Left page: Shanna Omeasoo (Plains Cree) wears a silver necklace sculpted into the shape of bluebells. Its “berries” are sapphires and rubies that are created in a lab versus being mined.
“Bluebells and Berries” necklace and “Untitled” earrings, 2022, sterling silver and lab-crafted sapphires and rubies, 5.5” x 9”; Dome earrings, sterling silver, .75” x 1.25”.
Although he would return to his former home-
lands just two years later, the experience was trans- formative. Lee started working with metals, and although “It was just kind of a progression that I didn’t really plan,” said Lee, something clicked for him. “It just felt really, really natural.” Robertson said that he quickly noticed the
respect Lee had as an artist. “He started doing his plan and style right off the bat. Erik could have eas- ily started engraving in our style—that’s what a lot of people do—but he refused to do that. He said, ‘I’m going to do my own.’” Lee said that an artist is a creator. “I don’t need
to take [other artists’ styles]. What I did was take a technique and learn that technique. Take it and apply that to my own vision. Wherever my design ideas are coming from, historically or from up in the sky—I’m just applying that,” he said. “I take cues from Cree culture, but I like to make my own.”
Making a Statement Lee’s unique style caught the eye of Woodland Cree actress Alyssa Wapanatâhk. She will be portraying Tiger Lily in the upcoming Disney movie “Peter Pan and Wendy,” an update to the former Disney “Peter Pan” film. She wanted to help promote other Indige- nous artists by wearing Native-designed jewelry at a D23 Expo event for the film in Anaheim this past September as well as at the Toronto Independent Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival, also held this past fall. Wapanatâhk was scanning social media sites
for potential artists who created such jewelry when she saw photos of Lee’s creations. “I was on Instagram, and I searched Native jewelry and in Edmonton because my family’s from out there. I also thought, ‘I need something that’s Cree, and he’s also Cree. When I saw his jewelry, I thought, ‘This is the stuff!’ . . . It really surprised me because
The traditional black chevron designs on this bracelet (top) and earrings (below) are carved into the silver. The black color of the bracelet is created by overlaying a layer of silver onto a black background. That of the earrings is created as the light is reflected by the grooves.
“Untitled,” 2018, sterling silver, 3.25” x 1.5”. Hand-engraved, sterling silver earrings, 2” x .25”.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WINTER 2022
39
LEFT: INGRID KELLN; RIGHT: PHOTOS BY ERIK LEE (2)
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