Dana Tiger

Last updated
Dana Tiger
Born
Dana Irene Tiger

1961 (age 62–63)
Muskogee, Oklahoma
Nationality Muscogee Nation, American
Education Oklahoma State University, Bacone College
Occupationartist
Years active1985–present
Website www.tigerartgallery.com/art/

Dana Tiger (born 1961) is a Muscogee artist of Seminole and Cherokee descent from Oklahoma. Her artwork focuses on portrayals of strong women. She uses art as a medium for activism and raising awareness. Tiger was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 2001.

Contents

Biography

Dana Irene Tiger was born in 1961 to Jerome Tiger [1] and Peggy [2] Richmond. Her father was a full blood Native American of Muskogee-Seminole heritage and her mother is a member of the Cherokee Nation. [3] Tiger's father died of an accidental gunshot wound when she was 5 years old and she was raised by her mother. To promote her father's work, keep his legacy alive, and be taken seriously as an art dealer, Tiger's mother ran the business pretending to be a man. Jerome's brother, Johnny Tiger Jr., acted as the family patriarch, told stories of their father to his children, and surrounded them with art. [2]

Tiger attended Oklahoma State University from 1981 to 1984 as a student in the College of Arts and Sciences. [4] She later attended Bacone College. [5]

Tiger first began painting at age 24, after she left Oklahoma State University. [5] Dana was inspired by the legacy of her father, Jerome Tiger, an exemplary artist who revolutionized the portrayal of Native Americans through his unique art style. [6] Her themes of strong women grew out of personal experiences of discrimination and tragedy. [7] She uses art as a medium to empower women. [8] Dana's art is often centered around her sense of womanhood and the strength of those that surround her. [9] Characteristics of her paintings are resilient Native women depicted in both historical and contemporary leadership positions, [10] usually in watercolor or acrylic. [11]

Tiger often combines artwork and advocacy, promoting benefits for the AIDS Coalition for Indian Outreach, the American Cancer Society, the National Organization for Women, and the Ozark Literacy Council among others. [10] Native American health is a particular focus. [11] While promoting healing and growth through art, she is also a mother, sister, and grandmother. [12]

Personal life

Tiger had planned to remain single and dedicate her life to art, [8] but when her brother was murdered in 1990 and her sister was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS two years later, her view of the world changed. She felt that she could honor her siblings by bringing new life into the world. [2] Tiger married Donnie Blair on 7 November 1992. They have two children: a daughter Christie, born 1 September 1993, named after her brother, and a son, Coleman Lisan, born 16 July 1995, named for her sister. [1] Both of her children are award-winning artists. [2]

In 1999, Tiger was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Soon after her diagnosis, Tiger's sister Lisa was also diagnosed with Parkinson's. [2]

In 2002, she founded a non-profit organization, Legacy Cultural Learning Community, to foster arts development for Native youth. [7]

Notable works

Tiger's painting We Ride Again was chosen as the cover art for the 2006 Oklahoma Women's Almanac. [13]

A collection of Tiger's work was shown as a part of the Oklahoma Painters exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris in 2011. She was one of 11 Native American artists who was selected to show at the exhibition. [14]

Some of Tiger's other notable works include: [1]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilma Mankiller</span> Cherokee Nation chief and activist (1945–2010)

Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Indigenous Americans. After high school, she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s, she was employed as a social worker, focusing mainly on children's issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Civilized Tribes Museum</span>

The Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma, showcases the art, history, and culture of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes": the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes. Housed in the historic Union Indian Agency building, the museum opened in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacone College</span> Private liberal arts college

Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a Private college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now American Baptist Churches USA. Renamed as Bacone College in the early 20th century, it is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma. The liberal arts college has had strong historic ties to several tribal nations, including the Muscogee and Cherokee. The Bacone College Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Muskogee County, Oklahoma since 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hill</span> American artist (1930–2020)

Joan Hill, also known as Che-se-quah, was a Muscogee Creek artist of Cherokee ancestry. She was one of the most awarded Native American women artists in the 20th century.

Johnny Moore Tiger Jr., was a Native American artist from Oklahoma.

Kay WalkingStick is a Native American landscape artist and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Her later landscape paintings, executed in oil paint on wood panels often include patterns based on Southwest American Indian rugs, pottery, and other artworks.

Cecil Dick, or Degadoga (1915–1992) was a well-known Cherokee artist often referred to as "the Father of Cherokee Traditional Art".

Walter Richard West Sr., was a painter, sculptor, and educator. He led the Art Department at Bacone College from 1947 to 1970. He later taught at Haskell Institute for several years. West was an enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

The Bacone school or Bacone style of painting, drawing, and printmaking is a Native American intertribal "Flatstyle" art movement, primarily from the mid-20th century in Eastern Oklahoma and named for Bacone College. This art movement bridges historical, tribally-specific pictorial painting and carving practices towards an intertribal Modernist style of easel painting. This style is also influenced by the art programs of Chilocco Indian School, north of Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Haskell Indian Industrial Training Institute, in Lawrence, Kansas and features a mix of Southeastern, Prairie, and Central Plains tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome Tiger</span> American painter

Jerome Richard Tiger was a Muscogee Nation-Seminole painter from Oklahoma. Tiger produced hundreds of paintings from 1962 until his death in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Stroud</span> United Keetoowah Band Cherokee painter from Oklahoma

Virginia Alice Stroud is a Cherokee-Muscogee Creek painter from Oklahoma. She is an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

David Emmett Williams was a Native American painter, who was Kiowa/Tonkawa/Kiowa-Apache from Oklahoma. He studied with Dick West at Bacone College and won numerous national awards for his paintings. He painted in the Flatstyle technique that was taught at Bacone from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Margaret Lois “Peggy” Tiger was a Cherokee author and art gallery owner in Oklahoma. The widow of painter Jerome Tiger, she served as the caretaker of her husband's artistic legacy since his death in 1967. She wrote one of the first biographies on the life of Jerome Tiger and his artwork. Tiger was also the mother of Cherokee artist and women's rights activist, Dana Tiger.

Jimmie Carole Fife Stewart is a Muscogee (Creek) art educator, fashion designer, and artist. After graduating from the Chilocco Indian School and taking courses at the University of Arizona, she earned a degree from Oklahoma State University and began working as a teacher. After a six-year stint working for Fine Arts Diversified, she returned to teaching in 1979 in Washington, Oklahoma. Primarily known as a painter, using watercolor or acrylic media, Fife-Stewart has also been involved in fashion design. Her works have been shown mostly in the southwestern United States and have toured South America. Having won numerous awards for her artworks, she was designated as a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valjean McCarty Hessing</span> American painter

Valjean McCarty Hessing was a Choctaw painter, who worked in the Bacone flatstyle. Throughout her career, she won 9- awards for her work and was designated a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in 1976. Her artworks are in collections of the Heard Museum of Phoenix, Arizona; the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma; and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian of Santa Fe, New Mexico, among others.

Jeanne Rorex-Bridges is painter and illustrator based in Oklahoma. She is a member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama, a state-recognized tribe.

Mary Adair is a Cherokee Nation educator and painter based in Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane McCarty Mauldin</span> American painter

Jane McCarty Mauldin was a Choctaw artist, who simultaneously worked in commercial and fine art exhibiting from 1963 through 1997. Over the course of her career, she won more than 100 awards for her works and was designated as a "Master Artist" by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She has works in the permanent collections of the Heard Museum, the Heritage Center of the Red Cloud Indian School and the collections of the Department of the Interior, as well as various private collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Mitchell</span> Cherokee potter from Oklahoma (1926–2012)

Anna Mitchell was a Cherokee Nation potter who revived the historic art of Southeastern Woodlands pottery for Cherokee people in Oklahoma. Her tribe designated her as a Cherokee National Treasure and has works in numerous museum collections including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, among others.

Joan Brown is an American artist, illustrator and educator. She is of Cherokee and Creek descent from Oklahoma. Her work is of the Bacone school style.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dana Tiger - Creek Tribe". ArtNatAm. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Tall Chief, Russ (December 2012). "Triumph Over Tragedy". Orenda Art. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to Twin Territories: Dana Tiger". Cherokees Western. Twin Territories. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Oklahoma State University. Student Directory. Stillwater, OK: Department of Student Activities.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Pearson-Little Thunder, Julie (May 25, 2011). "Oral history interview with Dana Tiger". Oklahoma Native Artists. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Correspondent, M. J. VanDeventer-Shelton / Phoenix (20 August 2017). "Muskogee remembers Jerome Tiger on 50th anniversary of his death". Muskogee Phoenix. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  7. 1 2 Jessepe, Lorraine (26 October 2009). "Dana Tiger answered the voice inside". Indian Country Today Media Network. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. 1 2 Winslow, Laurie (1 March 1989). "Dana Tiger Featured at Indian Art Show". Tulsa World. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Chickasaw.tv | Artist Dana Tiger: Inspired by Strong Indian Women , retrieved 2021-03-09
  10. 1 2 "Dana Tiger Painting Selected for Commemorative Poster". Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. May 6, 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  11. 1 2 Young, James (April 3, 2013). "Twelfth Native Women & Men's Wellness Conference Held in San Diego". OU Outreach. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Tiger Art Gallery". Tiger Art Gallery. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  13. ↑ "About the Oklahoma Women's Almanac Cover". The Oklahoma Women's Almanac. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  14. ↑ Godreche, Dominique (5 April 2012). "American Indian Painters Travel to Paris, Bust a Few Stereotypes". Indian Country Media Network. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  15. 1 2 Dickerson, Russell (2017-08-17). "Interview with Cover Artist Dana Tiger". Apex Magazine. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Dana Tiger Biography, box 1, folder 5". Tiger Family Collection. Special Collections and University Archives, Oklahoma State University Libraries.
  17. ↑ "Dana Tiger Portraits of Courage and Culture (And a little frybread on the side)". Oklahoma Arts Council. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "2001 Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame". Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.