Karen Sixkiller is a contemporary sculptor and Washington state native residing on the Olympic Peninsula. Sixkiller creates sculptures using metal, ceramic, glass beads, leather/suede and fabric. As a Cherokee Nation citizen much of her work is informed by Native American understandings or stories. Studying social psychology in graduate school taught her the discipline of scientific research which she applies to inform her art. Her formal education in public health and elementary education brought her to New Mexico where she worked for the Indian Health Service and at a tribally owned residential school. These experiences and influences have coalesced in her passion for expressing new perspectives through art. Sixkiller’s ceramic and mixed media sculptural pieces for display in official buildings. She has permanent public art installations featuring a realistic “Grandma Spider” on the Cultural Pathway in Tahlequah OK and Olympia WA, and currently several temporary installations featuring a spider or a beetle in Olympia WA and Lake Oswego OR. She has been awarded blue ribbons for her sculptural work at SWAIA “Santa Fe Indian Market” and the Red Cloud Art Show. Her work has been featured at multiple Indigenous and non-Indigenous art shows.
Exhibitions
2026 – Permanent Sculpture Installation, ‘Sacred Earth’ The North Carolina Arboretum, Asheville NC (3’ x 3’ x 3’ cast bronze)
Sculpture Installation, ‘Making Earth’ welded and sculpted steel, 1 Year installation at Percival Landing Waterfront Park, Olympia, WA
2025 – Permanent Sculpture Installation, ‘Crab Bike Rack’ at Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, WA
Solo Exhibit & Artist Presentation, ‘Cancer Sticks – The Corruption of Sacred Tobacco’ ʔaʔkʷustəŋáw̕txʷ House of Learning, Peninsula College Longhouse, Port Angeles, WA
Sculpture Installation, ‘Ember (4)’ bronze and steel, 1-2 Year installation in downtown Coeur d’Alene ID
Santa Fe Indian Art Market, group exhibit, (Juried), Santa Fe NM
2024 – Permanent Sculpture Installation, ‘Grandma Spider’ monumental 10’ x 3’ x 3’ bronze and steel, (Bid Proposal Award), Cherokee Nation Cultural Pathways, Tahlequah, OK
Permanent Sculpture Installation, ‘Ember (2)’ bronze and steel, 10’ x 2.5’ x 2.5’, 1 year installation at Percival Landing Park, Olympia, WA – followed by 1 year in front of Olympia city hall, then permanent installation elsewhere in city TBD
Sculpture Installation, ‘Water Beetle Brings Sacred Soil’ cast bronze, 1 year installation at Percival Landing Park, Olympia, WA
Sculpture Installation, ‘Ember (3)’ bronze and steel, 2 year installation at City of Lake Oswego Business District, 1st Street and A Avenue, Lake Oswego, OR
Heard Museum Indian Art Market, group exhibit, (Juried), Phoenix AZ
Group Exhibition, ‘Sparks of Connection – In Celebration of Fem Fabrication’ Esther Webster Gallery at The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, WA
2023 – Solo Exhibit & Artist Presentation, “Cherokee Grandma Spider” ʔaʔkʷustəŋáw̕txʷ House of Learning, Peninsula College Longhouse, Port Angeles, WA
Santa Fe Indian Art Market, group exhibit, (Juried), Santa Fe NM – Blue Ribbon winner
2022 – Sculpture Installation, ‘Ember’ bronze and steel, “Summertide New Growth” exhibition (Juried), PA Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles WA (June 2022 through June 2023)
Sculpture Installation, ‘Giant Bugs’ multimedia fabric & wire, “Blooming Artists- Creative Start Youth Exhibit”, PA Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles WA (June 2022)
Cherokee Homecoming Art Show (Juried), ‘ᏗᎵᏍᏙᏗ “‘dilsdohdi” Water Spider Brings Fire’ Ceramic & Steel tabletop sculpture, Tahlequah, OK
2015 – Cherokee Art Market, group exhibit, (Juried), Tulsa OK
2014 – “Chasing Shadows” group exhibit, (Juried), Elwha Heritage Center, Port Angeles WA
Awards
2024 – First Place – Dimensional Art, Red Cloud Art Show, Pine Ridge SD
2023 – Blue Ribbon for Contemporary Representational Sculpture, ‘Cancer Sticks (with ashtrays), Santa Fe Indian Market SWAIA, Santa Fe NM
2023-2026 – Stipend Award, “Justice Through the Lens of Native Artists Initiative,” ‘Who Controls the Board’ Chess Set, First Nations Development Institute (FNDI)
Medium: Beadwork, Sculpture
My sculptures often start in ceramic clay; but may be made out of welded metal, cast bronze, sewn suede and woven beadwork. As a conceptual artist the meaning behind the sculpture is the most important part, so I choose the medium based on the message I’m trying to convey. Much of my sculptural work is inspired by Cherokee culture and the natural world and blends representational depictions with stylized forms. This work creates dialogue around Southeastern tribal culture and community among ourselves and everyone, which is lacking due to the early influences of colonization. I hope to help this re-culturalization through adding compelling and authentic Cherokee imagery to the collective consciousness: depicting traditional Cherokee characters, wearing traditional Cherokee clothing. Although I have sculpted realistic human faces for modern figures, I prefer to depict ancient Native characters as faceless, similar to the faceless corn-doll tradition in Cherokee culture. This allows for each figure’s posture, hair and clothing to give it life and character rather than specifying an individual set of facial features. So many Native people have been told, “you don’t look Indian.” By creating faceless figures I am simultaneously allowing viewers of any ethnicity to project their own feature on the figure while also refusing to reinforce limiting stereotypes of how a Native person should look. My work focuses on telling a story from multiple viewing angles.
