Crystal Lepscier
Crystal Lepscier
Art as Cultural Nourishment
Sets of Lepscier’s earrings, each unique. Courtesy of the artist.
Crystal Lepscier (she/her) finds time to create art between raising her young children. During the week she might quickly bead a pair of earrings after their bedtime or during lunch at work. On weekends, though, she has more flexibility to really get creative and tackle big projects. But even her earrings, beaded on breaks and after bedtime, are impressive works of art, each one completely unique: “I don't duplicate my earrings, even though people will love them. I might make them similar, but never the same, because I want them always to have their own kind of voice and presence.”
Her real artistic joy is painting. She has her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), and has hopes to further her painting practice in the future. She is particularly interested in portrait work that focuses on faces: “Faces are the thing that I’m really attracted to…We don't often look at our faces that closely, but there's so many different nuances, especially when people are older, and they have more wear to their skin. I guess it's the challenge that really attracts me.” As an artist, Lepscier is excited, rather than daunted by challenges. She often pushes herself to try new mediums, such as working with quills, which she has started incorporating into her beadwork. In November, she took a class on quillwork and looks forward to further incorporating it into her practice.
A mini earring collection by Lepscier. Each earring is inspired by one of the Golden Girls, an example of how Lepscier incorporates humor into her practice. Courtesy of the artist.
Humor has always been a significant part of Lepscier’s life and her artistic practice. “It’s cultural, you know?” she says, describing how she and her cousins used humor to diffuse difficult situations while growing up. She also grew up in the skateboarding and punk scene around Milwaukee, which added to her appreciation for humor as a means of expression: “That scene has always got that little edge to it…it was like with a bunch of angsty white teenage boys that, you know, had to make a statement about stuff. So a lot of them were funny and pulled pranks.” That edge and humor have found their way into her art over the years. As an undergraduate she made a series of works called “Fry Bread Elders,” in which she imposed the faces of subjects from Edward Curtis photos onto fry bread. The work was a creative, tongue-in-cheek response to Curtis’s prolific misrepresentation of Native peoples across North America. In another instance, she made beadwork inspired by the Addams Family Values (1993) movie, in which Wednesday Addams actually wears beadwork in a notable scene at summer camp.
Not all of her work is humorous, however. Lepscier has made work that brings awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic. She describes a piece she made called Save Her (Savior) for an art show about MMIW: “It's kind of like a play on Christianity or Catholicism. What can we turn to for our youth to empower themselves and be protected? People turn to the Church for prayer to have protection, or when something bad happens in their lives. It's a place of solace for them.” Her piece draws attention to the importance of Indigenous women finding strength through cultural practices. Her niece, who is featured in the artwork, went to a cultural camp in their Menominee community. Lepscier says that staying culturally connected in that way is, “one of the practices that will help her be empowered and strong in her identity.” Lepscier describes the piece as a reflection on her own journey. When faced with difficult times, she says, “culture is what helped me.”
The importance of culture and cultural expression was central to Lepscier’s dissertation, which she completed in May 2022, earning a doctoral degree. Her research focused on racial battle fatigue and Indigenous students in higher education. “Cultural nourishment was one of the findings,” she describes, “and for me that's those artistic things, the artistic practice that can help you understand your identity, give you meditative spaces, and really empower you as a student.”
Save Her (Savior) by Lepscier. Courtesy of the artist.
Jacob’s Moccasins by Lepscier, made for her son. Courtesy of the artist.
This idea of cultural nourishment infuses not just her work, but also her life, as she makes sure to provide these meditative spaces for her children as well. Her daughter was 5 or 6 when she started doing some beadwork. Lepscier reflects on how important this is to her and her family: “I look forward to the day when we can just sit down beading together. Even my son, too – he’s interested. So, I'm like ‘Soon as you're ready, get that needle.’ It's just really neat to be able to think about how it will pass on in our family.”
Teaching her kids has created space for Lepscier to continue learning herself, as has Bead Night. “I'm still learning,” she says, “and working with Plains Soul beading group, and just hearing of the tips of tricks and meeting new artists. It's just amazing how much is out there to learn.” Bead Night has been an important space for her to connect with other artists: “I love connecting across the nation to hang out and learn from some of the best Native artists out there! There's so much inspiration and camaraderie involved, it's amazing.”
It’s an important time for Lepscier’s artistic practice as she focuses on ramping up production and tackling projects that she has long dreamed about. “Now that I'm done with my dissertation, I'm really going to push,” she says. “I really gotta get the things done that I'm supposed to be doing, which means I gotta get that art out there. I gotta get the teachings to the people that need the teachings. We only have so long to connect with people, you know.” Creating art is cultural nourishment for Lepscier. She generously extends that nourishment to her audience as well, making us laugh with her humor, while also asking us to deeply engage with the powerful ideas her work conveys.
Artist Biography
Crystal Lepscier is an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa of Montana. Her mother is an enrolled member of the Stockbridge-Munsee and her father (kaeh nap) was an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
Her beadwork and other art captures her connections to these woodland tribal communities while interacting with contemporary colors, shapes, and designs. Her art offerings include small beaded earrings, beaded pendants, and other beaded items. She has started to incorporate quills into a few of her designs. Each of her beaded items are unique and she typically does not duplicate them.
She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A) in 2005 from UW-Madison in Studio Art with a focus on painting. Working at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Visitor Services, inspired her to get more involved in beadwork. She returned to UW-Madison to complete graduate studies, earning a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) in 2011. She recently earned an Educational Doctorate (Ed.D.) in First Nations Education from UW-Green Bay (May 2022). She strives to connect art and education and focuses her research on how we can tap into our cultural practices to aid in relationship building and healing work in our communities.