Kelly Church, (Gun lake Band Potawatomi, Grand Traverse Band Ottawa and Chippewa) an award-winning artist and graduate of the American Institute of Indian Arts, comes from five generations of black ash basket-makers. Church is the first Native American Visiting Artist at the College of St. Mary in Omaha and as part of her residency will be giving this artist talk which is free and open to the public.

Church harvests and processes all of her materials from the woods and forests of Michigan. Of particular interest to Church, is the decimation of the Black Ash tree by the Emerald ash borer. Seriously concerned for the life of black ash trees, Church has taken additional responsibility and commitment to engage in the education, research and teaching of the tradition of black ash basket making to as many students, and as far and wide as possible—calling herself an Art Activist.