Market, Market!

The first half of this month has been a whirlwind! I spent the first weekend in Tishomingo for the SEASAM (South Eastern Art Show and Market) It is a wonderful event currated by the Chickasaw Nation. The art show and market coincide with the Chickasaw Nation's annual meeting and festivities. This is my fifth year to compete and show and I truly appreciate the chance to represent my Chickasaw heritage with my work. I entered a Mixed Media piece (pen and ink with watercolor) entitled Chickasha Assemblage that placed second and another entitled Ma'Oha which took third place in painting.

It is such an honor to show my work alongside so many other talented artists. I always enjoy SEASAM, the recognition my work received was nice, but I truly enjoy the people. Those new connections I make and those I reconnect with. It is a chance to represent my Chickasaw heritage and share my work.

I came home from SEASAM fired up. Two days of sitting at market visiting with other artists and meeting new people gave me time to think. Sometimes being in the studio day in and day our can become monotonous and I get into a creative rut. The days of fresh air brought a storm of new ideas and inspiration. I knew I had very little time before the Cherokee Art Show and Market the following weekend but I wanted to bring one of my new plans to life. It wasn't easy but after a couple of all nighters, finding an extremely flexible local neon shop and multiple trips to Lowes and Michaels I managed to create a new one of a kind neon, acrylic paint mixed media piece entitled Imoshi', just in time for market!

The Cherokee Art Market is new to me. I have been interested in trying but just hadn't been able to get the stars to align, until now. I entered my new piece entitled Imoshi' into the diverse category as well as the mixed media piece Chickasha Assemblage. I am pleased to report that Imoshi' won not only second place in the diverse category but also received the innovator award. My second piece Chickasha Assemblage also won third place. I was extremely impressed with the entire show and all of the hard work that went into creating such a world class art market.