An interview with Dakota Artist Ella Robertson
Julie Buckman interviews Ella Robertson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), a mostly self-taught artist who teaches Native American textiles at Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC). Robertson recalls getting her start as a child making Barbie clothes on her aunt’s sewing machine. Today she is a renowned Dakota community artist and entrepreneur specializing in many art forms and created SWC’s logo, one of her many accomplishments.
Robertson reflects on the complexities of intertribal identity in art, harvesting her own art materials, and maintaining a love for art while navigating the monetization and deadlines of entrepreneurship. She speaks to the patience, reciprocity, and openness art has taught her, and emphasizes the importance of intergenerational teaching and storytelling through art as she watches her own children become artists themselves.
