The Center of the American Indian (CAI) was an intertribal, Native American-led museum in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

. It was housed in the second floor of the Kirkpatrick Center. The Center of the American Indian produced a quarterly journal, ''The Storyteller''. The CAI held workshops, language classes, and symposia, such as "We Always Had Plenty: Native Americans and the Bison" held in 1989. CAI helped launch the

Red Earth Festival The Red Earth Festival is a Native American cultural festival that takes places every June in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Red Earth, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that hosts the festival and maintained the Red Earth Art Center, ...

in 1987. In 1992, the Center of the American Indian merged into Red Earth Inc., marking the end of its Native American leadership.

Personnel and supporters

Mary Jo Watson Mary Jo Watson is a Seminole art historian and director emeritus and a regents professor at the School of Art and Art History at the University of Oklahoma. Her work focuses on the theory and development of teaching methodology for Native Ameri ...

(Seminole) served as director of the museum from 1984 to 1988. Baseball legend

Allie Reynolds Allie Pierce Reynolds (February 10, 1917 – December 26, 1994) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Reynolds pitched 13 years for the Cleveland Indians (1942–1946) and New York Yankees (1947–1954). Reynolds was nicknam ...

(

Muscogee Creek The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsBenjamin Harjo Jr. (

Absentee Shawnee The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma (or Absentee Shawnee) is one of three federally recognized tribes of Shawnee people. Historically residing in what became organized as the upper part of the Eastern United States, the original Sh ...

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

and

Sharron Ahtone Harjo Marcelle Sharron Ahtone Harjo (born 1945) is a Kiowa painter from Oklahoma. Her Kiowa name, Sain-Tah-Oodie, translates to "Killed With a Blunted Arrow." In the 1960s and 1970s, she and sister Virginia Stroud were instrumental in the revival of led ...

(

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

) volunteered at the museum and served on the board. Collector Arthur Silberman advised the museum.

Selection exhibitions and publications

In 1990, the museum created a permanent exhibition ''Moving History: Native American Dance''. Kiowa artists Sherman Chaddlesone (1947–2014) and

Allie Chaddlesone Allie is a unisex given name, a nickname and, more rarely a surname. It is a diminutive form of several names beginning with ''Al-''. It may refer to: Given name or nickname Female * Allie (wrestler) (born 1987), Canadian professional wrestler * ...

exhibited at CAI. Changing exhibitions, included: * ''Kachin-Tihus: Those Who Sit with the People'' (1991) with catalog * ''Moving History: Evolution of the Powwow'' (1991) with catalog by Dennis Zotigh (

) * ''Songs of Indian Territory: Native American Music Traditions'' (1989) with catalog and cassette tape by Willie Smyth * ''Children of Early America'' (1987) with catalog by Daniel C. Swan * ''Big War/Little War: Oklahoma Indians in the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1985) with catalog * ''Making Medicine: Ledger Drawing Art from Fort Marion'' (1984) with catalog, celebrating the

ledger art Ledger art is a term for narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth, predominantly practiced by Plains Indian, but also from the Plateau and Great Basin. Ledger art flourished primarily from the 1860s to the 1920s. A revival of ledger art be ...

of St. David Pendleton Oakerhater (

Southern Cheyenne The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma. History The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Tsi ...

, c. 1847–1931). * ''Full Blooded'' (1984), solo exhibition of work by

Edgar Heap of Birds Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne name: Hock E Aye Vi) is a multi-disciplinary artist. His art contributions include public art messages, large scale drawings, Neuf Series acrylic paintings, prints, and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor scu ...

(

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Center of the American Indian Art museums and galleries in Oklahoma Defunct art museums and galleries in the United States Museums in Oklahoma City Defunct museums in Oklahoma Native American museums in Oklahoma Museums established in 1978 Museums disestablished in 1992 Native Americans in Oklahoma City