Indigenous Imagery: Large and In Charge
Mural painting has the power to transform public spaces into bustling community hubs. This transformative power gives cultural significance to particular community spaces, connecting the people they speak to! Johnnie Diacon transformed the Museum of Native American History’s south exterior wall into a tribute to those who made the journey on the Trail of Tears. Johnnie will be back at the museum on October 8th, 2021 at 1:00 PM CST to conduct a workshop highlighting the innovative and connective process of mural painting! He will prepare a panel that will be housed in our medicine garden while discussing community, mural painting, and indigenuity!
MONAH will be open 10 am to 5 pm to regular guests with timed tickets recommended. Pre-register your ticket to see this performance in person. Limited to 50 persons. Masks will be required upon entry. A mask will be available for those who do not have one.
This event will be live-streamed on Facebook Live.
The museum will be open to the public with regular hours, reserve your free timed ticket for entry.
This event will be recorded and archived on our website.
This program is in partnership with Runway Group.
ABOUT JOHNNIE DIACON:
Johnnie Lee Diacon is an enrolled member of the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, the Raprakko Etvlwa (Thlopthlocco Tribal Town), and he is Ecovlke (Deer Clan). Johnnie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma to Margaret Harjochee (Creek) and Cecil Iron (Osage) on January 8, 1963, and he now resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is married to Nikki Stephens Diacon and is the father of five children; Mika, Chrissa (deceased), Melissa, Annabelle (deceased), and Emerson. He also has two grandchildren; Mai-Lin and Makoto.
After the death of his mother, he was adopted by Delmer “Bud” Diacon (Cherokee) and Helen Amos Diacon in 1967. Delmer Diacon was from Okemah and a friend of Johnnie’s family. The elder Diacon was a sign painter and graphic artist by trade, and it is through the work of his new father that Johnnie was introduced to art at a young age. The Diacons moved from Miami, Oklahoma to Springdale, Arkansas, and it was here that it was discovered that Johnnie’s eyesight was poor. The optometrist that he was sent to was an avid collector of Flat style paintings, and it was Johnnie’s first exposure to this style of art.
In a February 1995 interview for the book Vision and Voices: Native American Paintings from the Philbrook Museum of Art by Lydia L. Wyckoff, Johnnie stated that, “The first time I remember seeing traditional painting was when I was little. I had to go to the eye doctor and he had a bunch of paintings….I couldn’t see real good and he fixed my eyes and (afterward) I could really see (the paintings). They stuck in my head.” Due to his father being Cherokee and having close ties with his biological family and frequent trips to Oklahoma, Johnnie maintained close ties with his Indian heritage. Johnnie worked with his father for many years assisting him with the sign business until his father’s retirement in 1980. It was around this time that Johnnie began to enter Indian art competitions as a self-taught artist in such shows as the Trail of Tears Art Show in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and the Red Cloud Indian School Art Show in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. It was from his initial introduction as a child to Indian art and the success and recognition from entering Indian art competitions that Johnnie decided to move back to Oklahoma and seek formal art training.
Johnnie received his post-high school education in art at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he studied the Flat, or Bacone School style of Indian painting under master artist Ruthe Blalock Jones (Delaware/Shawnee/Peoria). Most of his flat style works are spiritual and ceremonial depictions which are done in the Bacone School, or Flatstyle of Indian Art. These works are most often done in tempera and gouache on illustration board or watercolor paper, but in recent years some of this style of work has been rendered in acrylic on stretched canvas. Johnnie studied mural painting at Bacone College and often works in larger formats as well as continuing with his smaller canvases. At Bacone College he also studied silversmithing and bronze casting.
After graduating from Bacone, Johnnie studied art at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in their Bachelor of Fine Arts program for a semester before being accepted and transferring to the BFA program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. While at the University of Arkansas, Johnnie took three semesters of watercolor painting with master artist Robert Ross, who was at one time a student of Josef Albers. Johnnie was three semesters short of earning his BFA from the UA when he transferred to the Institute of American Indian Arts located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Among his teachers at IAIA were Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw), Karita Coffey (Comanche), and Melanie Yazzie (Navajo).
Most of Johnnie’s work is done on gessoed board or stretched canvas using either acrylics or oils. These works often depict some of the secular life ways of modern Native Americans and due to the artist’s involvement with the American Indian Movement and recently with Idle No More and the No DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) movement, can often be political in nature. Both of his styles of painting often focus on his people the Mvskoke (Creek). In a quote from Patrick D. Lester's "The Biological Directory of Native American Painters" Johnnie is quoted as saying, "I feel comfortable with both flat and contemporary styles. In my contemporary works I usually have a traditional theme." He has also been quoted as saying, "By the honest portrayal of my people, I hope to break some of the stereotypes that many people have when they think about Indians." In addition to painting and other two-dimensional forms, Johnnie has done beadwork and some three-dimensional assemblage works.
Johnnie took a 14-year break from art after the death of two of his children, Annabelle in 2000 and Chrissa in 2008, and has recently returned to painting. After attending the Eagle Days event in January 2014, he received what he believes to be a sacred message from the Creator to begin painting again. The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has developed the Bah Kho-Je Xla Chi (Grey Snow Eagle House), an eagle rehabilitation program, and they had sent a couple of eagles to this event. These eagles have suffered serious injuries and are not able to return to the wild. While viewing these sacred birds, he states that he received this message from them, “no matter how bad one has been hurt, we are still what the Creator has made us and with faith and the help of many we continue to do as He wishes using the gifts that He has bestowed on each of us”.
Johnnie’s work has been associated with several different periods of the Native Fine Art Movement through the years, from The Bacone Period (1935-present), Five Civilized Tribes or Southeastern Period (1935-present), and the Post Rockefeller IAIA Period (1959-present).
His work is in the permanent collections of Bacone College, Muskogee, Oklahoma, the Creek Council House Museum Okmulgee, Oklahoma, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Indian Art Santa Fe, New Mexico, The Philbrook Museum of Art Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Dr. J. W. Wiggins Native American Art Collection at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Sequoyah National Research Center Little Rock, Arkansas. Johnnie has been an invited artist, workshop leader, and guest speaker at numerous shows from 1985 to present.
Some of his exhibitions include; “We Are All Connected: The Native American Experience/Long Island, New York And Beyond” Hofstra University Hempstead, New York (1998), “Reflections: Contemporary Native American Art” Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana (2001), “Seeking the Sacred: Religious Ritual in Native American Art” Philbrook Museum of Art Tulsa, Oklahoma (2012), and the group show “Ancient Visions and Contemporary Voices: Paintings From Indian Country” which was at the David W. Mullins Library on the Campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville (2016) and from there it travelled to The Paseo Plunge in Oklahoma City's historic Paseo Art District (2017). One of the last shows before his early and temporary retirement was a one man show in 2002 with the Department of the Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Board Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma. In 2012 Johnnie was asked to be the Artist in Residence for the Broken Arrow Public Schools Indian Education Department in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is a member of the Southeastern Indian Artist Association (SEIAA). Johnnie is one of nine Indigenous artists and writers whose works appear in the graphic novel compilation "Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers Volume 1", published by Native Realities Press in 2016. This book was selected as the December 2016 Book of the Month by the national call in radio program, Native America Calling. In February of 2018 The American Indian Library Association (AILA), an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), awarded Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers Volume 1 with a 2018 Youth Literature Award for Best Middle School Book. It also was listed as one of the 2018 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Currently he is working on a graphic novel titled “Relocation” which is a fictional account of an Oklahoma Indian family’s experience during the 1960s Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation program and the birth of the Red Power movement. Johnnie is also working on his zine, Ghost Dance, which is based on the Paiute holy-man Wovoka’s 1889 prophesy and the effects that it has when it comes to realization in modern times.
Johnnie was invited by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas to be part of the focus group for their recent traveling exhibition, Art for a New Understanding Native Voices 1950 to Now. In 2018 and 2019 he partnered with the Museum of Native American History (MONAH) in Bentonville, Arkansas to present workshops on the flat style of American Indian painting as part of the museum’s Creative Visions: Native American Arts Workshop series. In 2018 Johnnie also co-curated the MONAH’s first exhibition of contemporary art, Native Visions Now: Contemporary Works of Indigenous Artists of Oklahoma. He was a Guest Artists in Residence for the Bacone College School of Indian Art in March of 2019. Johnnie’s painting, Omvlkvt Opvnvks (Everybody Dance) Green Corn Suite, was chosen for the cover of Mvskoke poet, musician, author, and 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo’s book of poetry, An American Sunrise, published by W.W. Norton in August 2019.
Johnnie is currently working on a 32-page graphic novel about the Chilocco Indian School for the Oklahoma State University Library.
He completed a 4” x 24” mural of the Trail of Tears for the Museum of Native American History which was unveiled on May 8, 2021.