| As members, or prospective members, you are cordially invited to the Claremore Museum of History’s 2nd “Members Only” private reception event of 2021 with the featured artists that will be presenting their work at our Legacy Row Native American Art Show on Saturday, November 6, 2021. This reception will be hosted at the MoH on Friday evening, November 5, 2021 from 6PM to 8PM in the evening. Members will enjoy an evening of music, drink and food while having the opportunity to visit with some of Oklahoma’s most talented Native American artists and view their works that will be on display the following day. ARTISTS PREVIEW GWEN COLEMAN LESTER Choctaw Nation Gwen Coleman Lester is a native Oklahoman from Claremore. She draws and paints anything cultural from traditional food preparation to stickball and dances. Wildlife is another of her favorite subjects. She works in charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, watercolor and acrylics. Gwen is a Master Artist, designated by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, OK. She has won many awards for her work from museum shows and juried native art festivals across the country, to include the Santa Fe Indian Market. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has several pieces of her art in their collection including two murals depicting the Trail of Tears. Choctaw Nation also chose her as one of the artists to participate in their first festival in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Gwen’s art can be found at Tribes 131 Gallery in Norman, OK, and Choctaw Nation’s Gift Shop in Tushkahoma, Ok. Her website is nativetraditionsart.com. CRYSTAL HANNA Cherokee Nation Her art is represented in the Spider Gallery located in Tahlequah, Ok and the Corner Gallery in Las Vegas, NM. You can find out more about her art on FB -Runfree Native American Art or You Tube under Crystal Hanna, OSIYO TV, Season 6, Episode 2. Crystal Hanna has been practicing traditional pottery methods since 1999, after an apprenticeship with Anna Mitchell, Master Potter and Treasure of Cherokee Nation. She has been participating in juried Native American Art Shows for more than 20 years, including Santa Fe Indian Art Market, where her pottery has been awarded many times. Hanna is currently vice-president of a newly formed non-profit Route 66 Native Arts Alliance, where she uses her experience to promote opportunity and education about and for our local Native American Artists. DAN HORSE CHIEF Cherokee and Pawnee Dan is Cherokee and Pawnee, came from a family of artists and crafters, and so began his practice at an early age. His formal art training began when he received an art scholarship award to attend Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma . He continued to the Institute of American Indian Art at Santa Fe, NM, where he received a degree in museum studies, and he has also studied at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His award winning art work ranges from miniature paintings to large outdoor bronze sculpture, and murals. His medias of choice are painting in oils and bronze sculpture but other areas of study include woodcarving , gouache, pen and ink and occasionally photography. Most of his work centers on his Native Cherokee and Pawnee heritage and is also influenced by his love of cultures and history from around the globe. His paintings of historical events have been featured in media and sought by collectors around the world. For his early work as a historical illustrator, Dan was invited to attend and display his work at the bicentennial event held at the Versailles in France in 2005 to honor the inauguration of Napoleon. Dan now focuses the love of art and history into the creation of large outdoor bronze sculpture and depictions of historic Cherokee personalities. Dan lives and has a studio in Sequoyah County , Oklahoma, on a portion of his maternal family’s Cherokee land allotment; a peaceful setting that inspires his work. STEVEN MORALES Cherokee Nation Retired/ Disabled Staff Sergeant from the U.S Army and enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a descendant from the Lakota Sioux and Spanish background. After being injured in Iraq by a road side bomb in 2006, he struggled constantly on how to cope with PTSD until he began working with different types of mediums both as a therapy and to preserve his Cherokee and Sioux culture through art. Steven makes Cherokee Double-Walled Baskets, Lapidary Stone jewelry and is a Silversmith. He was taught how to make baskets from his mom and cousin, a Cherokee National Treasure Betty Frog. After years of making double walled baskets with his family he changed from baskets to jewelry after being introduced to a lapidary jewelry art therapy program with the Veterans Affairs hospital in CA. Silversmithing quickly became his new favorite medium and over the past 6 years he has honed his skills and techniques allowing him the ability to create one of a kind jewelry inspired by the stories, culture and tradition of Native American people. HEWOHWHEDUS STARR ROBIDEAU-MORALES Cheyenne and Arapaho An enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma on her maternal side; paternally Starr is a descendant of the Turtle Mountain & White Earth Chippewa. She is a direct descendant of Chief Black Kettle, niece of Leonard Peltier (political prisoner) and Robert Robideau (American Indian Movement Activist). Starr has been Pow wow dancing since she could walk and has created dance regalia for herself and family for nearly 25 years. She has held several prestigious titles like Miss Indian California 1999 but most recently, Starr entered in the 2021 Cherokee National Holiday Art Show and was awarded Honorable Mention in Textiles and Weaving for her “Every Child Matters” skirt. Starr is a mother of 3 and proud spouse of Steven Morales. EVA CANTRELL Cherokee Nation Eva Cantrell, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a multi-award winning artist. Cantrell trained under renowned pottery artists Jane Osti, Crystal Hanna and Troy Jackson. She has participated in Cherokee Art Market, SWAIA, Trail of Tears Art Show, SEASAM, Artesian Arts Festival and more. Through her artwork, Cantrell teaches Cherokee stories and what the various symbols mean in Cherokee culture. GLO WASHEE Cheyenne, Arapaho and Cherokee Glo Washee was born in Tahlequah and attended Salina Public Schools. She is a U.S. Army Veteran and heralds from the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Cherokee tribes. Glo has been an artist her whole life, and is currently working toward her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts: Studio Art and minoring in Native American Studies at RSU. She’s also a powwow dancer who specializes in the southern traditional styles of Cloth and Buckskin. Washee is a descendent of several hereditary Arapaho chiefs. There are several people in her family who are artists but she gets her talent from her mom, who is also an artist. Her style is contemporary Native American realism, depicting traditional natives in today’s world. Glo is currently interning with the Claremore Museum of History and is working on curating the Anthony Nicastro Collection. HARRY BEAVER Cherokee Nation Harry Beaver, the youngest of six brothers, spends most of his time in Oklahoma scouring lake and river banks for shells, which he takes home and carves. He said he finds most of his shells in the winter when the water level is usually lower and more shells are exposed. Beaver looks mainly for the thicker shells that won’t break as easily when he carves traditional Muskogee scenes such as animals, festivals and warrior themes. Shell carving has been a Muskogee tradition long before Columbus’s so-called discovery of America, he said. Archaeologists have combed through shell mounds in Georgia, where they’ve come across ancient Muskogee carvings. Beaver said he carves scenes from pictures in books that archaeologists have published, keeping the tradition alive.” |
