ᎦᏚᎩ Gadugi Gallery

A Storefront Window Gallery

ᎦᏚᎩ Gadugi is a Cherokee word to describe a community of people lifting each other up for the good of all. In 2025, with funding from the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department, we created the ᎦᏚᎩ Gadugi Gallery to highlight a rotating exhibition of local native artists and their work.

July, 2025

James D. Autio

James D. Autio is a Twin Cities visual artist, poet and educator. Autio’s paintings, photographs, woodblock prints, and charcoal drawings on grocery bags have appeared in shows at MN Landscape Arboretum, Ames Center of Burnsville, Two Rivers Gallery, All My Relations Arts, Gallery 333, Intermedia Arts, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Marshall Area Fine Arts Council, Owámni Falling Water Festival, and the MN State Fair. James D. Autio is a recipient of fellowships from Hamline University and the Vermont Studio Center, and awards for his art, poetry, essays, and short plays. James is an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

June, 2025

Oogie_Push

Oogie_Push is from the Meskwaki Nation near Tama, Iowa. She is currently creating on Dakota Territory, aka the Twin Cities. She is an actor, playwright, storyteller, dancer, Meskwaki twine bag weaver, production assistant, and award-winning documentarian. Follow her current adventures on Instagram @oogie_push and you can see the content she creates on Youtube @oogie_push. She is currently the Native American Artist in Residence at the MN Historical Society, the Indigenous Initiatives Specialist at The Walker Arts Center.

May, 2025

Gordon Coons

Gordon Coons is an enrolled member of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Band of Lake Superior Indians of Wisconsin and Ottawa/Potawatomi from his mother from Michigan. Gordon is a painter, printmaker, and fumage artist. He paints in the Ojibwa Woodland style and creates fumage, smoke art, by burning cedar. He embellishes his fumage pieces with 24-karat gold leaf to represent the grandfather the sun. Coons draws inspiration from his Anishinaabe heritage, and his bright color palette comes from his natural surrounds in the Great Lakes region. “I also enjoy incorporating playfulness in my images, telling stories of relationships between Western and Native cultures, and the connection we have to our shared historical events,” 

Woodland Art Style

I believe that the Woodland Art Style of art is created from the combination of Ojibwa petroglyphs (drawings or carvings on rocks) and images from birch bark scrolls. The images can also be identified as X-ray Vision.   The inspiration for these images relies on Ojibwa clans and stories.  The artist usually paints images with a heavy black outline and paints what is felt or perceived inside animals (or people).  What is painted inside the animal or person represents a kind of spirit, a source of power.

april, 2025

Jearica Fountain

As an Indigenous visual artist, my work serves as a powerful form of empowerment, with a central focus on amplifying Native causes and preserving culture through decolonization and the process of "Indigenizing." I create visual narratives that challenge colonialism, seeking to foster understanding and advocate for Native peoples. My artistic practice is a deliberate response to dismantling colonial structures and harmful stereotypes that have long impacted Indigenous communities.

My approach is multidisciplinary, spanning painting, murals, and graphic design. Each medium carries deep-rooted themes of cultural empowerment, social justice, community, and Indigenous rights. I believe in the transformative power of art to ignite empathy, compassion, and healing. Through figurative and public art, I invite viewers to engage with Indigenous perspectives and experiences, aiming to create a space for connection and understanding.

At the heart of my work is a commitment to amplifying the voices of Indigenous individuals, ensuring that their stories are heard, honored, and preserved. My art serves not only as resistance but as a powerful tool for advocacy, envisioning a future where Indigenous communities thrive and their cultural identities remain strong. Through every piece, I strive to contribute to the ongoing work of decolonization and to uplift the resilience and beauty of Native peoples.

march, 2025

Patrick Blanchard

Patrick Blanchard is an Ojibwe, Oneida, and Puerto Rican/Taino (Arawak) artist in South Minneapolis whose artwork is based mostly in indigenous artwork of North and South America.

february, 2025

Kameron White

Kameron White is a Comic Artist and Illustrator.  He aims to create bold and diverse, colorful characters, illustrations, and stories within his work.  As an Afro-Indigenous, queer, and disabled individual, he's been in a place where not seeing yourself represented can affect you immensely. Rather than let it discourage him, it powers him to move forward and turn this scenario around, making sure people see their stories represented. Some of his clients include DC Milestone, Indiginerds: Tales of a Modern Indigenous Life, Becoming Who We Are, PBS, The City of Houston, Walker Art Center, International African American Museum, and more!

January, 2025

Gidinatiy Hartman

Gidinatiy is Deg Xit'an Athabascan and white. They are Deg Xit’an on her mother’s side. They grew up in Wasilla, Alaska.  Gidinatiy has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their BFA thesis was Dinayetr “Our Breath”: Deg Xinag Language Revitalization. Their artwork is about creating visual representations of the Deg Xinag and other Native languages. Their art is centered around a desire to reclaim their family’s Athabascan language, which was taken from their family due to colonization. Their artwork is united by a sense of whimsy and wordplay. The majority of their artwork is prints and digital art. Gidinatiy’s overall goal is to make it easier for people to learn Deg Xinag and other Native languages. Their goals are to have multiple modes of representation, including visual art, that makes language revitalization more accessible to people. You can follow them @AnyWhichWayArt on Instagram or Facebook.

The ᎦᏚᎩ Gadugi Gallery selection committee for 2025 consisted of: Julie Boada, Chris Griffith, Graci Horne, Juan Lucero, and Jennings Mergenthal.

This Cultural Districts Arts Fund activation is funded by the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.