Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Jarrette Werk (Aaniiih & Nakoda, Fort Belknap Indian Community), 31, of Portland, Oregon, says, “Art is everything to me. I have been an artist my whole life.
“It’s how I process what I see, what I feel, and what I move through. It gives me a way to translate everything about me into something that can be seen, felt, and shared.”
While his “home community” is Hays/Lodgepole, Montana, Jarrette considers his broader community to be Indian Country, adding, “I’m a Montana boy through and through.”
Jarrette has been creating photography since he was a senior in high school and started creating jewelry in 2023.
“Photography is my favorite medium to work with,” he stated in his Dreamstarter Creative application. “I love capturing my jewelry creations in a variety of ways, whether it’s product photography with a styled shoot on my dining room table or full-scale photoshoots with models on Cannon Beach.
“I’m always looking for ways to elevate how I present both my jewelry and my photography.”
He describes his work as a blend of traditional Native materials, such as dentalium and ermine, with contemporary elements like mixed metals and Swarovski crystals, creating a fresh, modern interpretation of traditional shell jewelry.
His idea is to create a full collection of jewelry and a stylized editorial photoshoot to showcase the finished products.
With his $2,500 Dreamstarter Creative grant, he plans to invest all the funds into purchasing high-quality products and supplies in bulk, commenting that “I want to elevate my jewelry to the next level, and receiving this grant will help make that a reality.”
Jarrette is using his grant funding to purchase high-quality dentalium shells, a type of seashell from scaphopod mollusks. Dentalium shells have been used in Indigenous jewelry and adornment by Inuit, First Nations, and Native American peoples and historically served as a trade item along the western coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Additionally, he is purchasing pink conch hearts, ermine pelts, Swarovski crystals, gold and gold-plated and sterling silver chains, earring hooks, etc., for use in necklaces, chokers and earrings, as well as a camera lens specifically for photographing the jewelry he makes.
Jarrette is an award-winning reporter and photographer, with his most recent achievement being one of 17 artists included in ENCODED, an unsanctioned Indigenous-led exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. (From encodedatthemet.com: “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025, seventeen Indigenous artists from across North America installed their own exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, taking over the American Wing as it ended its centennial year. The exhibition was unsanctioned. The Met did not know it was coming.”)
In sum, Jarrette says the grant will impact the overall quality of his art.
“It will allow me to level up my products, the materials I use, and how I photograph and share them with the world. It will help provide more representation all around.
“Whether I’m telling stories through my words as a journalist, documenting moments through the lens of my camera, or creating contemporary jewelry that echoes the artistry of my ancestors, it all comes from my heart as an artist.”
