(No ticket or RSVP required, we will send the Zoom link to all registered Cohort Members)
Our second meet-up is quickly approaching!
We’ll open the session with some brief announcements and reminders, to wit
Upcoming Talks and Workshops
Are you using our Mighty Networks platform - there is a healthy amount of conversation and resource sharing happening there!
How is your project coming along? Do you know what you’d like to make? Have you begun to source material? What skills do you need to learn?
THEN, we’re delighted to announce that artist – and fellow Clothing Project Cohort member! – Weshoyot Alvitre will present her current work / projects, followed by a Q&A. Weshoyot’s work encompasses a wide landscape of lived experience, through and including: basketry, self-reliance, water, illustration, California history, sketching, consumerism, field notes . . . .
We’ll wrap up our meet-up with an Open Mic, wherein we invite member to share process and progress. Are you creating a sketchbook? Are you sampling yarns? Have you struggled to begin? Would you like to share an insight with the group?
We’ll end promptly at 8:30. Please bring questions - for us and fellow Cohort members - and share them in the chat. We’ll endeavor to answer them all. And we’ll record the session for later viewing.
ARTIST BIO
Weshoyot Alvitre is a Tongva (Los Angeles Basin) and Scottish comic book artist and illustrator. She was born in the San Gabriel Mountains on the property of Satwiwa, a cultural center started by her father Art Alvitre. She grew up close to the land and raised with traditional knowledge that inspires the work she does today.
Weshoyot has been working in the comics medium for over 15 years and has since contributed to numerous Eisner award-winning books, including the “Umbrella Academy” (Darkhorse Comics), “Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream” (Locust Moon Press) and "Little Bird" (Image Comics). She has earned accolades for her work that visualize historical material, including “Graphic Classics: Native American Classics” (Eureka Productions) The Cattle Thief, 2018 AILA Best Middle School Book “Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers” (Native Realities Press), 2018 Pew Arts & Heritage Grant funded "Ghostriver: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga" (Library Company of Philadelphia/Native Realities Press) and 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Award - Picture Book Honor "At The Mountain's Base" (Kokila).
Alvitre has also illustrated numerous pieces of political illustrations in support of the NODAPL movement for Standing Rock, protecting Puvungna, Mauna Kea and against the border wall on Indigenous lands. One such illustration, in collaboration with installation artist Andrea Bowers, was auctioned live in 2017 at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Auction in San Tropez.
Alvitre has partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian on Native Knowledge 360°, a national educational initiative to inspire and support teaching about Native Americans using the comics medium as a support. She illustrated 12 pages of sequential comic art, which has been used on their site and as a tool for teachers nationwide. She has also guest lectured at their museum onsite in Washington DC.
Alvitre has partnered with award-winning video game designer, Elizabeth Lapensee Ph. D. (Michigan State University) on the educational game "When Rivers Were Trails" to be used within the Native curriculum nationwide. The game has been awarded the Adaptation Award at IndieCade 2019, as well as featured internationally.
Alvitre has made a conscious choice to work primarily within Native-owned publications and educational avenues, to further support a self funded narrative on past, present and future native issues. It is through this voice, and through her artwork, she feels she is able to communicate her unique viewpoint and continue a strong dialogue on issues that are important to her as a Native woman.