Jamie Okuma
she/her Beadwork & Fashion Artist La Jolla Indian Reservation, CA
About The Artist
Jamie Okuma is a Native American Artist practicing in multidisciplinary fields of art with an emphasis of beadwork. Okuma is an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño (Mission) Indians, and she is tribally Luiseño, Shoshone-Bannock, and Wailaki from her mothers side and Okinawan from her fathers side. Her culturally embedded art practice began as a child while attending the Ft. Hall Festival on the Ft. Hall Indian Reservation, ID, where she entered her first art show at the age of 6. After high school, she took an art class at Palomar Community College and later attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Since then, her work has been published and exhibited around the world. She has won multiple awards from The Southwestern Association of Indian Arts and The Heard Museum Art Market and in 2019, Okuma was the recipient of the Knudsen Prize. She currently works and resides on the La Jolla Indian Reservation with her husband and two young sons.
About The Work
Beyond visuals my work is wholly culture based. Whether it be by design, materials, fabrication, construction or intent. It is instinctual and a constant presence consciously and subconsciously.
Elk boots, 2018, Antique glass seed beads beaded onto Giuseppe Zanotti platform boots, Size 37. Photo: Cameron Linton
Fancy War Dancer, 2011, Mix media sculpture, 24 in tall. Photo: Cameron Linton
