St. Paul artist Marlena Myles has her first solo show at The Museum Of Russian Art in Minneapolis. She's standing in front of one of the pieces, "Degradation: have you ever thought of becoming a new & better person?" a series of three vinyl prints. (Photo by Kathy Berdan)

It's not unusual for St. Paul-based artist Marlena Myles' work to be shown in museums. Her digital art, built on her Native heritage, has been exhibited at Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota Museum of American Art and the Red Cloud Heritage Center in Pine Ridge, S.D.

The Twin Cities saw her animated piece "Innerworld Prism" in a big way recently — projected on Highlight Tower in Northeast Minneapolis as part of the Great Northern Festival.

What might seem unusual is the location of Myles' first solo exhibit: The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis.

"People don't think about Russians interacting with Natives," Myles said in a recent interview. In fact, she said, the United States' purchase of Alaska "is an untold part of American history — basically a paragraph in books."

As the museum describes her exhibit: "These digitally created works bring to light the commonly unknown history of interactions between Russian explorers, settlers, traders, clergy, and Alaska Natives before the Alaskan territory was sold to the United States in 1867. These are important reflections, much needed in the contemporary United States and Minnesota, that acknowledge Indigenous histories."

Myles (Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee), 35, says she hopes her works get people to see what they have in common and "compare their own history, whether they're Indigenous, Russian or other immigrant." She wants her work to bring new Native audiences to the museum.

Myles' creations in "Dynamics of Russian Colonialism in Alaska" range from dark, shimmering pieces to images of Native saints and battles. There are exquisite nature cutouts that create shadows laid over Russian and Alutiiq (Aleut) words, spirit animals and an animated story in the language of the Russian Alaska Native village of Ninilchik. All of them were done in the past couple of months, says Myles, who prefers working on a tight deadline.

"Stoonook's Vision: Battle at Sitka," by Marlena Myles. The artist explains the image: "In 1790, Alexander Baranov was hired to manage the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, which would become the Russian American Company (RAC) by 1799. The RAC was given a monopoly over trade in Russian America by Czar Paul I and Baranov was promoted to chief manager (effectively the first governor of Russian America). He would establish permanent Russian settlements, including the only land ever purchased from Alaska Natives when he bought a portion of land from the Tlingit to build Redoubt St. Archangel Michael Site (Old Sitka Site). In 1802, the Tlingit would attack and destroy the site, which led to Russians retaliating in 1804 with the Battle of Sitka.The Battle of Sitka would be the last major armed conflict between Russians and Alaskan Natives. The shaman of the Kiks.ádi Tlingit, Stoonook, knew the Russians would return. K'alyáan heeded Stoonook's prophetic vision and urged his village to build a new fortification (known as Shís'gi Noow, the Fort of Young Saplings) at Noow Tlein (known today as Sitka, Alaska) that could withstand cannon fire from Russian ships. The battle lasted for 4 days, with the Tlingit (led by K'alyaan) evacuating their elderly, women and children on the third day. On the final day, the Russians extended offers of peace, which were rejected. That night, a large Russian contingent of troops landed to secure the fort, but found none of the Tlingit warriors, who had escaped under the cover of darkness to begin what they would call the Kiks.ádi Survival March.Baranov would build Castle Hill at the site of Noow Tlein, later renamed to Novo-Arkhangelsk by the Russians, which became the central headquarters for the RAC. In 1867, it would be the location where Russian Alaska would be formally transformed to the United States."

Half of the pieces in the Russian exhibit are printed on metal. Myles says metal captures the digital feel of her work. "It's smooth like a computer screen," she says.

Mark Meister, who started as executive director at TMORA in 2019, says one of his goals for the museum is to engage with the community. Most people don't know about the Russian/Native connection in Alaska, he says.

When Meister looked for a Native artist to help tell that story, Myles turned out to be the right fit. She'd been studying Russian/Native history for years and says she used to go to the library after school to learn more. "She signed on right away," Meister says.

Myles says her interest in Russia comes from a shared history of oppression. The interactions between Russians and Alaskan Natives reminded her of "interactions between Europeans and my own people in the early days of Minnesota history," she says in the exhibit's artist statement.

The museum director received a Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Community Partnership Grant to fund the project. The descriptions and labels for the exhibit are "all her words," Meister says of Myles' exhibition.

Myles works from home in St. Paul's West Seventh neighborhood in a spare bedroom, creating her work on the computer. She's a self-taught artist. Most classes teaching digital art are out of date in five years, she says.

Digital artists are willing to share their techniques, Myles says, because they're learning all the time.

And there's no messy cleanup. When Myles paints at home, there are brushes and canvas and paint spatters. "I like the convenience and efficiency (of digital art-making)," she says. "It's what I strive for in life."

She says she does a lot of her work late at night when there are fewer distractions: "I'm in my own world when I work at home."

Myles was born in Connecticut and the family moved to the Twin Cities in 1992. A single mother, her mom moved her four children to Rapid City, S.D., for middle and high school. — away from gang influences and big city problems in the late 1990s.

None of them liked the small town, Myles says, and they all returned to the Twin Cities after completing school.

Marlena Myles' "Sea Otter & Northern Fur Seal Animal Spirits." a vector illustration print on metal, 24" x 24", 2021. Myles says: "Russia's foray into Alaska was driven mainly by economic purposes — There were never more than 700 Russian colonists occupying Alaska. They relied heavily upon the labor of the skilled Alaskan tribes to provide the furs that they would sell to China and Europe; they obtained this objective through enslavement, marriages and bartering. They would eventually "sell" Alaska when the fur trade became unprofitable.For thousands of years, Alaskan tribes relied upon these animals to provide food, tools and clothing. The toll of the maritime fur trade had a disastrous impact on their traditional way of life and on the animals themselves, with their populations hunted to near extinction. For example, the Steller's sea cow was hunted to extinction within 27 years of contact with Europeans. The sea otter population was down to mere hundreds by the 1900s, the northern fur seal which numbered in the millions was down to 200,000. Today, both the fur seal and sea otter are on the endangered and vulnerable species list. "

Before she became a full-time artist, Myles worked in customer service at a hotel for a time after the return. She says she liked anticipating guests' needs before they asked, but she didn't like the co-workers, emotions and drama. She first exhibited her work in 2014.

Myles' mother, who does beadwork her daughter says could be shown in a museum, spoke Dakota as her first language growing up in Spirit Lake, N.D. Myles is learning the language as an adult and is starting a Dakota book publishing business that will focus on children's books. She has illustrated children's books including "Thanku: Poems of Gratitude," "Kikta wo / Kikta ye!" and "Indian No More" (winner of the 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Award for best middle grade novel).

Myles' passion for the culture of her people has also taken her into fashion. She designs Native print material because she felt Native fabrics "weren't appealing. They weren't by Natives."

"I want to see our art evolve into modern times," she says.

She wants her art to educate.

"For Native Americans, the American history they teach you in school doesn't apply today," Myles says.

"Dynamics of Russian Colonialism in Alaska"

"The Mystery of Chirikov's Lost Men," by Marlena Myles. She says: "In June of 1741, Vitus Bering (Captain of the Sviatoi Piotr/St Peter) and Alexei Chirikov (Captain of the Sviatoi Pavel/St Paul) set sail from Petropavlovsk ("City of Peter and Paul") and headed east. The two ships became separated six days into their journey and never saw each other again. Even though Bering is given credit as the first European to visit Alaska, Chirikov had arrived two days sooner and had the first European encounter with the Tlingit people.On July 15, Captain Chirikov spotted land (near Surge Bay, west of Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska). Needing fresh water, Chirikov sent a group in a longboat to shore to find a suitable anchorage. Soon after departing, there was no sign of the men. Waiting a week, Chirikov finally saw large bonfires along the coast and sent another group to investigate, yet they did not return either.The next day, two canoes of Tlingit men ventured out in front of the ship, signaling the Russians to come to land. The Russians waved white flags to signal that the Tlingit were safe to board their vessel. However, the Tlingit returned to land. Chirikov concluded in his journal that the Natives must have killed his men and that was their reason for refusing to come aboard. However, Tlingit oral traditions state the Russian men escaped from harsh treatment aboard their Russian ship and had married into the Tlingit village. Their offspring would become the more prominent families in the village of Klawock. Near Surge Bay, there is also a petroglyph that closely resembles a Russian sailing ship, perhaps serving as a memory of this first encounter of Russians and Tlingit."

• Where: Fireside Gallery at The Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis
• When: Through March 14
• Admission: $13 adults, $11 seniors, $5 students, 13 and younger free
• You should know: Social distancing, face masks required.
• Info: tmora.org