Mary Adair facts for kids

Mary Adair (born in 1936) is a talented artist and teacher from the Cherokee Nation. She lives in Oklahoma and is known for her beautiful paintings.

Mary Adair has spent many years working with young people. She taught in schools and led youth programs. She was even the director of the Murrow Indian Children's Home at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Later, she became an art teacher at Sequoyah High School.

Her art career began in 1967. She has won many awards for her paintings and shown her work in museums across the United States. Her art can be found in places like the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee.

Early Life and Family Roots

Mary Adair was born on June 2, 1936, in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Her parents were Velma and Corrigan Adair.

Mary's family has deep roots in the Cherokee Nation. Her ancestors include Gahoga, a Cherokee woman, and John Adair, a Scotsman. Her great-great-grandfather, Walter, was a judge for the Cherokee Nation. Her great-grandfather, John Thompson Adair, also led the Cherokee Nation Female Seminary.

Education and Marriage

Mary Adair graduated from Sallisaw High School. She then studied at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. In 1957, she earned her bachelor's degree from Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

In 1958, Mary married Sam Horsechief in Tucson, Arizona. Sam was a Pawnee artist. They had four children together. Three of their children, Sam HorseChief Jr., Mary HorseChief, and Daniel HorseChief, also became artists.

Teaching and Community Work

Mary Horsechief started her teaching career in 1958 in Tucson, Arizona. She continued her education, earning a master's degree in education from Northeastern Oklahoma State University.

After living in Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, her family settled in Muskogee, Oklahoma around 1965. There, she directed the Head Start Program. She also led the Murrow Indian Children's Home. For ten years, she worked for the Cherokee Nation at the Jobs Corps Center. Later, she returned to teaching art at Sequoyah High School.

Mary Adair's Art

Mary Horsechief began her professional art journey in 1967. She first used the name Mary Adair Horsechief. Later, she started using Mary Adair as her children also became artists.

Her paintings often show Native American people in their daily lives. She also paints scenes of ceremonies and often includes children. Her art has been displayed in many important places, including:

• The Trail of Tears Art Show
• The Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee
• The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona
• The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina
• The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma
• The Red Cloud Indian Art Show in Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Awards and Exhibitions

In 1972, Mary Adair won first place at the Five Civilized Tribes annual art show. She also had a special exhibition with artist David E. Williams. That same year, her work was shown at the University of Oklahoma with other artists like Doc Tate Nevaquaya. She won first place again at the Five Civilized Tribes art show the next year.

In 1976, Mary Adair was part of an all-women's art show at the Stovall Museum. Other artists included Sharron Ahtone Harjo and Ruthe Blalock Jones. In 1977, she received the Special Indian Heritage Award from the Five Civilized Tribes Museum.

Mary Adair's art was also part of the Daughters of the Earth exhibition. This show toured the United States and Europe from 1985 to 1988. Many of these same women artists also showed their work in the Mothers and Descendants exhibition in 1987.

Recent Projects and Collections

In 2011, Mary Adair was interviewed for the Oklahoma Native Artists Oral History Project. In 2015, she worked with her children, Sam, Mary, and Daniel, on a special project. They created a piece called The Origins of Strawberries for the Wilma Mankiller Health Center. It combined paintings and text to tell a traditional Cherokee story.

Her art was also featured in the Women of the Five Civilized Tribes exhibition in 2019. Mary Adair's paintings are part of the permanent collections at the Five Civilized Tribes Museum and other museums.

Mary Adair has also illustrated books. She provided drawings for Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom (1994) and Native American Gardening (1996).