IndigiPalooza MT
PRESENTERS
JOY HARJO
Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate and member of the Muscogee Nation, is the author of ten books of poetry, several plays, children’s books, two memoirs, and seven music albums. Her honors include Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives.
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Aspen Decker
Aspen Decker is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
(tÌ“atÌ“Ê”ayáqn, QlÌ“ispè, & Ksanka) and a speaker of her tribal language, Nsélišcn ‘Salish language’. She graduated with a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Montana in 2021. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Tribal Historic Preservation from Salish Kootenai College in 2018. She has a Montana Class 7 Native American Language and Culture Educator License and has taught Salish for 10 years. Her passion for Salish language began as a child, learning from her elders, primarily, Patlik Pierre, who taught her about the importance of perpetuating Salish language and culture. Raising her children in the language as first language Salish speakers has been one of the ways that she honors their teachings.
Aspen owns XÊ·lxÊ·ilt ‘Alive and Well’ a company dedicated to supporting Aspen's language revitalization and cultural preservation through education, art, and consulting. The company is committed to developing and providing genuine Indigenous education, contributing to the promotion of diversity and Native voice within Western systems.
Artist Statement:
Ancestral Indigenous knowledge and language are at the heart of my work. As a Salish speaker and storyteller, I create ledger art on antique maps that reflect SqelixÊ· ‘Indigenous’ ways of knowing and emphasize cultural preservation, language revitalization, storytelling, and Plains Indian Sign Language.
Shadow Devereaux
Shadow Devereaux, also known as Foreshadow, is a Salish and Blackfeet hip hop artist, audio engineer, and advocate for Indigenous youth from the Flathead Indian Reservation. With over a decade of experience, he fuses cultural roots with modern hip hop to uplift and inspire, blending themes of resilience, struggle, and pride.
He won a Native American Music Award in 2022 for “Protect Your People” and contributed a powerful song to the 2024 documentary “Bring Them Home,” narrated by Lily Gladstone. In 2025, he released his debut solo album, “Perfect Timing,” a bold and introspective body of work marking a major milestone in his career.
Beyond the music, Shadow works alongside collaborator Colter Olmstead to teach film and music to youth on and off the reservation. As Foreshadow, he continues to use his platform to empower his community and amplify Indigenous voices through storytelling and sound.
Jesse desrosier
Jesse E DesRosier, born and raised on the Blackfeet (Amskapi Pikuni) Reservation in Montana and considers himself a Pikuni first and foremost. His real name is-Nit’koomii (One Shot), childhood name was Assinaipooyii (Cree Speaker). Jesse prefers the title of “Nina” (father, husband, provider, protector, leader, warrior). Born in the moon of the big snow,
Jesse is a Blackfoot language advocate SAG AFTRA stuntman, artist, veteran of the United States Marine Corps, as well as a former prize fighter competing in Bare Knuckle Fighting, MMA, Boxing and kick boxing.
dr. Shane Doyle
Dr. Shane Doyle, Apsáalooke, is a Montana scholar and community advocate, who hails from Crow Agency, MT. Doyle works as an educator and Tribal liaison throughout the Northern Plains and Rockies and serves as the Executive Director of the Native American non-profit group Yellowstone Peoples, whose mission is to hold an annual Intertribal Tipi Village in Yellowstone National Park. Dr. Doyle has published over a dozen articles about the Indigenous culture and ancient history of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
MARIAH GLADSTONE
Mariah Gladstone, Piikuni (Blackfeet) and Tsalagi (Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana on and near the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home where she began her work on food advocacy. She developed Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. She then earned a Master’s degree at SUNY-ESF in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Mariah has been recognized as a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow by the First Nations Development Institute, as well as a 2025 Castanea Fellow by the Earth Island Institute. She has shared the importance of reconnecting to traditional foods at events throughout North America and abroad, as well as through appearances on the Today Show, CBC, and numerous podcasts. In addition to all this, Mariah offers a variety of cultural experiences for visitors to the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park. Mariah released her first book, Mountains to Oceans: Kids’ Recipes from Native Land, in January 2025.
Dr. Denise K. Lajimodiere
Denise is an enrolled Citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Belcourt, North Dakota.
She has been involved in education for forty-four years as an Elementary teacher, Principal, and professor, earning her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees from the University of North Dakota. Dr. Lajimodiere is a retired Associate Professor from the School of Education, Ed. Leadership program, North Dakota State University, Fargo. Denise recently received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from North Dakota State University.
She is one of the founders of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) and was recently hired as an Oral Historian, Denise is a poet – Dragonfly Dance; Thunderbird; Bitter Tears; His Feathers Were Chains; Children’s book author, Josie Dances, and academic book author, Stringing Rosaries: The History, The Unforgivable, The Healing of Northern Plains Boarding School Survivors.
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She was named the first Native American North Dakota Poet Laureate. 2023-2025
Denise is a traditional Jingle Dress dancer, Ojibwe Birch Bark Biting artist, and lives in a cozy cottage by a lake on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
Sasha taqÊ·šÉ™blu LaPointe
Sasha taqÊ·šÉ™blu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the
Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her Coast Salish heritage as well as her life in the
city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, exploring topics around PTSD, sexual
violence, and the work her great grandmother did for Lushootseed language revitalization. She
writes about loud basement punk shows and what it means to grow up mixed heritage. Sasha
received a double MFA from The Institute of American Indian Arts with a focus on creative
nonfiction and poetry. She teaches creative writing at the Native Pathways Program at The
Evergreen State College, and has been a mentor for Seattle’s youth poet laureate program. Her memoir Red Paint won the Washington State Book award and has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Shelf Awareness. Her latest collection of essays, Thunder Song, was named essential nonfiction on People Magazine’s Indigenous Authors to Read List, and has received praise from Seattle Magazine, The Seattle Times, and was a must read pick on Bikini Kill front woman, Kathleen Hanna’s Perfectly Imperfect list. Her collection of poetry Rose Quartz is available through Milkweed Press.
Chris La Tray
Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. His third book, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, was published by Milkweed Editions on August 20, 2024 and was a winner of a 2025 Pacific Northwest Book Award and a 2025 Writing the West Award. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. His book of haiku and haibun poetry, Descended from a Travel-worn Satchel, was published in 2021 by Foothills Publishing. Chris served as the 2025 Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana and was awarded the 2025 Montana Heritage Keeper Award by the Montana Historical Society. Chris writes the weekly newsletter "An Irritable Métis" and lives near Frenchtown, Montana. He is the Montana Poet Laureate for 2023–2025
Carrie Moran McCleary
Carrie Moran McCleary is a fashion designer, beader, and doll maker from the Little Shell Tribe. And lives on the Crow Reservation. In 2016, she founded Plains Soul, the culmination of a childhood dream.
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A 2022 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow and two-time recipient of the Montana Indian Equity Grant, Moran McCleary recently built her own studio and retail space, furthering her commitment to creative entrepreneurship.
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McCleary hosts a weekly online Indigenous art group seeking to inspire, improve and support artists across Turtle Island. Her fashions and beadwork have shown across the United States and Canada.
STELLA NALL
Stella Nall, also known by her Apsáalooke (Crow) name, Bisháakinnesh, is a multidisciplinary
artist and poet from Bozeman, Montana. A First Descendant of the Crow tribe, Stella is ineligible for enrollment based on the tribe's current blood quantum standards. Her mother is a tribal member, and her father is non-Native. As a queer, mixed-race Indigenous woman, the
complexities of her identity deeply influence her creative practice. Nall’s work serves as an
ongoing exploration of identity, culture, and belonging, informed by both her lived experiences
and her academic background in psychology and fine art.
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She earned a BFA in Printmaking, a BA in Psychology, and a minor in Art History and Criticism from the University of Montana in 2020. Now based in Missoula, Montana, her visual art is represented by Radius Gallery.
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Her art can be found in public collections, including The Montana Museum of Art and Culture,
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and The IAIA Museum of
Contemporary Native Arts. Her murals have become a vital part of Montana’s public art scene, bringing vibrant, whimsical, place-based storytelling to a variety of spaces— from schools and parks to alleyways and beyond!
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Publications featuring her work include Scribendi, Cutbank, Denver Quarterly, McClain’s
Printmaking Catalog, Montana Quarterly, The Thalweg, Stray, Word Dog, and Poetry
Northwest.
John Isaiah Pepion
John Isaiah Pepion is an acclaimed artist, muralist and educator who hails from the Blackfeet Nation in northern Montana. His plains graphic art combines traditional design and contemporary illustrations to create a signature look that is instantly recognized throughout the country.
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John considers his art journey as ceremony because his understanding of his past, family, and culture grows with each piece he creates. “Through my art,” he says, “I find personal healing, cultural preservation and a deeper connection to place.” A descendent of Mountain Chief, a Blackfeet leader who preserved history through numerous winter counts, John aspires to have a positive impact on his community though his art activities and beyond.
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When not creating art, John is an active public speaker and educator who has traveled the country speaking at public schools, organizations and with groups of aspiring artists. He holds formal degrees in Art Marketing and Museum Studies from United Tribes Technical College and the Institute of American Indian Arts, respectively.
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In 2018, John began working with Native-owned Eighth Generation and their Inspired Natives Project with the goal of increasing his business capacity. His goal is to bring his cultural art to market while maintaining control over the stories embedded within it.
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She is a writer and policy practitioner.
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Carrie currently serves as an Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Planning and Public Affairs (SPPA) at the University of Iowa. She is also the Director of Undergraduate Studies for SPPA. Her policy areas of expertise include Tribal policy, homelessness, and affordable housing. As a practitioner, she works with communities across Iowa to create plans to prevent and end homelessness, and develop more sustainable models of affordable housing. She has also undertaken projects with organizations across the country to create more equitable Native policy.
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Prior to joining the faculty at Iowa, Carrie was a policy advisor in the Obama Administration, focusing especially on homelessness and Tribal policy. Prior to that, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Copenhagen, Denmark. She holds a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Carrie's debut nonfiction book, The Indian Card, was published in October 2024. For that project, she was awarded the Whiting Nonfiction Grant. She is represented by Ayesha Pande Literary.
supaman
As a member of the Apsaalooke Nation, Supaman makes his home on Apsáalooke lands in Montana. “Supaman” Is Christian Takes Gun Parrish, a Native American dancer and innovative hip hop artist who has dedicated his life to empowering and spreading a message of hope, pride and resilience through his original art form. He has been the recipient of the 2017 MTV VMA award for “Best Fight Against the System”! He is also a Nammy “Native American Music Award” winner, “North American Indigenous Image Award" winner, and 7-time “Tunney Award" winner. He was awarded The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award in Canada for best video and was voted MTV’s new Artist of the Week! His nominations brought him home awards for Best Hip Hop Album and Best Producer for the Indigenous Music Awards. His videos have received millions of views on youtube and facebook which has put him in high demand touring extensively throughout the U.S.A and internationally. He has performed for Google at the Google headquarters in San Francisco. He recently was asked to audition for America’s Got Talent and the Broadway play Hamilton. He is currently on tour around the country spreading the good medicine of resiliency, love, laughter and inclusion.
Supaman’s one of a kind presentation combines Native culture, comedy and urban hip hop culture which dazzles audiences and captivates listeners. For this he has gained the respect of his community and generation. The communicative talent along with the compassion that exudes from his music allows him to connect with people from all walks of life. His uncanny ability to motivate, encourage, and inspire through dance, and hip hop music keeps him at the forefront among his contemporaries which gives him a platform to educate on Indigenous issues.
james vukelich kaagegaabaw
James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, is a renowned international speaker, digital creator, and author of The Seven Generations and the Seven Grandfather Teachings and a picture book for children called Wisdom Weavers.
His keen insights were developed through speaking with and recording elders and native language speakers across North America as part of the Ojibwe Language Dictionary Project. 


James is a passionate advocate for sharing how to live a life of ‘mino-bimaadiziwin,’ the good life. 


For over twenty years, he has facilitated community language tables, consulted with public and private organizations on language and cultural programs, and traveled internationally as a keynote speaker. He has been featured in numerous publications, podcasts, radio & television programs.


James lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota with his wife & son.
DIANE WILSON
Diane Wilson (Dakota) is a writer, educator, and environmental advocate, who has published four award-winning books as well as essays in numerous publications.
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Wilson’s recent novel, The Seed Keeper (Milkweed Editions) was awarded the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. Her memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past (Borealis Books) won a 2006 Minnesota Book Award and was selected for the 2012 One Minneapolis One Read program. Her 2011 nonfiction book, Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life (Borealis Books) was awarded the 2012 Barbara Sudler Award from History Colorado. Wilson’s middle-grade biography, Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector, was an Honor selection for the 2022 American Indian Youth Literature Award. She is a co-author of a 2022 picture book, Where We Come From.
Market Director:
Dre Castillo
Dre Castillo (They/Them/Theirs) is a Two Spirit Multicultural Díné (Navajo) artist, curator, educator and activist. They hold a B.A. in Native American Studies from the University of Montana. They have exhibited their work in local and regional juried shows and community markets. Dre has curated several large-scale exhibitions and helped create Indigenous arts & crafts vendor spaces at Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC), Western Montana Fair and UM’s PARTV Repertory Theatre. They were on the Jeanette Rankin Peace Center’s Coordinating Council for 6 years, where Dre also continues to spearhead the JRPC Indigenous Arts and Education committee as a Program Coordinator for Indigen-Unity to continually produce 3 to 4 comprehensive programs per year as part of that effort. They are currently on the board of Directors at Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC). While they tirelessly support and participate in non-profit work they work odd jobs and work rigorously on their own art to make ends meet.
They sell their work under the banner Dre Castillo Creations (find them and follow on Facebook and Instagram: @drecastillocreations.)
Event Photographer:
Whitney Snow
Whitney Snow (Blackfeet) is a documentary photographer who is dedicated to capturing stories that depict the emotional connection between people and their environment. She focuses on narratives about indigenous communities and their struggle to preserve their way of life, including efforts related to environmental and cultural conservation, as well as language revitalization.
Her main focus is the Blackfeet Nation, where she works alongside local indigenous documentary filmmakers, environmental groups, community members, and state/national organizations to document the environmental and cultural preservation initiatives of the Blackfeet people.
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