Ruthe Blalock Jones

Ruthe Blalock Jones
Birth name	Ruthe Blalock Jones Chulundit
Born	June 8, 1939(1939-06-08) Claremore, Oklahoma
Nationality	Delaware-Shawnee-Peoria
Field	painting, printmaking
Training	MA Northeastern State University, BFA University of Tulsa, AA Bacone College
Movement	Bacone school
Influenced by	Charles Banks Wilson
Awards	Red Earth Grand Award, 1987 Oklahoma Governor's Arts and Education Award, 1993 Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, 1995 Bacone College's Dick West Award, 2000 Red Earth Honored One, 2011
Website	http://www.rutheblalockjonesindianart.com/

Ruthe Blalock Jones (born 1939) is an award-winning Delaware-Shawnee-Peoria painter and printmaker from Oklahoma.^[1]

Background

Ruthe Blalock Jones was born on June 8, 1939 in Claremore, Oklahoma. Her parents are Joe and Lucy Parks Blalock. Her tribal name is Chulundit.^[1]

She earned an associates degree from Bacone College in 1970. She then earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Tulsa in 1972. In 1985 she attended the University of Oklahoma and earned her master's degree from Northeastern State University in 1989. Her art career began much earlier, when she was ten years old and students under Charles Banks Wilson.^[1]

Art career

At the age of 13, Jones entered her first juried art show at the Philbrook Museum of Art and won an honorable mention. She works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil as well as printing monotypes.^[2]

Her first art award was an honorable mention at the Philbrook Art Museum's annual show in 1954, when Jones was 15 years old.^[3] In 1995 she was inducted in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame. In 2011, she was named the Red Earth Festival's Honored One.^[3]

"Ruthe's art speaks volumes about the pride of her tribal relationships. ... She pays acute attention to authenticity in detail of dress and the ceremonial aspects of traditional tribal life, and some of her paintings could easily be her childhood recollections," writes art historian Dr. Mary Jo Watson (Seminole). "Ruthe has many talents maybe others are not aware (of). She is a champion hoop dancer, war dancer and excellent cook."^[3]

Public collections

Ruthe Jones' work can be found in the following public collections.

• Bacone College
• Five Civilized Tribes Museum
• Heard Museum
• George Gustav Heye Center
• Murrow Indian's Children's Home
• Northeastern State University
• Okmulgee Public School System
• Philbrook Museum of Art
• Red Earth Museum
• Sequoyah National Research Center
• Southern Plains Indian Museum
• Tulsa Performing Arts Center
• University of Tulsa
• United States Department of the Interior^[2]

Published works

• "Delaware Commentaries." Grumet, Robert Steven, ed. Voices from the Delaware Big House Ceremony. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0806133607.^[4]
• "The Bread Dance: A Shawnee Ceremony of Thanks of Renewal." Townsend, Richard F., ed. Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0300106015.^[5]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Watson, Mary Jo. "Jones, Ruthe Blalock (1939—)." Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (retrieved 23 Aug 2010)
2. ^ ^{a b} Lester, 274
3. ^ ^{a b c} McDonnell, Brandy. "Nationally known artist-educator Ruthe Blalock Jones is named 2011 Red Earth Honored One." NewsOK. 3 June 2011 (retrieved 4 June 2011)
4. ^ Voices from the Delaware Big House Ceremony on Google Books. (retrieved 23 Aug 2010)
5. ^ "Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand." Yale University Press. (retrieved 23 Aug 2010)

References

• Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. ISBN 0806199369.

External links

• Ruthe Blalock Jones, online portfolio
• Ruthe Jones, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Persondata
Name	Ruthe Blalock Jones
Alternative names
Short description	Contemporary Delaware-Shawnee-Peoria painter and printmaker from Oklahoma, educator and former director of Bacone College's department of art
Date of birth	June 8, 1939
Place of birth	Claremore, Oklahoma
Date of death
Place of death