Artists of Still Sovereign
Alex Deroin
(They/Them) is a Two Spirit artist, poet, storyteller, and awarded water protector. Alex comes from the Osage, Otoe, Pawnee, Blackfeet, and Ioway tribes. And is an active member of the 𐓒𐓂͘𐓒𐓂𐒿𐒻 district, and headright holder for the Osage Minerals Estate. Their work explores intersections of marginalized communities, notably through their work with Tulsa Two Spirit and Words of the People. They are the pioneer of LAN𐓈𐒰͘𐓈𐒰ISM (Landadaism), an art movement that utilizes a unique cross-pollination of indigiqueer ecology and the art of Dadaists' collage principles as metaphor. To become a “visual rebellion” that questions, recontextualizes, or operates outside of heteronormative and conventional standards. To merge their art-making with their interpersonal resistance and reclamation of two-spirit joy in the name of social justice.
Osage
Billy Hensley
A contemporary Chickasaw artist living and working in Oklahoma whose work bridges past and present through vibrant, layered visual expression. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Hensley creates paintings and mixed-media works that reflect a deep respect for cultural heritage while engaging contemporary materials and techniques. Working across acrylic painting and mixed media, often incorporating hand-stitched beadwork, Hensley explores themes of identity, memory, resilience, and connection. His work frequently references Chickasaw history, symbolism, and storytelling, reinterpreted through abstraction, bold color, texture, and rhythmic pattern. By blending traditional influences with a modern visual language, he creates work that speaks to cultural continuity and lived Indigenous experience. Connection is central to Hensley's practice—between generations, community and land, and the physical and spiritual worlds. His work celebrates the endurance and vitality of the Chickasaw Nation, emphasizing Native culture as living, evolving, and present. Hensley has exhibited his work nationally in both Native and contemporary art spaces. Through his practice, he serves as a visual storyteller, offering audiences an opportunity to engage with Chickasaw perspectives in a way that is both culturally grounded and distinctly contemporary.
Chickasaw
Brent Greenwood
A graduate from the renowned Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM, and Oklahoma City University, Brent serves as the Fine Arts Director for the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Over the past 25 years, his work has been exhibited across North America and abroad in Paris, France. Brent is of Chickasaw and Ponca heritage, and because of this distinct cultural background, he expresses his narratives through both the southeastern and plains tribal lens. His artistic influences are deeply rooted in graffiti and traditional Native art aesthetics, while combining elements of pop and modern art. Brent's paintings have been featured in publications such as First American Art Magazine, Southwest Art, and Oklahoma Today, as well as receiving numerous accolades and awards. In 2023, Brent received the Oklahoma City University’s Petree College of Arts and Sciences distinguished alumni award, and in 2024, Red Earth’s Honored One. Brent’s artistic passion goes beyond the studio as he regularly presents on art and cultural lifeways, performs “live paintings,” and creates public artwork. He enjoys every opportunity to share his experiences and the artistic process, and hopes it encourages the next generation of artists.
Chickasaw and Ponca
Carly Treece
A citizen of the Mvskoke Nation and of Cherokee ancestry. She is a multidisciplinary artist and curator residing on the Mvskoke Nation in Oklahoma. Working primarily in oil and cold wax, her abstract paintings explore emotional and spiritual relationships to land in Indian Territory, layering texture, mineral elements, and gesture to reflect memory, sovereignty, and place. Treece’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her artwork has appeared in FX’s Reservation Dogs, received recognition from the Indian Health Care Resource Center, and been included in major art markets and exhibitions across the country. In addition to her studio practice, Treece is the Founder and Creative Director of Four Mothers Collective, an Indigenous women-led arts organization based in Tulsa that amplifies the voices of Indigenous women and Two-Spirit artists through exhibitions, public programs, and community-centered initiatives. She has curated exhibitions in Tulsa and Santa Fe featuring both established and emerging Indigenous artists, with a focus on narrative sovereignty and cultural continuity. Treece also consults with universities and cultural institutions on Indigenous-led curatorial practices and community-centered exhibition models. She was recently appointed Mellon-funded Curator in Residence at 101 Archer Gallery for the project Democracy and Sovereignty in Indian Country.
Mvskoke/Cherokee
Hinglu Huber
Hawe pi, Wanoshi hinganye ke. Jiwere-Nut’achi Baxoje k’auwa heda nyi ke. Mankoge nyi ke. Jegi minahe girohi ke. Wakanda nant’urida, warigroxiwi ke, Wapana ho! Good day, I am “Wanoshi” meaning Dream Coat. I am Otoe-Missouria, Iowa, and Kiowa. I come from the Owl Clan (Otoe). I am happy to be here. God bless you, thank you, and be well. My name is Hinglu Huber, I am a descendant of the Iowa, Otoe-Missouria, and Kiowa peoples. Raised in a family of artists, I learned early to express myself through many creative outlets, and that connection deepened into a love of history and cultural preservation. I continue this work through traditional ribbon-work. I chose a career in behavioral health with a focus on youth advocacy, where I’ve seen firsthand how essential artistic expression is to true healing. Art guides restoration of mind, body, and spirit, and I center my artistry and advocacy to support young people’s resilience and well-being.
Iowa, Otoe-Missouria, and Kiowa
Jessi Sands
A queer Mvskoke, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Taino multidisciplinary artist. They use mediums such as painting, ceramics, printmaking, and mixed media to explore how the intersectionality of their multicultural identity and relationship with nature influences their roles as an Indigenous parent, queer person, and land steward. Jessi grew up in Oklahoma on the Cherokee reservation and lives on their Mvskoke reservation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They received their Associate of Arts Degree from Tulsa Community College. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art with primary focuses in Ceramics and Oil Painting with minors in American Indian Studies, Pre-Art Therapy, and Art History from Oklahoma State University. Currently, Jessi is Ecotherapy-certified and working towards receiving their Master’s in Art Therapy/Counseling, along with Trauma-focused and Human Sexuality certifications from Southwestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jessi was a part of, Bright City: Cultural Confluence, a year-long public art exhibition with seven other Indigenous artists from Oklahoma displayed in Macon, Georgia. Co-curated with The Four Mothers Collective, the From the Heart: Expressions of Indigenous Joy exhibition in Tulsa, OK. Jessi looks forward to using their art practice to cultivate spaces for healing and reconnecting to the land with tribal communities as an Art Therapist. Jessi is one of the many artists in the traveling exhibition, Ripple of Traditions, by The Four Mothers Collective.
Mvskoke, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Taino
Joy Harjo
An internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022 and is winner of the Poetry Society of America's 2024 Frost Medal, Yale's 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, and was recently honored with a National Humanities Medal. The author of eleven books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, several plays, children's books, and non-fiction works, and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, her many honors include the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Cloud Runner, Harjo's twelfth book of poetry, will be published by W.W. Norton in Fall of 2026. As a musician and performer, Harjo has produced eight award-winning music albums. Her latest, Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace, produced by Esperanza Spaulding, is now available through Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Joy's prose publications include a book of short essays, Girl Warrior: On Coming of Ageand a series of vignettes on writing, Catching the Light . She has edited three anthologies of Native literature, including When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through — A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, Reinventing the Enemy's Language, and Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry, the companion anthology to her signature Poet Laureate project. Harjo holds the Ruth Yellowhawk Fellowship from the Kettering Foundation, and is the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She lives on the Muscogee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma.
Mvskoke
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Marly Fixico
Marly Nicole Fixico was raised in the Seminole Reservation, Okla Humma, Indian Territory. Marly is an enrolled citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and a descendant of the Navajo, and Laguna Pueblo Nations. She is Mekusukey Band and Hotvlkvlke (Wind Clan). The name Fixico translates from Mvskoke and Semvnole language as “no heart” or “heartless.” Marly is an interdisciplinary artist and engineer. Since 2021 her designs and artistry have been featured on seven runways across Indian Territory and in Denver, Colorado. Her skills as a seamstress and engineer were displayed in a gallery in New York City, and museum in Saskatchewan, Canada. I say that my heart doesn’t belong to me but to the people and the land. I design and create for my friends and relatives in hopes that they feel proud and strengthened to present themselves. I make art that can be passed down through the seasons and generations. NoHeart Designs is armor and beauty made by the Heartless.
Seminole
Rebecca Nagle
An award winning journalist and citizen of Cherokee Nation. She is the author of By The Fire We Carry: The Generation-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land and the writer and host of the podcast This Land. Her writing on Native representation, federal Indian law, and tribal sovereignty has been featured in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, Indian Country Today, and more. Rebecca Nagle is the recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, Women’s Media Center’s Exceptional Journalism Award, a Peabody Nominee, and numerous awards from the Native American Journalist Association. Nagle lives in Tahlequah, OK.
Cherokee
Taiomah Rutledge
A multidisciplinary artist and cofounder of Warclan Collective based in Wichita Kansas. A member of the Ojibwe, Meskwaki, and Dakota people, Taiomah imbues his work with cultural narratives and reinterprets modern ideas of community and belonging. Taiomah studied fine art and graphic design at Wichita State University and is an Artist Inc. Alumni. He is a cultural advocate and mentor for native youth, instructing with his family’s drum “Thunderhead” and collaborating with the Mid-America All-Indian Museum through culture shares and art making. Taiomah is a current facilitator for Artist Inc. and guest curating Native art exhibitions for Kansas based non-profit galleries and presenting art workshops and cultural programming in an effort of art advocacy and community building.
Ojibwe, Meskwaki, and Dakota
Autumn Gary
Painter, sculptor, and art educator . Born in Portland,Oregon to an artistic family, Autumn briefly attended a local college before working for and studying with various artists in Portland. An interdisciplinary artist and art instructor based in Savannah for 20 years, Autumn’s focus has been on therapeutic art outreach, public art, and intertribal collaborations . She currently has public sculptures in permanent collection of Telfair museums in Savannah, Ga, San Luis, CO., Decatur, GA., and Savannah, Ga. exhibited work in Costa Rica, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina, Kansas and locally, in Savannah, GA.
American/Kanien'keha:ka ( Mohawk)
Bobby Martin
An enrolled citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a full-time artist, curator and consultant who works out of his Martin Mountain Studio near West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma. An artist deeply influenced by his Native American heritage, Martin’s work explores memory and history in the form of artworks based on his own historic family photographs, often combined with maps, tribal language passages of Christian hymns and scripture, and other documents related to his Mvskoke tribal ancestry. Martin’s artwork is exhibited and collected internationally and has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions. His work is in over twenty museum and private collections, including the Philbrook and Gilcrease Museums in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the British Library in London, U.K. His work as an independent curator includes two national touring exhibitions, Return from Exile: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art, and Altars of Reconciliation. His most recent solo exhibition, A Creek In Carolina, opened at the Gregg Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina in March 2026.
Muscogee (Creek)
Candace Shanholtzer
A full-time artist and enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Working from her studio in Southern Oklahoma, she utilizes a diverse mix of acrylics, gouache, ink, and colored pencils to create artwork that connects traditional iconography with a contemporary perspective. Her paintings and drawings draw heavy inspiration from Choctaw stories, Southeastern tribal designs, and regional wildlife. An award-winning artist, Shanholtzer has participated extensively in prominent juried and invitational exhibitions. Her work is represented in galleries across Oklahoma and Texas, and is held in private collections throughout the United States.
Choctaw
Faith Harjo Jones
A mother, educator, and small business owner passionate about Indigenous Women's health, education, and leadership development. She has extensive volunteer experience and as Secretary for nonprofit, Four Mothers Collective, she advocates for Indigenous arts and community empowerment.
Pawnee, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek,
Cheyenne
Jeremy Thompson
A lifelong resident of Tulsa, OK. He is an award-winning and TERO certified artist. A citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma on his father’s side and holds Japanese ancestry from his mother’s side. Thompson is an artist of various mediums, with the main focus being shoes, or “sneaker art”. Since 2006, Thompson has been painting one-of-a-kind designs on a variety of shoes and sneakers. Recently, he has directed his focus to painting on canvas, and has won multiple honors and awards at various juried art shows. He takes inspiration from pop culture as well as Indigenous art, culture, and history. Along with his brother, Chris, they created the business, Semurai Designs, out of their love for art and sneakers. The name “Semurai” combines the words “Seminole” and “Samurai”, which represents a collaboration of their culture and ethnicity. Jeremy currently resides in Tulsa with his wife, Asa, and their little dog, Willow.
Seminole
Johnnie Diacon
An enrolled citizen of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma (Mvskoke), Thlopthlocco Tribal Town (Raprakko Etvlwa), and he is Deer Clan (Ecovlke). He is a graduate of both Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A noted artist for nearly four decades, Diacon is known for his 2D works in acrylic, oil, and watercolor, but he also works in 3D assemblages and beadwork. He created sequential art for the graphic novels Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers Volume 1 and Chilocco Indian School: A Generational Story. Johnnie’s artwork is in various private and public collections around the world. His work has appeared on the cover of Joy Harjo’s book, An American Sunrise, as well as other publications, textbooks, documentaries and it has been featured on FX’s hit television show Reservation Dogs. He is recognized as a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Johnnie has five children and two grandchildren. He currently lives on the Muscogee Creek Nation Reservation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Johnnie’s work always reflects and honors the Mvskoke people and is often noted for its ability to capture the heart and spirt of the Mvskoke.
Mvskoke
Lydia Cheshewalla
An Osage ephemeral artist from Oklahoma, living and working in motion throughout the Great Plains ecoregion. Through the creation of site-specific land art and ephemeral installations grounded in Indigenous land stewardship practices and kinship pedagogies, Lydia engages in multivocal conversations about place and relationship. By working within a framework of change and collaborating with beyond-human kin, she rejects Capitalist reliance on scarcity, immortality, preciousness, and waste production in the creation of value and remains responsive (responsible) to the realities of shifting ecologies in an age of climate crisis. Her work has been shown at Generator Space, the Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), Comfort Station, Harold Washington Library, the Center for Native Futures, Elmhurst Art Museum, and Brushwood Center (Chicago, IL) among others. She was awarded a 2020 Tallgrass Artist Residency, participated in the 2022/23 Chicago Art Department Think Tank:On Mending, was a 2024 Spring Tanda Fellow through Chuquimarca Projects, is an ongoing fellow with Forums for Indigenous Research and Exchange (F.I.R.E.) via The Field Center in Vermont, a 2025 artist-in-residence at the Center for Humans and Nature, and a 2026 recipient of the Midwest Native and Indigenous Fellowship at Ragdale Residency through an emerging partnership with Center for Native Futures. She has been filling the bucket with water to see if it leaks.
Osage
Randi Narcomey
My work explores history, memory, truth, and identity. I work mainly with textiles because it is a way for me to build, layer, and explore meaning. They can connect to the body, to family, to ancestral stories, to memory, to land, and to history. I am especially interested in examining ideas and how to approach them conceptually, while challenging narrow expectations of what Native art is supposed to be. I want to create work that pushes against assumptions. My practice asks viewers to reconsider what Indigenous art can look like, how it can take up space, and how contemporary Native identity can be expressed through experimentation with scale, materials, and concepts. I especially find myself working large because I believe size is the vehicle I use for creating a message. I want it to enlarge the subject, take it out of its associated structure, and take up space, just as, as an Indigenous woman, I often step into spaces. At its core, my work is about making space for the message and bringing forward communication. It is not just to explore the complexity of the past, but to bring our ancestors’ voices forward. It is about visibility, representation, and illumination.
Seminole/Mvskoke
Shane Brown
A photographer and filmmaker documenting the present-day cultural landscape of the American West, experimenting with representations of time and motion, and working on a variety of film projects. Over the last two decades, Brown has pursued freelance and creative projects in documentary and experimental photography and cinematography. Brown's documentary photography projects include “In the Territories,” views of Oklahoma, its convoluted histories and their present day manifestations; “Life Out There,” an exploration of the Atomic Age-based mythology of the American West; and, “Great Plains Schema,” a survey of the ethos, archetypes, and myths of the Great Plains region. Shane was the production still photographer on the FX series, Reservation Dogs, and is currently the set photographer for the series, The Lowdown. He is also an awardee of the 2024-2026 Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
Cherokee
Talisha Lewallen
A contemporary Cherokee basket artist whose work bridges traditional Cherokee basketry with modern artistic expression. Specializing in Cherokee double-wall baskets, she incorporates contemporary materials and vibrant color palettes while honoring the cultural foundations of her craft. A distinctive element of her work is the use of copper—an important material in Cherokee culture—which serves as both a visual and symbolic connection to Cherokee history, identity, and artistry. Through her innovative approach, Lewallen explores new forms, materials, and visual narratives that expand the possibilities of contemporary Cherokee basketry while maintaining deep respect for ancestral knowledge and traditional techniques. Her baskets reflect a balance between preservation and innovation, demonstrating how Indigenous art continues to evolve while remaining rooted in cultural heritage. Lewallen's artwork has been featured in exhibitions and has received multiple awards, recognizing her skill, creativity, and contributions to contemporary Native American art. Through her basketry, she continues to celebrate Cherokee culture, share traditional knowledge, and contribute to the ongoing story of Cherokee artistic excellence.
Cherokee
Kirk Morrison
Kirk is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University in 2014. He is a proud member of the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma. His ceremonial ground is Tvlahasse Wvkokaye and clan is Kaccvlke (Panther/Tiger). His given name is Kaccv Ele. Kirk’s most recent series, titled "Back to Basics" draws inspiration from his childhood works. Notebooks filled with "doodles" that cover pages in full bleed are commonly found in his home, as are rows and rows of Native and Mvskoke history and art books. His process includes reading history, participating in Ceremony, and observing illustrations until those themes become ingrained in finished works. Graffiti is also a massive inspiration. Using street art materials and techniques to create some of the oldest designs in America blends the old with the new in a way that is exciting to the artist. Kirk always ends things with gratitude. He's thankful to be a part of this community and a part of this show.