Dylan Cavin Artist Interview

Our Executive Director Shari Jackson will be interviewing Dylan Cavin on Friday, June 12 at 5pm before his closing exhibit. He will discuss how he got into ledger art, his influences and the power behind his work. Come hear him speak before 2nd Friday!
Dylan’s work explores the layered relationship between identity, history, and land through the lens of contemporary Native experience. Drawing from the visual language of ledger art, he uses historical documents as both surface and subject—materials that carry the weight of record-keeping, ownership, and erasure. Figures, animals, and symbols move across these pages, suggesting stories that exist beyond what was officially documented.
He’s interested in the tension between preservation and loss—what is remembered, what is omitted, and how those narratives shape our present. By combining traditional references with personal and modern imagery, the work becomes a space where past and present intersect. Ultimately, these pieces are about continuity—carrying forward stories, adapting them, and asserting presence in a landscape that has long attempted to define it for us.