The Jacobson House Native Art Center announces its first-ever Jacobson Awards Ceremony to be celebrated in conjunction with its annual Pony Moon Gala on Friday, May 8, 2009, at 6 pm at the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman.  Following a plated dinner, awards will be presented by the Jacobson Foundation to visual and performing artists and art supporters from throughout Oklahoma.  The award-recipients were selected by the Jacobson Foundation staff and board of trustees for outstanding contributions and achievements in Native art.  Awards will be presented in honor of Oscar Brousse Jacobson (1882 – 1966), founding director of the University of Oklahoma School of Art (founded in 1915), as well as his wife, Jeanne d’Ucel, also a respected art scholar.  Awards will also be presented in honor of each member of the Kiowa Five, the talented group of Native artists invited by Jacobson to study art at the university during the 1920’s.  The Kiowa Five's work marked the genesis of contemporary Native art in Oklahoma, as well as Native art as a distinctly American art.

The American Indian artists that came to be known as the “Kiowa Five” were actually six artists in total: Spencer Asah (1905 or 1910-1954); Jack Hokeah (1902-1969); Stephen Mopope (1898-1974); and Monroe Tsatoke (1904-1937); and Lois (Bougetah) Smoky (1907-1981), the youngest and only female member of the group, who was later replaced by James Auchiah (1906-1974).  They were multi-talented artists that were accomplished in dancing, singing, storytelling, flute-making and flute-playing, among other talents.

Award-recipients for the first-ever and first-annual Jacobson Awards, include:

• James Auchiah Award – Ruthe Blalock-Jones (Shawnee-Delaware-Peoria), Award-winning painter, scholar, and recently retired director of the Art Department at Bacone College in Muskogee.
• Spencer Asah Award – Sterlin Harjo (Seminole), Filmmaker with credits including Barking Waters (2009) and Four Sheets to the Wind (2008), both critically acclaimed at the Sundance Film Festival, among others.
• Jack Hokeah Award – Kevin Connywerdy (Kiowa/Comanche) and Kricket Rhoads-Connywerdy (Kiowa/Caddo), a husband and wife dynamic duo who are world-renowned dancers, storytellers and singers.
• Stephen Mopope Award – Nathan Hart (Cheyenne/Arapaho), Award–winning master wood sculptor, and Director of Community Affairs for the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, currently under construction in Oklahoma City.
• Lois (Bougetah) Smoky Award – Dana Tiger (Creek), Award-winning painter, art-activist, and daughter of the late prolific Creek artist Jerome Tiger.
• Monroe Tsatoke Award – Bruce Caesar (Pawnee), Award-winning master silversmith and metal artist.
• Jeanne d’Ucel Award – Shawnee Brittan and Joanna Champlin, founding board members and longtime supporters of the Jacobson Foundation
• Oscar Jacobson Award – Bert Seabourn, a master painter, former board member, and longtime supporter of the Jacobson Foundation

A special award will be presented both by and also in honor of Carol Whitney, founding director of the Jacobson Foundation.  Whitney, along with Brittan, Champlin, and other community members, saved the Jacobson House from demolition and established it as a non-profit arts center in 1986.  Whitney also helped get the house established on the national historic register.

• Carol Whitney Award – Charles (Osage) and Jeri Redcorn (Caddo), founding board members and longtime supporters of the Jacobson Foundation.

For more information and to reserve tickets, call the Jacobson House at 405.366.1667 or email jacobsonhouse@gmail.com.