Summer Peters

Summer Peters is a Saginaw Ojibwe artist known for her floral jewelry designs and paintings, as well as beaded jewelry and grayscale portraits. For Project Antelope, she is creating a collection of wearable art that includes painted denim skirts and dresses. Her floral earrings are made from leather, wood, and other natural materials. Summer was born into an artistic family and says the wealth of creative talent that was always around her is one of the greatest gifts of growing up on a reservation. She learned to bead by watching her mother, who supplemented the family’s income with her artistic skills.
After spending 19 years in Tempe, Arizona, Summer now lives in her home state of Michigan, where she earned an undergraduate degree in law and economics, and is currently working on an MBA in project management. She would like to be a resource for Native artists in the area of intellectual property rights. With her busy schedule, the mother of three has lately focused on making art in mediums that are less time-intensive than her popular beadwork. But in order to stay true to herself, she gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to bead for an hour before the sun comes up.