Courtesy Rebecca Lee Kunz
Rebecca Lee Kunz
Local artist Rebecca Lee Kunz is having quite a 2025. The mother of three and citizen of the Cherokee Nation came to Santa Fe from Oklahoma for art school in 1994, graduated in ’98 and went to work in the arts. About a decade later, she became a mother and launched Tree of Life Studio. Kunz’s work shows regularly here and in her native Oklahoma, which makes visits there frequent. At a Cherokee Nation function in 2022, Kunz found a path to illustrating a children’s book that tells a contemporary Native tale called Chooch Helped. Fast-forward to this year when Chooch Helped won the Caldecott medal, joining classic titles like Where the Wild Things Are, The Polar Express, Frog and Toad are Friends and Jumanji. Kunz has another book project in the works, but first she has a showing. Kunz explores the unlikely connection between the endangered Santa Fe Cholla cactus and settler colonialism in an exhibition called Green :: Home. Her series of gouache and monotype works go on display Sept. 5-31 at El Zaguán Gallery (Historic Santa Fe Foundation) (545 Canyon Road, (505) 983-2567). The opening reception is scheduled from 5-7 pm on Friday, Sept. 5, where Kunz will be joined by members of the pro-cacti nonprofit Cactus Rescue Project.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. (Dave Cathey)
Tell me a little bit about your early work and how you got Tree of Life started.
After college I kept painting, but I worked in the creative industry here in Santa Fe. Several years later, I met my husband, and started to change. We got married and then I got pregnant with my first daughter. That’s when I decided I wanted to make a living from my own work rather than working for other people. I started to feel like I was giving my creativity away. So, that's when I opened my business Tree of Life Studio and started creating works that would be reproduced and made into notecards and prints. I set aside the idea of showing for galleries and creating work for that purpose. As my kids got older..
How did Chooch Helped come together?
Like many artists, I thought ‘Maybe one day I'll illustrate children's books.’ I had wanted to create a book about my great great Aunt Ruth Muskrat. In 2022, I met Andrea Rogers at the Cherokee National Holiday. She’s the author of Chooch Helped. We started talking about the publishing industry, and she told me about the manuscript she had recently sold to her publisher. Turns out Andrea had been familiar with my work before we met, and I was also familiar with hers. I had two copies of her book Mary and the Trail of Tears at home, and she had a stack of my notecards next to her ready to purchase. After a long and inspiring conversation, we realized we had already been fans of each other's work. We parted ways and thought ‘maybe we'll work together one day.’ Several weeks later, I got an email asking if I might be interested in illustrating Chooch Helped. I then went through an audition process with the publisher, Levine Querido, and was later hired to illustrate the book.
Provided
At that moment I jumped into the world of book illustration. My art director Joy Chu taught me everything I needed to know, alongside my editor. There's nothing like getting thrown into the deep end and learning to swim! I was enthusiastic and eager to learn, but illustrating a book is no small task. I quickly realized that my job was to translate the painting style I had developed over many years into illustrations for a children's book. Through some trial and error, after several challenging months of pushing myself to the extreme, I found my voice. In my work, I use symbols and motifs as a form of communicating a message. I knew I wanted to use these as an integral part of this book as well. Each symbol you see in this book relates directly to what's happening at that moment in the story.
So what’s next for Rebecca Lee Kunz and/or Tree of Life Studios?
When I was finishing up the illustrations for Chooch Helped, I pitched the idea for my book about my Aunt Ruth book (with my sister, Jen Loren, as the author). Excitingly, it was then bought in 2024 by the same publisher, Levine Querido. Three years ago, I would have never predicted that I'd be working on my second book so soon after my first. My career has taken a most exciting and unexpected path, for sure.
I am still working on my painting and printmaking, alongside running my business and illustrating. It's a very full and eclectic life.
Next month, my exhibition of original mixed media works “Green :: Home” will open with a reception at El Zaguan Gallery (Historic Santa Fe Foundation) from 5-7 pm. That show will be up for the month of September. In this series I explore the unlikely connection between the endangered Santa Fe Obi Cholla cactus and settler colonialism. In an effort to bring awareness to endangered species, I will be partnering with the Cactus Rescue Project, who will be there for the opening reception with an informational table.
Editor’s Note: Kunz tells SFR the gallery will have a limited number of copies of Chooch Helped available for purchase at the opening that she will gladly sign.
