Overview:
The ARTesian Gallery & Studios is showcasing “Statements in Color,” a retrospective exhibit by Chickasaw Hall of Fame artist Paul “Lance” Straughn, through Aug. 26. The exhibition offers a broad look at Straughn’s artistic career, featuring works spanning nearly five decades, from a 1978 piece to a painting completed just days before the exhibit opened.
SULPHUR, Okla. — The ARTesian Gallery & Studios is a central hub for Chickasaw and other First American artists to share their work and stories with the public.
The ARTesian Gallery is featuring “Statements in Color,” an exhibit by Chickasaw Hall of Fame artist Paul “Lance” Straughn through Aug. 26.
Straughn said he chose specific pieces for the exhibit to represent the different aspects of his art.
Although his art portfolio spans many different mediums and styles, he said each piece begins the same — with an idea.
“I have an idea that I think might make a piece I want to do, and I think about it for a while and maybe do some preliminary sketches,” Straughn said. “Once I decide that I want to do it and pick a size and medium, I start.”
Straughn said some pieces come together quickly, while others can take years to be completed.
Straughn was born Dec. 11, 1941, in Dillard, Oklahoma. He attended stomp dances as a child with his grandmother, an original Chickasaw enrollee, and his passion for First American culture was born.
Despite never taking formal lessons, his love for art has always been strong.
“I have been interested in art since I was a boy,” Straughn said. “I used to draw on anything I could find, sometimes to the chagrin of my parents.”
His work has been placed in art exhibits across Oklahoma, Texas and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Several of Straughn’s sculptures and paintings can be found at the Tribes Gallery in Norman, Oklahoma, in addition to two of his pieces having a permanent home at the United States Department of the Interior Museum in Washington, D.C.
“Art offers beauty and ugliness, insight and confusion, inspiration and boredom, wisdom and ignorance,” Straughn said. “Art offers whatever the public wishes to take from it.”
He understands the importance of preserving First American culture and helping people see things beyond their own point of view.
“It is easy to fall into the trap of a numb mind,” Straughn said. “Art can open doors in your mind you didn’t know were there.”
Ashlee Solice, Chickasaw Nation Performing and Visual Arts Division Exhibits and Gallery Coordinator, said the public can learn a lot from attending events such as this one.
“Gaining knowledge and learning from their creative achievements could be the spark that encourages another artist to keep creating,” Solice said. “First American communities are built on the foundation of storytelling and knowledge being passed down.”
Straughn is not the only artist who will be featured at the ARTesian Gallery & Studios this year. Candace Shanholtzer, a Choctaw artist, unites traditional and modern forms of expression with her exhibit “Reflections and Glimpses.”
“Supporting and learning from artists from other Southeastern tribes, such as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is how our tribal community grows stronger,” Solice said.
Her drawings and paintings are alive with color, movement and symbolism inspired by Choctaw stories, animals and the natural world. She blends oil, acrylic, gouache and graphite to turn a blank canvas into a work that honors memory, land and heritage.
Shanholtzer has received many honors for work at premier First American art markets and exhibitions throughout the region. She works as an artist full time.
Shanholtzer is set to have an exhibit at the ARTesian Gallery & Studios Sept. 1 through Nov. 6. A reception with Shanholtzer at the ARTesian Gallery & Studios is set for Saturday, Sept. 5, from 3 to 5 p.m. There will also be an arts workshop taking place from 1 to 3 p.m., Sept. 5.
To register for the arts workshop, call the ARTesian Gallery & Studios at (580) 622-8040 and stay for the reception to view Shanholtzer’s work and learn about her experiences in an intimate solo exhibit.
Solice said she hopes people seek opportunities to experience First American art across all tribes to not only further understand themselves, but also the world around them.
“The hope is that visitors will see Shanholtzer’s work and be able to see their own family, culture and community reflected in shared history and experiences, while looking forward to the future we have as First Americans,” Solice said. “While allowing those outside of our community to see that Indigenous people are a thriving and living culture.”
Admission to the exhibit and reception is open to the public at no charge. The ARTesian Gallery & Studios is located at 100 W. Muskogee Ave. in Sulphur. For more information, please call (580) 622-8040.
