[2] A self-taught artist with no formal art training,[3] Archilta is known for her watercolor painting and her pictorial beadwork.

[2][1] Her husband died in 1956, and Archilta began to paint the following year as a means to support her family.

Despite a severely injured arm, she soon began to sell her work and make a name for herself.

[2][5] She was the first woman to exhibit a collection of paintings at the American Indian Exposition (Anadarko, Oklahoma).

In the painting, the Manatidie dancers are depicted in an earlier version of the dance which was no longer performed after the early 20th century.