Nicole Emmons is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation filmmaker and mixed media/ installation artist specializing in stop motion animation from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She received her MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts School of Film and Video as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, and her Bachelors in Animation and Film from Columbia College Chicago. Her experimental animation short films “The Wing Eater,” and “Domesti City, OK” have screened in film festivals across the world. Her directing work has been featured on the Obama's Higher Ground Productions / Netflix children's series, "Waffles and Mochi.” She has worked in an animation capacity for Adult Swim, Nickelodeon, Netflix, Shadow Machine, MTV, Bix Pix, Starburns, Discovery Channel, Elastic, and others on television shows and commercials. The music video “A Prayer,” which she created for Oklahoma musician Andy Artus, won Best Music Video at deadCenter Film Festival in 2022. She was recently hired by Pawnee Nation’s Randi Le Clair in conjunction with Vision Maker Media to direct animation and puppetry on Le Clair’s long form short “Circle of Chawce,” which is slated to premiere in 2024.

Kalyn Fay Barnoski (Cherokee Nation enrollee, Muscogee Creek descent) is an interdisciplinary artist, songwriter, curator, and educator. Centering Indigenous and decolonial methodologies, their work focuses on self-location, community-building, collaboration, and empathy through the use of music, storytelling, and contemporary craft. In their interwoven practice, they use the multifaceted nature of their work to facilitate space for themselves and others to pursue multitudes. Kalyn sees their practice as a way to find the ways in which we all intersect and to build bridges of understanding between. Their practice is “for you, for me, for us, for we.” 

Kalyn Fay Barnoski was born and raised in rural Oklahoma between Cherokee, Muscogee, and Osage territories, and currently resides in Tulsa, OK. Presently, Kalyn is an NACF LIFT Fellow, a First Peoples Fund Artist-in-Business Leadership Fellow, and the Assistant Curator of Native Art at Philbrook Museum of Art. 

Kalyn Fay Barnoski holds an M.F.A. from University of Arkansas (2021),  an M.A. from The University of Tulsa (2016), and a B.F.A. from Rogers State University (2012). Kalyn has worked with Peabody Essex Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Momentary, Eiteljorg Museum, amongst other national institutions, for performances, workshops, and creative partnerships.

Billy Hensley is an artist living and working in Norman, Oklahoma. Mr. Hensley is a member of The Chickasaw Nation, raised in Sulphur Oklahoma. He developed a love of art at an early age and, although he pursued other career avenues, he returned to art as a full-time profession in 2011. Mr. Hensley desires to help bring Chickasaw artists into the global art community through art that incorporates history and tradition with relevance to the present. “I continuously strive to evolve in my work through experimentation with new techniques and processes.” Mr. Hensley gains inspiration from his life, the history of his family and the Chickasaw people. He often incorporates objects and images of historical significance into his works. Mr. Hensley has participated in numerous Native Art Competitions and markets, including; SEASAM, The Artesian Art Market, Cherokee Art Market, Santa Fe Indian Art Market, FAM Winter Market. As well as participating in a number of traveling exhibitions including, Visual Voices, Chiefs, Clans and Kin, and Collective Wisdom. His work is shown in several galleries including Exhibit C gallery and FAM museum store, Oklahoma Coty, OK and Fahrenheit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. More information and examples of his work can be found on his website, www.billyhensley.com

For Kindra Swafford (Cherokee Nation), art has been a part of their life since they were a child. Finding solace in doodling as a kid, they found support and guidance from their teachers in Salina, OK. Later pursuing their BFA at Northeastern State University, Kindra has made their way in the art world, refining their voice, and finding joy in the process.

Embracing art early, Kindra found inspiration from pop culture- from comics, movies, and video games which you can still see in their work today. Their art is comprised of vivid colors, glitched compositions, and depictions of flora and fauna. They are an active member of Arts Council of Tahlequah, Inkslingers of Tulsa, OVAC, and SEIAA.

Kindra hopes to continue their artistic pursuit and share their work with artists and art enthusiasts alike.

From the moment my carving tools touched the wood block I knew printmaking would become my passion. I love the constant thought process that goes into creating a woodcut. Other forms of relief carving do not hold the same kind of unique character that the grain of wood can show. I create designs full of movement and storytelling in a representational way. Using the organic flow of wood has become a pivotal tool for my art.

I was born in Aurora, Colorado while my father was active duty in the United States Air Force and raised by my indigenous mother who is a member of the Makah Nation. I have lived in different parts of the United States as well as Swindon, England and Okinawa, Japan. I currently live in Edmond, Oklahoma and attend the University of Central Oklahoma pursuing a bachelor’s degree in studio art.

My previous work consisted of depicting indigenous stories passed down to me by my mother as well as shining light on cultural practices from the Pacific Northwest tribes of the United States. My work grew from figures in cultural regalia, to plants native to the region and imagery of food gathering and use of basketmaking. It ended with depictions of stories of origin and folklore. I pushed my abilities within woodcut printmaking by exploring mark making and using larger blocks.

Currently I have been studying the human figure. Working from my personal drawings, studies from observation, and other images, I am creating intricate and dynamic designs that depict emotion and dimension in the figure with relying on the face. I am honing my ability to use the human form as a vehicle for emotional expression, playing with the smooth lines of the figure in contrast to more rigid lines of nature. Nature is static, but humans are each unique and different with every circumstance.

I enjoy representational art and want the viewer to follow each line as it creates shape and form to build the emotion of the figure. As they look at the whole design, the intent is to invoke reflection and connection to my viewers as well as create understanding and education of indigenous people in the contemporary dialogue. What seems simplistic in materials, the most complicated and beautiful things can be created if the passion is there.

Kristin Gentry is passionate about using her art to create different ways to preserve her traditional Southeastern tribal culture of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She uses her art to educate and restore the beauty of her people’s journey to where they are as Chahta Okla, Choctaw People, today. Through her art she continues to find more of her cultural Identity as a Chahta Ohoyo, Choctaw Woman, and Ishki, Mother. She understands that the need for her cultural art is necessary to the future of her daughter and her people. She works to involve her community through arts and cultural education. She strives at being the voice for Indigenous artists when there is none, and even more so for Native American women in today’s society. She is a writer, curator, painter, printmaker, and photographer. She often photographs families in their tribal regalia and creates designs and patterns from traditional clothing in her painting and prints.

Richard Ray Whitman (Yuchi/Muscogee) is an artist, activist and actor. Whitman’s artworks and photography have been exhibited at museums and galleries nationally and internationally - including a solo exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, La Biennale di Venzia in Venice Italy and the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts. Whitman’s work has been featured in magazines and books including Aperture’s Strong Hearts and Oxford University’s textbook Native North American Art. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM and California Institute of the Arts.

As an actor, Whitman has appeared in critically acclaimed films including Neither Wolf nor Dog, Winter in the Blood and Oklahoma director Sterlin Harjo’s Sundance Film Festival hit Barking Water. He is currently appearing in Harjo’s FX series Reservation Dogs. The American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco recognized Whitman as Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his role in Drunktown’s Finest.

Tom Farris has been immersed in American Indian art his entire life. The child of passionate collectors, Farris spent a good deal of his formative years in various museums, galleries and artists' homes. Having such intimate contact with the genre, Tom found inspiration for his own growing artistic aptitude. A member of the Cherokee Nation and Otoe-Missouria tribe, he draws from his culture and his life-long influence of American Indian art to create his works.

Farris has a great deal of professional experience in business of American Indian Art. He has served as the Assistant Director of the Oscar Jacobson Foundation and Native Art Center, the creator and manager of the Cherokee Art Market, owner and operator of the Standing Buffalo Indian Art Gallery & Gifts, manager of Exhibit C Gallery & Gifts and most recently the manager for FAMstore at First Americans Museum. His credits also include a number of judging honors including the Red Earth Festival Art Show, Cherokee Heritage Center's Trail of Tears and Cherokee Homecoming shows.

As a professional artist Farris has been honored to participate in and has received awards from a number of nationally acclaimed art shows including: The South Eastern Art Show and Market, The Cherokee Art Market, The Artesian Art Market, The Trail of Tears Art Show, The Indigenous Fine Art Market, The Eiteljorg Indian Art Market, Red Earth, The Artesian Art Market and The Southwestern Association of Indian Artists Santa Fe Market, where his pioneering work combining traditional hand carved war clubs with vintage Pontiac hood ornaments depicting Native images was recognized with the Creativity Award in 2015. He has exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and New York City. His work appears in numerous major private collections and the permanent collections of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana and the Sam Noble Natural History Museum in Norman, Oklahoma.

Nicole Emmons is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation filmmaker and mixed media/ installation artist specializing in stop motion animation from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She received her MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts School of Film and Video as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, and her Bachelors in Animation and Film from Columbia College Chicago. Her experimental animation short films “The Wing Eater,” and “Domesti City, OK” have screened in film festivals across the world. Her directing work has been featured on the Obama's Higher Ground Productions / Netflix children's series, "Waffles and Mochi.” She has worked in an animation capacity for Adult Swim, Nickelodeon, Netflix, Shadow Machine, MTV, Bix Pix, Starburns, Discovery Channel, Elastic, and others on television shows and commercials. The music video “A Prayer,” which she created for Oklahoma musician Andy Artus, won Best Music Video at deadCenter Film Festival in 2022. She was recently hired by Pawnee Nation’s Randi Le Clair in conjunction with Vision Maker Media to direct animation and puppetry on Le Clair’s long form short “Circle of Chawce,” which is slated to premiere in 2024.

Georgia Adeline Harjo is seventeen years old. She is Muscogee (Creek) and is of the Wind Clan, belonging to the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town. Her Ceremonial Ground is Sand Creek, and she is a granddaughter of Alabama Ceremonial Ground. She is currently a Junior at Southeast High School in Oklahoma City, OK, and will graduate in 2025. 

She is the youngest daughter of Una Brown, and her maternal grandparents are Bobby Brown and Sally Scott. 

Georgia is also Choctaw, Ceyvha Band Seminole, and Cheyenne. She is involved with her school through the Synergy Advanced Dance Team, Reporter for Spartan Student News Now, Native American Club President, Student mentorship with Artspace at Untitled, and she is an AP and Honors Student. Georgia is currently a member of the Oklahoma Indian Student Honor Society, and the National Honor Society as well. 

She works in a few different art forms, such as painting, sketching, beading, sewing, and carving work. She is passionate about Native American art and ways and promotes learning and creating your own tribal regalia and artwork with all generations, so that these different practices aren't lost. She is very grateful for the opportunity to be involved with Marking: Indigenous Narrative, and Artspace at Untitled.

Chelsea T. Hicks holds an MA from UC Davis and an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is Osage, belonging to the Tsizho Washtake, and of Waxakaoli^ District. Her work has been published in The Paris Review, Poetry, McSweeney’s, and shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Manetti Shrem Museum, and in World Literature Today. Her first book, A Calm & Normal Heart, received the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, and was long-listed for the PEN America Robert W. Bingham Prize. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she is a Tulsa Artist Fellow and serves as the director for Words of the People.

Alyssa Underwood is an interdisciplinary artist and a member of the Comanche Nation. She is in her third year at the Kansas City Arts Institute, pursuing a bachelor's degree in painting. Her artwork revolves around love, the significance of community, the human body, and their interplay with time. Her indigenous heritage is a significant source of inspiration in her art, and she often incorporates elements of her family history and cultural experiences into her pieces. Alyssa explores these concepts with fiber art and painted surfaces as they create a sense of interconnectedness and bodily association.