Becky Olvera Schultz unmasks her native expressions with masks: keeper of the peace is a favorite symbolic creation.

Its face painted, crowned with a buffalo headdress, Keeper of the Peace (see image at right) is more than just a mask. "Not a mask in the usual sense," Becky Olvera Schultz says, "but a lifelike facial portrait." This mixed-media wall hanging is a symbol of strength and dignity. Using her knowledge of tribal imagery and history ("but with my own personal inspiration and style," says Schultz, "which just comes from within me"), the artist created the clay mask as a blend of contemporary and historic artwork. "With Keeper of the Peace, I am also incorporating what was the life-blood of the Plains tribes--the bison," Schultz says from her Native Expressions studio in Santa Cruz County, Calif. "This piece has real bison fur and bison horn, which was often worn as part of warring, hunting and ceremonial regalia. The medicine wheel on the forehead is a Native American medicine wheel made from dyed porcupine quill. To me, Keeper of the Peace symbolizes the original Native American spirit of pride, honor, respect and peace."

As a child, Schultz collected dolls, but not to play with. "I took joy in designing and sewing clothes for them," she says. "I always liked to draw and paint. As a teen, I would pick up scissors and a piece of paper, and while the adults sat around talking, I'd freehand cut out their silhouettes in paper. I wanted to be an art major in college, but my parents felt no one could ever make money as an artist."

Instead, she wound up in the publishing and advertising industry. In 1993, in the emotional aftermath of her brother's death, Schultz took a native drum-making class and rediscovered how much she loved working with her hands. Her instructor in a clay-working class told her, "I think faces are your thing," and Schultz hasn't looked back.

Her father has Indian heritage (Mexican Azteca and Kickapoo), but Schultz downplays that connection. "I like to just refer to myself as an Indigenous artist--as in, indigenous to the Americas. Perhaps my blood connection does have something to do with my art, but it's just something that I feel and relate to."

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Visit Schultz's site www.native-expressions.com and see more at www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west.