BRANCHES OF COUNCIL OAK // BOBBY C. MARTIN’S FAMILY SNAPSHOTS

by Renée Fite

According to artist and educator Bobby C. Martin, art speaks directly to the human heart in ways only art can. It can give voice to those without voices by revealing stories that can only be told visually.

In his art, Martin explores the human condition through the complex identity of a man who was raised deeply immersed in Indigenous culture as well as the Baptist churches on the Mvskoke (Muscogee) side of his family. His work has always had a political undercurrent, but more recently he’s realized the responsibility to tell his own story as a mixed-blood Native person in an increasingly fractious U.S. culture. This outlook has led to deeper explorations of identity politics and how they play out in everyday Indian communities like the ones where Martin grew up in northeastern Oklahoma. His recent work probes deeper into the messy gray areas of Native identity, individually and communally—not to shock or divide, Martin says, but in an attempt to find a common ground of shared experience.

“As an artist, sometimes you find your subjects, and sometimes your subjects find you,” he maintains. Thirty years ago, Martin never dreamed that turning a few old family photographs into art would lead to a career-long fascination with these frozen images of the past, images that even today he has yet to grow tired of exploring.

“These snapshots have been my constant companions through countless re-imaginings as monumental paintings or tiny etchings, as drawings or installations and video projects,” Martin says. “These images of close kinfolk and distant relatives have become icons for me, symbols of a Native American identity not seen as ‘traditional’ but just as valid and vital to me—a tradition of Indian Christianity and mission schools that has been a part of my family history for generations.”

Martin is forthright about his religious beliefs. “The power, mercy, and peace that come from faith in a person, Jesus Christ, who came to take away the sins of the world,” he says, “is a compelling, personal experience that transcends cultural boundaries and tradition.”

Nonetheless, the photographs he works with have very personal meanings for him. He feels blessed to have been surrounded and supported by strong women throughout his life. In Martin’s art they function almost like religious icons—not to worship, but to remember fondly as faithfully looking out for his wellbeing—and also like a lifeline for him to a history that he didn’t discover until well into adulthood.

“These images have become a source of inspiration, pride and ultimately identity,” Martin says. “I have come to realize there is an almost universal recognition among viewers of my work that evokes memories of their own families’ pasts. This common ground of family memory has been a wonderfully satisfying by-product that I never expected when I began using these images.”

Martin cites the influence of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance masters like Jan van Eyck and Johannes Vermeer because of their attention to detail but also more contemporary artists like Edward Hopper and Jasper Johns. He’s inspired as well, he says, by his friends in the Indigenous art world and what they have accomplished with their work.

Though Martin lives in West Siloam Springs, he has been a professor of Visual Arts at John Brown University in northwest Arkansas for 15 years where he teaches printmaking and serves as gallery director. Martin previously spent eight years as a professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

“I enjoy being around young people who are figuring out their creative paths,” he says. “Their energy helps keep me creative.”

A citizen of the Muscogee Nation, Martin is currently working on a mural for the entrance of Council Oak Comprehensive Healthcare in Tulsa, the tribe’s flagship hospital facility. It’s the largest project he’s worked on to date.

“I’m deeply grateful to my tribe for the opportunity,” he says. I’m honored to create a welcoming artwork that tells the story of Council Oak, a historic tree that marks not only the rekindling of our tribe after forced removal, but encompasses the founding of Tulsa. The perseverance of our people is an epic adventure that I’m proud to tell in mural form. To be located in a place of healing makes it even more special.”

Additionally, a three-person traveling exhibition with friends Erin Shaw (Chickasaw) and Tony Tiger (Sac & Fox/ Muscogee/Seminole), entitled Altars of Reconciliation is currently touring the country. It focuses on these artists’ shared but unique experiences as Native Americans and Christians. Currently in Wyoming, it will travel to Connecticut this spring and remain on the road until 2025.

The rich history of Native churches has been rarely examined in the art world, particularly with regard to conflicts among tribal peoples about questions of faith. The Altars artists hope viewers experience their contemporary,

Native-themed altarpieces as a kind of sacred art and perceive how their personal as well as universal value is relevant to struggling with eternal questions. They also desire to spread awareness of the role Christianity continues to play among Native peoples and even inspire viewers to think about faith’s relevance to their own lives. For Martin, this legacy does not need to be at odds with Native traditions; it can even further one’s experience of them.

“Knowing I share that same fundamental faith with my ancestors only deepens my understanding and my love for our Creator God,” he says.

After participating in the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Leadership Arts program, RENEE FITE founded the Arts Council of Tahlequah and now serves as president. She is Managing Editor of the Stilwell Democrat Journal and the Westville Reporter and also writes for the Claremore Daily Progress. She loves watercolor and dreams of more time for stained glass, pottery, and basket weaving. Most of all, she loves being a mother of five, a grandmother of six (so far) and married to John, a musician, for 40 years.