View source for L. Frank

{{Short description|American artist, author, and activist}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = L. Frank
| image         = L frank2008.jpg
| alt           =
| caption       = L. Frank (left) with Navajo writer Reid Gómez
| birth_name     = L. Frank Manriquez
| birth_date     = {{birth year and age|1952}}
| birth_place    =
| death_date     =
| death_place    =
| nationality   = American
| field         = [[Basket weaving]], [[illustration]], [[painting]], [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Indigenous language activism]]
| training      =
| movement      =
| works         =
| patrons       = ''News from Native California''
| awards        =
| elected       =
| website       = {{URL|http://crowsonthenose.com/aboutlfrank.html}}
}}
'''L. Frank''' (born 1952) is the ''nom d'arte'' of '''L. Frank Manriquez''', an American artist, writer, scholar, cartoonist, and activist for Indigenous languages from [[California]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/colleen-m-fitzgerald/breathing-new-life-into-native-american-languages_b_7553466.html|title=Breathing New Life Into Native American Languages|first=Colleen M.|last=Fitzgerald|website=[[HuffPost]] |date=11 June 2015|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Indian-singers-dancers-at-Yerba-Buena-gardens-6331454.php|title=Indian singers, dancers at Yerba Buena gardens|newspaper=Sfgate |date=18 June 2015|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018 |last1=Vaziri |first1=By Aidin }}</ref> She lives and works in Santa Rosa, California.
==Art==
In 1990, L. Frank was Artist in Residence at the Headland Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California; her artwork has been exhibited widely throughout California and appears in several publications.
==Publications==
Her regular column/graphic, "Acorn Soup", has appeared in the quarterly newsletter ''News from Native California''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heydaybooks.com/news/|title=Heyday — News from Native California|work=heydaybooks.com|accessdate=7 August 2015}}</ref> since 1992. "Acorn Soup" features the comic adventures of Coyote in his various guises: the Creator of the Universe and the Buffoon, the Trickster and the Tricked, always the Indian's Wise Fool. A selection of L. Frank's "Acorn Soup" cartoons have been collected and published in book form. Concerning L. Frank, one reviewer of the book at [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890771147 Amazon.com] commented: "Introducing the Gary Larson of the Native American cartoon world!"
Another book, "First Families: Photographic History of California Indians" with co-author Kim Hogeland,  was published in September 2006.  It is an introduction to California's native populations, with pictures such as the re-creation and sailing of the ''tii'at'' (a traditional Tongva/Gabrieleño canoe) off [[Santa Catalina Island, California|Catalina Island]] in 1995, to the 1918 picture of Kumeyaay men performing a sacred funerary dance with ''karuk'' dolls, to an image from 1932 of Salinans leading anthropologist J. P. Harrington on an expedition along California's central coast. Each chapter covers a different region of California, with brief essays introducing the region's cultures, histories, and contemporary life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lightfoot |first1=Kent G. |title=Review: First Families: A Photographic History of California Indians |journal=California History |date=1 January 2008 |volume=85 |issue=3 |pages=77 |doi=10.2307/40495168 |jstor=40495168}}</ref>
==Community activism==
She is a former board member of the California Indian Basketweavers Association and one of seven founding board members of the Advocates for Indigenous California Languages, organizations that are involved in the preservation and revival of Native Californian languages through traditional arts practice, language immersion, conferences and workshops.
She has won several awards for her activities, including from the American Association of University Women, the [[James Irvine Foundation]], the Fund for Folk Culture (for travel to the Native Californian art collection at the Musée de l' Homme in Paris). In 1995 she was featured as a "Local Hero" in KQED-TV/Examiner Newspaper's Native American Heritage Month series. Frank is also active in the [[Two-Spirit]] culture educating and spreading awareness of issues.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/20/bay-area-american-indian-two-spirit-powwow-brings-everyone-back-circle-148264 |title=Indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com |access-date=2016-11-10 |archive-date=2016-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114190243/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/20/bay-area-american-indian-two-spirit-powwow-brings-everyone-back-circle-148264 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In response to the Pope canonizing [[Juniper Serra]], Frank with Corine Fairbanks and other activists held several publicized rallies to bring to light the detrimental affect that the mission system had on [[California Indians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/25/serra-no-saint-day-mourning-san-francisco-161880|title='Serra Is No Saint' Day of Mourning in San Francisco - Indian Country Media Network|website=indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com|accessdate=6 April 2018|archive-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310023333/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com//2015/09/25/serra-no-saint-day-mourning-san-francisco-161880|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2016, Frank built a traditional Tongva tule boat for Northwest Journeys, an intertribal event in Washington state, which was highlighted on the KCET channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/tules-weaving-baskets-boats-decoys-and-houses|title=Tules: Weaving Baskets, Boats, Decoys, and Houses|date=9 November 2016|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pressdemocrat.com/csp/mediapool/sites/PressDemocrat/News/story.csp?cid=2210662&sid=555&fid=181&gallery=2340457|title=Santa Rosa canoe project symbolizes 'cultural revitalization' for Native Americans|date=23 July 2013|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018|archive-date=7 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407053924/http://www.pressdemocrat.com/csp/mediapool/sites/PressDemocrat/News/story.csp?cid=2210662&sid=555&fid=181&gallery=2340457|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the fall of that year, she was a speaker on Native American rights and the protection of the Earth at the Dakota Pipeline protest. She stated the media's coverage of the event has been misconstrued. "We don’t want violence or perceived violence to be what’s on the media."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goldengatexpress.org/2016/09/16/teach-in-shows-in-solidarity-with-standing-rock/|title=Teach-in shows solidarity with Standing Rock|date=16 September 2016|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018}}</ref>
In June 2019, Frank was awarded the Alexis Arquette Family Foundation | LA Pride 2 Spirits Activist Award.<ref>[https://lapride.org/trans-activist-bamby-salcedo-to-be-honored-at-inaugural-la-pride-femme-event-presented-by-dosist/ Trans Activist Bamby Salcedo to Be Honored at LA Pride FEM(ME) Event<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.crowsonthenose.com/aboutlfrank.html The Art of L. Frank]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110503031137/http://www.mingei.org/intheirownwords/frank L. Frank bio and video], Mingei International Museum
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060517230228/http://www.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/art/Artists/Artist04.htm Biographical note at California Academy of Sciences]
*[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/Endangered_Lang_Conf/Manriquez.html Biographical note for the Endangered Language Conference at University of California, Berkeley, Jepson and University Herbaria]
*[http://www.aicls.org/ Advocates for Indigenous California Languages]
*[http://www.ciba.org/ California Indian Basketweavers Association]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, L.}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American photographers]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
[[Category:American basket weavers]]
[[Category:Painters from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:20th-century American illustrators]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:Native American language revitalization]]
[[Category:People from Santa Rosa, California]]
[[Category:20th-century American women artists]]
[[Category:American women basket weavers]]
[[Category:American non-binary writers]]
[[Category:American non-binary artists]]
[[Category:Non-binary activists]]