ANADARKO, OK – A special solo exhibition of contemporary art including paintings, drawings and mixed media art created by Cherokee artist Roy Boney Jr. is on display through Sept. 21 at the Rosemary Ellison Gallery inside the Southern Plains Indian Museum.

Boney is a full-blood citizen of the Cherokee Nation and works for the CN Education Services as language technology specialist. He has won awards and honors for his art and has exhibited across the country and internationally, including Art en Capital Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l'Eau held in the historic Grand Palais in Paris, France.

The exhibit features a collection of art that is based in Cherokee stories, language and tradition combined with contemporary elements such as science fiction and rock music.

One painting titled (Live Long and Prosper) features Sequoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, holding his hand up in the familiar "V" gesture that Spock used in the Star Trek series of television shows and films. Another painting titled "A Trip to the Moon" takes the Cherokee story of the frog swallowing the moon during an eclipse and incorporates the famous image of a rocket crash-landed into the Man in the Moon's eye from silent film "A Trip to the Moon." Other pieces, such as 'When She Twirls Her Apron Strange Things Happen," do not reference classic science fiction but rather tells a family story of a shape shifter.

Boney considers his art to be an act of storytelling.

"I am an artist and a Cherokee," Boney said. "For me the two are intertwined. I cannot separate one from the other. The reason I make art is to tell the stories I heard growing up and to incorporate them into my contemporary interests and lifestyle. Cherokees as a people have always evolved and grown with the times. I want my art to do the same."

He added that he is honored to have an exhibition at the Southern Plains Indian Museum.

"As a Cherokee artist, I understand how important the museum for Native artists. Nearly all the towering figures in Native art have exhibited here such as T.C. Canon and Allan Houser. It has a long history of exhibiting Native artists, and I am humbled to have been offered the invitation for an exhibition," he said.

For questions about the exhibition and museum, email Bambi Allen at bambi_allen@ios.doi.gov
or call 405-247-6221.

The museum displays richly varied arts of western Oklahoma tribal peoples, including the Kiowa, Comanche, Kiowa-Apache, Southern Cheyenne, Southern Arapaho, Wichita, Caddo, Delaware and Fort Still Apache. Their historic clothing, shields, weapons, baby carriers and toys highlight the exhibits.

The museum was founded in 1947-48 through federal and Oklahoma state governments' cooperative efforts.