Sharron Ahtone Harjo
Marcelle Sharron Ahtone Harjo (born 1945) is a Kiowa painter from Oklahoma.[1] Her Kiowa name, Sain-Tah-Oodie, translates to "Killed With a Blunted Arrow."[2] In the 1960s and 1970s, she and sister Virginia Stroud were instrumental in the revival of ledger art, a Plains Indian narrative pictorial style on paper or muslin.[4]
Sharron Ahtone Harjo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Marcelle Sharron Ahtone[1] January 6, 1945[2] |
| Nationality | Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma |
| Education | Bacone College |
| Known for | painting, ledger art |
| Movement | ledger art, Bacone school |
| Elected | Miss Indian America (1968)[3] |
Background
Sharron Ahtone Harjo's parents were Evelyn Tahome and Jacob Ahtone. Evelyn's parents were A. Jane Goombi and Stephen "Tahome" Poolant. Jacob served as Kiowa Tribal chairman from 1978 to 1980. Jacob's parents were Tahdo (Tah'ga-da) and Samuel Ahtone.[2] Samuel attended the Hampton Institute in Virginia and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Samuel was a ledger artist.[4]
Her great-grandmother, Millie Durgan, was taken captive by the Kiowas as a young girl. Durgan acculturated into Kiowa society and became a renowned cradleboard-maker.[5]
In 1963, Ahtone Harjo graduated from Billings West High School in Billings, Montana.[2] She studied art under Southern Cheyenne artist Dick West at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, from 1963 to 1965.[6] In 1965, she earned her AA from Bacone and earned her BA from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.[2]
In 1965, Ahtone Harjo was chosen as Miss Indian America.[3]
Art career
Sharron Ahtone Harjo paints in acrylic, oil, gouache, and watercolor.[2] In the 1970s, Ahtone began showing her work professionally. Due to the lack of acceptance for women artists in her area and nationally, she exhibited under the name Ahtone Harjo.[4] She later taught art in schools.[3]
Personal
Ahtone Harjo primarily lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, although she also stays in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is from the Zoltone District 2 of the Kiowa tribal nation. Her sister is Deborah Ahtone, a Kiowa visual artist and writer. Sharron is married to Amos Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee). Their daughter Tahnee Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder is a successful beadwork and textile artist, and an American art curator and museum administrator. Ahtone Harjo is the mother-in-law to artist George Growingthunder, son of Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty.[2]
Public collections
Sharron Ahtone Harjo's work can be found in the following public collections.
- Brown University
- Center of the American Indian, Kilpatrick Center
- Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska
- Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
- Oklahoma State Historical Society[2]
- Southern Plains Indian Museum[7][2]
Published works
- Hail, Barbara, Everett R. Rhoades, and Sharron Ahtone-Harjo. Gifts of Price and Love: Kiowa and Comanche Cradles. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN 978-080613604-2.
- Pearce, Richard, Sharron Ahtone-Harjo. Women and Ledger Art: Four Contemporary Native American Artists. University of Arizona Press, Jun 13, 2013 ISBN 0816521042
Notes
- "Marcelle Sharron Ahtone Harjo, 1945-." Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 25 Aug 2013.
- Lester 221
- Clark 189
- Pearce 13
- Sellin, Christine. "Kiowa and Comanche Lattice Cradle Exhibition at UCLA Fowler Museum Opens Aug. 27." Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine UCLA News. 15 May 2000. Retrieved 25 Aug 2013.
- Pearce xvi
- Pearce 14
References
- Clark, Blue. Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0806140605.
- Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-9936-9.
- Pearce, Richard. Women and Ledger Art: Four Contemporary Native American Artists. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2013. ISBN 978-081652104-3.
External links
- The Ledger Art of Sharron Ahtone Harjo, by Richard Pearce
- Oral History with Sharron Ahtone Harjo