Lawney L. Reyes (1931 – August 10, 2022) was an American Sin-Aikst artist, curator, and memoirist, based in Seattle, Washington. Biography Lawney Reyes was born in 1931 to Mary Christian, Sin-Aikst (now known as the Sinixt). Historically her people were known as the Senjextee ("the Lake") and they now make up one of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. His father was Julian Reyes, a native Filipino who largely assimilated to an Indian way of life after his marriage. Lawney's maternal grandfather, Alex Christian, was known as Pic Ah Kelowna, (White Grizzly Bear); his great-uncle (brother of his maternal grandmother) was Chief James Bernard, a Sin Aikst leader in the early 20th century. Lawney's siblings included Luana Reyes and Bernie Whitebear. Reyes' early childhood with his family was largely lived on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. In 1935–1937, during the period of construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, his parents moved to Grand Coulee and started a Chinese restaurant, even though "[n]either of them could prepare Chinese food except for simple dishes such as pork fried rice, egg foo-yung, and chop suey". They soon acquired an ethnically Chinese partner and cook, Harry Wong whom later bought them out of the restaurant in 1937. His parents separated in 1939 and subsequently divorced. His mother later worked again for Wong in Tacoma, Washington and she eventually married Wong. From 1940 to 1942, Reyes was a student at the Chemawa Indian School, a boarding school five miles north of Salem, Oregon. He would later write that his consciousness of being "Indian" was largely formed through his conversations there with other students. The rest of his childhood and youth was spent living with his father, variously on the Colville Reservation and in Okanogan, Washington. After graduating from Okanogan High School in 1949, Reyes moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he lived again with his mother and her second husband. He moved back east across the mountains and attended Wenatchee Junior College, where he obtained a two-year degree. He met Joyce Meacham, a Yakama and Warm Springs Indian and they were married in 1955. She later had a career in social work and especially in Indian Health programs. Reyes served in the U.S. Army which gave him the opportunity to see much of Europe which confirmed his interest in working in a field related to "architecture design, and art". Upon his return he attended