Michael Whitehorse AVILES

Michael Whitehorse Aviles, Born at San Fernando Calif., member and elder of the Gabrieleno Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, a descendent of the California Mission System established by Spain in the 1700’s. I am also a descendant of the Southern Piaute and Western Shoshoni People of the Mojave River, In the Mohave Desert near what is now Victorville California. My family were part of the govt., boarding school system which was designed to assimilate the Native Americans to non Native ways and traditions at Sherman Indian Institute Riverside California. For the last two years, I have been working as a Tribal Monitor who oversees construction sites that require deep digging, to look for ancestral remains and artifacts. In service, I am a Vietnam era Veteran of the United States Air Force, and Veteran of the California Air National Guard. For all of my life, I have always been involved in the arts, musician, photographer, graphic design, (owner M.A.Art Works Screen Printing.