OKC’s 30th Red Earth Festival announces call for artists

Applications for new artists interested in participating in the 30th Red Earth Festival art market are currently being accepted for the event scheduled June 10-12, 2016 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. Applications will be accepted through January 15, 2016.

The award-winning Red Earth Festival is considered the world’s largest event of its kind, drawing thousands of art enthusiasts to a three-day weekend celebrating Native American visual art and dance. A 2015 reader’s poll by USA TODAY 10 Best named Oklahoma City’s Red Earth Festival a Top 10 winner for America’s Best Arts Festival.

The Red Earth juried art market annually showcases hundreds of artists representing Native tribes and nations form throughout the US and Canada. The event drew nearly 30,000 attendees in 2015, and has won numerous awards including Oklahoma’s Outstanding Event presented by the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department.

Red Earth Festival art market categories include contemporary and traditional art forms including cultural items, jewelry, basketry, paintings, drawings, graphics, photography, beadwork, clothing, textiles, weaving, sculpture and pottery.

Santo Domingo Pueblo Artist Jolene Bird of Santo Domingo Pueblo, NM received the 2015 Red Earth Grand Award for Best of Show for her Inlayed Gourd. Troy Anderson (Cherokee of NE Alabama), of Siloam Springs, AR was named recipient of the 2015 President’s Award for his sculpture entitled “Raven,” and Alberta Henderson (Navajo) from Kirtland, NM received the Kathleen Everett Upshaw Award for her woven rug entitled “Two Grey Hill Rug.”

Applicants must be able to provide documents of proof of membership in a federally or state-recognized tribal entity or documents of proof of certification as Indian Artisans by an Indian tribe. Artists must submit three color images per category of artwork that will be sold in their booth. Applications can be downloaded from www.redearth.org, or obtained by calling (405) 427-5228. Booth space in the Red Earth art market is limited, and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

For nearly 40 years, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit Red Earth, Inc. has been dedicated to its mission to promote the rich traditions of American Indian arts and cultures through education, a premier festival, museum and fine art markets. Red Earth is recognized as the region’s premier organization for advancing the understanding and continuation of Native American traditional and contemporary culture and arts.

Red Earth is an Allied Arts member agency and is funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department, and the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Red Earth Art Center, open year-round in downtown Oklahoma City, presents a diverse and changing exhibition schedule and is custodian of a permanent collection of over 1,400 items of fine art, pottery, basketry, textiles and beadwork – including the Deupree Cradleboard Collection, one of the finest individual collections of its kind.