Barton Brewer sat at a small table in the Dahl Art Center with weeks of work set out in front of him. Earrings carved from elk antlers lined his table, earrings that the retired Oglala Lakota veteran spent hours crafting.

Saturday was the first time Brewer ever vended, not just at the Black Hills Indian Art Market but ever.

“[I like] the freedom and the joy it gives me it brings me to see that, wow, I created this and someone likes it,” Brewer said. “And then I think, ‘Well, if I like it, then hopefully someone else does.’ And then when they buy them, then that just tells me that they like it, too.”

Just before noon on the second day of the market, Brewer had already sold more than 20 of the 55 pairs of elk antler earrings he made, something he said he honestly hadn’t expected to do at

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