The Jacobson House Native Art Center announces the opening of a special exhibition titled, “Perspectives on Poolaw: The Art of Thomas Poolaw and the Influences of Horace Poolaw.”  The show, guest-curated by Yvonne N. Tiger (Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Cherokee), a Master’s degree student in the University of Oklahoma’s (OU) Native American Studies Department, opens on Friday, October 9, and will be on display through November 19, 2009.   An opening reception will be held on Fri., October 9, from 6 – 8 pm at the Jacobson House.

The exhibition highlights the art of Thomas Poolaw, a very talented and multi-faceted artist, who is enrolled in the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma.  From a young age, Poolaw was interested in art and began entering his work in children’s art contests.  During his teen years, he continued to draw and create art. 

“As a youth, I was heavily influenced during the late 1960's and 70's by the Native American artists of southwest Oklahoma and the photography of my grandfather Horace Poolaw (1906 – 1984), who is celebrated as the first professional Native American photographer,” Thomas says. 

It was not until Thomas entered the school of art at OU in 1980, however, that he formally studied art, subsequently pursuing it as a career.  He graduated from the OU with his B.F.A. in painting in 1992.  Since then, Thomas has exhibited his art nationally and internationally.  He has pieces in the collections of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the OU, in the Southern Plains Indian Museum, in the J.W. Bill Wiggins private collection, and in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian collection.

Horace Poolaw’s artistic and meticulous photography had a lasting visual impact on Thomas, which was strengthened by their close relationship.  Horace was Thomas’s mentor and his memory still inspires Thomas’s art.  Some of Thomas’s work continues to incorporate the photographs of his grandfather, and they are integrated with Poolaw’s own innovative means of creating art.  The exhibition will show the work of both artists, including a few rarely seen hand-tinted Horace Poolaw photographs.  The public will see the special bond between a grandfather and his grandson, and the influence that has given Thomas the confidence to transcend the boundaries of “traditional” American Indian art.

Horace was born and raised in Mountain View, Oklahoma.  He began his training as a photographer in the mid-1920s by correspondence courses through the Pictorial Arts Studio in Chicago, ILL.  Shortly thereafter, Horace found employment in the Mountain View studio of photographer George Long.  The studio was eventually sold to portrait photographer John Coyle.  Horace learned how to take, process, and retouch photographs from these men. 

Horace spent part of his career photographing the Kiowa people and other Indians and the transitions they experienced in the mid-1900s, but he was also interested in the larger community around him.  Many of the pictures that survive today document the people, both Indian and non-Indian, and the changes that occurred around Mountain View.  He was a World War II U.S. Air Force veteran.  During his time in the service, he received further photographic training and worked as an aerial photographer.  In 1945, he and his wife permanently settled in Anadarko, OK, where he continued to take photographs until his eyesight began to fail him.

The exhibition is made possible by the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Norman Arts Council, and OU’s Native American Studies Dept.  The Jacobson House is located at 609 Chautauqua Ave in Norman, OK.  For more information, call 366.1667 or email jacobsonhouse@gmail.com.