Kristen Dorsey
by Kelly Hubbell-Hinton
To meet Kristen Dorsey is to learn that her artistry and creativity are multi-dimensional, and the stories that she tells through her work and for her community are powerful and important. According to Kristen, “the best stories are the ones that foster imagination and inspire” and throughout her career she has been “dedicated to telling stories through words, visuals, and events to support makers, fellow artists, and entrepreneurs.”
In our latest installment of Goddess, IGG is ecstatic to celebrate Kristen for her years of designing and sharing what can only be described as ethereal and stunning fine jewelry. We also take a more expansive view of her many skills and passions as an artist, a curator, an arts advocate, and so much more!
You can also see Kristen’s designs on display and in action in this issue’s Fashion pages.
Photo by Tyler Ray courtesy of Kristen Dorsey
About Kristen
“As a Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, I wanted to create a company that told stories about my Tribal Nation’s unique history through jewelry. Each collection is inspired by strong Chickasaw and Native womxn. One such collection, entitled “The Panther Woman Collection,” tells the story of a Chickasaw battle strategist whose attack plan drove off a plague of Spanish Conquistadors in the 1600’s. My jewelry toured the country in museum exhibits, runway shows, galleries, and fine art markets. Along the way, I tried to break through stereotypes, and advocate for Native rights.”
Kristen (Chickasaw Nation) is a resident of the South Bay area of Los Angeles and is an avid surfer. She honed her craft at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and also earned a degree in American studies with a concentration in Native American studies from Tufts University. Kristen founded her company Kristen Dorsey Designs in 2011 and since, has worked with other companies and nonprofits to tell their stories via marketing strategy, website copy, creative events, and social media management. Kristen’s work has been featured in various periodicals such as Native Peoples Magazine, CNN, LA Times, and Racked.com and she has been interviewed by Mic.com and Business of Fashion on issues of cultural appropriation.
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT KRISTEN AT:
https://www.kristenbdorsey.com/connect-1
or on Instagram @kristendorseykdd/
Photo: Chiara Salomoni/Kristen Dorsey
Kristen Dorsey Designs
The tagline of Kristen’s fine jewelry company, Kristen Dorsey Designs, is “Chickasaw adornment for the modern warrior.” This energy is evident in all of Kristen’s designs and the stories that each collection tells (The Hatchet Women, Of Earth and Place, and Panther Woman), represent her Chickasaw history and community.
Kristen Dorsey Designs was established in 2011 and for almost ten years Kristen has been conceptualizing, creating, and selling her works across the world. This year, Kristen decided to close her shop and is focusing on her family, her health, and her other projects. If you are fortunate enough to own a piece by Kristen I am sure you have felt the symbolism and the spirit of her artwork - they are true treasures.
“There is nothing I enjoy more than when a customer tells me that my jewelry makes them feel empowered. It means that my customers admire the story I told through my jewelry...It is my goal to engage with and inspire those customers through storytelling…”
VIEW MORE OF HER AMAZING JEWELRY AT https://kristendorseydesigns.com
Art Curation
Kristen Dorsey has also lent her artistic eye to the curation space. In 2018, she co-curated the show, Matriarchs, alongside Jaclyn Roessel at the El Segundo Museum of Art in El Segundo, CA. Matriarchs and its groundbreaking events featured multiple works by 12 contemporary womxn Indigenous artists representing 14 Indigenous communities. The artwork included an array of mediums such as fashion, metalwork, photography, painting, basketry, and video.
About Matriarchs: “As Indigenous womxn, we have occupied essential leadership roles in our communities for centuries. While the forces of colonization have sought to dismantle our cultures and life ways, we have fought to maintain and preserve them – not only surviving, but asserting our Indigenous identities at every turn throughout history. Today, our womxn are leading and shaping movements to protect both natural resources and Indigenous bodies. Leading this critical work to heal, recover, and shape brighter, healthier futures, Indigenous womxn are occupying roles as activists, scholars, educators, doctors, attorneys, writers, artists, scientists, and social workers. They are not only re-defining western institutional spaces and professions to fit the unique needs of their communities, but they are acting as visionaries for all of humanity – applying ancestral knowledge and values to develop innovative solutions to our most pressing contemporary issues.” - Kristen Dorsey and Jaclyn Roessel
Since 2016, Kristen has also served as a founding board member of the exhibit VISUAL VOICES: Contemporary Chickasaw Art. This touring exhibition showcases almost sixty artworks of present-day Chickasaw painters, potters, sculptors, metalsmiths and weavers into a contemporary visual story. In her role on the board, Kristen worked with other Chickasaw artists to develop the exhibit concept, get it funded, and hired a team to implement the show in museums across the country. The exhibit is currently on view at the Briscoe Museum in San Antonio, TX and offers “abstract, experimental, celebratory, mysterious, thought provoking or critical works confirming a strong continuation of contemporary Chickasaw art practices.”
VIEW MORE AT:
https://esmoa.org/experience/matriarchs/
https://www.chickasawartists.com/
https://www.elsegundolibrary.org/services/arts-and-culture/art-in-the-library/portals-to-memory-mural-by-nanibah-chacon
Visual Voices on Instagram @chickasawvisualvoices/ and on Twitter @ChickasawVVoice
Introduction (Detail), 2018 by Kristen Dorsey and Jaclyn Roessel
Brynn and Kristen at the Visual Voices opening at the Mississippi Museum of Art
Photo in Matriarchs exhibit with photographer Cara Romero and a film crew from PBS’s Craft in America for a profile on Cara
Community Art & Collaboration
Kristen is working to redefine representation of Indigenous works in the museum spaces while advocating for the importance of art in local communities. Kristen serves on the El Segundo Arts and Culture Committee where she collaborated with her fellow board members and other project supporters to proudly brought two Indigenous artists, Nanibah Chacon and Mercedes Dorame to the El Segundo Public Library to create a mural celebrating the contemporary Tongva people - who are the ancestral caretakers of Tovangarr (Los Angeles Basin).
Kristen also collaborated with Joanna Underwood Blackburn, another Chickasaw Nation artist, to create Spring Waters (pictured above). This double-sided steel and bronze sculpture is currently located at the Artesian Hotel & Spa in Sulphur, OK. A description of the artwork includes:
“From our homelands to our present, water has always been a central part of Chickasaw culture. Light dances on the swirling steel to reference how water flows and froths around rocks in gurgling streams. The fish, made of bronze, swim continuously around the sculpture and are carved in the style of our ancestors’ line art found on shell carvings. The hand painted green patina on the fish represents copper, a precious material for our ancestors. Our ancestors wore circular gorgets carved from shell and incised with symbols that guided them in their daily life. Made in the style of an ancient shell gorget, this piece honors what is precious to us - Oka (water) and the environment that we must safeguard for future generations.”
VIEW MORE AT:
https://www.elsegundolibrary.org/services/arts-and-culture/art-in-the-library/portals-to-memory-mural-by-nanibah-chacon
http://www.jblackburnstudios.com/
Photo courtesy of Kristen Dorsey
Kristen Doresey selfie with installation by Nanibah Chacon in Matriarchs
What is clear about Kristen Dorsey is that her genius and influence have permeated the art world for the past decade. What is guaranteed is that her creativity and representation for Indigenous communities, artists, and their artwork will carry over into the next part of her journey. In the short time that I spent speaking with Kristen, it is also apparent that her kindness, her pride, and her tenacity continue to add the sparkle to the multi-dimensional gem that she is.
Yakokí Kristen.
Photo by Brad Clark courtesy of Kristen Dorsey
Brynn and Kristen in the Matriarchs exhibit with ‘Baby on board’ by Jamie Okuma
Although Kristen has retired from jewlry making her jewelry can be found at:
IAIA MOCNA in Santa Fe, NM
Artesian Art Galllery in Sulphur, OK
Autry Museum- Los Angeles, CA
Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA
Exhibit C Gallery-Oklahoma City, OK
Blackburn Art Studios- jblackburnstudios.com
Photo by Leah Rose for Indigenous Goddess Gang