Salisha Old Bull (Salish/Crow) is an Indigenous artist based in Montana. She creates a diverse array of art genres but has an affinity to beadwork.
"I am motivated by the Salish history and Indigenous place-based knowledge. I have learned that place gives a sense of self and allows a person to grow intellectually and continue to explore their possibilities in life. I feel that cultural preservation is a strong influence in my life, and I enjoy combining imagery that reflects cultural values. I use beadwork as an expression of the nature that reflects my tribal heritage. My craftsmanship cannot be possible without the upbringing and teaching of my grandmother, Rachel Arlee Bowers.
I adore beadworking but, also enjoy integrating other genres such as photography, painting, and hint of digital art.
Artistry has been something of a culmination of my academic studies over the years combined with my love for my Bitterroot Salish cultural values and practices. In my time in higher education one of the best moments was learning about place-based education and its interesting relevance to Indigenous ways of knowing.
The basic idea of place-based education and its connection to traditional ecological knowledge is uncanny. Many Indigenous people once depended solely on their environment in reciprocal manner and this was how people were educated. Each person acquired a strength and skill set and most people had an educated connection to the land. This land is what gives a person a strong sense of self-identity. Being grounded allows a person to go forward in life and continue to grow intellectually and explore beyond their basic needs. By evoking this motivation to solidify personal, tribal self-identity, I feel that artistry can empower individuals and empower and motivate them to seek more land knowledge—traditional ecological knowledge.
My overall vision is to create contemporary art, combining traditional, flat-stitch, two-needle, beadwork, with current photography and photo editing techniques. I want to capture the past, the present, and the significance of places that hold deep-seeded history for the Bitterroot Salish. I think by capturing past images and present images with traditional beadwork I can evoke this emotional response and help people to think of their roots and how they can continue to learn the historical context of our land and its ties to our existence. I hope to motivate people to recapture knowledge that is almost gone and revive it by passing it onto younger generations."