Honoring the Spirit of the American Indian

Don’t miss the Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival January 31-February 2, 2014 at the Glenpool Conference Center.

The Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival will be held January 31 through February 2, 2014 at the Glenpool Conference Center, located at Highway 75 and 121st Street. The festival is a national premiere juried art show showcasing Native art, cuisine and entertainment. As a showcase of fine art and tradition honoring the spirit of the American Indian, the event features an art market, cultural demonstrations, storytelling, American Indian food, a student art exhibit, cultural demonstrations and music. The Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival is a non-profit organization sponsoring scholarships in visual and performing arts to qualified American Indian and Canadian Status Indian students.     

    Jeri Redcorn, Caddo artist, is the Honored Elder Artist for the festival. Raised in Colony, Oklahoma on her Caddo father’s cotton farm, and working with her seven brothers and sisters, Jeri felt close to the earth. Sometimes too close, it seemed: chopping and pulling cotton, crawling in the rows of dirt. But the hard work allowed her to appreciate the closeness of women who dug clay to make the pots that became her passion. A self-taught potter, Jeri uses the techniques of her ancestors. Since she is reclaiming this lost art, she imagines what their tools were. She hand coils, burnishes engraves and wood fires her pots. See more about her amazing pottery at  www.redcornpottery.com.

    Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee) is the Poet in Residence for the 2014 Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival. Harjo is a poet, writer, lecturer, curator and policy advocate who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of land and numerous sacred places. She serves as President of the Morning Star Institute, a national Native American rights organization based in Washington, D.C. Harjo has developed important federal laws protecting Native sovereignty, arts and cultures, language, and human rights. She helped found the National Museum of the American Indian and has worked for several White House administrations.

    Brent Learned, an award-winning and collected Native American artist from Oklahoma, is the festival’s 2014 featured artist. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. Brent draws, paints and sculpts the Native American Indian in a rustic impressionistic style. He has always appreciated the heritage and culture of the American Plains Indian, and tries to create artwork to capture the essence, accuracy and historic authenticity of their way of life. Although Brent has many different styles, he is typically known for his use of bold vibrant colors. Brent’s work resides in museums such as the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., Cheyenne/Arapaho Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and the University of Kansas Art Museum.    

    The Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival will feature special entertainment throughout the weekend. The Tsosie family has performed at the festival for several years, dazzling patrons and fellow artists with their beautiful exhibition style dancing. The Tsosie family travels all over the United States, attending traditional gatherings as well as Native fairs and festivals. The family enjoys the opportunity to perform and share their Native American culture.

     Horsechief Catering is contracted to provide all Native foods for the 2014 festival. Monie Horsechief is an enrolled Pawnee tribal member and also Cherokee. She has a background in the culinary field for 18 years. She is the 2009 and 2013 “National Indian Taco Champion” and the 2013 “Muscogee Creek Nation Frybread Champion.” Horsechief Catering’s specialties include “Pawnee Foots” - baked meat pies, traditional Native American dishes such as buffalo burgers, buffalo chili, posole, and venison, in addition to the traditional fry bread and Indian tacos. Their food is made from scratch and uses only the freshest ingredients.

    General admission the Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival is $8 per person or $10 for a three-day pass. Student and Senior Day is Friday, with admission for $5. 

For more information, contact

Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival

(918) 298-2300
www.tulsaindianartfestival.com