Sean Chandler—Community Voice
Sean Chandler is an artist and enrolled member of the Aaniinen (Gros Ventre Nation). He is also the President of Aaniiih Nakoda College located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. In 2016, Dr. Chandler was appointed to the Montana Arts Council and in 2022, he was appointed to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
He acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Art in 1997, as well as a Master of Arts in Native American Studies in 2003 from Montana State University-Bozeman. He also attained a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from The University of Montana in 2014 with his dissertation entitled, “The Identity of Indigenous Lifeways.”
Sean has always been involved in art, starting at an early age when his father taught him the traditional arts of his ancestors, including hide and tipi painting. Integrating those early teachings, Sean voices his own style to communicate the contemporary life that he lives. Themes of racism, loneliness, depression, anger, humor, stereotypes, sovereignty, dependency and cultural genocide exist in Sean’s work.