ronde, Oregon. Topaz was a 2020 recipient of the A.I.R. residency at IAIA, and she participates annually as a juried artist with the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market. Her most recent accomplishment was winning First Place in Painting; Br. CM Simon, SJ Award, Purchase Award for the 53rd Red Cloud Indian Art Show. Topaz currently lives and creates in La Mesilla, New Mexico with her artistic family. Topaz has been part of the Identity Project family since 2022, and is currently an Artist Educator at Capital High School and Santa Fe High School.

Tasha Nelson | Artist Educator
Tasha Nelson is an indigenous woman artist. A mix of Santa Clara Pueblo, Southern Paiute Tribe, and Irish, she works in music, painting, drawing, and filmmaking as means of communicating statements about indigenous pride and identity specific to the Southwest. In 2013, she graduated cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa from UNM with a BA in Psychology. Tasha is currently completing her Master’s in Counseling Psychology at Southwestern College of Santa Fe and will be receiving licensure as a School Counselor. She has experience working with indigenous youth in schools and through Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council. Her current projects are with Unscene Media (film) and creating a Native Youth coloring book.

Clara Natonabah | Artist Educator
Clara Natonabah (Dine & French) is a contemporary singer, songwriter, and theatre director from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her maternal clan is Billigana (White People) and her paternal clan is Tachiinii (Red Runs Into Water). Her awards include the Gates Millennium Scholarship to attend the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA where she graduated in 2015 with a BA in Songwriting. In 2018, Clara was a recipient of the Ford Foundation Scholarship and is currently earning her Masters at the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English. Clara’s work includes teaching Performing Arts at the Santa Fe Indian School and serving as an Artist Educator for The Identity Project. Clara currently lives with her family in Klukwan, Alaska.

Esmé Olivia | Artist Educator
Esmé Olivia grew up in occupied Tiwa Pueblo lands known as Albuquerque, NM to a Mestiza Mexican-American mother and a Dutch-Jewish father. Her blood is a peace treaty she honors through prayers of dance, poetry and song. After competing on the 2005 National Poetry Slam Championship team, she received her BA from Hampshire College in multi-disciplinary performance and arts-based education. Esmé is a movement, theatre, and music artist with Dancing Earth Creations, an Indigenous contemporary performance company. Esmé’s original music weaves together voice, guitar, hand drum, keyboard, and loop station.