Nanette Kelley MEd

Recently, Nanette received a commendation from the

California Legislature for "her participation in helping to create and preserve the cultural identities of all Californians."

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A lifelong traveler on the roads in between, Nanette Kelley 𐓐𐓎𐓍𐒰 𐓈𐓂̄, MEd is an enrolled citizen of both the Osage and Cherokee Nations. Through community-based participatory research, her focus is land and its connection to art and culture. A contributor to Indigenous publications, a documentary filmmaker, and a Native American Studies model curriculum writer. Nanette resides part time on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma and also calls the California Redwood Coast (unceded Wiyot land) home. She likes to tell people, “My family never stopped migrating.”

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Her life’s foundation in the arts predates her birth by generations of craftspeople who lived off the land from time immemorial including land stewards, leathercrafters, woodworkers, and metalsmiths. Her work includes culturally and regionally specific primary research, and the result is historically accurate interpretation through an Indigenous Knowledge lens. 

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"I believe art and a connection to the land are good, universal catalysts for peoples to tell their own stories."

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Mentors such as China-born artist Hung Liu (social realism), Switzerland-born fine artist Lucienne Bloch (Diego Rivera’s assistant and paint specialist), and Vietnam-born multimedia/transdisciplinary artist, Anh-Thuy Nguyen (whose work highlights human relationships and cultural conflicts) gave her an appreciation for art as a language of cultural history and contemporary stories, and not mere aesthetics.

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MEd Indigenous Education, BA Corporate Communications, & BA Art & Interpretation

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An only-generation college student, Nanette completed her B.A. in Art with a Studio emphasis at Humboldt State University, California during the redwood timber conflicts and the tribal land and water battles. Immersed in a cultural conflict zone and working as the publicity chair for local nonprofits provided her with a solid understanding of political, cultural, and environmental Public Relations and community engagement.

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Located in the town named after Osage Chief GRAH MOIE within her ancestral Osage territory, and where the Cherokee side of her family settled after they walked the Trail of Tears, she completed a B.A. in Corporate Communications at Rogers State University. Under the direction of Juliet Evusa PhD, her study pertained to critical thinking and research skills through a Critical Race Theory lens including community outreach in radio, TV & video, and the creation of regional multimedia curriculum for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

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Within the context of Tribal Critical Race Theory, Nanette's Indigenous Education M.A. studies, School of Social Transformation, Center for Indian Education program at Arizona State University, emphasized on equity, research, and community engagement: Educational narratives for curriculum and university student recruitment.

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In 2022, Nanette received a commendation from the California Legislature for "her participation in helping to create and preserve the cultural identities of all Californians." She was one of 10 cultural  artists selected for the 2021-2022 inaugural California Arts Council Administrators of Color Fellowship cohort.

Currently, Nanette is mentoring Indigenous and other college students from underrepresented groups and creating Native American Studies Model Curriculum for the State of California. She is wrapping up a film project with the Wiyot Tribe (including corresponding curriculum) funded by the National Endowment for the Arts: One of 3 Indigenous filmmakers chosen for the Bartow Project about Rick Bartow (Wiyot). She is a professional member of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), and a contributing writer to Indian Country Today, Native News Online, and First American Art Magazine.