Baller & Shawler

Niniiyaanis Mobile Mural, 2025

This mural celebrates Native movement as a living form of expression. Featuring a Native basketball player alongside a Fancy Shawl Dancer, the work reflects how Native people continue to tell stories through the body, whether on the court or in the dance circle.

Basketball and dance both carry rhythm, discipline, and intention. Each requires focus, balance, and a deep awareness of space. For Native communities, these movements are more than recreation or performance. They are ways of expressing identity, resilience, and belonging. The court and the powwow circle become parallel spaces where strength, creativity, and community are activated.

This mural was created for The War Pony, a trailer transformed into a mobile community classroom and resource—by us and for us. Through the Niniiyaanis War Pony mobile model, this traveling space goes directly to tribal and urban Native communities, resourcing and empowering children and families with cultural knowledge and tools created by the Niniiyaanis Collective.

The imagery reflects that same purpose. Native people do not exist in separate worlds. We move between contemporary and traditional spaces, carrying culture forward through sport, dance, and everyday life. This mural affirms that Native expression is alive and evolving, and that movement—whether on the court or in the circle—is a powerful way of teaching, healing, and belonging.

Makhátho Oyúze (Where They Obtain Blue Paint)

Vector illustration print, 2023
Commissioned by Starbucks (on display at the North Mankato location)

I created this piece to honor Dakota stories and relationships to Uŋčí Makhá, Grandmother Earth, that are still ongoing.

In southern Minnesota, where early French mapmakers (led by Dakota guides) referred to the region as the “Land of the Water Spirits,” lies a blue clay highly valued by the Dakota people for its rare pigment.

The color blue holds deep significance in Dakota spirituality, representing Škaŋ, the spirit of motion, who is one of the four primary sacred beings. Škaŋ is symbolized by the sky—an ethereal blue presence that breathes life into all living things and governs all that moves. The phrase Táku Wakháŋ Škaŋ Škaŋ refers to the sacred motion of the universe, a constant, powerful force that flows through everything.

This blue clay is believed to embody a connection between the earth and the sky, bridging the material and the immaterial. It is seen as an expression of Škaŋ’s spirit, who separated from the waters—the “blood” of the Great Spirit—to animate the world. Thus, this clay is more than a natural resource; it is a manifestation of the sacred movement that ties the elements of life together. It protects the person who wears it on their body.

Mankato, MN is the misspelling of the Dakota name for the location. Makhátho (Blue Earth) is the actual name.

Flowing Currents (MPR Mural + Augmented Reality)

Mural Fabric Print, 2024

Flowing Currents was created for MPR News as a visual meditation on the shared responsibility of ecological care and truthful storytelling. The mural draws inspiration from Minnesota’s rivers, where the vitality of fish populations signals the overall health of the water itself. In the same way, the strength of our society depends on the integrity, rigor, and care of our news media.

Journalists play a critical public role by uncovering truth, amplifying diverse voices, and holding power to account. Their work nourishes public understanding much like healthy waterways sustain life. In this mural, flowing water becomes a metaphor for storytelling in motion—ever moving, shaping, and reshaping how we understand the world around us.

The imagery reflects the dynamic nature of rivers and narratives alike. Fish move through layered currents as carriers of knowledge, memory, and balance, while the water itself represents the constant exchange between people, place, and information. Each current suggests that no story exists in isolation; all are connected within a larger system that requires care, responsibility, and respect.

An augmented reality component extends the mural beyond its physical form. Through AR, the fish begin to swim and words and phrases drift across the surface like a living river. This digital layer reinforces the idea that stories are alive, continually flowing through time, technology, and community.

Flowing Currents invites viewers to reflect on interconnectedness—between land and water, story and truth, media and the public. Within these currents lie the seeds of understanding, empathy, and progress, guiding us toward a more informed and conscious future.

• Marlena Myles’ mural ‘Flowing Currents’ celebrates Indigenous culture and journalism – Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

We are on Dakota Land bus / Ramsey County Regional Park Signage

Vector Illustration, 2023

We Are on Dakota Land was originally designed as interpretive signage for Ramsey County Parks, created to acknowledge Dakota presence and knowledge within public landscapes. When Metro Transit invited me to wrap the design onto a city bus, the project naturally evolved into something even more aligned with Dakota ways of storytelling.

To Dakota people, storytelling has always been immersive and mobile. We painted our histories, teachings, and relationships onto teepees, allowing stories to wrap around the structures that sheltered our families and communities. Translating this practice onto a bus felt like a contemporary continuation of that tradition a moving vessel carrying stories through the city, visible to thousands of people in their everyday lives.

The imagery woven throughout the bus reflects Dakota relationships to land, movement, and community. Horses reference how our people once traveled across these homelands, while floral designs honor plants as medicine, teachers, and relatives. Tipis symbolize neighborhoods and collective living, reminding us that cities are not separate from Indigenous presence but are built upon it. Bold, layered colors speak to the vibrancy of many cultures living together today, acknowledging shared space while centering Dakota land as the foundation beneath us all.

This work is both a declaration and an invitation. It asserts an ongoing Dakota presence while encouraging viewers to reflect on where they are, whose land they are on, and how stories continue to move, adapt, and live within public space.

Google Doodle: Celebrating Indigenous North American Stickball

Vector Illustration, 2022

In celebration of US Native American Heritage Month, today’s Doodle celebrates Indigenous North American stickball, a ceremonial sport invented by Native American tribes. The artwork was illustrated by Saint Paul-based artist, Marlena Myles who is a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee tribes.

Today’s Doodle artwork focuses on telling the story of Stickball, blending traditions around the game and the modern way it is played. The style is inspired by traditional ledger art (narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth) and intentionally includes women and men of various ages to portray the inclusivity of the sport. The art also depicts gameplay of three different versions of stickball, including the ceremonial pregame practice of sage smudging (an ancient Native American practice of burning dried plants) as seen in the “G” letter formation.

Read my interview here: https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-indigenous-north-american-stickball

Artwork commissioned by Google.

Featured / interviews for this project:

• St. Paul artist Marlena Myles celebrates Indigenous narratives in her Google Doodle and a new exhibit, Sahan Journal
• See Google’s logo transform into a stickball game for Native American Heritage Month, NPR
• What Is Indigenous North American Stickball? Google Doodle Celebrates Sport, Newsweek
• Google Doodle Celebrates Indigenous North American Stickball, USA Lacrosse Magazine