Native artists selected for year-long fellowship in Oklahoma

Wednesday, December 5, 2018  

Several Native artists have been selected for the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Oklahoma.

Recipients include Joy Harjo, a literary and musical artist from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She will be returning to her birthplace of Tulsa for the year-long fellowship.

"This fellowship confirms that my final steps lead home to Tulsa,” Harjo said in a press release. “In one of my very first poems, written in the late ‘70s, I wrote: ‘Oklahoma will be the last song I’ll ever sing.’ And here we are.”

The roads are clear over to the Helmerich Library. Workshop is on from 2-4pm! pic.twitter.com/HJoi55bbWr

— Arigon Starr (@arigonstarr) February 10, 2018

Other Native recipients include Larry Blackhorse Lowe, a filmmaker from the Navajo Nation; Yatika Starr Fields, a painter who is Cherokee, Creek and Osage; Sterlin Harjo, a filmmaker from the Seminole Nation; and Arigon Starr, a musician, playwright and graphic novelist who is Kickapoo and Creek.

The Tulsa Artist Fellowship provides recipients with a $20,000 stipend. Artists also benefit from a subsidized living and work space in Tulsa.

“Indian Perfume, June in Osage County” oil on panel, wall relief cut out. 33”x 34”x 2. New works from the summer series on view @blueraingallery #santafe #contemporaryart #paintings pic.twitter.com/AlB3b1lHir

— Yatika Starr Fields (@Yatikafields) September 25, 2018

A total of 27 artists received fellowships, now in its fourth year. Joy Harjo and Larry Blackhorse Lowe and incoming recipients. Yatika Starr Fields, Sterlin Harjo and Arigon Starr are returning fellows.

“I have witnessed the development of significant arts practitioners in environments stripped down to the bone," executive director Carolyn Sickles said. "Those triumphs reinforce the responsibility of Tulsa Artist Fellows to make unprecedented artistic contributions with this groundbreaking opportunity.