AMPERS
Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities
This week, we feature Once Upon a Shore, an all-Indigenous art exhibit at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum curated by Heid E. Erdrich, and actor Dallas Goldtooth shares details about his new role.
Producers: Dan Ninham, and Deanna StandingCloud Anchor: Marie Rock
Script review: Emily Krumberger
Additional editing: CJ Younger, Victor Palomino Mixing & mastering: Emily Krumberger
[Music: Minnesota Native News Theme]
[ANCHOR] Marie Rock: You're listening to Minnesota Native News. I'm Marie Rock. This week, we feature an all-Indigenous art exhibit curated by Heid E. Erdrich. And actor Dallas Goldtooth shares details about his new role. First, producer Dan Ninham brings us the story of Once Upon a Shore, an exhibit at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
Dan Ninham: Earlier this year, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum launched a show of all Indigenous artists curated by Heidi E. Erdrich. Artists and authors include Tashia Hart, Courtney M. Leonard, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Jonathan Thunder, and Minnesota’s Poet Laureate, Gwen Nell Westerman. The exhibit, Once Upon a Shore, will be on view until January 4, 2026.
Heid E. Erdrich: They had asked me to do literary arts. I was going to make sure that I work with all Native artists from Minnesota with connections to Minnesota.
Dan Ninham: That was author and curator Heidi Erdrich, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
Heid E. Erdrich: You know, I was thinking about the audience, and who is going to walk in there, everything from school kids to elders, Native people, non-Native people.
[sound element: gallery sounds]
I wanted there to be audio so people could listen to a story. I wanted there to be children's age works and the books there for them to sit down on a couch and snuggle up with a book.
Dan Ninham: For Heid, curating went beyond selecting artists with connections to storytelling.
Heid E. Erdrich: The collaboration as a curator is often to be able to represent people the way they want to be represented, to listen to them and make sure the show shows them in the light that their work was meant to be seen.
Dan Ninham: Tashia Hart, Red Lake Ojibwe citizen, used a video short in her installation. Her work often connects to her Anishinaabe background.
Tashia Hart: That inspiration for “Clay Woman Falls in Love with the Lake” came from living on the shore, going through all the emotions of what it's like to, you know, be a human being, and you know, take in the energy and the sights and the life that is on the shore there. [sounds of Tashia’s son in the background]
[sound element: lake water sounds]
Dan Ninham: Find out more about Once Upon a Shore at mmam.org. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Dan Ninham.
[ANCHOR] Marie Rock: Next, producer Deanna StandingCloud talks with Minnesota actor Dallas Goldtooth about his newest role.
Dallas Goldtooth: I think that the more we hear from rural America, the more we hear from Native communities. I think it helps us expand our knowledge about where people are at and what we really need in order to build a better community and better future.
Deanna StandingCloud: Dallas Goldtooth is an enrolled citizen of the Cansa'yapi Lower Sioux Indian community right here in Minnesota. He's an actor best known for his comedic character as the Spirit featured on the Hulu series Reservation Dogs. He talks to us about his newest role as Hutch, a U.S. Marshal in the Apple TV series The Last Frontier.
Dallas Goldtooth: I have actually been excited. I've been looking forward to a role like this, to flex those other acting muscles, to be a serious, more serious or dramatic actor.
Deanna StandingCloud: The Last Frontier is a high-action thriller starting off with a plane crashing in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness that is carrying several violent prisoners. The storyline draws in viewers from the very beginning, keeping them guessing as it unfolds.
Dallas Goldtooth: It was nerve wracking—I ain't gonna lie—but I think that it was exciting overall for me.
Deanna StandingCloud: To prepare for the role, Dallas reached out to actual Native U.S. marshals.
Dallas Goldtooth: One of the marshals I talked to was Marshal Ecoffey. He was the lead U.S. Marshal out of South Dakota. He was actually the lead investigator on finding the killers of Anna Mae Aquash.
Deanna StandingCloud: As a Native actor, Dallas also makes note of the land he's working on.
Dallas Goldtooth: I always want to do my part to be like, who's the local community? Whose land am I on? And build relationship there.
Deanna StandingCloud: In 2025, Dallas is among a growing pool of emerging Native actors.
Dallas Goldtooth: I think that we've seen some tremendous strides made in Indian Country over representation at a larger scale. I've seen us as Indian Country really take to the next level to collaborate in a way that's building stronger and lasting relationships with people.
Deanna StandingCloud: You can watch Dallas's new series The Last Frontier on Apple TV. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Deanna StandingCloud.
[Music: Minnesota Native News Theme]
[ANCHOR] Marie Rock: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS: Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities. Made possibly by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.