“Short form stuff, flash fiction is my preferred form,” says Eichelberger, now Assistant Professor of English and Fiction Editor of the Santa Fe Literary Review at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC).  

“I fell in love with a short story called ‘Girl’ by Jamaica Kincaid and immediately started writing in that genre,” he explains.  

However, when the writer came to IAIA in 2016 to work primarily with mentors on short-form fiction, what ended up coming out was not only short stories, poetry, memoir, and flash fiction, but also a novel. 

“One of the former IAIA mentors, Claire Vaye Watkins, says ‘genre is a lie,’” says Eichelberger. “But the MFA program changed my perception of myself as a writer. It helped me gain confidence and recognize that some of those limitations on creativity, like genre, are colonial constructs that do not apply to actual living people’s imaginations.” 

Eichelberger notes that one of his mentors, Chip Livingston (Creek), writes memoir, fiction and poetry. “He was able to guide me in crossing genres. He saw that I knew what I was doing and wanted to help me explore writing other things…aspects of short fiction…while I was writing the novel.” 

“I am a creative, imaginative person, and I can do what I want to do. And I have had wonderful results. I have published fiction, memoir, and poetry in literary journals and anthologies, and have also taken screenwriting classes. And I am thinking of returning to the program and getting an MFA in memoir. A lot of the professors write in multiple genres.” 

Eichelberger came to the program with “half a novel” that ultimately became a whole novel, “How to Take it Like a Man,” which the writer is currently shopping amongst a network of contacts accrued, in part, through the MFA in Creative Writing two-year low-residency program. 

“I came away understanding the publication process better and learned how to engage editors about what they are looking for,” says Eichelberger. “We talked about query letters, those powerful little business documents.”  

He explains that professionals brought in to discuss the publication process included agents and editors who stayed for the whole residency, so the students could socialize and network with them. “They came to campus every day,” he remembers. “They were in craft talks and they came to readings. One of the agents invited IAIA students to send their work after the residency.” 

Eichelberger says the low-residency model “brought more communities to the school for the program because they do not have to live there. It created lasting friendships and professional contacts for me.”  

“The two-year MFA in Creative Writing program opened me up,” he says. “It emboldened me. It taught me that I already knew how to write. I just had to do it.” 

A stint as an intern in Window Rock, Arizona, at the Navajo Nation Museum while in high school working with the curator had already opened her eyes to the world of museum work, or “forensics for objects,” as she calls it.  

Then, starting her educational journey at New Mexico State University as a biology major, the call to museum work came back full force.  

“One of our assignments was to interview a professor outside of our majors. I went to the art department and found a new program—museum conservation—and I felt like it was the perfect fit for me, a combination of art and science (and a lot of chemistry).”

To be closer to home, Stewart decided to pursue her AFA at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), completing her BA in Museum Conservation at New Mexico State University.  

Accessibility and the cultural familiarity of studying at a Tribal university were two of the biggest benefits of studying at IAIA, Stewart says. “All of my classes were six to ten people maximum,” she says. “I felt that all the professors took time to get to know the students. Everyone and everything felt like a shared connection of culture. It’s just how I was raised. My mom is Navajo and it’s her first language. Going into classes and being around students with similar cultural beliefs, I felt like I was home.” 

Stewart also had the opportunity of working with museum collections as well as the museum. “The knowledge I gained has been extremely valuable to me and everything I learned I still use to this day.” 

Now Stewart is back at IAIA, this time using her gained knowledge and experience as a curatorial assistant at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA).  

“I’m excited to be back,” Stewart says. “Although it’s sometimes hard for me to switch mindsets and realize I’m not a student anymore. Even so, I feel like a perennial student—we are always learning!” 

Ms. Cutropia first came to Santa Fe from New Jersey in 2001. Shortly after she arrived, she took a beadwork class at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian from Tammy Rahr Tallchief (Cayuga) ’12. “This was the beginning of a friendship that has lasted over 20 years,” says Ms. Cutropia. After returning to New Jersey in 2005 for a position as an interior designer in an architectural firm, Ms. Cutropia lost her job during the 2008 recession. “And my very good friend Tammy, who was a student at IAIA at the time, said, ‘You just need to come to my school. You just need to come to my school.’ And I kept saying, ‘I can’t move from New Jersey back to Santa Fe with all my stuff. I just can’t do it.’”

However, she found herself saying, “Gee, I just need to go to her school.” She decided to enroll in IAIA’s Museum Studies program, coming to IAIA with a bachelor’s in the history of religion from Vassar College, where she also studied the Italian language and art history, in addition to interior design studies through a continuing education program. Arriving on campus in 2011, Ms. Cutropia went to the student orientation, where IAIA Archivist Ryan Flahive made a presentation about the school and its history. “And, I said to my daughter, who had accompanied me, ‘I have no idea what this young man teaches, but I’m going to take as many of his classes as I possibly can,’ and I started off with Archives 101. And after I got into it—about two weeks in—I realized that I have been doing this kind of work all my life. That’s the way my brain has always functioned. That archiving could become a new profession for me was a life-changing realization.”

Ms. Cutropia lived on campus for the first year, sharing a dorm room with the late Clarissa Rizal Hudson (Tlingit). Although neither Ms. Cutropia nor Ms. Hudson originally wanted a roommate, they became close friends. “She would wake me up by saying, ‘Are you awake?’ And, of course, I wasn’t, but I immediately said, ‘Yes!’ and then she’d start telling me some amazing story. She was incredible.” Ms. Cutropia began to see parallels between her Italian-American cultural heritage and that of her Indigenous peers. “I realized that we have very similar beliefs and appreciations. Family, food, faith, respect—especially respect for elders—were critical elements for all of us. I really felt when I got here that I had found an incredible place. I found a home here, and I’ve never left,” she says.

Partway through her studies at IAIA, she decided to get a master’s in museum studies in Italy but soon came back to IAIA. “I really believe that the undergraduate education I was getting here at IAIA was better than what I was learning at the graduate level in Florence. Even though I was living across from my favorite museum—the Pitti Palace—that still didn’t make me want to stay. So, I quit and came back to finish up my bachelor’s degree here at IAIA and was much happier and learned so much more while I was here than I had in Italy.”

As a student worker, Ms. Cutropia began processing files in the IAIA Archives. “The Winona M. Garmhausen Papers (IAIAMS007) revolved around a doctoral thesis in which Ms. Garmhausen stated her belief that IAIA was better academically during its first five years under the leadership of BIA Superintendent George Boyce than it was during the subsequent tenure of Lloyd New. I read some of Mr. New’s writings in this collection and thoroughly disagreed,” she explains. “Lloyd New was brilliant.”

Ms. Cutropia next worked on the Lloyd H. New Papers (IAIAMS015), which informed the direction of her senior project. “So, Lloyd’s basic premise was that cultural heritage should be the natural basis for art expression. He believed that Native American students needed to use their culture as a jumping-off point for their creative work, not recreating its symbology verbatim but as the inspiration for their artwork. And I understood that, both from what I saw with my friends in IAIA and in what I knew from my own cultural heritage. And that’s what Lloyd was trying to get his students to understand.”

Bringing her museum studies education and interior design experiences together, Ms. Cutropia wrote a thesis paper and created an installation about New and his influence on students as IAIA’s first Art Director. “Being introduced to Mrs. Aysen New, Lloyd New’s widow, by Ryan Flahive, was an amazing opportunity for me,” says Ms. Cutropia. “Mrs. New lent me some of her husband’s fabrics from his Scottsdale days, which I then had professionally photographed. I called them interpretive reproductions because I took the basic design and then multiplied it several times and had it printed on new fabric.”

Ms. Cutropia then installed these designs by New and his students in the Library and Technology Building hallway. “So, there were yards and yards of fabric with his designs draped and framed on the walls, along with some other of his designs that I had printed on wrapping paper, cut into long strips, and hung from the ceiling so that when the air conditioner went on, it blew in the breeze.” At the request of Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), her installation was expanded upon and displayed at a Native arts sale at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art. Flahive and IAIA Curator of Collections Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer (Choctaw and Hopi) asked Ms. Cutropia to further build upon her work for the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art’s 2016 three-part exhibition Lloyd Kiva New: Art, Design, and Influence. For MoCNA’s Fritz Scholder Gallery, she also arranged a display of New’s work inspired by his retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona.

After graduating with her degree in 2014, Ms. Cutropia worked for Lomahaftewa-Singer as a metadata specialist, entering object and photographic information into the collections database, and for Flahive as an archival processing contractor. In 2022, IAIA hired Ms. Cutropia as Assistant Archivist. Her ongoing curiosity keeps her work engaging. Throughout her time at IAIA, Ms. Cutropia has processed a range of archival collections: the Robert Neff Harcourt Papers (IAIAMS008), the Kay V. Wiest Negative Collection (IAIAMS010), the Native American Videotape Collection (IAIAMS011), the Museum Studies Resource Files (IAIMS016), the Suzan Shown Harjo Papers (IAIAMS028)—including the Seeing Red Radio Archive (IAIAMS030), and the Nancy Marie Mithlo Papers (IAIAMS032). She has also processed museum administrative and exhibition records, artist files, audio-video collections, and IAIA printed matter.

“I love doing this work. I really love it. I love looking at all the different collections and reading and discovering amazing new things,” she shares.

Learn more about and search IAIA’s Collection and Archives on the IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (RCCNA) website.

Gaussoin grew up with a family in the arts, learning silversmithing from her mother, Connie Tsosie-Gaussoin (Picuris Pueblo and Diné) and brothers Wayne, David, and Jerry; modeling for her family; and being inspired to sew. One of her leather bags was included in We Walk Together in Strength, her family’s group donation for the 2023 IAIA Benefit & Auction.

Gaussoin credits her late father, Jerry Gaussoin Sr., for her decision to pursue Museum Studies at IAIA. “Every time we’d go to an art show with my mom and my brothers, they would be at the booth selling,” she shares. “And if I wasn’t playing underneath the booth table with my Barbies or Madeline doll, then my dad was taking me into the museums and walking me through the exhibits.” After Gaussoin graduated from St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she attended an expansive university. Overwhelmed by some of the comparatively large classes, Gaussoin went to IAIA instead with her family’s encouragement.

After graduating with her BFA, Gaussoin was invited to join a meeting for the School for Advanced Research’s Guidelines for Collaboration for institutions and communities, where staff from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) were also present. She connected with former IAIA trustee Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar (San Felipe Pueblo, Hopi, Tewa, and Diné), who has since become the director of NMAI, and then-Head of Conservation Marian Kaminintz, and inquired about work opportunities. “…I came out of IAIA just with my eyes wide open, feeling like the possibilities were endless…when I briefly spoke with Cynthia at SAR, she had told me to send her my resume. And I did that week, I believe, and sure enough, I was contacted by her and her team and was brought on to NMAI in a temporary trust position.”

She moved to Washington, DC, with her now-husband Carl Sutter and has been in the region since. After several years, she moved on to a permanent position with the collections and archives departments at NMAI. “That position was really incredible. I was working with both departments to be a liaison between the two and Native communities or researchers that were interested in coming to the CRC—the Cultural Resources Center—to see collections and archives from their communities,” explains Gaussoin. In December 2022, she began working in the NMAI director’s office as an assistant to Chavez Lamar. “It’s been a whirlwind of changes from my previous positions at NMAI—it’s been so incredible to be able to have that privilege of seeing a leadership position firsthand with someone so incredible as Cynthia.”IAIA’s experiential undergrad Museum Studies classes with faculty such as Dr. Jessie Ryker-Crawford (White Earth Anishinaabe), the MFA in Cultural Administration Director, helped prepare Gaussoin for the NMAI workplace. “And I mean, really, when I first started working at NMAI, all of the classes that I had taken at IAIA had helped with jumping into collections work because even though it was with the Community Loans Program, we were still hands-on with.” A class project even came with her: “…we had to make a clamshell box that was made out of coroplast, and then within it, it had all kinds of different archival materials that are used in museum collections,” she explains. “And that was a huge help because I brought it out here and used it occasionally as a reference.”

Adjunct Professor and IAIA Archivist Ryan Flahive’s oral history class proved to be particularly pivotal to Gaussoin’s work. Since her senior project focused on Picuris Pueblo and an excavation there in the 1960s, she interviewed two Picuris Pueblo elders. During her interview with the late former Governor Joe Quanchello, some sensitive information arose. She discussed the situation with Flahive. He advised her to talk to the elder about it, and she ultimately decided not to use it in her project.  “…I loved that about IAIA and having that understanding of sensitivities and such,” she notes. Gaussoin also interviewed Picuris Pueblo elder, tribal historian, and former Governor Richard Mermejo. “And I think most elders saw me as, like, ‘Oh, that’s Connie’s daughter,’ and so when I went and asked him about the interview, it started that relationship, and I still am able to continue that relationship with him, and it’s evolved from there.” During the pandemic, Gaussoin attended a Tiwa language class via Zoom taught by Jordan Fragua and Picuris elders, including Mermejo.

At NMAI, Gaussoin searched for Picuris Pueblo items in NMAI’s collections and archives and found photos of Picuris Pueblo from the early 1900s. In February 2020, Gaussoin brought NMAI archivists to Picuris Pueblo for a photo documentation project. “It was so cold the day we went. There was this huge snowstorm.” However, they were warmly welcomed by her family and other Picuris Pueblo members with a potluck. Community members, including elders such as Gaussoin’s late maternal grandmother Lydia Duran and Mermejo, shared information to accompany the Picuris photos. The participants chimed in with each other and built upon the stories shared. “…and it was so cool to be able to hear different perspectives from different families,” she says.

“And it was not just NMAI gathering that information to be able to put it back into the archives for further documentation and how Picuris people want it, but also, NMAI provided the high-resolution images to Picuris for their future use,” she emphasizes. Gaussoin credits IAIA with giving her the “courage” and “support to be able to reach out to community members from your community to be able to do these projects.”

Gaussoin set aside grad school when she began working at NMAI, but a new possibility arose during the annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market. “My brother Wayne and I were sharing a booth, and IAIA had a couple of folks walking around with the big news of the MFA program for Cultural Administration. I was like, ‘Wait, what?!’ I was freaking out because I had been in search of a master’s program that I was truly interested in for what felt like so long,” she says. The application deadline was quickly approaching. “And so, David and I were talking, and we’re like, ‘Well, I’ll do it if you do it.’” She and David became part of the inaugural summer 2022 cohort. The low-residency format allows her to study while working and prioritizing family, and she values the administrative point of view from Native perspectives. “… having that knowledge to be able to use that in my work today is so important,” she asserts.

Visit www.najaclub.com to see works by Tazbah Gaussoin and family.

This year, Frye won a first-place blue ribbon at SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market for a glass sculpture. The annual IAIA Student and Recent Graduate Art Market allowed him to get his “foot in the door of what it was like to be at Indian Market” and gave him “more experience doing markets.” He has also shown at the Poeh Cultural Center’s Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival, and he is represented by Gallery Hozho at Hotel Chaco. Frye was previously represented by the former Shidoni Gallery and Sculpture Garden and has displayed work with the New Mexico Glass Alliance at the Albuquerque Sunport.

At IAIA’s annual Benefit & Auction this year, he was a guest at the table of renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, who is notable for helming a glass program in the early days of IAIA. However, when Frye was a young student at IAIA, “there was nothing” offered for glass, but now, IAIA has a “full-blown glass studio.” Recognizing Chihuly’s connection, he shares, “So, it’s kind of cool to see it, you know, come full circle now, where we have a new glass program emerging at the new campus.”

After graduating in 2015, Frye took a break from glass. “It’s been about a year and a half now since I’ve been making art again,” he mentions. In the time between, he pursued another creative pursuit. “I was cooking before. And I loved the restaurant biz. Like there was a restaurant in my hometown that was owned by this family that were good friends of ours, that my dad would go fishing with, and they had kids. So, we all grew up together,” he shares. “But yeah, I think like, just like, I love that family vibe of a restaurant and feeding people. I love that, and food in of itself is a form of art, you know, totally.” The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture exhibition Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass prompted him to return to glass. “And I was just like, ‘Okay. I gotta get busy,’ with like a lot of signs happening telling me to get back to work again.”

He views the process of glassblowing as similar to the cooking experience—both are challenging sensory experiences. “And in the same way, it kind of reminds me to cooking—being in a kitchen where there’s just all this commotion, especially during a rush. Of like—you’re just having to get into this flow state, I guess. And so, I think there’s something about that—that I am able to get into this flow state. And for me, that’s how I’m able to create, and it’s also good for just my emotional well-being, honestly, like I’m able to process a lot of stuff that I’m thinking about in that state of mind.” The satisfaction of seeing progress is “really rewarding,” as is the response of others. “And even seeing people’s eyes, you know, and whether you make them a great dish, something really good to eat, like they know that it was made with love—or an incredible piece of art.”

Frye first learned to work with glass during a group IAIA internship with fellow students Crystal Worl, Monica Gutierrez, Cameron Tafoya, and Daniel Gringnon. “I first started painting, and then I got into printmaking. And I was really—I—if I didn’t find glass, I probably would have settled for printmaking, which I still want to get back into.” Frye credits a lunchtime conversation with Worl for the internship experience. “The story is that IA didn’t offer glass at the school. So, Crystal wanted to do glass for her project. So, she took it upon herself to bridge this partnership with a glass studio in town and IAIA. So, I was part of that original group of kids that got to go for one of their classes off campus.” The group attended the New Mexico Experimental Glass Workshop, directed by Stacey Neff and Patrick Morrissey. “And I was kind of hesitant about taking it. I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. I’m scared,’ but it was really the best thing that I—one of the best choices I’d ever made.”

While Frye grew up making art and drawing in high school, he didn’t plan on being a professional artist. He previously attended Fort Lewis College, where several family members went. “I don’t think I was honestly ready because I was going from the Ramah-Navajo rez straight up to, like, you know, white, privileged Colorado—it’s culture shock, immensely. And so, I didn’t last there. I did one year, and I came back down to Santa Fe, and I was with my family.” His grandmother suggested he go to IAIA. “And I was like, ‘You know what, Grandma, you’re right,’ and I applied, and I was like, you know, a little hesitant, but it was honestly the best thing for me because I was able to mature at IA.” IAIA provided him structure, independence, and “a very safe space” to grow. “And I was like, ‘You know what? I want to be an artist.’ Something, it clicked. And being around other people and seeing all the amazing artists that were coming out of IA, I was just like—and my family and the connection—I was just like, I felt like I’d found my home.”

As children, Frye and his siblings were provided with a variety of art supplies by their father, who was an art teacher. His parents were also both ceramists. Frye and his siblings would make pinch pots with the clay. “I think I was never satisfied with my pinch pots, though, and my brothers and sisters were always so much better at their pinch pots—frustrated about this,” he emphasizes. His brother Jacob Frye has since become a potter. “I still wanted to create pottery, though, and I was fascinated. I think it was seeing, yeah, Tony’s work—Tony Jojola—how he was able to do these pottery shapes in glass. And I don’t know—I think that’s when something clicked, and I wanted to be a glass artist because I knew I could still stay true to my family, and, you know, working with these forms, but in a different way.” Recently, Russell Frye showed vessels and plates made of glass and bronze in Gallery Hozho’s sales show, The Fryes and Friends. “I did some pieces recently in bronze that were kind of taken from that traditional Pueblo form, but done in bronze, and it was kinda cool how I did it, too, because I was coiling the wax—you know, very small little coils, which is very similar, you know, to how they did it in the early days—just very small little coils of clay.”

Frye’s ongoing education in glass has included working with notable Indigenous glass artists. Frye first met the late Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo) ’76 during his IAIA internship. “And then it was last year that I got to actually work on one of his pieces, which was amazing.” Frye sandblasted a design for Jojola shortly before he passed. “I was really sad, you know. So, it kind of broke my heart that we lost him so early.” Jojola “was a big mentor” to glass artist Ira Lujan (Taos and Ohkay Owingeh), who also trained out of Prairie Dog Glass. Lujan and Frye recently conducted a “Hot Stuff Glass Demo Day” together for Gallery Hozho. “I thought they were gonna put us on the parking lot or on the sidewalk, but we were actually on the street. So, our bench, when we’re making the glass, we had cars just driving right next to us. Very different than in the studio; it is more a street performance than anything, which I can’t wait to do it again.” Frye has also learned from Robert “Spooner” Marcus (Ohkay Owingeh) A-i-R ’18, another notable glass artist. “To have these people, you know, and to be able to work with them is, yeah, it’s kind of a—I don’t want to be cliché, but it is a dream come true,” says Frye.

More experimentation is in the works for Frye. “Yeah, I think that you’ll probably see more of my glass being incorporated with metalwork,” he says. The collaborative context at IAIA fosters the exploration of new techniques. Studio Arts Faculty Craig Tompkins worked with Frye to create a 3D print. “And I haven’t shown it to the world yet.” He plans to use the 3D print as a mold to cast work. “And then even Jasmine Novak—she’s taking the glass class this semester,” he shares. “And she, bless her heart, has been hard at work, and she’s actually creating some really remarkable stuff over there. She’s getting it ready so that we can do glass castings now. So, I might take this piece—instead of casting in metal, I’ll be able to cast it in glass now because of what Jasmine’s been able to do over there.” Novak is working on a fox and rabbit. “And then I have this cow that I want to do. So, I think you’re gonna see a lot of little glass animals coming,” he chuckles.

Keep up with Russell Frye’s next moves through www.russellfryebread.com, Gallery Hozho, and his Instagram account @russell_fryebread.

When Isaacs was a student, IAIA’s Cinematic Arts and Technology degree didn’t exist as it does today. However, she saw the potential of the cinematography program to connect to her interest in animation. “I already knew I wanted to animate, but I understand the same principles can apply, like camera angle—studying story, script writing—there’s a lot there that could be used. And so, I would try to find ways to make all of my assignments include animation of some sort. I had to teach myself a little bit of animation through YouTube. But then, thankfully, near the end of my time, more animation courses became available with instructor Craig Tompkins there, and he was the one that taught us the fundamentals of animation, and I think the animation program has been growing ever since.”

IAIA Board Member Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in) was then working as the creative producer of Molly of Denali, which was released in 2019. “And so, when it was first kicking off, the goal—and it still is the goal—was for this show to take on Indigenous people, preferably Alaska Native people and other underrepresented voices to give us a seat in the room, behind-the-scenes, in all areas of the show’s production to make sure we are being represented appropriately and authentically,” Isaacs emphasizes. IAIA and GBH had partnered together to create a fellowship to advance this goal.

After graduating from IAIA, Isaacs was contacted by IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), who remembered her student work. “It was such a surprising conversion because he called me and said, ‘If I remember you correctly, you’re Alaska Native and are passionate about animating cartoons. There is this incredible opportunity that I think you should apply for.’ And he told me about this Alaska Native cartoon show that was being created by GBH Kids. I was shocked because Dr. Martin, who is probably very busy, remembered who I was and made time to contact me. That was amazing. And to think there was an actual animated cartoon show about Alaska Native culture being created with a spot open for someone to join was mind-blowing for me. That’s literally everything I’ve ever wanted to do and couldn’t dream of a better, perfect path. And so, I waited, and IAIA kept me updated with the application status.” When the application went live, Isaacs applied, interviewed, and was selected as the 2018 IAIA Molly of Denali Fellow, working with GBH in Boston, Massachusetts.

The experience was, as Isaacs explains, “being a fly on the wall and observing how things would work.” She shadowed a production assistant on the show “because that’s essentially what I would be doing should I be hired anywhere else.” The paid fellowship time covered 10 weeks for about four days a week for three hours a day. After considering how she might get more out of the experience, Isaacs approached her managers to ask if she could volunteer additional time to match the hours of the regular staff “just to see how it all functioned” and get a more accurate picture of the work ahead of her. The managers agreed to let her donate her time. “I think that’s probably what led to them hiring me on,” she notes.

She became a production assistant and was subsequently promoted to production coordinator in 2021. However, her ambition didn’t stop there. “I’ve always wanted to write too. With IAIA just being a smaller school, we typically got to do everything. We were the editor. We were the story writer, the creative everything—storyboards, all of it,” she shares. She considered leaving her position to pursue writing fellowships but came up with another approach to write. “I pitched another idea to them, basically, where I asked my executive, ‘Hey, what would you think about me practicing writing, as in I’ll take the backseat. You don’t have to note on anything. But could I pretend to write a story and match another writer’s deadlines just to see if I could do it? So, when they write a premise, I will write a premise, and then, when it’s time to make a scene-by-scene, to get to that date, I will do that all the way through until the final draft. Do you think I could do that?’” Isaacs explains. The executive agreed, with the understanding that her primary job duties came first, and told her to not expect to receive notes.

Isaacs went through the process. “My executive producer pulled me into her office, and she was like, ‘So, I love your story, and so does everyone else that has read it. And we were wondering, would you be okay if we put it into the pipeline and actually made it, animated it, the whole shebang?’ And I was like ‘What! Oh my gosh­­—yes!’” Her first Molly of Denali story, “Art from the Heart” was released on MLK Day this year, and she is currently working on another story for the series, with more ahead.

In January 2023, Isaacs advanced to her current position of associate producer. She works closely with current creative producer Yatibaey Evans (Ahtna Athabascan) and coordinates with the Vancouver-based Atomic Cartoons, GBH’s partners on Molly of Denali. “Atomic Cartoons covers Molly of Denali’s overarching design, characters, design backgrounds, animation. In season one, I believe Atomic had no Indigenous people working on the show,” Isaacs explains. “And now we have at least 10, which is a huge deal.”

Issacs’s work as an associate producer is expansive. “You have your hand in just about everything,” she notes. “It’s reviewing all designs. It’s reviewing all animatics. It’s reviewing all stories. As soon as the idea comes, to seeing it completed and created throughout the whole animation process. It gets as detailed as creating the theme song for Molly before Molly had one. Naming characters.… It’s a lot of collaboration and bridge connecting with different departments, to make sure everything that’s related to the show is authentic and honest. And I get to have a voice and hand in creating all these things that are released for Molly.”

Isaacs has been able to apply her own knowledge of Northwest Coast and Tlingit art to the show. “There are a couple of stories that involve the Tlingit culture and art, like totem poles. And since I grew up learning my traditional and cultural arts from my Master Carver, even becoming a totem pole carving apprentice, I would casually slide that fact into conversation so my executives and other colleagues would know I had expertise in that area­—that they should really consider what I have to say. And my executive producers, they were a little hesitant at first, but when I was able to explain more, take time, and let them know what was going on or how certain things should be crafted, it became very apparent that they trusted me and asked if I’d be able to help our artists with creating Northwest Coast Art. And I said, ‘I could definitely try.’ And from there, just about anything that relates to Northwest Coast art is coming from me.” Her drawings are “Molly-fied” by Atomic Cartoons, which avoids inappropriate copying of Northwest Coast artists and inaccurate portrayals of Northwest Coast cultures.

Molly of Denali has grown to include many Indigenous people. “Outside of GBH’s Production team, there are Indigenous people working in a lot of different seats—it’s so cool. Our voice actors who portray Indigenous people are actually Indigenous themselves,” Isaacs reveals. “Even our writers—a good chunk of them are Indigenous. I’m trying to think of how many Indigenous people we have working on the show. We’ve been growing since season one. I think, to date right now, we’re at 111 unique Indigenous contributors. When we first started, there was maybe 60 or so. We’ve been slowly growing our capacity. Our growth goes into everything you could think of—designers, artists, animators, voice talent, directors.”

Molly of Denali’s Alaska Native cultural and language advisors are essential. “And so, we partner with and work with elders and other folks who are actually fluent, or darn near fluent, in the languages we’re using, and they will help us identify what words [to use], how to pronounce these words for voice actors to learn because they themselves aren’t as familiar sometimes with the different languages and dialects. And then also, at every stage of production, we have an Alaska Native advisor paired to the story. So, no matter what, an Alaska Native advisor will be there just to make sure we’re as authentic as we can be. There’s always somebody of Indigenous relations that will oversee any story being made, from scripting even into designs and animation.

For example, when IAIA Alum and illustrator Chad L. Yellowjohn (Shoshone-Bannock and Spokane) ’19, worked as a fellow on the show and designed characters for “Homemade Heroes,” the first episode of season three, the process was collaborative. “All those comic book heroes, the way that Molly and her friends look, that’s Chad’s design. He created it. He worked with our advisors—our cultural advisors—took their advice and what it should look like to be an Indigenous superhero, and his designs just blew us out of the water, honestly.”

Molly of Denali has impacted how other shows are being created inside and outside of GBH. “And then also on top of that, it is like the shows that we’re making within GBH, they’re looking—a lot of people are looking at the ‘Molly Model.’ Everyone keeps doing it, the ‘Molly Model.’ And they look at that inclusion, that type of drawing people in, and they let new and unheard voices come in, pitch their ideas, because that’s where freshness, where pure, great content comes from. And it’s been going really well, honestly, for these other shows, too. We’ve seen a lot of change in how we’re onboarding, how we talk to people, how our internal meetings go. Inclusivity, transparency.”

Working on Molly of Denali fulfills Isaacs’ major creative and cultural wishes. “It’s done a lot for me, because if I’m being very honest, I never thought that I’d be working for GBH, or someone affiliated with PBS and educational material. But, when I really think about it, which I’ve been doing quite often lately, that’s essentially what I’ve always wanted to do and where I’ve wanted to work without me realizing it. And I’m going to keep teaching about Alaska Native culture, Indigenous people, our values, our oral history and stories—ideally through cartoons and animation.”

There’s more ahead for Molly of Denali. “There’s an epic finale in this season, essentially. We’re going to places we haven’t been before,” Isaacs emphasizes, noting that the show focuses on Alaska and some First Nations peoples in Canada. “It’s exciting to see how much progress we’ve made on Molly, the challenges we’ve overcome so far—it’s all really good! And I hope it leads to more open doors and opportunities for Indigenous people to tell their stories.”

Other family have been involved with IAIA. His uncle Robert Dale Tsosie (Picuris Pueblo and Navajo) ’91, has a sculpture on the IAIA campus. His brother David Gaussoin (Diné, Picuris Pueblo, and French Descent) taught classes about the business of art at IAIA and showed work at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA). His younger sister Tazbah Gaussoin (Diné, Picuris Pueblo, and French Descent) ’15 was in the IAIA Museum Studies program and is now working at as a museum specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Wayne grew up learning to make jewelry from his mother Connie Tsosie-Guassoin (Diné and Picuris Pueblo) and his brother David—he has been working with them for over 20 years. The family, also including Wayne’s brother Jerry Gaussoin Jr., is well-known for their bold, experimental jewelry and their impact on the Native fashion scene. Wayne Guassoin’s work is in the collections of the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), the Museum of Man, the Red Cloud Museum, the Heard Museum, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. His work appeared in PEM’s traveling exhibition Native Fashion Now. He currently has a cuff made from a license plate on display at MoCNA’s The Stories We Carry. Many years ago, Guassoin participated in an August fashion fundraiser for IAIA, which grew out of local nightclub shows with his brother David and the likes of Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo), Pilar Agoyo (Ohkay Owingeh, Cochiti Pueblo, and Kewa Pueblo) ‘89, and Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) ‘89, originally for the benefit of the Santa Fe Opera’s Pueblo Opera Program. “And they [IAIA] told us the time that that was the most money they ever made for a fundraiser event,” he reveals.

In 2009, Guassoin graduated from IAIA with a BFA in Studio Arts. Taking jewelry classes at IAIA prompted him to experiment and push “the boundaries of just using other non-precious materials.” These experiences also spoke to his creativity in dealing with financial challenges. “So I would go to the restore, or thrift store, whatever, and get materials and play with those,” he explains. One notable student project was an inlay-style bracelet à la Loloma, made from a sink part and 99-cent bag of sponges. For his senior project, he held a collaborative “interactive sculpture slash performance” at MoCNA. “I brought in all these different artists to interact with the piece—these musicians and performance artists,” he says.

After IAIA, Guassoin continued to pursue his jewelry practice and participate in juried art markets, and he exhibited his work nationally and internationally at galleries and museums. He also began working for a sculptor. “I was learning a lot about working in waxes and creating molds and things like that, and that really piqued my interest and wanting to learn more about sculpture.” Following this interest, he went back to school and graduated in 2016 with an MFA in Art Studio at the University of New Mexico (UNM), with a minor in Museum Studies. “As an artist working with museums, I wanted to work from the inside-out—working in museums, working with artists.” While at UNM, he was accepted into the Lands Arts of the American West program. “And so, I started working with earth and looking at sculpture and more of a temporary aspect as opposed to permanent sculpture,” he explains. This led to the development of a sculpture called Adobobot, inspired by his Pueblo heritage and the Santa Fe adobe-inspired facades of his childhood. He built the frame out of steel and wood and rebuilt the sculpture at various locations. From 2018–2021, Adobobot was on display at MoCNA’s South Courtyard.

Some of Gaussoin’s professional involvements before, during, and after IAIA include teaching classes, such as at Idyllwild Arts in California, UNM, and the Poeh Center, where he taught lost wax casting for about six years. After grad school, Guassoin worked as an adjunct instructor at IAIA teaching arts foundations classes and was an assistant curator at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. He was also an artist in residence at IAIA in 2018. “…I just enjoy the arts in general,” shared Guassoin, “You know, whether it’s being in a studio and creating myself, or being able to be in an administrative position and bringing others to learn about Indigenous arts.” He recently returned to the School for Advanced Research (SAR) as the 2022–2023 Anne Ray Intern to further his museum education, after undertaking the Rollin and Mary Ella King Fellowship with his mother Connie and brother David in 2006.

With SAR’s blessing, he wrapped up the fellowship to take on MoCNA’s Museum Educator position, and began his first day on Monday, March 13, 2023. “When I saw the application open for a museum educator, I thought it would be a good fit. I feel very comfortable with the knowledge about Indigenous art, and then particularly of IAIA, and knowing a little bit of history of IAIA. And you know, it just feels like home.” 

Visit https://www.siartworks.com to see works for sale by Wayne Nez Guassoin and family.

Before graduating, Rodriguez spent two years working as a Learning Lab Specialist at IAIA. “I loved connecting with others, especially in one on one or small group situations. The rapport within these exchanges has felt necessary for personal and communal growth and an understanding of life and learning on a deeper level. This way of learning is something I first realized while attending IAIA. I had assumed college meant overwhelmingly large classes where one had to fight to be heard. However, IAIA showed me otherwise. The intimate and respectful exchanges from these positive learning environments have changed how I view learning,” said Rodriguez. She plans to continue to give back by teaching at IAIA and offering small workshops and writing groups within the IAIA community, where she says that feedback and criticism uplift the writer in a way that inspires them to dig deep into the layers that create magic.

Rodriguez has been working on a new manuscript, while the one she finished this past summer awaits a publisher. “As a woman, mother to a child with extra needs, and a person living with a dis(ability), I am focusing on new material that questions the intersectionality of dis(ability) and gender, and the predetermined constructs that come with this. I hope to have more material on this subject out in the world soon,” says Rodriguez.

When asked about her work, she said, “I have loved words creatively and technically. These different aspects of my career balance my passion for writing, editing, and teaching.”

Rodriguez’s work has been published in Inverted Syntax, Poetry Magazine, The Roadrunner Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, MindWell Poetry, and Prometheus Dreaming.

Joe received her BFA in Creative Writing from IAIA in 2016, followed by an MFA in Creative Writing in 2018, majoring in poetry. After graduation, she worked in the Admissions and Community Engagement Department at the New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA) and the Rio Grande Sun working as a journalist. Most recently, however, she has returned to IAIA as the Program Coordinator for the IAIA MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) program. Joe is thrilled to be back on campus among the IAIA Community. The new writers emerging from the MFACW are an inspiration for her, and she hopes to use the knowledge and experience she has gained from IAIA to give back to the program.

She credits IAIA with helping transform her both as an artist and an individual finding her voice. The school’s mission was integral in encouraging her to remain connected to her home and culture as she blossomed and learned more about her own identity. Attending IAIA began as a family tradition—her uncle and brother are also alumni—but before she knew it, the IAIA Community became her second family.

Aside from her new role at IAIA, Joe dedicates time to her two passions—writing and photography. Currently, her main focus is to finish her poetry manuscript, Desert Teeth, which will be published in Fall 2022 by Abalone Mountain Press, and to capture the perfect image for the cover. She was recently named among the first cohort for the Indigenous Nations Poets’ (In-Na-Po) Fellows and will attend their inaugural writers retreat in Washington, DC, in April 2022. Joe‘s poetry, articles, and photography have been published in the New Mexico Poetry Anthology, Yellow Medicine Review, Indigenous Goddess Gang, Center for Contemporary Arts, Tribal College Journal, Mass Poetry: The Hard Work of Hope, Gallup Sun, and Rio Grande Sun, and she won second place in “Best Sports Writing” for the New Mexico Press Association’s (NMPA) Better Newspaper Contest. Her photography aims to create “visual poetry,” conceptualizing her work with the written word and capturing it through imagery—primarily through landscapes. Her work will be featured in a photography exhibition at Gallery Hózhó in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in May 2022. Joe also served as an artist in Bosque Redondo Memorial’s Artist in “Their” Residence program in 2021. To view her work, visit her Instagram page at @boethepoet.

When Henderson first took an interest in the film industry, she had no idea what her journey had in store. So, as she started auditioning for roles, she took screenwriting and filmmaking classes here and there to learn more about the process. Fast forward five years, and she has an MFA from IAIA’s MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) program with a double major in Screenwriting and Creative Nonfiction. However, screenwriting is just one piece of the puzzle for her as a storyteller.

Henderson now has a budding film career. In the five years since she began acting on the side, Henderson is now a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) actor. She recently landed her first guest star recurring role on the upcoming AMC television thriller Dark Winds, premiering in 2022. You can also see her in Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, When You Finish Saving The World, starring Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard, which premieres virtually at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2022.

Henderson also works behind the camera. After landing a role in a period piece, she voiced concerns about the attire chosen for the Navajo actors—it was not authentic. This experience led to further work as a Costume Stylist and Designer on other productions, including an ad for the Nike N7 Collection and a feature film. Her short film, Wish, was also officially selected for the Emerging Filmmakers Program in the 2021 LA Skins Fest and the Animalis Fabula Film Festival, where it was awarded “Best of the Fest” for Outstanding Short Narrative in January 2021.

Sharing knowledge and education is critical to Henderson as she learns more about the ins and outs of the film industry. She now acts as a mentor for True Kids 1 and Film Prize Jr., nonprofit organizations that make film and media more accessible to the youth. In reconnecting with herself as a storyteller, she wants to aid others in finding their voices again. For Henderson, it’s not about what you can do—it’s about what can’t you do.

Founded by Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin and scientific innovator David Weininger, Stagecoach Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The organization brings productions to the state, manages a production building and prop warehouse, develops industry training programs, and creates work opportunities for locals in the booming television and film industry.

As a graduate of the Indigenous Liberal Studies program, Dr. Stahmer credits understanding where you stand and how you engage with other people in a respectful and honorable way as a strong backbone of the program. She believes that the education she received from IAIA helped to prepare her for her current role as Executive Director—engaging with different communities requires integrity, diplomacy, and respect—and she applies this every single day in leading a nonprofit.

Under Stahmer’s leadership, Stagecoach Foundation has developed high-caliber immersive training programs taught by industry leaders that truly mirror what it is like to be on a real set. So much so, that New Mexico IATSE Local 480, the local union chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) approved these training programs and considers them as work experience. Stagecoach Foundation also recently worked with The WB television series, Roswell, and Stahmer facilitated a season finale event with producers, directors, and New Mexicans who worked on set—which includes IAIA students and alumni.

Stagecoach Foundation provides opportunities for interns and mentees from IAIA and other local schools, and some of these IAIA community members have gone on to start exciting new careers in the film industry. Dr. Stahmer looks forward to continuing to build relationships between Stagecoach Foundation and IAIA and is proud to see IAIA students and alumni gain hands-on experience as they jump into the workforce. Learn more about Stagecoach Foundation and the offered trainings and resources, at www.stagecoachfdn.org.

Over the past few years, he’s been working on various projects. In 2021, he was the cinematic drone operator for JEEP’s® short documentary and commercial Dark Skies about its new electric vehicle, the Wrangler 4XE.

At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, he served as the Director of Photography (DP) for the New Mexico portion of Ralph Lauren’s® 2020 Holiday commercial. Again serving as DP, he worked on the upcoming YETI short film, The Ballad of Pecos Hank, which follows a storm chaser from Texas to North Dakota. The YETI short film is slated to be released soon.

When Grafe isn’t traveling for cinematic work, he’s at home in Santa Fe with his girlfriend and IAIA Studio Arts graduate Scarlett Cortez ’20.