Mitch Battese (1951-2020) was a painter, author, and social activist. Battese was a member of the Chickasaw Tribe of Oklahoma and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe in Kansas. He left the reservation when he was 18 years old to attend Bacone College in Oklahoma where he studied under noted Native American artists Dick West and Chief Terry Saul. Battese obtained a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah. He also attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Battese worked for United States Indian Health Services as a Clinical Social Worker. Battese described his work as follows: “I love to illustrate spiritual visions or stories that I have been told or experienced by Native people. I attempt, in my paintings, to reveal a wide range of contemporary perspectives and issues that are important aspects of the culture of Native Americans.”