Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.
Leah and Cole chat with artist Sam Zimmerman (Grand Portage). After two decades on the east coast in public education, Sam moved back to Minnesota to rededicate himself to his passion for painting and to be closer to his family and community.
His artwork explores his Ojibwe heritage, as well as his learnings and experiences in nature after returning to his ancestral homelands. Sam shares about learning language and culture through community collaborations, illustrating books for Native authors, and collaborating with family. He tells Leah and Cole about his path, which began with a college-age passion for painting, and then a love for teaching, and has now come full circle as he returns home.
Sam also discusses his experience venturing into watercolor painting for the first time, which is showcased in his latest gallery exhibition titled “Indigenous Expressions Love Culture and Reinvention” at the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO). This exhibition is a collaborative effort with author and illustrator Tashia Hart, as well as bead artist Chenoa Williams.
Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.
Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts
More from Native Lights
- Bradley Harrington: The United States 250th Anniversary from an Anishinaabe Perspective
On this episode Leah and Cole speak with Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe citizen Bradley Harrington who recently penned an article in the Mille Lacs Band newspaper, Ojibwe Inaajimowin, about 250 years of US occupation as the country marks the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. - Dr. Samantha Majhor: The Story Collector
Today, we’re excited to welcome Dr. Samantha Majhor to Native Lights. Samantha is a direct descendant of Fort Peck. She’s Dakota and Assiniboine and is an assistant professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota. She focuses on Native American literature, particularly literature by Dakota and Ojibwe writers around the Great Lakes region. - Aleyna Morales: Baking and Believing in Herself
Today, we’re speaking with Aleyna Morales. Aleyna grew up in the Twin Cities and Somerset, Wisconsin. Aleyna’s heritage includes Ojibwe from the Fond du Lac Band community and Mexican. She is the creator and baker behind Baked to Bliss by Laney. You can catch her selling baked goods at the Carlton County Farmers Market.
Recreational Cannabis, Indigenous Milk Medicine Week, Tashia Hart’s New Book & More