| Native Arts 360°

In his own words: Residential school survivor turned artist shares his healing journey

Residential school survivor-turned-artist Fred Taylor shares his story of trauma, hardship and ultimately hard-won healing through his art and his Creator.

Indigenous artist uses painting to heal from residential school trauma

Freddy Taylor

Painting

Ojibwe

For Indigenous artist Freddy Taylor, 76, painting has brought purpose back into his life, giving him a way to heal from the trauma he experienced as a child while attending an Indian residential school in Ontario for 10 years.

"I don't know how I do it, but the gift that the Creator has given me, you'll never see a pencil mark on my work. I never use a pencil," Taylor says.

James Madison

Tlingit

Snohomish

Marcus Joe

Swinomish

Marcus Joe is a highly skilled self-taught artist/muralist/hip hop artist from the Swinomish Tribe who has painted murals; participated in art exhibitions and performed music live around the Pacific Northwest.

Chenoa Urness

Tlingit

Sacred Cedar Co.

Shana Yellow Calf

Chippewa

Arapaho

Shoshone

Shana Yellow Calf, of 10 Buffalos Art, is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming. Shana has been producing captivating art in various mediums since the 1990s, blending her rich plains heritage - Arapaho/Shoshone, her mother's Chippewa/Metis ancestry, and the Pacific Northwest Coastal influence from the Puget Sound area of Washington where she grew up