About
About
Kaga was created by Oglala Lakota Artists Keith BraveHeart and Marty Two Bulls Jr. in 2026 as a new approach to supporting Lakota Arts through artist led initiatives. Kaga is Lakota for “to create”.
Mission
Kaga centers creativity in its mission to support, uplift, and preserve Lakota Art and artists in all of their forms.
Our logo
Barbed wire was a critical tool in the U.S. settlement of Lakota lands. Barbed wire was used to dissect, steal, and redistribute the land that the Lakota people held sacred as traditional stewards. In the context of our logo, the barbed wire is used to represent the oppressive barriers that Kaga works to break with Lakota creative energy.
Leadership
Keith BraveHeart
BraveHeart grew up in the small town of Kyle, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Lakota. He developed a passion for art in high school. From there, he went to the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he received his bachelor’s degree. He finished his master’s of fine arts in painting at University of South Dakota (USD).
BraveHeart calls himself a contemporary or modern native artist. His art takes a strong influence from his Native American cultural background. It is important for him to see what happens during that process, leaving it open for things to shift or change around, allowing time for chance to happen.
BraveHeart has spent his time working with young Native American artists through the Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute, and annual art program at USD. Native American students in grades 11 through 12 are given the chance to demonstrate their skills and work with professionals from the area, going on field trips to local museums and cultural facilities.
Marty Two Bulls Jr.
Marty Two Bulls Jr. is an artist and educator based in Rapid City, SD. Two Bulls is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and was raised in the high plains of South Dakota. Two Bulls comes from a family of diverse artists. His father, Marty Two Bulls Sr., is an accomplished editorial cartoonist and was Two Bulls’ first art instructor. Two Bulls studied printmaking and ceramics at The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM where he earned a Bachelors in Fine Arts.
After graduation, Two Bulls spent several years in Santa Fe developing his art practice and working in contemporary art galleries where he worked with a plethora of contemporary artists from around the world. In 2017 he was offered a full time faculty position with Oglala Lakota College (OLC) to teach art. At OLC, Two Bulls created a Graphic Arts program and continues to work as a positive force for the arts in his communities both near and far. Two Bulls has exhibited his artwork in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally with works in several museum permanent collections.