Olathe’s Art x NDN Girls Book Club collab raises funds for Mescalero Apache

NDN Girls Book Club has partnered up with Navajo + Shawnee artist Olathe to create a summer line of comfy oversized tees, bumper stickers, tote bags, and accessories that promote a love for literature and reading.

Olathe’s Tote Bag, the first release from the line, fundraised through an early release in June for the Mescalero Apache in the wake of the New Mexico fires.

Book Club previously teased their new “Readers of All Nations” design, illustrated by Olathe’s Art. The capsule release will also include dad hats inspired by the colors of Olathe’s designs for Book Club.

NDN Girls Book Club’s design campaigns largely spread awareness of Indigenous literature, especially by women authors. They also serve to support artists of various Indigenous identities, highlighting artists’ specific styles. Previous collaborations have featured illustrations and designs by Poyomi McDarment (Tule River Yokuts) and Tommey Jodie (Diné). All funds from merchandise sales support NDN Girls Book Club’s mission to bring free literature workshops to Indigenous youth. In June 2024, NDN Girls Book Club’s youth coordinator Pte San Win Little Whiteman traveled to conduct zine workshops with Rock the Rez, a music camp that mentors young girls from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Pte San Win is an Oglala Lakota poet from Pine Ridge themselves.

Olathe’s collection will release early on July 3rd, 2024 and be the centerpiece of the group’s events in August in Tesuque and Albuquerque.