Aptos Library Hosts Native American Art Works

The works of Native American artist Becky Olvera Schultz, a resident of Aptos, will be on display at the Aptos Library until December to recognize November as Native American Heritage Month.

Becky Olvera Schultz

Olvera Schulz can trace her ancestry to both the Kickapoo and Shawnee tribes. She pursued art since childhood, even as her mother, a nurse, pushed towards pre-med classes. Once in college, she dropped out and worked for the Register-Pajaronian in Watsonville selling advertising.

About two decades later she took a Native American drum class and began a self-discovery. She followed that with a clay class and began sculpting. From there her art blossomed.

“Soon after I took a clay class, I discovered I was good at sculpting faces. My focus was indigenous faces. My work was inspired by images in books, but most of my pieces were faces that just emerged from the clay from my own vision,” she said. “I started painting the faces and adding horse hair and other adornments.”

She said that some people were intimidated or scared by how realistic her masks were at first, so she started making her masks more whimsical and colorful in a Southwestern style.

Over the years her art has been featured in nine museum exhibitions, galleries in several states as well as included in countless national and local exhibitions and Santa Cruz Open Studios 12 times.

“I believe my own indigenous bloodline, natural talent, research and travel experiences have all contributed to my specific style of art,” she said.