Speaking Up: Art Through the Eyes of Danielle SeeWalker
by AwA
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Art with Altitude.
Danielle SeeWalker has been a creative soul since forever. “I am self taught. I come from a family of self-taught artists and I think art is something that is innate in my family and a lot of other Native American people. For our tribe, the Húŋkpapha Lakhóta or Lakota Sioux and many others, our languages weren’t written languages up until very recently. We were storytellers orally but also documented our life by drawing.
As a child, she carried around a pack of broken crayons in her pockets while in her home she was surrounded by her dad’s paintings and drawings “We didn’t have much money, so the dollar store crayons were the ones that I always had and anyone that knows, knows that they break easily. I recall being so envious of kids that had the Crayola crayons, even though my broken crayons helped create my first works of art. To this day, I love the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas.”
“I grew up in a very traumatic and broken household. I was a child to teen parents and had many odds stacked against me. My parents were both alcoholics, we were very poor, I moved around a lot and witnessed and experienced abuse. Art was my medicine. It was the way that I coped and expressed myself when I didn’t have the tools or knowing of how to express myself otherwise. There was a period of time in my young adult life when I drifted away from art and, reflecting back, that was a time I could have used it most. When I finally found my way back to creating, I was able to find myself again and haven’t stopped since,” said Danielle.
When Danielle was young, art classes centered on realistic drawing and painting. “While I was good at it, it was boring to me. I wanted my artwork to be something I didn’t have to try so hard to get proportions correct. I found that over time, I let myself be more expressive in how I’m feeling and many times I let color palettes inspire me. Today, much of my studio artwork is expressionistic and free-flowing. It’s good medicine for me when I don’t have to think too much and I can just create based on how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. Much of my artwork is inspired by my culture, stories I’ve been told or my life experiences as a Lakota woman.”
It wasn’t until Danielle was in her thirties that she started to take her artwork to the next level and put herself out there publicly. And the public has been receptive. Her work can be found in the United Club in Denver International Airport and on murals throughout Colorado. She was invited to paint a mural by Paramount, owner of CBS, which aired the Superbowl in 2024. Her artwork was commissioned by Marvel Studios to promote the new Disney+ series Echo. She has created three murals for CU Boulder and was featured on PBS’s Colorado Voices, just to name a few of her accomplishments. A recent piece bridged parallels between Native American people and the current displacement and genocide of Palestinians. “That piece has brought a lot of broader conversation in many facets about our two cultures and bringing a different perspective.”
At the core, Danielle’s works reflects themes of reclamation, healing and cultural preservation, which resonate in her everyday life “because there is no escaping it. I wake up having to face realities of cultural preservation, current legislation being uplifted by my community, the healing that we are continuing to do as a community and reclaiming back our identities. There is so much work to be done and there’s not a moment I’m not thinking about or working on all of those things whether it’s through my artwork or working with legislators to make change. I think sometimes my artwork can have tough realities embedded in them as to storytelling or portraying untold histories.” Yet it is through her love of experimentation and use of tools and techniques from times past that her ancestors have used, like working with porcupine quills and rawhide with a contemporary time and aesthetic that allows people to walk away learning something new.
Creation doesn’t always flow easily. “When I am stuck or having a creative block, I often ground myself by going into nature, taking a flight back to my homelands in North Dakota or even just walking barefoot in the grass in my front yard. That connection to place was clear through her role as one of the board members and organizers of the all-women/non-binary mural festival called “Babe Walls”. “We kicked off our first mural festival in 2020 here in the Denver area and did that for a couple more years. I brought the idea of having our festival out of state and on my reservation in North Dakota in order to bring art to a community that doesn’t have access to a lot of art resources but is filled with so much talent. I was able to pull off that mural festival where we installed over 14 murals and had 24 artists involved. Each mural was a collaboration with an experienced artist and an artist that was mentored. That project was especially important to me because not only was it back home on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, but it allowed for creative collaboration and learning so that when we all left, the artists living there would have the skill and know-how to continue doing public art.”
One might think that someone so successful pursuing something she loves would be filled with confidence, but like most highly achieving people, she finds her biggest challenge is imposter syndrome. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m asked to participate in events or exhibitions just because I’m the token Native artist. I want to be known as an artist first and then a woman and then a Lakota woman. However, I am very grateful that I am able to be part of the contemporary art world and all the opportunities that have been offered to me. There are very few Native American artists represented in the art world, and I really try to create as many opportunities for other Native artists to pay it forward.” In that vein she curated an exhibition that is going to the Golden History Museum. It is an all Native American group show that consists of 30+ contemporary Native American artists from around the country. The show opened March 19th and runs through early October.
Beyond being an artist, being a mother is the greatest role in her life. “I strive to be the mother that I didn’t have. I am very close to my grandma and she has guided me and shown me what unconditional love is.” Danielle dreams about what world her future great-grandchildren will live in. “I dream that they will live in world where they aren’t ever ashamed to be who they are. I dream that they will have clean drinking water and fresh air to breathe. I dream about leaving a better mother earth for the next seven generations.”
Today, Danielle is busy installing back-to-back murals and is in the midst of producing studio work for upcoming exhibitions. “I never create artwork with the thought in my mind about how other people will react to it. Not everyone agrees with what I have to portray as an artist but I’m ok with that. Creating art is my medicine and it’s very sacred for me so I don’t think about things like what it means to be a Native Artist right now or what my future might be with art. I create for myself and never with the intention of selling pieces, making money, having success or caring about what others might think of my work. If I start to shift my mindset in those ways of thinking, that will take away the magic and medicine that art offers me. What I will say is that I am very humble and grateful to be able to create art and that people are excited enough to commission me or purchase my work. That means the world to me and confirms that my messages and representation is being put out there. I’m grateful to be a woman in the art scene and especially grateful to represent my Lakota culture and community.”
Elevate the Arts: “If creating is a passion just keep creating no matter what. It’s important to create for yourself and no one else. Surround yourself with other creative people. That can be very inspiring in itself. Lastly, get a mentor and don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. I still ask questions and am always learning.” Buy Danielle’s works from Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. Help fund a mural by Danielle SeeWalker in Steamboat Springs. Contact dagny@undiscoveredearth.com for more information. AwA
