Derek No-Sun Brown carries on the ancestry from the Shoshone-Bannock, Klamath, and Anishinabe people. He was raised with a strong traditional foundation and continues to maintain indigenous ways of prayer and philosophy that are evident through his art.  This painting is entitled, “Silver Hat Band”.  It is India Ink and acrylic on canvas.  The style has a modernist appearance with the black and white coloration.  While it may seem easy, watching Derek paint with India ink has its own challenges and “control of the flow”.  For this piece, each of the riders has a very subtle silver hatband.  Note as well the very subtle delineation of the horse’s heads with the painting of the reigns!  it is quite exceptional.  Derek is an exceptional artist and an important voice among young Native artists!

A bit more about Derek:

Derek No-Sun grew up on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho and the Boise Forte Reservation in northern Minnesota.  Traveling back and forth to his maternal and paternal homelands is how the young artist began to expand his mind and see things from an alternate perspective. No-Sun has been quoted as saying “Being exposed to different cultures at an early age made me appreciate and love all my people because we are connected to the same source, we all fight the same war and share the same struggle. The Source is our ceremony and the struggle that is shared between all Native people are issues of identity, poverty, degradation of indigenous culture, and land. The war is the ways in which Native people fight against these issues; today we fight using education, legislation, music, art, and many other facets other than non-physical solutions.”  No-Sun added “Art for me was a way to combat the negative aspects of reservation life because a lot of things are out of your control at a young age, and art was something I could control, it eased my anxiety and gave me an outlet for my energy.”