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she saw "and that made me feel like I had those things." After third grade, when that school closed, she and her siblings attended
Stigler schools, where she was the only Native child in her class. Howard vividly remembered one teacher that scolded her for drawing "Indian things" on the chalkboard, and for a while she stopped drawing altogether.
189:"laughed at my work, like they didn't want it." After Howard started her family and began working at a sewing factory, she didn't have much time to paint. Then the factory closed down, and Howard worried about finding another job. In a dream she heard her late father say to her, "Paint. That's what you always wanted to do."
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to look at pictures "so real you could touch it." Growing up, she did not know any Indian artists; in fact did not know many other Native families until her teens. So she was not aware of other Native art. Her first goal as an artist was to make something good enough for her mother and father to hang in their living room.
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As a self-taught artist, Howard has developed a unique style of watercolor painting that uses tiny brushstrokes, cross-hatching and layers to produce depth. Her landscapes almost always include people, because she believed it is people who give art life. She remembered as a child using a View-Master
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Howard's husband David insisted they visit an art supply store in another town to buy her better paints and paper to use. David also pushed Howard to enter her work in the annual Red Earth art market in
Oklahoma City. She had just missed the deadline in 1995 to enter her work as a new artist but was
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Howard recalled drawing on anything she could: with a stick in the dirt, on brown paper bags, even on pages of an encyclopedia. She first attended a small country school with both white and Indian children. When other children played with toys or dolls that she did not have, Howard would draw what
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Her parents were proud of her art. Her father, a house painter, carried some of her drawings in his wallet. Using cheap paint palettes available at the local general store, Howard taught herself to paint. Once her father even took off a day of work to show her paintings at a local event. In 1974
202:. She listened as third place was announced, then second place, and she thought she had lost. When the announcer called "Norma Howard" for first place, she sat stunned, head down. That morning she had sold every painting in her booth. At Red Earth 1996, Howard won again.
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descent. She grew up in a small, rural
Oklahoma community. Her family was poor and her parents struggled to raise their eight children. Howard's maternal grandmother had come to Oklahoma from Mississippi in the early 20th century as part of the second removal along the
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allowed her to submit her request late. As Howard sat among the other artists and their works, she noticed her art was very different from most others. It seemed everything was
Southwestern or
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earlier, during the first removal, and at first settled in the Atoka area. Later her grandfather decided to move his family to
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life. Howard won her first art award at the 1995 Red Earth Native
American Cultural Festival in
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of children playing, women working in fields, and other images inspired by family stories and
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601:"Chickasaw Press Presents Heritage Preservation Awards, Release Five New Titles"
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1996 Red Earth Native
Culture Festival, 1st place Watercolor, Oklahoma City, OK
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1995 Red Earth Native
Culture Festival, 1st place Watercolor, Oklahoma City, OK
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607:. Chickasaw Nation Media Relations Office. 3 October 2014. Archived from
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636:. SWAIA. 18 August 2012. Archived from the original on 8 November 2013
217:. Those swamps and lands have continued to inspire her paintings of
177:, where there were better schools; they owned land and grew cotton.
249:. Since 2003, Howard has been represented by Blue Rain Gallery in
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Smith, Craig. (2003). "Norma Howard: Painting Family
Stories."
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2012 Santa Fe Indian Market, Gouache/Watercolor, First Place
670:"33rd Annual Trail of Tears Art Show Winners Are Announced"
245:, while three more paintings hang in the Landmark Bank in
550:"Return from Exile: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art"
520:"Norma Howard - Blue Rain Gallery / Santa Fe New Mexico"
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Return from Exile: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art
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Silverman, Jason. (2004). "The Biggest and the Best."
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144:. Her work is popular with collectors and critics.
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329:"Prominent Native artist Norma Howard dies age 65"
282:2013 Greater Tulsa Indian Art Market, Glenpool, OK
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205:After encouragement from Paul Rainbird, of the
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759:Oklahoma Native Artists Oral History Project
722:Little Thunder, Julie. (10 November 2010).
414:"Family's past has meaning for busy artist"
303:1997+ Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
440:"Oral History Interview with Norma Howard"
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747:Howard, Norma (Williams) - Choctaw artist
575:"Indian Market 2014 Best of Show Winners"
364:"Norma Howard: The girl who had to paint"
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207:Southwestern Association for Indian Arts
16:Choctaw-Chickasaw Native American artist
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272:2014 Southeastern Art Show and Market,
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35:Norma Howard with her son's ballsticks
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835:21st-century Native American artists
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785:American people of Chickasaw descent
711:"Interviews with Norma Howard, 2011"
855:21st-century American women artists
850:20th-century American women artists
749:. Haskell County Historical Society
845:21st-century Native American women
840:20th-century Native American women
499:Chahta Foundation: Choctaw Stories
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800:Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma people
213:to visit ancestral places of the
362:McKenna, Arin (17 August 2014).
830:21st-century American painters
820:20th-century American painters
672:. Cherokee Nation. 11 May 2004
257:Awards and notable exhibitions
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815:People from Stigler, Oklahoma
724:"Interview with Norma Howard"
495:"Interview with Norma Howard"
631:"Indian Market 2012 Winners"
333:KOSU - National Public Radio
152:Howard was a citizen of the
276:, Best of Division, 2-D Art
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390:Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
154:Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
185:people at a gift shop in
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805:Native American painters
294:Cherokee Heritage Center
165:. Her grandmother spoke
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728:Oklahoma Native Artists
444:Oklahoma Native Artists
290:Trail of Tears Art Show
225:Style and notable works
70:Stigler, Oklahoma, U.S.
810:Painters from Oklahoma
579:Santa Fe Indian Market
366:. Santa Fe New Mexican
163:Choctaw Trail of Tears
717:. Chahta Foundation.
703:Santa Fe New Mexican
605:The Chickasaw Nation
251:Santa Fe, New Mexico
524:blueraingallery.com
266:, traveling exhibit
122:Norma "Nana" Howard
99:watercolor painting
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124:(1958–2024) was a
795:Chickasaw artists
709:Shepherd, Stacy.
611:on 1 October 2015
493:Shepherd, Stacy.
412:Johnson, Sharon.
175:Stigler, Oklahoma
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48:December 19, 1958
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676:30 September
674:. Retrieved
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638:. Retrieved
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613:. Retrieved
609:the original
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128:artist from
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115:David Howard
65:(2024-04-30)
23:Norma Howard
780:2024 deaths
775:1958 births
300:Grand Prize
211:Mississippi
156:and was of
91:self-taught
76:Nationality
769:Categories
395:2024-05-26
314:References
237:is in the
235:Green Corn
200:Plains art
148:Early life
416:. News OK
187:Tahlequah
158:Chickasaw
88:Education
650:cite web
554:ARTslant
215:Choctaws
79:American
742:Ask Art
581:. SWAIA
167:Choctaw
138:Choctaw
534:26 May
504:12 May
478:12 May
449:12 May
420:12 May
112:Spouse
54:, U.S.
698:v. n.
634:(PDF)
338:9 May
288:2004
262:2015
104:Style
678:2015
656:link
642:2015
617:2015
587:2015
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340:2024
60:Died
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
