About Bougie Birch

Be fearlessly authentic.
Hello and she:kon!
Welcome to Bougie Birch - where we recognize that cultural appropriation is not flattering. Bougie Birch is a 100% Indigenous owned and operated retail showcase of Indigenous artists.

Not only do we have our own line of authentic handmade Indigenous art pieces and products, we also pave the way for Indigenous artists to consensually sell their work in a progressive Indigenous retail environment.

AKA: Find your local artists' work here, in our showcase!
Follow our journey to not only support your local Indigenous artists, but also the rightful reclamation of Indigenous art by fighting Indigenous Art Fraud.  

I swear, we're something else!

 
 
 
Let me introduce myself...

My name is Katonhetsheri:io Ashley Rae-Ann Clark. I know, it's a mouthful. I was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and my family is Bear Clan from the Wahta Mohawk community in Muskoka, Ontario. 
I began Bougie Birch in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic after losing my job.  Suffering from what doctor's thought was double-carpal tunnel after a university degree and 10-year career in the restaurant industry, I found myself being forced into a career change at the age of 29.  It was at this time that I decided to take the opportunity to return to my roots as a source of healing physically, mentally, and spiritually after having this sudden life-changing event seemingly rip my world from under me.  Little did I know that this was the opportunity for which I had been waiting. 
When I was a child my parents were continuously buying me scrapbook supplies, bead kits, and string. They were emptying my pockets of rocks and other pieces of nature I picked up along my busy toddler travels.  This little girl began to resurface, after being forgotten, being such a busy adult. The pandemic made the busy adult stop and listen for the first time in a long time to that little girl.  As time went on her voice got louder in the healing process and even that busy adult couldn't do anything to make her quiet again. So, that adult stepped back and allowed the little girl to express her healing, her decolonization, her evolution through art once again.
......Only this time that little girl also had 10 years of business experience on her side so she took it to a whole new level. She created Bougie Birch.