Arigon Starr
Musician. Artist. Illustrator. Writer.

Friday, March 21, 2025
Public Lecture at 5:30 p.m.
Bryan Recital Hall
Moore Musical Arts Center

Free and open to the public

Arigon Starr is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. Her father, Ken Wahpecome (Kickapoo) was a career Navy man and her mother, Ruth (Muscogee (Creek)/Cherokee/Seneca) was a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University. Arigon and her sister Gay grew up on the road as part of their military family, living on or near Naval bases across the US and as far away as Subic Bay, Philippines. Her parents supported her artistic expressions, encouraging her to learn as much as possible about music, composition, art, and drama.

Starr relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked behind the scenes at entertainment companies like Viacom Productions and Showtime Networks. During those years, she honed her songwriting and performance skills at coffeehouses in Los Angeles and Hollywood. In 1996, she left her corporate job behind and became a full-time musician and artist. Over the years she has released numerous CD’s, edited and illustrated comics, illustrated children’s books, performed her music across the country, and acted in plays and on television. Arigon is based in Los Angeles and is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity.

James Jones aka Notorious Cree
Hoop Dancer. Storyteller.

Monday, September 23, 2024
Performance and talk at 5:30 pm
Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre
Wolfe Center for the Arts

Free and open to the public

James Jones is Nehiyaw (Cree) from Tall Cree First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory in Northern Alberta. Known as Notorious Cree across Instagram and TikTok, James has an engaging community of over 6M+ people globally. James uses his voice to educate and spread awareness on the issues impacting Indigenous communities across the globe. As a traditional hoop and powwow dancer, performance artist, youth workshop facilitator and public speaker, James advocates to inspire future generations by reclaiming his culture and encouraging others to do the same. Notable performances include the Winter Olympics, Juno awards, Pan Am Games and Coachella, and was a previous contestant on SYTYCD Canada.

Ryan RedCorn
Filmmaker. Photographer. WGA screenwriter. Graphic Designer.

Friday, Sept. 8, 2023
Filmscreening Dead Bird Hearts at 5:00 p.m.
Public Lecture at 5:30 p.m.
Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre, Wolfe Center for the Arts

Free and open to the public

Ryan RedCorn (Osage) was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma into a family of preachers, politicians and salesmen, which are all the same occupation. He is the ilonpa of Raymond and Elizabeth RedCorn, and the object of jealousy from his three younger brothers Jon, Alex and Studebaker, who between them have four masters degrees and two PhD's. Ryan, however, took six and half years to get an art degree in visual communications from the University of Kansas. To the surprise of many, Ryan has been able to translate his education, his ilonpa entitlement, and his family lineage into something some people think is valuable. He co-founded the Indigenous comedy troupe, the 1491s, and started a full services ad agency in the middle of nowhere Pawhuska, Oklahoma called Buffalo Nickel Creative. Sometimes people laugh at him. But he's ok with all of that. He recently woke one morning and realized he has three daughters. He remarked, "I live a crazy life" and promptly enrolled in an MFA in screenwriting program to test his capacity for stress. He graduated in the Spring of 2020 and is presently alive, vaccinated and serving his second stint as a writer on the third season of FX's television show, Reservation Dogs.

Ryan RedCorn's Instagram 

Talon Silverhorn
Artist. Interpreter. Cultural Programs Manager of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023
Public Lecture at 5:30 p.m.
Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre, Wolfe Center for the Arts

Free and open to the public

Talon Silverhorn is a Citizen of The Eastern Shawnee Tribe and has been an interpreter since 2007. He grew up on the Shawnee Reservation in Oklahoma and participated in traditional aspects of his culture such as ceremonies, hunting traditions, and material arts. Up to this point, Talon has interpreted at historic sites and museums across the U.S. and Canada, focusing on material culture and its connection to deeper cultural beliefs. He was the Keynote speaker for the 2022 National Association for Interpretation conference and has also been a featured speaker for several organizations such as the Pennsylvania Archeological Society, Experimental Archeological Association, and several universities. Talon currently serves as the Cultural Programs Manager for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, overseeing American Indian historical content and interpretation in the state's 75 parks, and is involved in developing a new Shawnee Cultural/Interpretive Center in western Ohio.

Traci Sorell
Author. Educator.

Friday, March 22, 2024
Public Lecture at 5:30 p.m.
Olscamp 101

Free and open to the public

Best-selling author Traci Sorell writes inclusive, award-winning historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats for young people. She is a two-time Sibert Medal and Orbis Pictus honoree and award-winning audiobook narrator and producer. Her first five books have received awards from the American Indian Library Association. Other accolades include Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, International Literacy Association's Social Justice Literature Award Winner, Reading The West’s Picture Book Winner, and many Best-of and Notables lists. In 2023, she shares Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series, a Kirkus Reviews starred nonfiction picture book biography illustrated by Arigon Starr, and Mascot, a middle grade fiction novel-in-verse co-authored with Charles Waters.

A former federal Indigenous law attorney and policy advocate, Traci is a Cherokee Nation citizen and first-generation college graduate. She lives with her family within her tribe’s reservation in northeastern Oklahoma.

Traci will also speak on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 10 a.m. at the Wood County District Public Library.

Kevin Noble Maillard & Juana Martinez-Neal

Author and Illustrator of Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story.

Friday, March 24, 2023

Public Lecture at 5:30 p.m.

BGSU Olscamp 101

Free and open to the public

Kevin Noble Maillard is a Professor of Law at Syracuse University and a contributor to the New York Times. He has written for The Atlantic and has provided on-air commentary to ABC News and MSNBC. He is the author of Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, a picture book illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, which won the Sibert Medal and the American Indian Youth Literature Honor, and two forthcoming picture books to be released in 2025. An enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, he is based in Manhattan, NY. (Noble Maillard photo credit: Amy Lombard)

Juana Martinez-Neal is a New York Times bestselling illustrator recipient of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook) and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam). She is also the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name, her debut picture book as author and illustrator. Juana was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012. Daughter and granddaughter of artists, she was born in Lima, the capital of Peru, and now lives in the woods of southeastern Connecticut, with her husband, three children and two dogs.

Kevin and Juana will also be speaking at the Wood County District Public Library in the Bowling Green Library Atrium on Saturday morning, March 25, 2023 at 10 a.m.

Kevin Noble Maillard's Instagram
Juana Martinez-Neal's Instagram

Seth Thomas Sutton
Artist. Activist. Historian. Professor.

Public Lecture: Racial Reckoning: Activism in Academia & The Politics of Knowledge

Friday, Feb. 25, 2022 at 5:30 pm
BGSU Olscamp 101

Free and open to the public

Our first speaker for In The Round series is Seth Thomas Sutton // miingahn naaniibwik (Standing Wolf), who is a Métis descendant and non-enrolled member of the North Shore Band, Waganakasing Odawa (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Harbor Springs, MI). He is the chair and professor in the Arts & Humanities Department at Montcalm Community College. He lectures on cultural criticism, postcolonialism, critical race theory, Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous art & activism, visual arts, art history, anthropology, sociology, visual rhetoric, and more. He is also the author of The Deconstruction of Chief Blackhawk. A Critical Analysis of Mascots & The Visual Rhetoric of the Indian.

Seth has contributed several Emmy nominated documentaries. To screen his documentaries, made available through PBS, click on the following links: wiinwaa niizhaasing // We the 7th and Shaping Narratives: Ngiiwe .

Seth Thomas Sutton's Instagram

Carole Lindstrom + Michaela Goade
Author and Illustrator of We Are Water Protectors

Public Lecture

Friday, Apr. 1, 2022 at 5:30 pm
BGSU Olscamp 101

Free and open to the public
Masks are kindly requested

Carole Lindstrom is Anishinabe/Metis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland. Carole has been a voracious reader and library geek ever since she was growing up in Nebraska. On weekends you could usually find her at the library lost in the book stacks or holed up in her bedroom with a good book. It wasn’t until she had her son, that she discovered her love of writing for children and began to work seriously on her writing. She is represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. GIRLS DANCE, BOYS FIDDLE, (Pemmican Publishers, 2013), was inspired by the fiddle and its importance to her Anishinabe/Metis culture. WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS, (Roaring Brook Press, Spring 2020), a picture book inspired by Standing Rock, and all Indigenous Peoples fighting for clean water.

Michaela Goade is a Caldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times Bestselling illustrator of “We Are Water Protectors.” Other books include the New York Times Bestselling “I Sang You Down from the Stars,” and “Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy,” winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book. Her next book, “Berry Song,” is her first self-written work and is set to publish June 14, 2022. Michaela’s work focuses on Indigenous children’s literature. She is honored to work with Indigenous authors and tribal organizations in the creation of powerful and much-needed books. An enrolled member of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Michaela’s Tlingit name is Sheit.een and she is of the Kiks.ádi Clan (Raven/Frog) from Sheet’ká. Michaela was raised in the rainforest and on the beaches of Southeast Alaska, traditional Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land/world). Today she lives in Sheet’ká (Sitka), Alaska, a magical island on the edge of a wide, wild sea.

Ms. Lindstrom will be on our campus while Ms. Goade will participate virtually. Both speakers will be engaging with BGSU students in the ENG 3420: Literature for Young Children course, and with students in Art, Design and Art Education. The afternoon will include BG Ideas podcast with ICS Director Jolie Sheffer, so stay tuned after production. The conclusion of the evening talk will include a book signing by Carole Lindstrom. Books will be available for purchase through our partnership with the Mazza Museum, the world’s largest collection of original artwork by children’s book illustrators.

Free parking for the talk is available in Parking Lot N near Jerome Library.

Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade will also be speaking at the Wood County Library on Saturday morning, April 2, 2022 at 11 am. A book signing and book purchases will be onsite and made possible by the Friends of the Wood County Library.

In the News
‘We Are Water Protectors’ author & illustrator will speak on campus & at public library

Carole Lindstrom's Facebook                                                                                                                               

Michaela Goade's Instagram

Sadie Red Wing
Graphic Design and Educator

Public Lecture: Designing for Sovereign Tribal Nations in Higher Education Spaces

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022 at 5:30 pm
Multipurpose Room / BTSU

Free and open to the public

Sadie Red Wing is a Lakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Nation of Fort Totten, North Dakota. Red Wing earned her BFA in New Media Arts and Interactive Design at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She received her Master of Graphic Design from North Carolina State University. Her research on cultural revitalization through design tools and strategies created a new demand for tribal competence in graphic design research. Red Wing urges Native American graphic designers to express visual sovereignty in their design work, as well as, encourages academia to include an indigenous perspective in design curriculum. Currently, Red Wing serves as an Assistant Professor at OCAD University (Toronto, ONT).

Sadie Red Wing's Instagram

Frank Waln

Hip Hop Artist. Producer. Performer

Public Lecture: Lakota Influence on Contemporary Songwriting and Music Production

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022 at 5:30pm
Donnell Theater in the Wolfe Center for the Arts

Free and open to the public

Frank Waln is an award-winning Lakota music artist, speaker and writer from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. As a self-managed artist and small business owner, Frank Waln produces and self-releases award winning music that sheds light on Indigenous history and issues affecting Indigenous communities. As a writer, Frank Waln has written for numerous publications and was also a contributing author to the New York Times Best Selling book American Like Me. Frank Waln has appeared on MTV, ESPN and has performed his original works with the American Pops Orchestra on the PBS music series One Voice. Frank Waln was recently featured on the cover of Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers and Changemakers From Past and Present by Dr. Adrienne Keene. As a curator, Frank Waln is currently working with the Field Museum in Chicago to co-curate a music interactive space in the new Native Exhibition Hall which tells the story of how Frank’s culture and home community influence his work. Frank Waln’s music is available on all online streaming platform.

Frank Waln's Instagram

Mary Kathryn Nagle
Playwright and Lawyer

Public Lecture: The Sovereignty of Our Stories

Thursday, Oct. 13 at 5:30pm
Donnell Theater in the Wolfe Center for the Arts

Free and open to the public

Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.  As a playwright, screenwriter, and producer, Nagle asserts and restores Indigenous sovereignty over storytelling and representation. In many of her plays, Nagle’s creative work commingles with her legal work as an attorney at law through which she seeks to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. From 2015 to 2019, she served as the first Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Nagle is an alum of the 2013 Public Theater Emerging Writers Program. Productions include Miss Lead (Amerinda, 59E59), Fairly Traceable (Native Voices at the Autry), Sovereignty (Arena Stage), Manahatta (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Return to Niobrara (Rose Theater), and Crossing Mnisose (Portland Center Stage), Sovereignty (Marin Theatre Company), and Manahatta (Yale Repertory Theatre). She has received commissions from Arena Stage, the Rose Theater (Omaha, Nebraska), Portland Center Stage, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Yale Repertory Theatre, Round House Theater, and Oregon Shakespeare Theater.

She is most well known for her work on ending violence against Native women. Her play Sliver of a Full Moon has been performed in law schools from Stanford to Harvard, NYU and Yale. She has worked extensively on Violence Against Women Act re-authorization, and she has filed numerous briefs in the United States Supreme Court, as a part of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center’s VAWA Sovereignty Initiative, including most recently, United States v. Cooley, Oklahoma v. McGirt, and Oklahoma v. Murphy. She represents numerous families of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, including Kaysera Stops Pretty Places’ family who have brought a public campaign demanding an investigation into her murder. More can be read at www.justiceforkaysera.org

Mary Kathryn’s creative work has recently expanded into film through her work as an Associate Producer on Prey (2022), the latest installment of the Predator series. Prey can be viewed on Hulu. 

Mary Kathryn Nagle's Twitter

Pat Pruitt
Metalsmith

Public Lecture: I'm way funnier online - a reality check of technology and Native Art

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022 at 5:30 pm
Multipurpose Room / BTSU

Free and open to the public

Pat Pruitt is a contemporary artist of Laguna, Chiricahua Apache and Anglo descent who is known for his cutting-edge work that uses innovative materials, design and fabrication techniques. He first learned jewelry-making by studying with Laguna jewelers Greg Lewis and Charlie Bird, who gave him a solid foundation in traditional materials like silver and copper and traditional techniques such as repoussé. In college Pruitt studied mechanical engineering and worked as a machinist, an experience that led him to open Custom Steel Body Jewelry. With his knowledge of machining technology and his love of working in stainless steel, he developed his distinctive style of stainless steel jewelry that challenges notions of what Native American jewelry is. Pruitt’s Native American heritage inspires his jewelry but he gives every design a contemporary, industrial edge. Pruitt has received first and second place awards at Santa Fe Indian Market and Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market and currently lives in the village of Paguate in Laguna Pueblo.

Pat Pruitt's Instagram