First American Art Magazine No. 14, Spring 2017 | Page 10

EDITOR’S GREETING
W
HILE FLIPPING THROUGH THESE
PAGES, you may have noticed that the address
for First American Art Magazine has changed
from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Norman,
Oklahoma. Of course, the magazine still has many writers and
editorial advisors in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico
since it is such a major center for Native art.
I’m excited by the possibilities posed by moving back
to Norman. It’s the place where I experienced my earliest
memories, where I graduated from high school, and where I
earned my BFA in painting. For me, it’s home.
The average person in the US moves over 11 times in her or
his lifetime, yet we don’t identify as a nomadic society. Perhaps
this is due to the nature of our movements—that individuals,
couples, or nuclear families move, but entire towns or tribes
do not. Nomadism is often looked down upon, especially
through the outdated lens of cultural evolution, but the story
is always more complex than at first glance. In fact, many
“nomadic” tribes moved seasonally within a known region, and
“sedentary” tribes would relocate their villages—each with the
desire to not overtax a local ecosystem.
We all define home in our own way. Our home can be as
small as a sleeping bag or as large as a hemisphere. No matter
what our definition is, leaving our homes to venture out in the
world exposes us to new people, experiences, and perspectives,
and significantly allows us to see our origins in a different light.
My father, the late Dr. Howard L. Meredith, taught
Oklahoma history and used to say how fascinating Oklahoma
was. Growing up, I had my doubts. Now I have to agree. I was
fortunate enough to take his Oklahoma Indian History and
Southern Plains History courses. In the latter class, we went
two weeks before reaching European and African contact.
Professors Blue Clark (Muscogee Creek) and Mary Jo Watson
(Seminole) are also invested in educating the public about
this region’s fascinating and often controversial history. For
instance, one reason Oklahoma doesn’t figure more largely in
early written histories is that the Taovaya (an affiliated tribe
of the Wichita) successfully defeated and repelled Spanish
invaders in 1759.
Oklahoma is the US state with the second largest Native
population and second largest number of tribes (California
is first in both respects). It is the home of the oldest-known
painted object in North America: the Cooper Bison Skull, a
fragmentary cranium of the extinct Bison antiquus, painted
with a red, hematite zigzag over 10,500 years ago and now
on view at the Sam Noble Museum. Muskogee, Oklahoma, is
home to the first Native American art museum, Ataloa Lodge,
founded in 1932 by Mary Ataloa Stone McClendon (Chickasaw,
1896–1967), and Pawhuska boasts the oldest continuing,
tribally owned museum, the Osage Nation Museum, founded
in 1938.
The Na tive art scene in Oklahoma has always been
robust (consider the lace and other elaborate textile arts of
Spiro Mounds, ca. 800–1400 CE) but has not always attracted
8 | WWW.FIRSTAMERICANARTMAGAZINE.COM
America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Kitikiti'sh Kaahiik'a (Wichita
Woman), 2012, egg tempera on true gesso panel, 14 × 11 in.
as much outside attention as that of New Mexico. Yet, the arts
have strong support from tribes and are ripe with possibility.
It is customary at Native conferences to thank the hosting
tribes. Sometimes this comes off as contrived, but at the last
conference hosted by the Association of Tribal Archives,
Libraries, and Museums (ATALM, based in Oklahoma City), the
thank-yous were natural and heartfelt. In that spirit, I would like
to thank the Wichita, Waco, Kichai, Tawakoni, and the Caddo
Confederacy for allowing me to establish a new headquarters
for First American Art Magazine in their ancestral homelands.
Even if we are newcomers to a particular place, I believe by
exposing ourselves to the art of the peoples in whose ancestral
lands we currently live, we can build a closer bond. This is so
needed now, when much place-based knowledge has been lost.
Until writing this letter, I didn’t realize that the four
profiled artists in this issue all live in or near their tribal
homelands, as do the subjects of our design column, Decontie
and Brown. Each of these individuals travel—the art world
is a wonderful impetus for travel—but they all return home.
The definition of Indigenous comes directly from a close
relationship to the land. No matter who you are or what your
cultural heritage might be, you are Indigenous to the Earth. We
can all strengthen our relationship to the soil right below our
feet through knowledge, compassion, and gratitude.
—America Meredith