A Tulsa, Okla., artist will take home one of the Best of Show Awards.
A buffalo running in the bluish moonlight mesmerized Margaret Archuleta and Ruthe Blalock Jones. No matter where they looked, their eyes kept coming back to the animal.
Archuleta and Jones eventually gave in to the buffalo's magnetism and designated the acrylic image by Tulsa, Okla., artist Kevin Smith as Best of Show in the two-dimensional category of the 11th Annual Lawrence Indian Arts Show.
"One of the things we seem to notice is that people don't know how to stop painting. This person knows how to stop," Jones said, as she and fellow arts show judge Archuleta stared at the work.
"It's painterly," Archuleta added. "He knows how to apply the paint on the canvas."
"Buffalo in Moonlight" is one of 152 artworks that Jones and Archuleta picked for the art show. Jones is director of the art department at Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla. Archuleta is the curator of fine art at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz.
Maria Martin, coordinator of the show, said the works that made it into the juried show were created by 68 adults and eight children representing 13 states and 42 tribal affiliations. About 178 works were in last year's show.
Smith said he entered two paintings. His second work, "Dark Trail (Trail of Tears)," made the cut.
"I really just sort of picked up where I've seen other painters go. T.C. Cannon and Fritz Scholder have had a huge impact on me," he said during a phone call from the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, where he works as curator of education.
"Artists sometimes when they paint try to learn, and that's what painting is like for me," he said. "I carry it on beyond (the other artists) into the unknown, which is yourself."
Smith said "Buffalo in Moonlight" is an expressionistic piece.
"I want to feel the weight of the buffalo. It's a painting about the feeling of the moonlight," he said. " " I'm finding out that the painterly style is what I'm about."
Smith received his artistic training at Bacone College, Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah, Okla., and the Art Student League in New York City. In addition to the Gilcrease, he has curated shows at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa and interned at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Smith works in several media, from collage to sculpture to acrylics. He has yet to tackle printmaking.
"I do just about everything," he said. "I don't believe in staying with any one style or any one material. When I look at those I admire -- Picasso, Scholder, Matisse -- they discovered the most important thing about being an artist is not limiting yourself. " It's all about learning. But it's caused problems with some galleries. It's easier to be marketed if you have one signature style."
The Lawrence Indian Arts Show showcases traditional and contemporary two- and three-dimensional works. Archuleta, who also served as a juror for the 1993 show, said she was impressed with the number of entries submitted to this year's competition.
"It's really grown. Now there's two- and three-dimensional and more variety in contemporary works and technical skills like photography," she said.
A few of the works signal the approach of the millennium. For example, "Progressive Millennium God," a collage by Marcus Cadman, of Shiprock, N.M., uses acrylic paints, bingo sheets and $5 bills to make a statement about the future of Indian gambling.
Smith said being selected as Best of Division comes at "an important time of me." He only has begun focusing on his art again in the past few years.
"It's an important encouragement to receive this recognition," he said. "The Lawrence exhibit is well-known. I'm feeling really grateful."
The winner of the Best of Show Award for the three-dimensional category is Barbara Francis, of Old Town, Maine. Her work, "Penobscot Porcupine Basket," is a small basket made from brown ash and sweetgrass.
Merit Award winners are Linda Lomahaftewa, Santa Fe, N.M., "Crescent Moon," monotype; Tom Fields, Stillwater, Okla., "Creek Shell Shaker #2," photography; Greg Bigler," Sapulpa, Okla., "Stick Man," photography; Gwen Coleman, Norman, Okla., "Intertribal Pow Wow," colored pencil; Gordon Coons, Minneapolis, Minn., "Native Daughter," linoleum block print; Conrad House, St. Michaels, Ariz., "Natonabah," mixed media; Sharon Dryflower Reyna, Taos, N.M., "Taos Pueblo Water Olla," clay; Sandra Walter, Milo, Maine, "Traditional Berry Basket," birchbark and ashwood; Nathan Hart, Oklahoma City, Okla., "Madrone Bowl," madrone wood; Nuvadi Dawahoya, Albuquerque, N.M.,"Dawa (Sun) Kachina," cottonwood root; Reuben Kent, White Cloud, "Wolf Clan Storage Pot," clay; Betty B. Yellowhorse, Albuquerque, "Navajo Corn Necklace," sterling silver, silver coins and turquoise; Shawn Blue Jacket, Jackson Hole, Wyo., untitled pin-pendant, 18-carat gold, psilomelane and Montana agate; and Joe Baca, Espanola, N.M., "Tewa Basket Dancers in Four Directions," clay.
Among the judge's Honorable Mention Award winners are George Blackwood, Lawrence, for his beadwork piece, "Free to Run;" and Kalley Keams, Glendale, Ariz., for her Navajo weaving, "Single Saddle Blanket." Keams will show her works Friday through Oct. 8 at the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth.
In the youth division, Faith Coyote, Corez, Colo., won the Best of Show Award with her acrylic painting, "Big Mac." Second place went to Rochelle Simpson, Acoma, N.M., for her colored pencil drawing, "Blessing of the Blue Corn."
Third place winner is Joshua Eaton, Lawrence, for his watercolor painting, "Jack and Jill."
-- Jan Biles' phone message number is 832-7146. Her e-mail address is jbiles@ljworld.com.
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