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So much diversity can be found at Five Civilized Tribes Museum’s annual Master Artist Show.
An acrylic painting, “The Gathering,” shows a woman in traditional ribbon skirt picking berries and putting them in a basket. The painting shows details of the basket’s weave, the berries’ drupelets, even the floral patterns on the woman’s skirt.
Another acrylic, “Statue of Unequality,” offers a poignant commentary on what American equality has meant for Native Americans.
“Grandmother” features beadwork and painted clay heads adorning a large gourd.
By Cathy Spaulding • Photos by tony Corbell
Five Civilized Tribes Museum’s gallery features art and artifacts from its permanent collection, as well as monthly exhibits, such as the Master Artist Show.
“Why the Buzzard’s Head is Bare” shows intricate sculpting and clay work inside a deer antler.
Those four alone came from one artist, 2009 Master Artist Anita Caldwell Jackson of Grand Saline, Texas.
This year’s 47th annual Master Artist Show, which runs through Nov. 30, features 30 pieces from 12 Master Artists. Each artist belongs to one of the Five Civilized Tribes — Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole.
“These are the best of the best,” said museum Executive Director Sean Barney. “These artists cannot compete in any other shows.”
He said this year’s show includes sculpture, beadwork, antler carving, charcoal, scrimshaw, finger weaving and shell work. Painting includes watercolor, acrylic, oil and gouache. Barney said gouache is an acrylic and oil mixture.
Five Civilized Tribes Museum’s gallery features art and artifacts from its permanent collection, as well as monthly exhibits, such as the Master Artist Show.
The Master Artist Show features works in yarn and mother of pearl, as well as paintings. Dana Tiger’s acrylic “Vlileckv” In the Beginning, uses bright color to tell a story.
TOP: Gary Montgomery’s untitled oil painting portrays warriors of the past surrounding soldiers of today.
RIGHT: Jerome Tiger’s “Stickballer” is on permanent display at the museum. ABOVE: Gwen Coleman Lester used charcoal and paper for “Buffalo Valley.”
LEFT: The Master Artist Show features paintings in various genres.
“The Gatherer,” earned the Joan Hill Best in Show award.
“Basically, it’s what best describes the mission statement of the museum,” Barney said.
This is the first year the Best in Show award is named for the late Muskogee artist Joan Hill, who was of Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) lineage. She died in June at the age of 89.
“She was our first female Master Artist,” Barney said.
The museum named Hill a Master Artist in 1973. Through the years, she served as a mentor, leader and friend to the museum. A student of the famed Dick West, Hill became known for her stylized acrylic paintings of historical and cultural scenes.
“Her paintings hang in the Smithsonian and Buckingham Palace,” Barney said.
The show’s 2020 Indian Heritage award went to “Someone’s Coming (Friend or Foe),” McAlester artist Skip Rowell’s oil painting of an armed hunter watching from a fallen tree.
“The interesting thing about Skip Rowell is that he isn’t known for paintings,” Barney said. “He’s more known for scrimshaw.”
Rowell, a 2001 Master Artist, also has two scrimshaw works in this year’s show, “Ancestors” and “First Place Chicken with a Second Place Ribbon.” Both are carved in mammoth ivory.
Several artists, like Jackson and Rowell, have works of different types in the show.
“One thing that we learned was that during the shutdown, artists had a little bit more time, so they experimented on things maybe they wanted to do,” he said.
TOP: Anita Caldwell Jackson’s “The Gatherer” won the Joan Hill Best in Show Award.
BELOW: Jackson carved a deer antler for her piece “Why the Buzzard’s Head is Bare.” Anita Caldwell Jackson questions how liberty is applied in her painting “Statue of Unequality.”
Skip Rowell won an Indian Heritage Award with his “Someone’s Coming (Friend or Foe).”
RIGHT: Skip Rowell carved “Ancestors” on mammoth ivory.
BELOW: Scrimshaw and yarn art are displayed alongside paintings.
Anita Caldwell Jackson uses a gourd, clay beads and acrylic paint for her “Grandmother.” Raccoons go on the prowl in Jon Mark Tiger’s “Moon Dance.”
Barney pointed out a charcoal on paper work, “Buffalo Valley,” done by Gwen Coleman Lester, a 2007 Master Artist from Claremore.
“She doesn’t do that much charcoal,” Barney said. “And if you talk to her, it’s not one of her favorites. But it’s one of those things that the more you do, the better you get at it.”
Lester’s charcoal work is next to her colorful acrylic, “Girl Power,” of a modern girl playing stickball.
Jon Mark Tiger’s acrylic “Moondance,” and Sandy Fife Wilson’s shell carving, “Ceto Mekko - Rattlesnake,” won the show’s “Spirit of Oklahoma” awards. Tiger is a 2012 Master artist from Eufaula. Wilson is a 2017 Master Artist from Morris.
Several works tell stories.
For example, “Chickasaw, Choctaw, Brothers,” by 2007 Master Artist Norma Howard from Stigler, tells of twins, Barney said.
“One went north, one went south,” Barney said. “In her story, they came together as brothers.”
An untitled oil painting by 1983 Master Artist Gary Montgomery shows three modern soldiers backed by spirits of bygone warriors.
About her acrylic painting, “Red Trail Road,” 2009 Master Artist Jeanne Rorex Bridges of Oktaha describes a Cherokee family following “what they trust is the Red Road.”
“For protection, for health, for love of each other and for love of God — the right path of life,” she said in a note by the painting.
All works are for sale, Barney said.
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