(train whistle blowing) - I'm an indigenous artist.

What I do is a lot of different things.

The older I get, I don't do a lot of things, which I kind of like too, you know, just to slow down a little bit and think about who I am and what is my place upon Mother Earth.

You know, there's a lot of native cultures that I've asked, and there's not even a word for art.

It's not separate from the human condition.

(gentle music) This is my wife, Pennie.

It's an honor to be her husband.

She's one of the smartest people I've ever known, and she keeps me around 'cause I make her laugh.

- That's true.

This is my husband, Michael Horse.

He is hilarious.

He kept asking me to marry him, and I kept saying no.

And finally he said, "I promise to make you laugh every day."

And I went, "That's a pretty good deal."

So I grew up in California, and while I really felt blessed and lucky to have grown up in California, I also didn't feel like it was the place for us anymore.

And then I started three times a day looking for where we were gonna live.

And my criteria was water, looking at the UN climate reports and seeing what the projections were for different parts of the United States, and looking at mineral extraction sites including fossil fuels.

And we decided that this would be the place for us.

So we bought this place sight unseen, and it has been so much more beautiful and fulfilling here than we'd ever imagined.

It's like the best place either of us have ever lived.

And we've both lived in these amazing places before we even met.

And yeah, we just got really lucky, huh?

- [Michael] Yeah, Pennie goes, "Well, we're moving to Minnesota."

You know, both of us thought we'd retire in Mexico.

- I had never been to the Midwest.

I had absolutely no desire to live in the Midwest.

- Pennie wouldn't go east of the Rockies.

- I hated snow.

- A snowflake fell on her once, she screamed.

(Pennie laughing) - But when we were driving here, when we came over that hill in Duluth and saw the lake, my heart just started beating so fast.

I had no idea how big it was in real life.

And it was so beautiful.

It took our breath away.

And I had never imagined in my entire life that I would fall in love with the Midwest.

(bubbling water) - I'm so happy to be here.

We're still amazed here.

We go out every day and, you know, watching the changing of the seasons, and the people in Minnesota are the nicest people I've ever met.

You know, you hear about Minnesota, truly nice people.

Everybody smiles at you, and you go in a hardware store and you go, "You got one of these," and the guy takes you over and finds it for you.

I never knew my birth father.

I'm part Swedish, so, you know, I'm getting into my Nordic roots, you know?

Look, Swedish meatballs, food of my people.

Pennie goes, "No, I don't think that's the."

- That's not true.

You made a delicious Swedish meatball and noodle dish a couple weeks ago.

It was really good.

- We went up to the powwow in Grand Marais and on the way back we went to the Finnish powwow, we called it.

- Yeah, it was cultural days.

- Yeah.

- Finnish cultural days, and so.

- Had some Finnish food.

- [Pennie] And I love snow now.

- Yeah, she does, she loves snow.

It's home to me now.

I can't imagine living any other place.

I'm part Yaqui, part Swedish.

I grew up in what's called an intertribal culture in Los Angeles.

I grew up with a lot of Diné (Navajo) people and Lakota people and Cheyenne people.

And I was a traditional dancer when I was younger, and there were big powwows, and, you know, it was a wonderful place to grow up.

And, you know, I wasn't really separated from my culture and also got to learn about a lot of other native cultures.

You know, I got to hang out with some of the real traditional people that were from the Los Angeles area, some of the Gabrieleño and Chumash people were friends of mine and got to learn some about the history of California.

I had a lot of family in Arizona.

I could go back and talk to my elders and go back for some of the ceremonies.

And then the 60s came and that, you know, cosmic meatball kind of hit us all, you know, opened up that artistic thing and I just wanted to travel.

And I had a hard time processing, a little bit dyslexic in school, so I quit school young and took off, wanted to go to New York City.

(dramatic music) You know, all my family are artists.

My mom's a traditional painter.

My uncles are jewelers.

My aunts are painters, and some of the really famous native jewelers took me in, and I got to apprentice with them.

Never went to school with it but it's my favorite thing to do.

Of all the things I do, people say, "What's your favorite thing to do?"

Cut rocks.

(machine whirring) Sometimes it'll come to me before time.

Sometimes I'll just sit down.

Sometimes the stone'll dictate what I'm gonna do.

You know, my dad was most proud of all the things that he was most proud of me doing the jewelry 'cause I did that with my hands.

It's a very organic process and good for my soul.

Basically, I start with just a sheet of metal and a raw stone.

The tools that I use that make the marks in my jewelry, they're my tools.

They're all made from old pieces of drill rod or rebar or old files.

So if somebody wants to duplicate my work, they'd have to duplicate all my tools.

To see people wear my jewelry, I mean, I'm flattered by it.

I'm flattered by anybody that gets a piece of my art or, you know, watches one of my films.

It's, you know, I mean, as a human, it's really nice for people to go, "I really like that."

(gentle music) And we used to paint on hides.

That was our history book, our calendar.

It would remind the oral storytellers.

There were little pictures, remind the oral storytellers of things that would happen, migrations, battles, things in the heavens.

We could roll it up, take it with us.

Well, on the reservation, we weren't allowed to have weapons or hunt, and so hides are not that available.

We started getting a hold of pieces of scrap paper, mostly out of ledger books, but any piece of scrap paper, old love letters, Bibles, maps, we would draw on these things.

And it was done, oh, 1860s up to about 1940.

A lot of it was done in Fort Marion where, you know, after the Battle of Little Bighorn, they put everybody on trains and took 'em there.

Very repressive time.

So a lot of 'em are pictures of things that happened long time ago or things that were actually repressing them, like being on the reservation.

Also, social things.

A lot of pictures of people cheating on their husbands and wives and spying on each other, you know, which is people, like kind of our soap opera.

And there was only about, there was just a handful of us that actually brought this art form back.

And now there's lots of people.

Wonderful, wonderful ledger artists, all kinds of 'em.

Some of 'em, they're really, really detailed artists.

I mean, they can just draw like a photograph.

And then there's other people that, there's this kind of almost cartoonish, but mine are very similar to the old ones 'cause I copied 'em.

I've had 'em in my hands, you know, I've had 'em in the museums in my hands.

So I just started copying 'em, it's a really interesting art form.

I've learned so much about history doing this.

And even people that know a lot about native art have never seen ledger art.

You know, the last 20 years or so, it's had, you know, it's had a big renaissance.

There's a lot of people that do it now, but people still, they haven't seen it because most of it was archived in museums, and there's a few books that have come out on it, yeah, people are still, still discovering it.

Wherever you repress people, this exists.

It's in Manzanar where they interned the Japanese.

It's from the concentration camps.

It's in there, and, you know, wherever you do this to people, they get ahold of pieces of scrap paper and, you know, and they draw.

You know, most of these were done in colored pencil, like what they called crayon back then 'cause that was the most accessible.

But I paint like in the Comanche and Kiowa style, which is like pen and ink when it was available and basically kids' watercolor.

Then I was running my art studio from an agent in 1980, and she says, "You wanna be Tonto in the Lone Ranger”, you know?

I went “No, I'm an American Indian Movement member.” “I don't want to be Tonto.”: And we knew Jay.

We loved him.

I knew him, I knew his daughter.

Even with that stereotypical role, he was the real deal.

We just loved him and went “No, I don't wanna be Tonto.” She kept asking me, I went, "No."

And she told me how much they were gonna pay me, and went, "Oh, Kemosabe."

So I went down and talked to Mr.

Fraker, and I sad, "Are you gonna do this different?"

And he went, "Yeah."

And I did a couple of small things, but my first experience was this huge film.

Not a very good film.

It didn't take me long to realize it's only gonna be as good as it's written.

(upbeat music) Working with David Lynch is one of the most amazing experience of my whole entire life and a true gift.

I cherish every time we ever had together.

He was a very funny man too.

And he would direct me and go, "Okay, Hawk, this time, only good."

I knew exactly what he meant.

You know, he trusted us all very much.

And the same with him.

I got to see him a couple of months before he passed, and I live up here in wonderful Minnesota now, and he didn't wanna talk about film.

He goes, "What kind of trees do you have?"

And I go, "I have this kind of pine and this kind of pine."

And he was just fascinated by it.

But the opportunity to work with that man, you know, we knew we were doing something special the first time, but 25 years later to realize the impact that we made on film and television, I mean, everything's got Twin Peaks's DNA all over it.

I mean, David had called me.

I heard rumors it was coming back, and he called me, he said, "Hey buddy, we're getting the gang back together."

And I said, "Well, wonderful.

"Just give me a cameo.

"I'll do it for nothing for you."

He goes, "No, we got something for you."

You don't get a chance to work, especially in television, to do art.

And if I never worked again on anything, just to have that opportunity to work with David, you know, people said, "Well, what's your big take from it?"

I go, "Just to be a small dot of color "on that man's artistic palette is enough for me."

And he was a wonderful, he was everything you think he is and more.

And as a native actor, you know, a lot of this stuff is just so freaking stupid.

And we had a chance to actually hold some mirrors up to some stereotypes.

Just a wonderful experience.

I'm a very lucky person.

(dramatic music) When I go out and I meet these fans, sometimes, I don't do a lot of these events 'cause I'm still working a lot.

And I tell my wife it's not about fame.

It's about sharing David's heart.

And they said, "Well, I'm," they say, "I'm a big fan."

I go, "I'm a fan just like you are."

(audience applauding) - Well the thing that most impressed me about David, he did not compromise.

I mean, he was, they pushed and pushed and pushed on him.

He would go, "Well, I'm not doing it."

You know?

I mean, he would not compromise on his art.

- There's a great love for this character.

A lot of times my wife will go, "Why aren't you as cool as the Hawk?"

I mean nobody's as cool as the Hawk.

I based this character on a lot of these traditional elders that I grew up with that I hoped I would be someday when I got older.

David understands the human condition.

You know, a lot of my native artist friends and contemporaries are big fans of David's work because like us, he understands that the dream world is just as real as the awake world.

And he understands that the forest is a living entity.

You know, it's a scientific fact that the forest communicates with each other and the mycelium communicate with the forest, and forest talks to the animals.

(dramatic music) Things that I think I should get, I don't get, and then things come out of the blue.

Did a wonderful series about a nail salon and the mob called "Claws" with Niecy Nash, and I just did "Motherland Fort Salem" about these, you know, my agent goes, "They want you to be on this thing about these witches "and work with the government."

I go, "That sounds stupid."

She goes, "No, you better look at it."

Really wonderful character actors and actresses.

And I've been given a lot of gifts.

A friend of mine, I've done a couple of films for him, he wanted to do something.

He says, "I really wanna do something "of some great substance," and he says, "I know you do before you retire," and it's a story of five homeless people that meet on a bench every day, and they're pretty messed up, but there's a backstory to all of 'em, how they got that way.

So when you see homeless people, don't look at them like they're invisible.

It's a wonderful film.

I'm really proud of it.

(upbeat music) I'm a real fan of animation.

I wanted to do cartoon voices for years.

It's so hard to get into.

I speak a little bit of my language, so I started doing a couple of those, and people would hire me.

And, you know, I did do "Captain Planet" and “Superman” and “Batman” and "Spirit," which was my favorite.

The Mississippi River occupies a unique space in America's consciousness, especially in Minnesota.

I have a real affinity for the Mississippi River, but I didn't know anything about the northern part of it, so I was asked to do it, and I'm so pleased and honored and so excited to see it 'cause the water is so important.

You know, my wife is a big water activist and without clean water, we're all gonna be in a lot of trouble.

Her story is as complicated as it is captivating, filled with heartbreak and triumph, and it begins here.

(dramatic music) - I've had like a up and down spiritual journey, but I kind of talk about like the first watching of "Twin Peaks" being like my second spiritual awakening of like believing that there's levels to living, not just this one plane living.

So that was how I interpreted it when I watched it for the first time.

And then Matt and I would talk at length about what we thought was going on.

And I was open to the idea that this isn't just a table, and this isn't just a coffee cup, and I'm not just a person walking around with blood in my veins.

And I feel like it actually kind of helped me come back alive.

- Yeah, and I remember Holly was my landlord for a decade, and during that time was when “The Return” aired, and we watched all of that as it aired together.

Just a very special part of our friendship, I think.

- [Holly] Yes, absolutely.

(gentle music) When it came to learning about "Twin Peaks," he had talked about "Twin Peaks" a lot.

I'd never seen it.

And then a few years later, we ended up playing music together, and then I was on tour and actually my bass player played Julee Cruise on the drive through Washington.

(soothing music) And I was just like, "What is this?"

I was laying in the back of the van watching the pine trees go by listening to Julee Cruise, and I was just like totally spellbound.

I think "Twin Peaks" is funny too because a lot of people are fans of it from different angles.

Like they like it for different reasons.

And I think that was one thing with Matt.

I would try to talk about "Twin Peaks" or I'd hear someone talking about "Twin Peaks," and I would feel like that's not the angle I come to it from, but I felt like Matt and I came to it from the same angle.

(upbeat music) - Yeah, I think for a long time I would look at it, well, when I was like, I'd watched it once and then wanted to watch it again and try to understand more of the mystery of it.

But then after a while you learn to just appreciate and wanna keep the mystery.

I've heard interviews with actors who have said they didn't really understand what the scene they were in.

- [Michael] Yeah.

- Was all about.

They just knew their part in it.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And it makes me wonder if anyone in the production knew where that was going at that point.

- I did.

- [Matt] Yeah?

- Yeah, the Hawk was the only one that understood.

- Hawk, six for six, two kills, high marks.

- I never once going, "Well, what is my purpose here?"

I took that on all the elders I grew up with, all the spiritual people I grew up with.

I understood from the get-go what the Hawk was doing.

Hawk knew something was there.

Hawk knew traditionally about the evil, the Black Lodge, where things are, you know?

And there was never a question of what is my purpose here?

- Can you hear me?

- [Michael] My relationship between the Log Lady who was was Mother Nature.

- [Matt] Have you spoken to Mark Frost since he moved?

- Oh yeah, yeah, we're really close, you know?

And a lot of people don't understand the contribution that Mark made, you know?

I mean, it was the combination of David and Mark, you know?

I mean, Mark is a storyteller.

David is an abstract painter.

Between the both of them, made this amazing, and Mark understood, I think he understood the character of the Hawk a lot because Mark knows a lot about history, especially the history of that area, of the indigenous people there and the connection of the indigenous people to that environment, you know?

I mean, "Twin Peaks" became a character just like we did.

A lot of credit to Mark.

- When you returned.

- [Michael] Yeah.

- For “The Return.” - Yeah.

- Did it feel like that was the natural continuation?

Did you still have that same?

- Oh, yeah, you know, I thought, well, it's been so long, you know.

It's like no time had passed whatsoever.

It's like all those years, it was like a week after we'd done the original to me inside.

Who understand a lot more when I explain my map.

- [Holly] How did it come to be that you were the one that created the map on the hide?

- David said, "Look, I want this map "that shows where the Black Lodge and everything is."

And he said, "Do what you do.

"I just want this, this, and this in it," you know?

So he said, "How much you want?"

You know, and I went, "No, it's a gift and an honor."

And Sabrina, the producer, goes, "You know, it's probably worth about $10,000 "of Michael's work."

I go, "I don't have any of your work.

"I'll trade you for something."

So I have a lithograph from one of his Paris shows, you know?

But so many artists, I'm just finding out so many artists, musicians and painters and sculptors and teachers, and I'm overwhelmed of how they were influenced by David's work.

You know, I knew him as an artist, and I knew people liked him, but after this journey of being in "Twin Peaks," so many people were influenced by David's work.

- [Holly] Yeah.

- You know?

- The subject of my first piece here was Holly's idea.

I have my own art music that I do from my own perspective, but I have done some "Twin Peaks" inspired art as well, including some Lego tributes and, - Which he gave me one of and I just love it.

I just.

(Matt laughing) - And it's just been a place that is a happy place despite all the twisted, evil things in it.

It's the world people talk about that they love being a part of, I have too, so.

- Well, David, you know, people ask me, you know, is he, does he have a dark inner?

I go, "No, he's one of the sweetest, kindest, "happiest guys I've ever met.

"He just wants people to know that that does exist, "that there's an underbelly there."

- That's what I'm talking about.

I feel like people come to it from different angles.

- Yeah.

- [Holly] And I think that's why it's like, yeah, like, oh, it's kind of graphic, and it goes into these dark places, and yet there's like a universal honesty that brings it to like a pure place.

- Yeah.

I'm truly touched by how many people I meet that are, especially artists that are influenced by David.

David is probably one of the most down-to-earth people.

His look at life, he goes, "Well, look, this is life."

David was a pretty solid guy.

In my opinion, that's how I saw him.

Everything he tried to do was honest.

That's how David saw the world.

And some of that, that people call surreal is the truth of the world.

- That's how I feel is surrealism for sure.

- Yeah, I think a lot of artists understand it, you know?

I don't even wanna see, I don't wanna hear the word surrealism.

You know, I would have discussions about an abstract image, you know, and, you know, how that can invoke an emotion in somebody, you know, but never the words out of David's.

No, David never though he was a surreal artist or an abstract artist.

I tell people, musicians and that, you know, don't try and do what you think is gonna be popular.

I mean, the people that like your work may be a small niche, but do what you wanna do from your heart, and some people will like it.

David was about truth.

- Yeah.

- And that's, I think that's the impact that a lot of people get, that there's a truth there that people hadn't seen before in television and film.

David never tried to be strange or, you know, people tell me about that.

Uh-uh, I think he was one of the most solid filmmakers I'd ever seen.

And I think people understand that.

- [Holly] Yeah.

- True artists, I mean, you guys understand that.

You don't find it abstract or weird.

- Mm-mm, it feels revelatory.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Do you feel like you know why he felt so adamant we should know what the human condition was?

- No, I don't think he thought we would know.

He just said, "Oh, it's there."

He didnt say, "I'm gonna tell you "what the human condition is."

That was not his, he wasn't a preachy man.

- Yeah.

- He just, he just, he just said, "Well, it's there."

You know, humor's there, kindness is there, bravery is there, and that evil is there.

And I think he was able to portray all these things, which looks easy in David's world, but as a filmmaker, it's not.

It's not that easy to portray all those things and do it honestly.

(dramatic music) Nature has an effect upon people.

You know, we're all connected to it.

You can't be a healthy person without music and art and nature.

But now, I mean, this is family to me, these trees and the ferns.

I mean, that's all part of my family now.

It's interesting.

Of all the tribal ceremonies I've seen all around the world, most of 'em deal with gratitude.

It's thank you, and if you're a grateful person, you're less apt to be a jerk.

(dramatic music) - I would like to invite people, which I do all the time anyway, invite people to start imagining and envisioning the beautiful future that humanity can create for the entire sacred system of life.

Because everything that we see around us, everything that's human made was first imagined, and we can imagine something much better than what we have right now.

(gentle music) (dramatic music)