Indigenous Place Keeping Artist Fellows selected

Douglas Burgess (Grand Ronde) and Chantele Rilatos (Siletz) have been selected as the two Indigenous Place Keeping Artist Fellows for 2025.

“This fellowship not only provides the resources to begin this project, but also the recognition to help build momentum for long lasting cultural impact in my communities,” Burgess said. “Being the recipient of this fellowship reassured me I am on the right path, and I have people who support me and my mission.”

During the fellowship, Burgess will develop and build a mobile glassblowing unit that he will bring to Grand Ronde for workshops this summer.

His aesthetic is largely inspired by the Haida art that surrounded him growing up in Hydaburg, Alaska, according to a press release.  His Haida name is “Slaay Sliinlaas,” which translates to “creative hands.”

In 2007, his family relocated to Tacoma, Washington, where Burgess had his introduction to hot glass through the Hilltop Artists nonprofit.

He went on to study at Pilchuck Glass School and the Corning Museum of Glass. He learned under master glass artist Dan Friday for several years. Burgess has since returned to Hilltop Artists as an instructor where he works full time teaching middle schoolers teamwork, perseverance and building confidence through working with hot glass.

Douglas has had the opportunity to show his work in the Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Thurston County Museum of Fine Arts, and Pilchuck Glass School. In his work, Burgess pays homage to his culture’s traditional practices in a contemporary format.

Douglas Burgess (Contributed photo)

Rilatos is a traditional basket weaver and regalia maker from the Takelma, Tututni, Galice, Molala and Yurok tribes.

Born and raised in her ancestral homelands of the Rogue Valley along the Rogue River, Rilatos carries forward the knowledge and practices of her ancestors through her art, according to a press release.

With the support of family, she gathers, processes and prepares all the plant materials used in her traditional art form.

“I am honored to be selected as a fellow in recognition of my traditional basket weaving,” Rilatos said. “Basket weaving is ceremony, it's spiritual and cultural. Culture keeps me grounded and true to who I am. This fellowship is special because it values traditional knowledge and Indigenous lifeways, and having that support means so much to me.”

Rilatos will weave a ceremonial basket cap and a maple bark skirt for naa-yvhl-sri nee-dash, the winter solstice world renewal ceremony.

She sees basket weaving as more than just an art form: It’s a connection to the land, the ancestors and a way of life. To her, baskets are a living part of her culture. Her goal is to “weave in the ways of her ancestors” and pass this knowledge on to future generations.

The Indigenous Place Keeping Artist Fellowship was created in 2022 by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and provides up to $20,000 for serving as a fellow.

The fellowship exists to develop Indigenous artist capacity within the Grand Ronde Tribe’s homelands and as a means to develop artists’ resumes with an intent that artists who have been fellows have better opportunities for local, regional and nationwide funding to help make an independent career as full-time artists possible.

A call for applications is made each fall for the IPKA Fellowship and is open to individuals who can demonstrate a verifiable Indigenous connection to ancestral peoples of Western Oregon from the lower Columbia River in the north to the Klamath River in the south.

The fellowship is administered by the Grand Ronde Cultural Resources Department. More information can be obtained by contacting Cultural.Resources@grandronde.org.