Giizh (Sarah) Agaton Howes - Inspired Native™

Giizh (Sarah) Agaton Howes (www.heartberry.com) is an Anishinaabe artist, teacher, and emerging community organizer from Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota. Widely known for her handmade regalia and moccasins featuring Ojibwe floral designs, which are in demand across Minnesota and Wisconsin, Giizh is the second art entrepreneur to participate in Eighth Generation's Inspired Natives™ Project.

Giizh started creating art as a teen with guidance from her mother. Later, when she expressed interest in traditional dance, she learned to bead from her brother so she could make her own traditional regalia. Her current work – which specializes in Ojibwe Floral – represents the perpetuation of that tradition.

An experienced teacher with a foundation in anti-racism and community-based social change work, Giizh frequently shares her knowledge and experience with bead work, making moccasins and creating regalia in her community and beyond. Giizh is also a published poet and spoken word performer. In 2013, she received the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Artist Grant through which she made a bilingual YouTube Ojibwe Pucker Toe Moccasin Tutorials.

Giizh currently organizes an Indigenous Women’s Running Group and utilizes social media to provide inspiration and support to promote wellness and health. She has coordinated many 5K/10K/15K events across the reservation, including the largest group of indigenous women to ever run the Superior Endurance 25K Trail Race.

Giizh is honored to be involved with the Inspired Natives™ Project. Through this collaboration with Eighth Generation, she hopes to help bring our traditional Indigenous designs into a bold and innovative line of wearable and utilitarian art.

View Giizh's growing number of Eighth Generation products here.