OKLAHOMA CITY – Opening Feb. 16, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum will highlight seven women artists in “Lighting Pathways: Matriarchs of Oklahoma Native Art” who overcame significant challenges to forge success in the fine art world while carrying forward their diverse tribal cultures. 

Among these seven artists are three Cherokee artists: Mary Adair, Jane Osti, and Virginia Stroud.

Adair is a painter and regalia maker based in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. She studied painting at Bacone College, won awards for painting and fashion and later taught art at Sequoyah High School. Osti is a Tahlequah-based ceramic artist and Cherokee National Treasure. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and master’s degree from Northeastern State University, but her primary influence was apprenticing with Anna Belle Sixkiller Mitchell (Cherokee Nation, 1926–2021). 

Stroud (Keetoowah Cherokee/Muscogee), a Bacone alumna from Tahlequah, is a painter and a life-long activist. She and her adopted sister Sharron Ahtone Harjo (Kiowa) were instrumental in reviving ledger art in the 1970s. In the 1960s, the Cherokee tear dress was invented for Stroud to wear as she represented Cherokee people as Miss Indian America.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Oklahoma witnessed an exuberant era for Native American art, marked by sold-out exhibitions. Bacone College and the Philbrook Indian Annual served as vital platforms, empowering Native women artists to enter the art world and forge impressive careers despite many obstacles. The exhibition celebrates the groundbreaking achievements of these women, many of whom exhibited in the 1985 national traveling exhibition “Daughters of the Earth.”  

Curated by Cherokee Nation citizen America Meredith and Tahnee Ahtone (Kiowa/Seminole/Mvskoki), this National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum exhibition honors these artists, acknowledging their pivotal role in paving the way for future generations of Oklahoma Native women artists. 

Drawing from various public and private collections, including the museum’s own, this exhibition pays tribute to the artists “who made an impact on the broader sphere of contemporary art, museums, and galleries.”

Lighting Pathways: Matriarchs of Oklahoma Native Art will be on view through April 28, 2024.