Greater Tulsa Indian Art festival celebrates its 28th anniversary honoring the spirit of the American Indian.
JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 2
Glenpool Conference Center
HWY 75 & 121st Street, Glenpool, Okla.
Enjoy a celebration of Native American culture. Browse the art market, listen to traditional storytelling and music, enjoy authentic American Indian food, see student art, cultural demonstrations, dancing, and poetry.
2014 Featured Artist - Brent Learned (Cheyenne-Arapaho)
Brent Learned is an award winning and collected Native American artist from Oklahoma. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. Brent graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor degree in Fine Arts.
Brent is an artist who 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.
He tries to create artwork to capture the essence, accuracy and historic authenticity of the American Plains Indian way of life. Although Brent has many different styles, he is typically known for his use of bold vibrant colors in his depictions of the American Plains Indian.
2014 Honored Elder Artist - Jeri Redcorn (Caddo)
Sample award-winning Native foods by Horsechief Catering
Award-winning Horsechief Catering brings 18 years of culinary experience and a wide variety of Native foods to the 2014 Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival.
Monie Horsechief is an enrolled Pawnee tribal member and also Cherokee.
She is the 2009 and 2013 “National Indian Taco Champion” and the 2013 “Muscogee Creek Nation Frybread Champion.”
Horsechief Catering’s other specialties include baked meat pies (called "Pawnee Foots"), traditional Native American dishes such as buffalo burgers, buffalo chili, posole, venison, corn soup, and roasted corn on the cob.
Horsechief's focus on healthy cooking includes items such as sugar free banana nut bread, sugar free pumpkin-cream cheese bread, as well as traditional top bread (whole wheat bread grilled on a flat top grill).
“I love the food of Monie Horsechief! Not only is her cooking amazing and delicious, but she allows her food to be a ministry to serve others. It brings warmth and if her food could speak it would say – compassion & friendship.” -- Lisa J. Billy (Chickasaw), OK State Representative, HD-42.
2014 Poet in Residence - Suzan Shown Harjo
We welcome Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) as our 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.
Tsosie Exhibition Dancers
The Tsosie family has performed at the Greater Tulsa Indian Art 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.
EricaJames Band
EricaJames Band started as a father/daughter duo out of small town in Texas south of San Antonio. At age 13 Erica teamed with her dad and they became known as EricaJames. The duo has had the opportunity to play with such greats as Michael Martin Murphy who has written and performed hits such as “Wildfire” and “What's Forever For,” to opening for such groups as The Platters.
Erica's undying passion to master the violin and to play outside the traditional realm of the classical violin/fiddle, has gained her a large following in various genres of music. The EricaJames band includes James Foster on Acoustic, Rick Wescott on Bass, Justin Combs on Drums, and Cravin Harris on Lead Guitar.
Festival History:
On March 20, 1987, the first Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival was held in the Pavilion at Expo Square at the Tulsa fairgrounds. Ben Adair Shoemaker had donated a painting to the American Indian Theatre Company of Oklahoma, so Ben's painting, "Mother's Dreamer" was the featured artwork.
Approximately 40 artists exhibited and about 100 dancers participated in the Pow Wow. Attendance exceeded all expectations. It was a magical event and after 28 years, people still comment on that "magic."
Throughout its 28-year history, the Festival has survived snow storms, tornado sirens, electrical failure, lack of funding and numerous moves. One of the founders still serves on our Advisory Board.
Many American Indian students have been recipients of the Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival scholarship program, and Oklahoma is known as a destination for authentic American Indian Art.
The 28th Greater Tulsa Indian Art Festival will be held at Glenpool Conference Center at Hwy. 75 and 121st Street, in south Tulsa County.
http://tulsaindianartfestival.com/