Heather Lopez

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 Klahowya tillikum (hello friends), my name is Heather Lopez. I am a Shoalwater Bay Tribal member from the ancestral homelands of the Clatsop and Lower Chehalis peoples, and Kanaka Maoli from Hā‘iku, Maui. I have been honored to raise my family along Nch’i Wana (the Big River) with my husband, a Yakama Nation Tribal member. I walk in many roles—mother, wife, daughter, sister, auntie, friend, educator, and artist—all of which shape the way I create and teach.

My work is deeply rooted in Indigenous knowledge, land stewardship, and ancestral responsibility. For nearly two decades, I have worked in public education and hold a Master’s degree in Indigenous Education. Before my chicha left the physical world, she shared that it was my purpose to carry and teach our ancestral wisdom to the youth for the sake of future generations. That teaching continues to guide my path and informs both my art and my practice.

Through my creative work and my Indigenous-owned offering, Nettle Lee, I share teachings from the water and our plant people—centering water awareness and traditional plant medicines through practices such as tea making, medicinal salves, oils, tinctures, soaps, and candle making. I am continually inspired by witnessing young people make meaningful connections to these teachings and to the living knowledge held by the land.

I move through this work with humility, guided by the teachings of elders to walk my talk and honor the responsibility we carry to protect what the earth shares with us. My work is an expression of gratitude, resilience, and relationship—grounded in the understanding that it is our kuleana to care for this sacred earth so that seven generations from now, the water and plant people may continue to nourish our spirits. HayuMasi (many thanks).