Fresh Coho
Sheldon Skillie
Kaigani Haida/Oglala LakotaAcrylic on birch panel
30" x 40" x 1 ½"
$6400

Fresh Coho

Sheldon Skillie
Kaigani Haida/Oglala Lakota

Acrylic on birch panel
30" x 40" x 1 ½"

Sold

Sashimi sits on a plate,

surrounded by a lively conversation

about fishing and fathoms.

Sheldon Skillie is an established Kaigani Haida/Oglala Lakota artist born in 1973, who grew up in California, Seattle, and Alaska. He also spent some time in Oregon, and is now settled in California with his wife and their new kitten, Koa. 

Sheldon has been drawing all his life. He studied art briefly in college, and worked with recognized native Alaskan artists Norman Jackson, Don Varnell, Stephen Jackson, and Nathan Jackson.

Being what feels like an outsider to his cultural roots, he does not consider himself a traditional artist. Sheldon has foraged a way of using influences from traditional art and has created pieces that traverse our ideas of what Northwest Coast art looks like. He sees potential for art to be more accessible and speak to a broader range of people; to be a sort of gateway to Northwest Coast art and opening a space for other people to enter in.

“I thought it would kind of open a door for people like me who have other questions or ideas about who we are.”

He has experience working with ink on paper, acrylic, argillite carving, and wood relief carving. His current medium of focus is acrylic on birch panel/canvas. His works can be found in galleries and private collections across the nation, including the spaces of fellow well-known artists in the Pacific Northwest.