Roxanne Swentzell
President
Roxanne grew up sculpting, making pottery, building with adobe, and gardening. Born in 1962 in Taos NM, into a family of Santa Clara Pueblo Artists (Naranjos), Roxanne grew up with her two sisters in a creative environment. As a young child, she wasn’t able to communicate due to a speech impediment, but her mother handed her some clay and Roxanne found a new language. She sculpted human figurines depicting something going on in her life that she wanted others to know. Meantime her parents were studying solar energy and as a family built themselves a solar adobe house in Santa Fe, NM. They had a small garden plot and fruit tree along with turkeys and chickens. Roxanne took it upon herself at an early age to be the caretaker of the gardens and animals. She also took over (from her mother) making the dishes for the household. Roxanne was able to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts while finishing her high school credits.
She then went on to study at the Portland Museum Art School in Oregon but after a year she returned home to be closer to her Native Culture and raise her two children. She built a solar adobe house by hand for her and her children at Santa Clara Pueblo. During this time, Roxanne was introduced to Permaculture and with the help of her husband (at that time) Joel Glanzberg, and a like-minded friend (Brett Bakker), they started the non-profit, Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute in 1989. Roxanne’s home site was the place they would experiment with the practices of permaculture and teach. Soon it became obvious that Roxanne’s ties to the Pueblo culture steered the Institute into cultural preservation and ways to become more self-sufficient. She has written and had published, “Our Home” an experimental place in sustainable life-ways, “Droppings” an occasional newsletter for the community, “Extra-ordinary People”, (NM Magazine Artist Series), a number of “how-to” booklets, and her latest on the diet of her people, “The Pueblo Food Experience” Museum of NM Press. Roxanne also created The Tower Gallery in Pojoaque, NM where she shows and sells her artwork. These days, Roxanne homeschools her three oldest grandchildren, tends gardens and animals, makes sculptures, teaches building and gardening skills, and gives talks all around the country on her art, work in the tribe, and permaculture. You can visit her website at: www.roxanneswentzell.net
Porter Swentzell
Treasurer
Porter Swentzell is from Santa Clara Pueblo, where he grew up participating in traditional life in his community and developed an interest in language and cultural preservation. He is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Liberal Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts, a Regent for Northern New Mexico College, and serves on several non-profit boards. Porter received his Ph.D. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University and is currently pursuing an MBA from Western New Mexico University. He enjoys weaving traditional Pueblo sash belts and learning about history in his free time. Porter lives at Santa Clara Pueblo along with his wife and three children.
Rose B. Simpson
Member-At-Large
Rose B. Simpson is a mixed-media artist from Santa Clara Pueblo, NM. Her work engages ceramic sculpture, metals, fashion, performance, music, installation, writing, and custom cars. She received an MFA in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011, an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2018, is collected in museums across the continent and has exhibited internationally. She lives and works from her home at Santa Clara Pueblo, and hopes to teach her young daughter how to creatively engage the world.
Beata
Tsosie-Peña
Member-At-Large
Beata Tsosie-Peña, B.A., A.A., is from Santa Clara Pueblo and El Rito, NM. She is a mother, poet, advocate, seed keeper, and is certified in Infant Massage, as a Developmental Specialist, an Educator, A Lactation Counselor, and full-spectrum Birthworker, and in Indigenous Sustainable Design (permaculture). She is currently on the steering committee for the Traditional Native American Farmers Association and is a new board member for Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute. She is a Pueblo representative for the New Mexico Governor's task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives serving a second term. She is also an active affiliate of Breath of My Heart Birthplace. The realities of living next to a nuclear weapons complex have called her into environmental health and justice work with the local non-profit organization, Tewa Women United for over a decade. As part of her work with TWU, she is currently managing the creation of the Española Healing Foods Oasis demonstration garden project and Española Healing Foods Seed Library.
Alonso Mendez
Member-At-Large
Alonso Mendez is a Tzeltal Maya cultural astronomer, who has dedicated over thirty years researching the art, architecture and writing of the ancient Maya. Born in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas in 1964. Alonso attended Middlebury College in Vermont, graduating in 1987 with a degree in Fine Arts. After returning to Chiapas in 1993 he joined the archaeological projects in Palenque; first as project artist with the Palenque Mapping Project and later with the Proyecto Grupo de Las Cruces and the Proyecto Arqueologico Palenque. During those years Alonso produced drawings that documented the new discoveries and developed 3d reconstructive drawings of the site. He began astronomical investigations at Palenque while working on those excavations and uncovered new astronomical content in the mayor temples as well as in the hieroglyphic texts. He has since participated in educational programs with focus on Indigenous science and knowledge. He continues his work in collaboration with Anna Sofaer and the Solstice Project in New Mexico and is currently working on the relationships between Meso-American Astronomy and the Ancient Chacoan culture. He resides in Taos New Mexico where he continues his work as a visual artist and cultural astronomer.
In Loving Memory of Brett Bakker
Co - Founder of Flowering Tree & Beloved Friend
July 18,1958 - May 21, 2024
It has been several years now since Brett passed away and I still feel tears forming as I start to write this. Brett was my friend for over 40 years and one of the best human beings I have ever known.
I was dating Joel Glanzberg who was friends with Brett. We were only in our early 20’s and together the three of us imagined and founded Flowering Tree. Sitting around an old table one evening, I remember candles and laughter as we tried coming up with names for this little non-profit. “Those Guys with Seeds”, was one of the silly names, and truthfully that was pretty much all we had, some seeds and some knowledge of how to grow them. We did have lots of ideas as Brett had been farming up at Okay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo), Joel had just finished a Permaculture Design Course with Bill Mollison, and I had some land.
Flowering Tree had always centered around Pueblo Culture and so did Brett. When he moved to Albuquerque and wasn’t sleeping in our ant-infested loft, I could always count on running into Brett at Pueblo Feast Days. He had friends in every village and even though Brett was a little White Italian man, he managed to be loved by the native communities. He behaved in such a respectful and friendly manner that it was always a joy to have him around. He watched and listened with genuine interest and his love for our culture was obvious. Brett was never a colonizer; he was here to help in whatever way was useful to the Pueblo and old Hispanic communities. And when he passed, the loss of Brett was felt far and wide.
As my friend, I miss him terribly. He helped raise children that weren’t his from an early relationship and when they broke up, he continued to take care of her children. That is the kind of man Brett was. He later married Lori who is as lovely as he was kind. Brett and Lori asked me to marry them. I was deeply honored to be their minister and bless their union. They bought a small farm in ALB where Brett was doing what he loved best, growing plants and going out to listen to bands. He had the biggest album collection I’ve ever seen and kept tabs of all the newest local musicians promoting them through a zine he had created.
We always finished our visits or conversations with acknowledging our love for each other, and so we always parted on that loving note. So once again, my dear Brett, I want you to know that I love you always and I thank you for not only loving me, but for all the care and love you gave to everyone that came in contact with you, including the plants and animals. You showed us all how to live like an exceptional human being.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Swentzell