about the artist

Sinéad G. Talley is a freelance Karuk, Yurok + Irish American mother, basketweaver, designer, model + writer based on the northern coast of California near her homelands along the mid-Klamath River, where she was raised. With experience developing collaborative projects in partnership with, as well as representing, indigenous artists + fashion designers for print and runway in the U.S.  and Canada, Sinéad’s practice is informed principally by connection to place + an abiding relationship to the lands + waters that continue to form her. In 2020, she founded her beadwork and apparel line, Imkúuhkirih Designs, which combines traditional materials and techniques to create pieces rooted in Karuk culture + homelands alongside contemporary aesthetics.

Named for the Karuk word to describe sunlight shining across water, Imkúuhkirih Designs has been conceptualized as a space to sell + showcase handmade beadwork + basketweaving, photography prints, and accessories, with operations expanding to include apparel with the debut of the ‘itkúrih [to look into water]’ collection made in collaboration with Buckanaga Social Club at New York Fashion Week in February 2025. Collections are often place-based and reflective of aspects of the landscape within Karuk homelands, as both a foundational approach to the creation of each piece as well as in the inclusion of materials gathered + processing techniques brought into the fashioning of beadwork + apparel pieces as central elements to their design.

Sinéad has worked at various levels of administrative support, coordination + field work for projects centered on missing & murdered indigenous peoples, natural and cultural resources, and environmental justice. She holds a bachelor’s degree in human biology with honors in education from Stanford University and earned her master’s in social science from the Environment & Community program at Cal Poly State Humboldt in 2022.