Collective Spirit Podcast

S2E14: Kalyn Faye Barnoski (Cherokee, Muscogee Creek)

• First Peoples Fund • Season 2 • Episode 14

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2023 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow Kalyn Faye Barnoski (Cherokee and Muscogee Creek) artist illuminates the importance of maintaining a Native perspective in spaces where it is often overshadowed. Her story is not just about the personal metamorphosis but how embracing one’s passions can ripple out to touch the lives of others. Kaywin's family roots and her innate musical prowess have been the bedrock of her journey, leading her to a place where her work as a curator of Native Art and her performances become more than just a job—they're a mission to bridge cultural divides.

Speaker 1:

And from my perspective, especially from a Cherokee perspective, it's thinking about. I need to be learning things, I need to be open to learning and open to doing these things and celebrate the gifts that Creator has given me, celebrate the things I'm passionate about, because that's been instilled in me, just part of who I am.

Speaker 2:

First People's Fund presents the Collective Spirit Podcast. The Collective Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on ancestral knowledge and simply extend a hand of generosity. The Collective Spirit Podcast features Native artists and culture bearers who discuss the power of Indigenous art and culture.

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. My name is Kaywin Faye Bernoski. I am an artist in business leadership fellow through First People's Fund. I'm a multidisciplinary artist. I work heavily in music and songwriting as well as visual art, and I'm also the assistant curator of Native Art at the Wilburx Museum in Tulsa, oklahoma. So I am enrolled Cherokee Nation and I'm of Muscovy Creek descent.

Speaker 1:

I got started pretty early on no one else in my family in the military babbles in the arts, but they're heavily supportive of me Daphne in the arts. I taught myself how to play piano and how to play adult summer when I was pretty young, like six or seven, and then I was always drawing and just whatever creative pursuit I could hold on to. At the moment that's what I would do. And as I got older I said I wanted to be a doctor. So I went to school for medical molecular biology and I realized pretty quickly that didn't bring me the joy that I was hoping that it would bring me and I realized to really help people and support others, you also need to be joyful about the things that you're doing and making and creating. So I moved into the art world and my first degree is actually in graphic design with a minor in Spanish and I worked in the design field for many years and owned my own business and I worked for Cherokee Nation businesses as well and then I decided I wanted to go back to school and I went back to get my first masters and while I was there I was really interested in pursuing music again and I taught myself how to play guitar and performing out, because I was really shy and didn't like being around people. When I was younger, I was talking publicly and so for me it was a chance to really learn how to publicly engage with others and be confident, and I knew if I wanted to do things in the world that you just need to be able to have the skill set, and music was the way in which I wanted to share my story, and performing just helped me learn how to be in front of people in a totally different way but still be genuine and authentic to the stories I thought I needed to tell. So I played music. I finished my degree in design and printmaking, I taught for a couple years and then I went to University of Arkansas where I got a master of fine arts there and continued to perform and play music and then kept playing music and I worked for a few different institutions in the meantime and it's in fellowship and that's what led me to do in curatorial work. It's been a really beautiful thing because I found my niche playing music and I perform.

Speaker 1:

I like performing for more quiet, thoughtful audiences until I perform at museums. So during my day job I get to study art, I get to do exhibitions and research and then when I go perform music I get to go to museums and study exhibitions and perform and do all the things I love. So it's really a plus to get to do these things. So what inspires my artwork and the things that I want to keep doing and as long as I live, are really my grandparents and my doodah and my leasy and thinking about my relationship to the land that I grew up on and my relationship to my family and the stories and the relationships they shared with these particular spaces and the knowledge that they held and passed down in a lot of ways to my family. And I think that's what drives me most is I just see how much love and care for these spaces and for each other that we're built and it really drives me to keep making the work that I'm making to help people build bridges between each other and music and visual art that's the main goal is just to help people understand each other a little bit better and be empathetic and compassionate towards each other and towards the landscape and towards the cosmos, towards our animal kin, towards all of it.

Speaker 1:

A few challenges to get where I'm at right now. I think one of the more prominent ones that I know most Native people understand or have dealt with themselves in a variety of different ways is that trying to validate my experiences and non-Native spaces and I think that's probably been the most difficult is trying to advocate for the value of Native perspective, native ways of thinking about the world, looking at the world, experiencing the world in spaces where people don't even understand what that means. But we push through and we find community and we do the best that we can with what we have. I think, secondarily, the things that have been really difficult is part of that which is, or a facet of that which is. You know I do a lot of things and that gets noted. A lot is that I have a lot of practices and for, like the Western world, if you're not a master of something, if you aren't the best at something, then what's the point of doing it? And from my perspective, especially from a Cherokee perspective, it's thinking about. I need to be learning things. I need to be open to learning and open to doing these things and celebrate the gifts that you know Creator has given me. Celebrate the things I'm passionate about because that's been instilled in me. That's just part of who I am. So practicing a multiplicity is really important to me in holding space for that and letting people know that these are all just parts of a whole. You can't understand what I'm doing unless you understand that I do all of these things. So pushing that forward has been difficult at times but I'm really glad I'm trying to keep that moving.

Speaker 1:

My project proposal as part of the Artists of Business Leadership fellowship was called A Garden Good Behind the Shed, which has now the title has shortened, which I'm glad, but it's called Garden, which is a Wee Thima and Cherokee. But it's a full-length record that incorporates Cherokee language and incorporates my own stories alongside shared stories with other Native friends. It's got Native artists all throughout it. I have Native friends doing write-ups for it. I've got Native friends doing the music videos for it. So it's really a huge collaborative effort and I am so appreciative to be able to have the funding and time and resources to do it.

Speaker 1:

And then, as we move forward, I'll do performances with Cherokee Nation and then across the US in different spaces. But yeah, I'm just so excited about it, I'm ready to release it. So right now we're about to get our master's back and so that'll be the final thing we need and I will get them back next week and then we'll head to Pressing for Vinyl Pressing and CD Pressing and we'll do the big release in early 2024. For me, I think, my legacy I just want it to be one of care for each other and care for community and just like a deep, abiding love for one another. That's the legacy I want to leave. I don't really care if people remember me as a person, I just want there to be a knowledge and a bridge built.

Speaker 2:

The Collective Spirit Podcast is produced by First Peoples Fund, whose mission is to honor and support Indigenous artists and culture bearers through grant-making initiatives, culturally rooted programming, and training and mentorship. Learn more at FirstPeoplesFundorg.