Cynthia Masterson

Cynthia Masterson (Comanche), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, lives and beads in Seattle, Washington. She is a self-taught beadworker doing a traditional bead weaving technique with Czech seed beads. Cynthia provides lessons for community organizations and schools working to connect Native youth with their culture. She also presents workshops to demonstrate her craft and introduce a broader community to Native beading traditions. In recent years, Cynthia has combined household objects with beadwork creating assemblages that story tell her experience. These works have appeared in multiple museum exhibitions. She is a 2015 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow, 2019 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellow, and has received arts grants from the Potlatch Fund, The Evergreen State College Longhouse and is a Dreamstarter Creative with Running Strong for American Indian Youth.