Tim Blueflint headshot

Meet The Artist

Tim Blueflint Ramel

Bad River Chippewa/Comanche

Artist/Educator/Performer

Tim Blueflint is the owner and creative talent behind Shades of Rez Studio, which he founded in 2005. He is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, a federally recognized American Indian Tribe.

Blueflint is highly respected internationally and in the Native American flute community, as well as the Native American art community for the high standards of quality, beauty and tuning of his traditional and contemporary Native American Fine Art Flutes. He personally selects each of the woods for beauty and tonality, which he collects worldwide, by hand and incorporates some with inlays of semi-precious stones.

Always in his studio creating new works, he is a multi-award winning flute maker, performer and educator of others in the Native American Flute traditions.

He is now offering a new line of jewelry that reflects the same exquisite craftsmanship, utilizing the finest materials available.

Blueflint was awarded the prestigious Innovation in Art Award from Santa Fe Indian Market in 2015, along with numerous other awards from the Santa Fe, Eiteljorg Museum, Briscoe Museum, Autry Museum, Heard Museum Indian Art Markets and was nominated for The Community Spirit Award 2011, First Nations Community.

Blueflint has opened for and shared the stage with Grammy Award Winner Mary Youngblood, performed with William Hoshal, Gabriel Ayala, Bill Miller, Rona Yellowrobe, Gary Stroutsos and others. He has been a featured performer for the Eiteljorg Museum’s Indian Market, Casa Grande Native American Music Festival, the Yosemite Flute Festival, Flute Quest and has served as Master of Ceremonies at the 2012 International Native American Flute Association Convention.

He is a member of the World Flute Society, NAMM, is a listed artist with the Department of Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, past Member on Indian Arts and Craft Association Education Board, Advisor on Board of Resources for Uncovering Wonder and The Silver Sage Foundation, and volunteered at Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation and The Caring Place. Tim Blueflint has been published in various magazines to include Native American Art, Cowboys and Indians, Western Art Collector, Native People’s Magazine, Santa Fe Indian Market Guide, Feliz Navidad (a periodic publication by the Santa Fe New Mexican), Indian Country Media Today and was featured on How It’s Made, Discovery Channel.

Tim Blueflint’s Native American Fine Art Flutes are recognized as some of the world’s finest handmade instruments. He is featured at the top Native American Markets, Flute Festivals and art museums in the country and his works are represented in the permanent collections of the Briscoe Museum of Western Art and the Eiteljorg Museum of Western and American Indian Art, as well as in the finest private Native American Art and Flute Collections.