Pete pointed out the theme of this year’s powwow was “Empowerment through Education.” She said that’s why she wanted to display her inaugural piece there.

“I think it’s really important for even the kids to read it and wonder what does this mean? What is it about?” she said.

By early Saturday afternoon a number of youngsters had added or subtracted to the art piece. “And I’ve seen some older people come by and say, ‘It’s good to see this, but I’ll think about it and come back and see if I want to write something,’ ” said Pete.

Noethe’s contributions in bright red attracted more attention to the exhibit in the final hours of the powwow. Another woman was inspired to amplify on Noethe’s sentiments in her own language.

“She even drew a horse on the edge,” Pete said.

The reactions took unexpected twists and turns. Some defended parts of the treaty, which assigned exclusive fishing and hunting rights to tribal members on the reservation.

Others mentioned “it would be nice for Indians to rewrite their own treaty with the mainstream culture and see what that would be like,” Pete said.