Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Mikayla Patton

Mikayla Patton

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

“Visitation” is a sculpture of 2 rectangular wide cubes made of textured off white handmade paper floating next to each other, bound at the edges with tied white deer hide laces. Long strings of lacing hang down from the edges and pool on the floor. The front cube is higher up in the air, and on one face has a checkerboard pattern of tan porcupine quills protruding an inch from the surface. The front face of the rear cube has 6 horizontal lines of quills protruding.

Enduring

2023

“Untitled (Trunk)” is a cube structure made of textured handmade paper, tied together at the edges with white deer hide lacing. The front face is textured all over with oblong indentations like fingerprints.

Untitled (Trunk)

2023

This detail of “Visitation” focuses on a corner of a wide cube that is off white handmade paper on 5 faces, and clear acrylic on the front face. Each paper face has various cut out Lakota motifs, and the clear face has a pair of triangles etched in white. Each face is tied together with white deer hide lacings.

Visitation (detail)

2021

In a darkened gallery room, the sculptural installation “Visitation” stands in the center. Rectangular wide cubes of textured off white handmade paper and clear acrylic float in a staggered group, bound at the edges with tied white deer hide laces - long strings of lacing hang down from the edges and pool on the floor. Various cubes have cut out or etched Lakota motifs of power including paired triangles and 4-point stars.

Visitation

2021

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Mikayla Patton

portrait of Mikayla Patton leaning on a white wall wearing a green button up with black pants and tank top. An Oglala Lakota and Isleta Pueblo woman with medium light skin tone, she has chin length straight, dark hair and wears multi-color bracelets over a just visible tattooed wrist.

Mikayla Patton (b. Pine Ridge Reservation) is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and mixed media artist. Through the interplay of recycled paper-making and earth elements, Patton creates sculptural objects that explore Indigenous intimacies, personal narratives, and the transformative power of repurposing materials. While utilizing her Lakota knowledge of creative methodologies and adornment, Patton aims to address shared themes of healing, growth, and renewal. In 2019, Patton obtained a BFA with a focus in Printmaking from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work exhibited at the Texas Tech School of Art (Lubbock); All My Relations Gallery (Minneapolis); and the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. Patton has been mentioned in Hand Papermaking Magazine, First American Art, and Pasatiempo. She received fellowships, awards and residencies through the Roswell A-I-R Program; Ucross Foundation; The Studios at Mass MoCA; First Peoples Fund; and Native Arts and Culture Foundation. Patton is currently living and working on the east coast.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2023

Website / Social Links

“ By embracing the delicate balance between vulnerability and renewal, I am interested in exploring Indigenous intimacies, personal narratives, and the transformative power of repurposing materials. Through the interplay of recycled paper-making and earth elements, I create sculptural objects that utilize my Lakota knowledge of being, adornment, and artistic methodologies.”

Related Journal Entries

Mikayla Patton, an Oglala Lakota and Isleta Pueblo woman with medium light skin tone and chin-length straight dark hair, sits at an orange worktable, facing partially toward a white brick wall. She works with porcupine quills and handmade paper to create a sculpture. Various books, tools, and other materials sit on the desk.

In the Studio: Mikayla Patton

"Sometimes I like to imagine that they are forms that want to be seen, or maybe ...