Norma Howard facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Norma Howard
Norma Howard with her son's ballsticks
Born	Norma Williams December 19, 1958 Stigler, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	30 April 2024(2024-04-30) (aged 65) Stigler, Oklahoma, U.S.
Nationality	American Choctaw Nation
Education	self-taught
Known for	watercolor painting
Style	representational
Spouse(s)	David Howard

Norma "Nana" Howard (1958–2024) was a talented artist from the Choctaw Nation in Stigler, Oklahoma. She painted everyday scenes, like kids playing or women working. Her art was inspired by her family's stories and Choctaw life. Norma won her first art award in 1995 at the Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival in Oklahoma City. Her paintings are loved by many people, including art collectors and critics.

Norma Howard's Early Life

Norma Howard was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She also had Chickasaw family roots. Norma grew up in a small, country town in Oklahoma. Her family was not rich, and her parents worked hard to raise their eight children.

Norma's grandmother came to Oklahoma from Mississippi. This was in the early 1900s. Her grandmother was part of the second Choctaw Trail of Tears journey. She spoke the Choctaw language, not English. Sometimes, she would tell the children stories in Choctaw. Norma's father's family came to Indian Territory even earlier. They settled near Atoka at first. Later, her grandfather moved the family to Stigler, Oklahoma. He wanted his children to go to better schools there. They owned land and grew cotton.

Norma loved to draw on anything she could find. She drew with a stick in the dirt. She drew on brown paper bags. She even drew on pages from an encyclopedia. She first went to a small country school. Both white and Native American children were there. When other kids played with toys she didn't have, Norma would draw them. She said this made her feel like she had those things.

After third grade, her school closed. She and her siblings then went to Stigler schools. Norma was the only Native American child in her class. She remembered one teacher who scolded her for drawing "Indian things." This made her stop drawing for a while.

Her parents were very proud of her art. Her father, who painted houses, carried her drawings in his wallet. Norma taught herself to paint using cheap paints. Her father even took a day off work to show her paintings. In 1974, people at a gift shop in Tahlequah, Oklahoma didn't like her work. After Norma started her own family, she worked in a sewing factory. She didn't have much time to paint then. When the factory closed, she worried about finding a new job. She had a dream where her late father told her, "Paint. That's what you always wanted to do."

Starting Her Art Career

Norma's husband, David, told her they should buy better art supplies. He also encouraged her to enter the Red Earth art market. This big art show was in Oklahoma City every year. In 1995, she almost missed the deadline to enter. But they let her submit her request late.

Norma noticed her art was different from others at the show. Most art was about the Southwest or Plains Indian styles. When they announced the winners, she heard third place, then second. She thought she had lost. Then, they called "Norma Howard" for first place! She was so surprised. That morning, she sold every painting she had. Norma won again at Red Earth in 1996.

Paul Rainbird, from the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, encouraged her. So, Norma showed her art at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1997. She went every year after that. In 1998, she won a special fellowship from the Santa Fe Market. She used it to travel to Mississippi. She visited places where her Choctaw people ancestors lived. Those swamps and lands still inspire her paintings. She paints about when Choctaws hid from soldiers. These soldiers were sending Native people west to Indian Territory.

Norma Howard's Art Style

Norma Howard taught herself to paint. She created a special way of using watercolor paints. She used tiny brushstrokes and layers to make her paintings look deep. Her landscapes almost always have people in them. She believed that people give art life.

She remembered looking at pictures with a View-Master as a child. They looked so real, "you could touch it." Growing up, she didn't know any Native American artists. She didn't even know many other Native families until she was a teenager. So, she didn't know much about other Native art styles. Her first goal as an artist was to make something good enough for her parents to hang in their living room.

Her painting Green Corn is at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Three more of her paintings are in the Landmark Bank in Durant, Oklahoma. Since 2003, Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico has shown her work.

Awards and Exhibitions

Norma Howard won many awards and had her art shown in important places. Here are some of them:

• 2015 Return from Exile: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art, a traveling art show
• 2014 Santa Fe Indian Market, Best of Classification III
• 2014 Southeastern Art Show and Market, Tishomingo, OK, Best of Division, 2-D Art
• 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market, Best of Classification III
• 2013 Greater Tulsa Indian Art Market, Glenpool, OK
• 2012 Santa Fe Indian Market, Gouache/Watercolor, First Place
• 2004 Trail of Tears Art Show, Cherokee Heritage Center, Park Hill, OK Grand Prize
• 1997+ Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
• 1995 Red Earth Native Culture Festival, 1st place Watercolor, Oklahoma City, OK
• 1996 Red Earth Native Culture Festival, 1st place Watercolor, Oklahoma City, OK