2026 State of the Art Prize, California

About brooke smiley

Ojai, CA

brooke smiley is a Wahzhazhe (Osage) interdisciplinary artist based in California, who guides land and body learning. Grounded in somatic education, public earth art, and dance performance, her work engages a deepening awareness in the body, our relationships with one another, and the world. Born into a family of builders, a certified California Contractor, she partners with the history of the land and all who live here by slowing down to listen. brooke earned her MA from Trinity Laban, BFA from CalArts, and is a graduate of California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (CalEarth). She specializes in Somatic Education from an Indigenous, Body Mind Centering® (BMC®), and social justice perspective, guiding anatomical, embryological, and elemental learning in connection to lineage and land uplifting personal agency and difference. For a decade she toured Europe and Australia, creating and performing new work with Fabulous Beast Dance Theater (now Teac Damsa), Ventura Dance Company, and Michael Clark Company, with two residencies at Tate Modern. She is awarded as a United States Dance Scholar from the California State Senate, California Legislature, and United States Congress. brooke is an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara co-creating the Interdisciplinary American Indian and Indigenous Studies Department.

brooke smiley is a Wahzhazhe (Osage) interdisciplinary artist based in California, who guides land and body learning. Grounded in somatic education, public earth art, and dance performance, her work engages a deepening awareness in the body, our relationships with one another, and the world. Born into a family of builders, a certified California Contractor, she partners with the history of the land and all who live here by slowing down to listen. brooke earned her MA from Trinity Laban, BFA from CalArts, and is a graduate of California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (CalEarth). She specializes in Somatic Education from an Indigenous, Body Mind Centering® (BMC®), and social justice perspective, guiding anatomical, embryological, and elemental learning in connection to lineage and land uplifting personal agency and difference. For a decade she toured Europe and Australia, creating and performing new work with Fabulous Beast Dance Theater (now Teac Damsa), Ventura Dance Company, and Michael Clark Company, with two residencies at Tate Modern. She is awarded as a United States Dance Scholar from the California State Senate, California Legislature, and United States Congress. brooke is an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara co-creating the Interdisciplinary American Indian and Indigenous Studies Department.