our culture: ARTIST
LeatherChief Speaks Out
Garren Still draws upon both his Texan
and Native American ancestry to create
one-off, hand-worked pieces
BY MEL W RHODES
W
AUGUST 2016 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
ith his long braided hair and dark
features, Garren Still cuts
a rustic figure walking
his own path, one winding through his Native
American ancestry and
Parker County raising.
Creating both functional
and decorative leather
and silver work, at 35
he’s come into his own,
to a place where life and
art flow as one.
60
“Part of my free spirit and
living the way I do, I think, has to
do with my Indian blood,” Still,
who is half Cherokee, said. “I’m
a totally different breed of person
as far as the average American
goes — what they think their day
should consist of and what life
should consist of. I’m really freespirited, for lack of a better word.
I don’t like an everyday job
where I have to go somewhere and
have somebody ride over me telling