NRCS Honors American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month with “Three Sisters” by Derek No-Sun Brown

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), in honor of American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, has dedicated a poster with art from Derek No-Sun Brown, entitled “Three Sisters.”

American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month is observed from November 1 through November 30. During this time, NRCS celebrates and recognizes intertribal cultures and takes the opportunity to educate the public about the heritage, history, art, and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Furthermore, we respect and honor tribal sovereignty by working on a government-to-government basis with Tribal Nations to protect and enhance tribal natural resources.

This year’s artwork theme is “The Three Sisters of Indigenous American Agriculture.”

“This piece is a visual representation of the three sister plants corn, beans, and squash. In the painting, the sacred foods are represented as young women all working together sharing in their harvest. The first figure is the corn sister standing tall and strong holding an ear of Indian corn in her right hand. In the middle is the bean sister wrapping her vines gently around her sister. The bean sister is shown holding the basket of harvest because she is the middle and integral piece to the family. At the far end is the strong and resilient squash sister, who is holding a small pumpkin in her hands. Together they are the three sisters who not only nourish but protect the people,” said No-Sun when describing “Three Sisters.”

Derek No-Sun Brown is an entrepreneur and artist who is blessed to be carrying on ancestry from the Shoshone Bannock, Klamath and Anishinabe people. Born in 1986, He was raised with a strong traditional foundation and continues to maintain indigenous ways of prayer and philosophy that is evident through his art. No-Sun grew up on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho and the Boise Forte Reservation in northern Minnesota. Traveling back and forth to his maternal and paternal homelands is how the young artist began to expand his mind and see things from an alternative perspective.

No-Sun attended Idaho State University but received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2013 from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. No-Sun has also combined his love for art, painting, sculpture, apparel and entrepreneurship into a business called War Medicine that has been going strong since the official opening date in May 2013. His talent expanded into the public art world as of 2021 with the completion of two large scale building murals in Portland, and the last one in Gladstone Oregon. Recently, a stainless-steel sculpture series called “Water-Fall Salmon & Woven Dreams” was installed in Keizer, Oregon, in September 2022.

The posters will be showcased in every NRCS office across the United States and a copy will be provided to all Tribes across the nation.

“NRCS Idaho is honored to continue to work with Indian Tribes to protect and preserve their natural resources for future generations,” said Curtis Elke, State Conservationist in Idaho. “This poster represents and honors the importance and excellence in agriculture by the Tribes, and it is a pleasure to have this artwork featured in NRCS and Tribal offices across the country.”

The sponsors of this year’s poster contest are NRCS Idaho, NRCS Oklahoma and NRCS Washington.

For more information about American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, please visit nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov.

For more information about NRCS Idaho, please visit nrcs.usda.gov/id.

Original source can be found here.