Name: Paint A Keeper for Valentines Day
Start: 2026-02-14T10:30:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-14T12:00:00-06:00
Location: Mid-America All-Indian Museum

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with an unforgettable painting experience at the Indian Museum! Whether you’re coming with a partner, best friend, or flying solo, our Paint A Keeper workshop is all about creativity, connection, and making something worth keeping.
Native artist Michelle Sutton will lead participants in painting a cardinal design on individual metal Keeper sculptures. Cardinals are known for their strong pair bonds and vibrant red color, long associated with the heart and Valentine’s Day. They are widely recognized as a symbol of love, devotion, and connection.
Across many Native cultures, cardinals are also seen as messengers, reminders of loved ones, and symbols of presence and continuity. By painting the cardinal, participants create a piece that reflects love not only between partners, but also love that endures, remembers, and connects us to place and spirit.
$50.00 per person or $80 per couple includes:
• 1 - 14in metal keeper (one per person)
• Paint and paint brushes
• Guided instruction by native Artist Michelle Sutton (Cherokee)
• Complimentary mimosa
MAAIM members may register for $40 each with the code received via email.
About Michelle Sutton:
I was born and raised in Coffeyville Kansas. I was the first person in my family history to finish high school, then attend college. I became an artist in the early 90s and attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I finished my degree at Wichita State University. I have lived in Wichita for 27 years. I worked in education for 20 years. I’ve been an art teacher for the last 15 years. The landscape of education has changed drastically in the last few years, and I’ve retired to focus directly on being an artist.
I am inspired by the lives and the experiences of women. I make art that illuminates the drive, beauty and fortitude of women. Across all generations and classes, women have a vast bank of similarity. We are kindred and linked in our existence. The overall philosophy of my work is to make any viewer see a less obvious side of women. I focus on a dialogue beneath the outward façade we present in our everyday lives. People can understand more about women in everyday life, and open a dialogue where it may be useful, in the spirit of evolving to care for each other. I hope each person who sees my work can feel a resonant, elevated self-worth.