Sandra Okuma

Sandra Okuma descends from the Luiseno and Shoshone-Bannock tribes. The Luiseno is a Native American tribe that lived along the coastal area of Southern California which is around Los Angeles and San Diego. She grew up traveling between La Jolla where her father was from and Fort Hall Idaho, home of her mother’s Shoshone- Bannock relations. Okuma was a self-taught artist. She picked up beading, drawing, and sewing. She went to school for commercial art at L.A. Tech then later she worked for Universal Studios and MCA Records. She met her husband, an auto mechanic of Okinawan descent then they had Jamie Okuma. They returned to the reservation so her daughter could be around her family and culture. Okuma began to paint again and entered shows like Red Cloud Indian Art Show in Pine Ridge SD and Heard Museum and Santa Fe Indian Market.