Haskell students Aziza Smith, Eastern Shoshone Tribe, and Aiyanna Tanyan, citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Mvskoke Creek, look at each other and see a reflection of an ambitious woman taking on the world.

“I feel like it’s really been respectful and loving and really … it’s such a really healthy girl friendship,” Tanyan said, speaking about her connection with Smith. “She’s so caring and she’s so there for me whenever I need her to be.”

Side by side, the two have competed in — and in Tanyan’s case, won — nationwide business competitions. They worked as research assistants on a project about public safety on reservations. They went to a NASA workshop where they put payloads on sounding rockets and launched them into space.

Come May, they’ll don their mortarboards to graduate their shared Business Administration program at Haskell before taking on the hill as master’s students at KU. Smith will study public administration and Tanyan will be in the Indigenous Studies program.

But first, they’re displaying their art in a joint exhibition at the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum, 2411 Barker Ave.

The show, “From A to Z,” will be on display to the public through Oct. 1. There will be a reception for the show from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 17. Doors open at 5:50 p.m. and artist remarks are at 6:15 p.m.

Shortly after, Smith will jet off to perform in a Thunderbird Theatre play, which you can read more about here.

Smith has done a work-study at the Haskell museum for three years. One day, Director Travis Campbell, Cherokee, Choctaw and Delaware, jokingly asked if she had 20 doodles on hand for a show. Smith said yes and, naturally, tapped Tanyan to join her. 

“We do all the school stuff, all the academic stuff, the rigorous whatever,” Smith said. “Getting to showcase this part of us that allows us to even have a little break from that, it’s really nice. And … whenever we have a chance to create art, for me at least, it helps a lot to have that outlet.”

The three walls of “From A to Z” are dominated by paintings and prints of strong women from Smith and Tanyan’s lives.

Smith’s “Rez Girlz” series was inspired by Homies toys, figurines that represent Chicano characters. Her rendition is an homage to middle school besties and girls she grew up with on the reservation because, even though she’s a grandpa’s girl, she’s also “a girl’s girl.”

The work is “an ode to the Native slang word, rezzy,” an exhibit label reads. “Within Indian Country, there’s a certain rep that comes with being rezzy (whether it’s good or bad is still up for debate).”

Smith said she drew each “rez girl” to be unique.

“Instead of getting categorized as just a ‘rez girl’ or just ‘rezzies,’ you can see that they all have their individual little personalities,” she said.

Prior to “From A to Z,” Smith was hesitant to put her art out there. She was worried it would get caught in the dialogue around authenticity and who is or isn’t “Native enough.”

“It sometimes feels like for things to be categorized as Native art, there has to be some sort of, I guess, stereotype that’s applied to Native art,” she said. “And really, that’s just a Western influence that the general public seems to accept as Native art versus just a Native making art.”

She’s proud to have grown up on the reservation, and her next step is to expand the “Rez Girlz” series to include more kids from her home.

“We’re all just kids,” she said. “We’re all just Natives growing up in this place that we couldn’t help growing up in.”

Tanyan also has a love letter to her hometown in the exhibition.

“On We-wo-ka” celebrates Wewoka, Oklahoma, the headquarters for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

The design is dotted with references to Tanyan’s life: her high school classmate who won back-to-back basketball championships, the sign in front of her school that she ate lunch by, the town’s historic trading post.

The silhouette of a Seminole or Mvskoke woman walks confidently across the print. Tanyan said her clothing is Seminole patchwork and she’s wearing turtle shells like she might for a Stomp Dance.

“I drew her, but I feel like she represents me as well,” Tanyan said.

Tanyan finished high school as valedictorian with multiple scholarships from her community, but she wasn’t able to go to college immediately. When she started waiting tables at the local restaurant, her customers would come in and say, “You need to go back to school.”

It will have been 10 years since her high school graduation when Tanyan claims her college diploma in May.

To honor the anniversary, she and a former classmate made T-shirts of the “On We-wo-ka” print and are selling them to create a scholarship fund for seniors in Wewoka. Those interested in buying a shirt can email her at aiyannatanyan.at@gmail.com.

As Smith and Tanyan look forward to their shared futures, they said to Haskell students: take every opportunity the school affords you.

Tanyan said she’s been grateful to the Lawrence community for collaborating with Haskell.

“Lawrence, don’t be shy,” Smith added, encouraging the city to come to on-campus events.

The Haskell Cultural Center and Museum is free to all and open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

Jacob Rice (he/him), photo editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since March 2026. He can be reached at jrice@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read his complete bio here. Check out his photography for the Times here.

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