Buffalo Bill Center of the West Welcomes Artist-in-Residence Holly Young
Written by Caleb Nelson on June 30, 2022
Holly Young, a full-time artist from Standing Rock, joins the Buffalo Bill Center of the West as the next Artist-in-Residence for the Plains Indian Museum on Sunday, July 10th through Thursday, July 14th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Young is part of the Museum’s ongoing Artist-in-Residence program, which includes Lee “The Boneman” Post in the Draper Natural History Museum through July 5th.
Artist-in-Residence Holly Young, courtesy of the Center of the West
Young, raised by her grandmother in a rural area of the Standing Rock Reservation, grew up in a small house on a few acres of land in North Dakota.
Regarding her childhood, Young says, “Today, I understand how being so close to the land in my childhood has influenced my art; the memories of plants and flowers, our relationship with the land, and the healing properties that come from those.”
Young’s work focuses on the “traditional Dakota floral styles and designs.” She employs beadwork, quillwork, and ledger art in her creations, with the Museum writing, “Young is committed to preserving and sharing those art forms and lifeways.”
Young, speaking about the artistic process, says, “Through art…I affirm myself as a Dakota woman and mother by practicing Winyan Omniciye, the circle of sharing knowledge. What you learn, you give back.”
Young believes that artists and artwork, not unlike the powers of the natural world, possess the ability to regenerate their communities and traditions.
“As a Dakota artist, my work embodies the love, patience, resiliency, and beauty of my ancestors’ legacies and the land that has provided since time immemorial,” Young explains.
