Chelsea Kaiah is a multidisciplinary artist engaged in sculpture and community-centered practices. Born on the Northern Ute reservation, Kaiah is White River Ute and White Mountain Apache. She is deeply committed to material exploration, with a creative process rooted in making her own materials as an integral part of her work. Her practice is guided by sustainable ethics and the labor required to uphold traditional craft processes such as beadwork, quillwork, and hide work. She views her materials as sentient collaborators rather than passive tools. When treated with care and intention, they respond in kind, revealing forms and stories that emerge identity, history, and family.

Chelsea earned her BFA at Watkins College of Art and Design in Nashville, Tennessee. She currently resides in Denver, Co. In 2025, Kaiah was awarded The Social Impact Award from Bonfil’s Stanton and Denver Arts & Venue that supports working artists in the Denver Metro, part of the award was dedicated to make a hide camp for the local community. She currently serves as part of the Indigenous Advisory Council for the Denver Art Museum after being their fall 2022 Native Arts Artist in Residence. She is currently developing her public art portfolio in locations Westminster and Breckenridge.