The Sun Is on the Ground, 2024
Handmade paper, natural pigments, sound installation
Fowler Museum at UCLA
The Sun Is on the Ground is a large-scale installation of handmade paper poppies and a soundscape created from poppy data. The work responds to California Indian fire knowledge, recent wildfires in Los Angeles, and the ways land carries memory, damage, and renewal.
Desert Rose, 2024
Handmade paper, plant fibers, rose petals, natural pigments, mica
Desert Rose is a sculptural paper basket form of abaca, cottonwood, rose petals, natural pigments, and gold, bronze, and copper mica. The work connects fragility with structure, using paper as a sculptural medium for memory, labor and environmental change.
Naomi 2022,
Wood sculpture, Traditional Dress of Northern Chumash
Dog Girl, 2025
Cotton, rabbitbrush, cochineal, madder root, gold mica, and photographs
Collection of the Gochman Family Collection
A collage work drawing from Chumash Dog Girl narrative histories to examine gendered power, coercion, survival, and refusal. Through handmade paper, natural pigments, and photography, this work centers women’s agency within stories that continue to carry a warning and a rejection of patriarchy.
Toypurina, 2023
Poplar, deer hide, juncus, cottonwood bark, olive shell, clamshell heshi, and alpaca hair.
Collection of the Autry Museum of the American West
Toypurina honors the complexity of a Tongva woman, healer, and cultural leader who helped build consensus against the violence of the Spanish mission system and organized a revolt.
Cholla Blossom, 2024
Handmade paper, from abaca, cotoon wood, cholla blossom with natural pigments, and mica
Cholla Blossom is a sculptural paper basket form that draws from desert plants, color, and the material language of basketry. The work reflects Mata Fragua’s ongoing use of handmade paper as sculpture, transforming plant-based materials into forms that embody both softness and strength.
Big Feed Is Coming, 2024
Abaca, cottonwood, thread, and abalone shell
Sculptural basket, Tia Collection
Big Feed Is Coming is a sculptural paper basket inspired by traditional seaweed gathering baskets and the knowledge systems inherent in coastal foodways. This piece embodies the connection between gathering and the material forms that nurture community.