Atlantic Canada Artists Attending the 2025 Santa Fe Indian Market

Booth Block CP14-CP19 | Cathedral Park

Shannon Monk

Eagle Who Opens the Door | Tribal Fusion Art

Shannon Monk is a partner with Tribal Fusion Art and has been a glass artist since 2003. She is the founder and CEO of Sakatay Global and the creator of The Indigenous Circle Approach to Cultural Confidence™ and has an extensive background in Indigenous (especially First Nation) cultural education and policy.

Monk began her glass art journey learning the traditional copper foil technique. Not content to simply follow pre-made patterns, she soon established a reputation for bringing her cultural teachings into her work, creating her own patterns as she went. Glass on glass mosaic work followed, incorporating different techniques to maximize impact with both opaque and transparent glass. After she was exposed to fused glass, Shannon loved it so much she invested in a kiln to fully immerse within this delightful artform.

Her family roots are Anishinew (member of St Theresa Point First Nation, MB), Mi’kmaq (Lennox Island, PEI), and Celtic (Eastern Shore, NS). Shannon is a mother and grandmother, and have used a lifetime of family, community, and work experiences and teachings to influence her artistic creations as a glass artist. For many years she was a hobbyist, only selling the odd piece when inspired, but given increased interest and demand for her work, she made the decision to embrace her role as a cultural stained-glass artist.

In 2024 Monk began collaborating with another Indigenous glass artist – Melinda Robertson, operating under her company name – Tribal Fusion Art. They specialize in creating custom, one-of-a-kind pieces that are deeply personal and spiritually rooted, honouring both individual stories and collective memory. They work closely with each client to understand their story, their vision, and the symbols that hold meaning for them. Whether it’s a memorial piece, a celebration of heritage, or a reflection of a spiritual journey, each creation is infused with intention and respect. They are currently working on two museum projects, and our work is found in a few select galleries. They adore glass as a medium for creative expression and enjoy marrying this contemporary artform with traditional Indigenous knowledge and imagery. Come by and say hi! They look forward to meeting you!

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Noella Moore

Noella Moore a multi-disciplinary Mi’kmaw artist from Lennox Island First Nation expresses her creativity through a variety of mediums, including basket weaving, Quill Art, and painting.

“My art is who and what I am. I want to tell the story of what I enjoy creating and giving life to. It has both healed and enabled me to break the cycle of trauma created in my family by the legacy of residential schools.

Through my art I have discovered my heritage and who I am. It is most comforting.”

Noella can’t remember a time in life where her creative side was not making itself known. Her creativity first came out as a small child through her drawings. By the age of sixteen she had created her first oil painting. The Mi’kmaq artist recovered a part of her lost heritage in 2003 when she attended a basket weaving workshop offered by Mi’kmaq Elders. When her hands made contact with the wood and she began to bend and weave in the creative process of basket weaving it felt entirely natural and healing. Her very first basket was a difficult fancy comb basket requiring a high level of skill. She was no struggling beginner. Her hands contained the knowledge.

Moore continued to learn from the Elders and now teaches basket weaving and quill work. Moore says about teaching, “It feels so good to see people creating because of the skills I have taught them. I want to keep the knowledge going.

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Nancy Oakley

Oakleaves Native Creations

Nancy E. Oakley is a Mi’kmaq and Wampanoag artist living on Eskasoni First Nation reserve in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

She is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian arts, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she studied photography and Pottery. She then moved to Nova Scotia, where she studied at Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, taking courses in photography, ceramics, weaving and jewellery making before leaving to start her family. She is now a mother of 6 and a grandmother of 7 and counting.

Oakleys’s artistic journey embodies the richness of indigenous heritage and a deep connection to the land. Through hand shaped softly curved pottery vessels, Nancy creates culturally significant pieces that imbue her traditional knowledge and honors her role as a woman, mother and grandmother. In an intrinsic collaboration with Mother Earth, Oakley’s expression of knowledge, feelings and experiences can be seen in the processes of her pieces, which are polished with a stone and smoke fired with seaweed, sawdust and fir tips, allowing the smoke to talk through the pottery.

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Shane Perley-Dutcher

Adukis

Shane Perley-Dutcher is a Wolastokew (Maliseet) mixed media artist from the Nekotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. He trained at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, earning a Diploma in Natives Art Studies and Jewellery Manufacturing graduating with honours and distinctions. Shane draws his design inspiration from Wolastokiyik Traditional knowledge and contemporary aesthetics.

After graduating from NBCCD and from the Atlantic Business College, Shane created his business Aduksis Jewellery Designs and continues to grow the Aduksis Brand and challenge himself as a mixed media artist and jewellery designer, with custom pieces found in private and public collections across Canada and internationally.

Shane uses natural traditional materials such as birch, cedar, spruce, and ash in his work. He also uses non-traditional materials like copper, silver, gold and platinum to create unique lines of jewellery and one of a kind sculptural pieces. Shane gathers his traditional materials for his art because it maintains his connection to the land. Building on this relationship will always be part of his creative journey.

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Sandra Rideout

Sandra Rideout is an Inuk woman of Nunatsiavut born and raised in Happy Valley- Goose Bay, NL.

Sandra has dedicated her practice and business to the art of sewing and Inuit native designs. Designed to wear that tells a story of the North, shaped by her heritage, Sandra’s business carries forward old techniques along with contemporary practice of her indigenous community. With incredible knowledge and skills, Sandra creates pieces that honor native identity and tradition through unique creative styles that were passed down through generations; She comes from a long line of traditional artisans. Sandra creates and crafts hand-sewn accessories and garments.

Sandra is a true believer in her culture and exercises her traditional way of life by fishing, hunting and most notably, her love for the art of sewing. Sandra celebrates Inuit culture with her creations, seen of familiarity and comfort, feeling proud to be Inuk. Sandra has been sewing for 40 plus years. Starting with slipper making and from there, traditional native mukluks, gauntlets, cuffs and leather/fur hats Sandra’s creations is easily recognizable both in her community and across the Canadian provinces. Throughout the years she developed her own patterns when making mukluks, leather hats; and vary of items using sealskin such as vests; neck ties/bow ties, head bands, scarfs, belts, bags, capes and coats.

Sandra was a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 for her exemplary work and notably her of sewing.

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Melinda Robertson

One Voice Woman | Tribal Fusion Art

Melinda Robertson is the owner and founder of Tribal Fusion Art. An Anishinaabe Kwe (Ojibway woman) from Lake Manitoba First Nation in Manitoba, Canada, her work background was in community based social work and childcare, and construction. She began her journey in stained glass when she came across a beautiful stained glass piece and was inspired to learn how to do this creative art form.

Robertson began taking classes and learned basic stained glass techniques including copper foil and lead, using traditional and contemporary patterns. In 2012 she was introduced to the world of fused glass and never looked back. She was inspired by the possibilities for expanding her creativity and bringing more of her own spirit and Indigenous heritage into her work.

Melinda started on a new path when a friend asked her to create a series of corporate sponsorship gifts for Manitoba’s largest Indigenous gathering, Manito Abi. Suddenly corporate entities were calling and requesting corporate logos and custom designs. As her reputation grew, her art expanded into specialized commissioned Indigenous pieces, especially those involving spiritual names, the natural world, and cultural teachings. Melinda participated in many trade shows and was featured in many gift stores and boutiques. In 2017, she moved to Nova Scotia and set up my studio in Blockhouse.

In 2024 Robertson expanded Tribal Fusion Art and now collaborate with another Indigenous glass artist – Shannon Monk. They specialize in creating custom, one-of-a-kind pieces that are deeply personal and spiritually rooted, honouring both individual stories and collective memory. They work closely with each client to understand their story, their vision, and the symbols that hold meaning for them. Whether it’s a memorial piece, a celebration of heritage, or a reflection of a spiritual journey, each creation is infused with intention and respect. They are currently working on two museum projects, and their work is found in a few select galleries. They adore glass as a medium for creative expression and enjoy marrying this contemporary artform with traditional Indigenous knowledge and imagery. Come by and say hi! They look forward to meeting you!

» Visit Website
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Ben Sickles

Standing Stone Silver

Ben Sickles is a 3rd generation silversmith, who is an enrolled member of the Oneida nation, of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. He began his apprenticeship at an early age with his uncle Jimmy Sickles and has continued to develop and hone his skills as a jewellery maker. His work is a mix of traditional and contemporary ideas and designs. He creates stunning jewellery, in the style derived from the trade silver traditions of the 1760’s. He draws inspiration from his life, stores and the rich culture of the Eastern Woodland Indian jewellery style.

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Jessica Winters

Jessica Winters is a painter, mixed media artist and curator from Makkovik, Nunatsiavut currently living in St. John’s Newfoundland. She grew up immersed in art and craft – her mother Blanche Winters and grandmother Nellie Winters are well known for their seamstress work, and Winters idolized her aunt Dinah Andersen for her trailblazing work as a painter and carver. As a result, the self-taught artist has been practicing and selling work since she was a teenager. Academically trained as a biologist with an undergraduate degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Winters committed to art full-time following a residency in Tilting, Fogo Island from Arts and Minds Canada in 2021.

Practicing primarily as a painter, her work focuses on translating seemingly regular experiences of Inuit into something provoking and nostalgic. Understanding that perspective changes the way we see our surroundings, Winters often uses the displacement of objects, people, and activities in her work to offer new interpretations of daily life. The purpose of her artistic renditions are to invoke a feeling of presentness and appreciation.

She has been featured in numerous group shows which most recently include Surfacing at Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto and S’olh Xaxa Temexw, Our Sacred Earth at Robert Kardosh Gallery in Vancouver. In 2023 she was named one of three Canadian recipients of the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists. In 2024, Winters was long-listed for Canada’s most generous art prize, the Sobey Art Award.

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