Our Story
Lynnette, John, and Johnnie with Assistant Chief Austin (left) and Chief Batton (right)
At Field & Rein, we find beauty in leather, silver, and the heritage goods we gather. We find it most of all in what happens when histories, materials, and human hands meet. Our work grows from the intersections of our identities, and we welcome their complexity into what we make.
Our family’s Choctaw story reaches back to the homelands in present-day Mississippi. There, Choctaw people brought materials and tools acquired through trade with French, Spanish, and British newcomers into an already rich tradition of making and adornment.[1] Our lineage includes Hushiyukpa and the family of Pushmataha, as well as Major James Garland, a Scot who became part of that family.[2] It carries memories of the Mississippi Delta, of tribal politics and forced removal to Indian Territory, and of later generations whose lives in Oklahoma brought further western influences into our family’s experience.[3] Choctaw, Scottish, and American histories meet in ours. 
Dad (Johnnie) being recognized by Chief Batton as the ‘oldest Elder’ at the 2025 Choctaw Cultural Meeting in Fairfax, Va
That inheritance is a living source of inspiration for our vision as makers. A piece may begin with the construction of a hand-stitched saddle, the shape of a silver fitting, a pattern remembered from Choctaw clothing, or the useful beauty of a well-traveled field bag. We follow the possibilities that emerge when these references meet, making objects that feel both personal and at home in the present.
John designs and makes our bespoke leather goods, guided by the quiet elegance and practical intelligence of saddlery, field goods, and his own silver designs with leather. His father, Johnnie, works in precious metals. Together, their work for Choctaw River gives form to our family’s Choctaw roots through silver, leather, and the conversation between them. John’s sister Lynnette leads Field & Rein Heritage, gathering and renewing exceptional leather field goods, silver work by Indigenous makers, field and hunting textiles, and sporting objects whose stories deserve to continue.
John, Johnnie, and Lynnette are citizens of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and artists listed in the Choctaw Nation Artist Registry.[4] Each brings a different practice to Field & Rein, joined by a shared interest in what can be made, renewed, and carried forward.
Today, our family is together on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. John and his husband, Steven, have been joined by Johnnie, Lynnette, and Steven’s mother, Sherry (also from Oklahoma), near the Miles River in a landscape with Indigenous histories of its own, including those of the Choptank, Nanticoke, and Piscataway peoples.[5]
Each of us brings a different eye and a different set of hands to Field & Rein. What we share is a belief that an object can be useful, beautiful, and alive with the histories that shaped it. That is the work we love doing. (Photos courtesy of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.)
Sources[1] Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, “Fort Tombecbe and Early Choctaw Treaties”, “Chahta Nan Ikhvna: Choctaw Education”, and “Traditional Dress”.
[2] Raymond Garland, History of the Garland Family of Choctaws (1977), archived by Lauderdale County, Mississippi, charts 1–3 and 56–58.
[3] Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, “The Treaty that Forever Changed our Chahta People’s Story” and “Issuba: ‘Like a Deer,’ Part Two”.
[4] Choctaw Nation Artist Registry eligibility; Johnnie’s and Lynnette's listings are expected before the website’s public launch.
[5] Maryland’s Choptank Indian Reservation historical marker and the Talbot County archaeological survey