Applications for new artists interested in participating in the jury process for the 29th annual Red Earth Festival are currently available for the event scheduled June 5-7, 2015 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The award-winning festival is considered the world’s largest event of its kind, drawing thousands of art enthusiasts to a three-day weekend celebrating Native American visual art and dance.
The Red Earth Festival showcases more than 200 artists representing Native tribes and nations from throughout the United States and Canada. The event drew nearly 30,000 attendees in 2014. The Festival is recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Redbud Award for “Outstanding Event” from the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department and recognition as a Top 100 Event in North America by the American Bus Association. USA Today has included the Red Earth Festival as one of “10 Great Places to Experience Native Cultures.”
Red Earth Festival art market categories include contemporary and traditional art forms including cultural items, jewelry, basketry, paintings, drawings, graphics, photography, beadwork, clothing, textiles, weaving, sculpture, and pottery.
Caddo potter Chase Kahwinhut Earls of Ada, OK. received the 2014 AT&T Red Earth Grand Award for Best of Show for his pottery entitled “Kahwis Bahbateno” (Red River Bowl). Nelda Schrupp, a Pheasant Rump Nakota jeweler from Lakota, ND, was recipient of the 2014 Red Earth President’s Award for her jewelry piece entitled ”Bandolier,” and Karin Walkingstick, a Cherokee potter from Claremore, OK, received the 2014 Kathleen Everett Upshaw Award for her traditional pot entitled “Birds of a Feather.”
Applicants must be able to provide documents of proof of membership in a federally or state-recognized tribal entity or documents of proof of certification as Indian Artisans by an Indian tribe. Artists must submit three color images per category of artwork that will be sold in their booth. Applications can be downloaded from www.redearth.org, or obtained by calling (405) 427-5228.
Booth space in the Red Earth art market is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more than 30 years, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit Red Earth, Inc has been dedicated to its mission to promote the rich traditions of American Indian arts and cultures through education, a premier festival, museum and fine art markets.
Red Earth is recognized as the region’s premier organization for advancing the understanding and continuation of Native American traditional and contemporary culture and arts.
The Red Earth Museum, open year-round in downtown Oklahoma City, presents a diverse and changing exhibition schedule and is custodian of a permanent collection of more than 1,400 items of fine art, pottery, basketry, textiles and beadwork – including the Deupree Cradleboard Collection, one of the finest individual collections of its kind.
