Hi
This is my story
I'm an Ojibwe woman, artist, and mother, and I paint from between two worlds — the one my people have always known, and the one that tried to erase it. Every canvas holds what survived: our land, our stories, and the people I love most.
Every painting begins with a story. Not one I invent, but one I have inherited.
I'm Le'Ana Asher, an Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) oil painter and enrolled member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, based in the Chicago area. I grew up knowing our stories were carried long before they were ever written down in songs, in ceremony, in the rhythm of a pow wow drum, in the hands of our beadworkers' and basket makers, in the voices of our elders. They still are. Now I carry them forward for my own children, the way they were carried forward for me.
Working primarily in oil, I create original Indigenous fine art portraits, landscapes, botanicals, and figurative work rooted in pow wow culture, handmade regalia, and the woodland plants of our homeland. My work moves between realism and expressive brushwork, each piece a small act of remembering and a visual story of belonging, sovereignty, and our enduring relationship with the land. Photography is part of my practice too, a way of documenting the people and traditions that continue to shape my work.
My path My path here wasn't a straight line. I've been making art my whole life but it wasn't until I committed fully to my practice in 2017 that it became who I am today. Since then, I've shown at Santa Fe and Eiteljorg Indian Markets, been featured on PBS and in national art publications, and built a body of work that collectors, from first-time buyers to serious collectors are proud to own.
Lately, my work has begun exploring another layer of those stories — the unseen systems that shape how we understand history, identity, and truth, almost like invisible code running beneath everyday life. Indigenous language, ceremony, and ways of knowing have always existed outside that code, surviving despite centuries of attempts to erase them. Through layered imagery and symbolism, I invite viewers to look beyond what they've been taught to see, and discover what has always been there.
I paint what was carried to me, so it can be carried on.
-Le'Ana
Paintings made/art created
Happy Clients
Years in Business
2026-2020
Exhibitions
& Juried Shows
Gichiigamin Museum “living stories” (2025-2026) (group exhibition)
Santa Fe Indian Market, juried show (2018–2025)
Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market, Indianapolis, juried show (2021–2025)
Center for Native Futures, "Native Futures", (2023-2024), Group show
EXPO Chicago, Center for Native Futures booth, sponsored by Terra Foundation (2022, invite-only)
Skokie Heritage Museum, solo show (2023)
Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, juried show (2023)
Muskegon Museum of Art, "the art of the people:Contemporary Anishinaabe Artists" (2020-2021)
Saugatuck/Douglas History Center, "The Art of the People; Contemporay Anishinaave Artists. (2021)
Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Phoenix (2020)
2025-2020
Awards
Juried show
2026 Honorable mention, "Entering the sacred", Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market
2025 3rd Place, Best of 2D,"Wake Up" Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market
2024 3rd Place, Best of 2D, ' Ojibwe MatrixEiteljorg Museum Indian Market
2022 1st Place, "Walking Sacred Path" Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market
2020 Top 5 Finalist, 2D, "Aunt Becky", SWAIA Virtual Indian Market
2025-2020
Press & Media
PBS/WKAR, "Before America" series (2025)
PBS/WGN, "A New Look at a Chicago Pioneer's Legacy" (2024)
Native American Art Magazine, feature articles (2021) june/july
All She Makes magazine (2023) Cowboys and Indians magazine (2020)p.180
Western Art Collector Magazine, "Emerging Artist, Editors Choice", April 2018 p.91
2025-2021
Commissions & Licensing
"Hello Helios: The Warming Suns of Chicago's Greektown" — public art, fiberglass sculpture, Chicago, IL (2021)
Artwork licensed for PBS "Before America" series (2025)
"California Native = Vote," woodland jingle design, licensed (2024)
First Nation Flyer, woodland jingle design, licensed (2024)
Logo design, 5th Annual CAICC Urban Native Education Virtual Conference, St. Kateri Center, Chicago, IL (2021)
In addition to the above, I've completed 12+ private commissions for collectors across the country. I'm happy to share examples on request.
Le'Ana holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from Eastern Michigan University (1999)