Rhonda Holy Bear (Cheyenne River Lakota) says of her sculptures, “I am both a figure artist and a story keeper. Stories have always played an integral role in the preservation of our native culture. My grandmother was a keeper of stories. Little did I know, when I was a little girl, just how much of an impact my grandmother's stories would have upon my life.” Holy Bear has received many prestigious awards, including most recently (2021) Best of Show SWAIA Indian Market for her piece Lakota Honor - Sees The Horses Woman, a carved doll in elaborately beaded regalia that took Holy Bear more than 10 years to complete.  Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is included in many prominent museum collections in the United States: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.; and the Denver Art Museum, Denver. The Nerman Museum has two of her works on view on the JCCC campus in the Collection Focus areas.