about the artist

Sinéad Talley is a freelance Karuk, Yurok + Irish American mother, basketweaver, designer + model based in northern California with experience developing collaborative projects in partnership with, as well as representing, indigenous artists + fashion designers for print and runway in the U.S. and Canada. In 2020, she founded her beadwork and apparel line, Imkúuhkirih Designs, which combines traditional materials and techniques to create pieces rooted in Karuk culture and homelands alongside contemporary aesthetics.

Named for the Karuk word to describe sunlight shining across water, Imkúuhkirih Designs has been conceptualized as a space to sell + showcase handmade beadwork + basketweaving, photography prints, and accessories, with operations expanding to include apparel in 2025. Collections are often place-based and reflective of aspects of the landscape within Karuk homelands, as both a foundational approach to the creation of each piece as well as in the inclusion of materials gathered + processing techniques brought into the fashioning of beadwork + apparel pieces as central elements to their design.

Sinéad has worked at various levels of administrative support, coordination + field work for projects centered on missing & murdered indigenous peoples, natural and cultural resources, and environmental justice. She holds a degree in Human Biology with honors in Education from Stanford University and earned her Masters in Social Science from the Environment & Community program at Cal Poly State Humboldt in 2022.