(jazz piano music)
- [Chelsea] We're at the Gilcrease Museum
in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
and we're standing in front of a painting
by Ruthie Blalock Jones called "Medicine Woman."
And this painting perfectly encapsulates
her lifelong role as an educator
and as someone who was raised
within the Native American Church.
- [Lauren] Ruthie's work in "Medicine Woman" in particular
is very well known for showing some of the quieter
or more daily life scenes in native communities,
especially those communities in Northeastern Oklahoma.
She often shows a single figure
where the scene is cropped close.
There's not a lot of context for the scene
around the figure.
- [Chelsea] What we're seeing here is a woman
who is seated on the ground.
We have just enough information
to associate her with the edge of a teepee
of the Native American Church.
And she's seated on several different
brightly colored and patterned blankets.
- [Lauren] And she's also holding and wearing several items
that are recognizable as associated
with the Native American Church.
In her left hand she holds a beautiful pheasant feather fan
that also has macaw feathers
slightly sprinkled around the handle.
And it's also beautifully beaded
with this long luxurious buckskin fringe.
She's also wearing a rich, blue, silk embroidered shawl
with this beautiful and meticulous rendering of silk fringe.
- [Chelsea] And she has used her medium, gouache,
to her advantage here.
We're seeing saturated colors that pop
against the largely unadorned background.
- [Lauren] At the beginning of the 20th century,
this flat style of painting,
meaning the background of the images are sparse on detail,
and that was really developed
into a distinct style at Bacone College
under Dick West.
Ruthie was educated at Bacone,
so Ruthie took this recognizable aesthetic
and has made it her own.
- [Chelsea] And she has also paid close attention
to some of the details.
Look at the way that the fringe in this brilliant red color
hangs down from the shawl.
We can see each individual strand
as it's moving across her body,
as it is layered over her arms.
And that's picked up even in her attention
to this woman's hair
where each strand is so carefully rendered.
- [Lauren] And that red fringe also brings the viewer's eye
down to these very brightly colored blankets
along the edge of the teepee
and they're recognizable as Native American trade blankets.
On the left side of the image,
you have this Pendleton style blanket
that would likely be made of wool.
And then as you move to the right
on the other side of the figure,
vivid fire colors or flame colors
where it's a blue outline
and then on the interior are shades of yellow,
orange, red, and black.
You can almost feel the texture of the cloth.
- [Chelsea] Here we're seeing this painting
with such careful attention to details,
and yet the fan that she's holding is blocking her face,
and the artist does that intentionally.
- [Lauren] Much of Ruthie's artwork
is a very careful balance
between showing representations of native life,
of native events, ceremonies, and dances,
but without revealing too much information
to a viewer who might not be part of that community.
Ruthie is careful in her work
not to paint specific people,
and likewise her clothing and her adornments like the fan,
her silver earrings, are not specific either.
So they are general representations of what a woman
in the Native American Church would be wearing.
in an instance like this.
- [Chelsea] Also part of the rituals associated
with the Native American Church is the cup.
- [Lauren] This is a small camp cup
made out of cast iron or tin.
The woman's role typically
in a Native American Church procession or ceremony
is often to provide sustenance and water
to the practitioners who are gathered around the fire
in the center of the teepee.
So at this moment, she is waiting for her turn
to fulfill her responsibility of passing out water and food
to those who are in prayer.
And as a child, Ruthie has recalled sitting
at the front of Shawnee ceremonials and dances
and taking in the vibrancy of those events
and visually recording them at a young age.
But her experiences that she has captured in artwork
are from lived moments in her life.
- [Chelsea] Jones is taking a different approach
to the rituals of the Native American Church.
- [Lauren] She's showing scenes of the role of women,
but we can see a very stark contrast
when we look at artworks by native artists like Woody Crumbo
who show Native American Church ceremonies or processions
that are focused on the center of the teepee,
so they often show representations
of the ceremonial fire and of the prayers
or the leaders of that procession gathered around the fire.
Jones only shows a small section
of the interior of that teepee,
and it's not focused on the ceremony
occurring in the center at all.
- [Chelsea] Jones felt it was important to show
what was appropriate for outsiders to be seeing.
- [Lauren] In the late 19th century,
the church really came into being in Indian Territory,
and it's a blend of different spiritual traditions.
What most people recognize about the Native American Church
is their use of peyote.
Around the turn of the 20th century,
the ritual use of peyote was banned
by the United States government,
and so many Native American Church groups went underground.
A lot of traditions, representations,
imagery associated with the Native American church,
even though it is now legal to practice,
is still very highly regulated because of that history.
- [Chelsea] Jones is trying to help gently correct,
or to educate people about misunderstandings
about the Native American Church.
- [Lauren] Ruthie in particular creates artwork
that is meant to be seen by large audiences.
- [Chelsea] She's not just helping educate people
who are seeing her paintings,
but she influences a whole new generation of artists.
- [Chelsea] She became the director of the art department
at Bacone in 1979.
So the importance of education can be seen
in all aspects of her life,
both in her role literally as a teacher,
but also as an artist.
(jazz piano music)