Leah Yellowbird Pattern Cardboard Animal Heads

Check out our deer, moose, and bear animal heads in the intriguing Native American art print.

The intricate patterns of these designs were created by Leah Yellowbird (leahyellowbird@gmail.com), a native American artist based in Minnesota. We’ve had the pleasure of providing Leah with the birch plywood base forms of our product for her to embellish with her detailed paint work. We then scanned her original patterns and printed them onto corrugated cardboard and birch plywood to make a more affordable product to share with a broad audience.

Intricate, graceful, thought-provoking and prolific — words that have been used to describe the elaborate masterwork of Leah Yellowbird. Originally a traditional bead-worker, she identifies strongly with her First Nations Algonquin-Metis and Anishinaabe heritage. At a young age, Yellowbird learned from her extended family how to follow traditional beading patterns and has been working in this medium her entire life. This knowledge, combined with her creative eye and exploration of color, has spilled over into the realm of painting, and she is now well-regarded for her work in all mediums.

Yellowbird describes her process in the context of survival; painting and beading are like breathing to her. She draws inspiration from the traditional art forms of her ancestors while adding a modern voice to the imagery, the result of which evokes a sense of nostalgia and wonder. Her work is a visual manifestation of time, each dot embodying a moment and a prayer. Using precision, pressure and symmetry, her pointillistic style leaves viewers humbled and curious — they walk away having seen something they’ve never seen before.

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