About

Kelsey Mata (Jaax̱snée), a children's book illustrator and artist from Southeast Alaska, works primarily in the digital art medium while combining the organic overlay of natural textures and occasional watercolor. Raised amidst the temperate rainforests and rich Native culture of Alaska, Kelsey's work is deeply influenced by her Tlingit heritage, which she explored through subsistence living practices and programs like the Johnson O'Malley Program and the Sitka Native Education Program at an early age. Her art focuses on cultural preservation, celebrating and honoring Native traditions, and amplifying respectful representation of Native peoples in media.

Her work debuted in the public sphere with Celebration! (2022), a book authored by Tlingit weaver Lily Hope and produced as part of the Sealaska Heritage Institute's Baby Raven Reads program, which aims to promote and preserve Alaska Native languages and culture through children's literature. In 2024, Mata and Hope were announced as recipients of the American Indian Youth Literature Awards - Picture Book Honor, an award that "identifies and honors the best writings and illustrations for youth, by and about Native American and Indigenous peoples of North America."

Kelsey is also the Creative Editor of Restoration Magazine (Restoration of Native Sovereignty and Safety for Native Women Magazine), a triannually-published magazine dedicated to informing tribal leaders, advocates, and communities of emerging issues impacting the safety of American Indian and Alaska Native women.

Most Recently, Kelsey and her brother, artist Nick Alan Foote, were the selected illustrators and character designers for a long-term language revitalization project between the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida), the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, Cedar Group, and several language and culture specialists. The collaboration spans nine children’s books and animated shorts in total, entirely in the Tlingit language. The first book, Kuhaantí (2023), was released in October of 2023 in Juneau, Alaska.