L. Frank (born 1952) is the ''nom d'arte'' of L. Frank Manriquez, a
Tongva
The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
-
Ajachmem artist, writer, tribal scholar, cartoonist, and indigenous language
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
. She lives and works in Santa Rosa, California.
Art
In 1990, L. Frank was Artist in Residence at the Headland Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California; her artwork has been exhibited widely throughout California and appears in several publications.
Publications
Her regular column/graphic, "Acorn Soup", has appeared in the quarterly newsletter ''News from Native California'' since 1992. "Acorn Soup" features the comic adventures of Coyote in his various guises: the Creator of the Universe and the Buffoon, the Trickster and the Tricked, always the Indian's Wise Fool. A selection of L. Frank's "Acorn Soup" cartoons have been collected and published in book form. Concerning L. Frank, one reviewer of the book a
Amazon.comcommented: "Introducing the Gary Larson of the Native American cartoon world!"
Another book, "First Families: Photographic History of California Indians" with co-author Kim Hogeland, was published in September 2006. It is an introduction to California's native populations, with pictures such as the re-creation and sailing of the ''tii'at'' (a traditional Tongva/Gabrieleño canoe) off
Catalina Island in 1995, to the 1918 picture of Kumeyaay men performing a sacred funerary dance with ''karuk'' dolls, to an image from 1932 of Salinans leading anthropologist J. P. Harrington on an expedition along California's central coast. Each chapter covers a different region of California, with brief essays introducing the region's cultures, histories, and contemporary life.
Community activism
She is a former Board Member of the California Indian Basketweavers Association and one of seven founding board members of the Advocates for Indigenous California Languages, organizations that are involved in the preservation and revival of Native Californian languages through traditional arts practice, language immersion, conferences and workshops.
She has won several awards for her activities, including from the American Association of University Women, the
James Irvine Foundation The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. The foundation's grantmaking focuses on a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically.
The fo ...
, the Fund for Folk Culture (for travel to the Native Californian art collection at the Musée de l' Homme in Paris). In 1995 she was featured as a "Local Hero" in KQED-TV/Examiner Newspaper's Native American Heritage Month series. Frank is also active in the
Two-Spirit
Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-varia ...
culture educating and spreading awareness of issues.
In response to the Pope canonizing
Juniper Serra, Frank with Corine Fairbanks and other members of the Indigenous community held several publicized rallies to bring to light the detrimental affect that the mission system had on
California Indians
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...
.
In 2016, Frank built a traditional Tongva tule boat for Northwest Journeys, an intertribal event in Washington state, which was highlighted on the KCET channel. In the fall of that year, she was a speaker on Native American rights and the protection of the Earth at the Dakota Pipeline protest. She stated the media's coverage of the event has been misconstrued. "We don’t want violence of perceived violence to be what’s on the media."
In June 2019, Frank was awarded the Alexis Arquette Family Foundation , LA Pride 2 Spirits Activist Award.
Trans Activist Bamby Salcedo to Be Honored at LA Pride FEM(ME) Event
/ref>
See also
*List of Native American artists
This is a list of visual artists who are Native Americans in the United States. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 defines "Native American" as being enrolled in either federally recognized tribes or state recognized tribes or "an individua ...
* List of Native American writers
References
External links
The Art of L. FrankL. Frank bio and video
Mingei International Museum
* ttp://www.aicls.org/ Advocates for Indigenous California Languagesbr>California Indian Basketweavers Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, L.
1952 births
Living people
Native American photographers
Native American writers
Native American basket weavers
Painters from California
Native American painters
Native American illustrators
Tongva
American female comics artists
American women artists
Native American language revitalization
People from Santa Rosa, California
Native American women artists
Two-spirit people
Women basketweavers
Non-binary writers
Non-binary artists
Non-binary activists