Episode 43: Norma Howard on Native Art

The Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University regularly displays exhibits in the Lisa and Mark Snell Gallery on the second floor. During the 2019-2020 academic year, the gallery housed Native American Art pieces from the Maxine and Jack Zarrow Collection. If you were able to go and take a look for yourself, you may have noticed a particularly luminous watercolor by artist Norma Howard. Norma Howard is a Choctaw-Chickasaw artist from Stigler, Oklahoma who is known for her vivid watercolor paintings that depict scenes of Choctaw life. This month on Amplified Oklahoma, we’ll be exploring Norma Howard’s art and life and listening to excerpts from her interview for the Oklahoma Native Artist Oral History Project. We’ll also speak with Dr. Julie Pearson-Little Thunder, coordinator of the project, about Norma and the importance of documenting Native art across the state of Oklahoma.