Red Earth, Inc is currently accepting applications from Native American artists for the Silver Anniversary Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival scheduled June 3-5, 2011 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Red Earth 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 juried art market annually showcases more than 200 artists representing Native tribes and nations from throughout North America.
The event has been named a Top 100 Event in North America and is recipient of numerous awards and honors including “Outstanding Event” from the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department and “Outstanding Cultural Tourism Event” from Central Oklahoma’s Frontier Country Marketing Association.
The juried art competition features works in five categories including Cultural Items, Clothing and Textiles; Painting, Drawings, Graphics and Photography; Sculpture; Jewelry; and Pottery. Each category is divided into subdivisions.
Seminole painter Gary Montgomery from Shawnee, OK received the 2010 Red Earth Grand Award for Best of Show with his oil on canvas painting entitled “Eagle Dog.” Gordon Tonips, a Comanche sculptor from Forth Worth, TX, was recipient of the 2010 Red Earth President’s Award for a piece he called “Square Tower House,” and Anita Caldwell Jackson, an Echota Cherokee painter from McAlester, OK received the 2010 Red Earth Kathleen Everett Upshaw Award for her mixed media painting entitled “Peyote Pony.”
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. Applications can be downloaded from www.redearth.org or obtained by calling (405) 427-5228.
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.
The organization 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 & Gallery, located 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 in North America.
