Durant, Okla. This is the final week to see the exhibit Chiefs, Clans & Kin at the Choctaw Cultural Center as it will only be on display through Dec. 31 in the centers Changing Exhibits Gallery. The show opened July 23 at the first anniversary celebration of the cultural center.
The paintings, carvings, and other works are the artistic expressions of 34 artists of the Five Civilized Tribes with Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry.
Chiefs, Clans & Kin was the idea of Laura Marshall Clark, curator of the exhibit. The Houston resident is a Muscogee Nation tribal member, with Irish and Scottish heritage. She was a 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. scholar to Ireland at the University College Cork and currently teaches Indigenous studies at the University of Houston.
The kinship between Celtic settlers and the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole, and Muscogee Creek nations emerged in tribal homelands through trade, as allies in war, and by intermarriage. The results are rich, captivating cultures along with complex histories.
The exhibition features Southeast artists exploring issues of singular and blended identities, said Clark. As professional and emerging artists, many have exhibited in New York, Washington, D.C., and numerous prestigious art institutions in North America. The artworks of several artists of Chiefs, Clans & Kin are also exhibited in and collected throughout Europe and Asia.
Nearly a dozen artists with works in the exhibit are Choctaw, including Patricia Ridge Bradley, J. Dylan Cavin, Linda Kelley Kukuk, Gwen Coleman Lester, Sarah Sense, Cady Shaw, and Jane Semple Umsted.
The Choctaw Cultural Center is located at 1919 Hina Hanta Way, Durant. Information about the Choctaw Cultural Center and the exhibit is at choctawculturalcenter.com/chiefs-clans-and-kin/ or by phoning 833-708-9582. The Chiefs, Clans & Kin exhibit is included with a regular-priced admission to the cultural center.
