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October 13, 2010

Top honors in three categories go to area artist

— Sharon Irla of Tahlequah received three awards Sept. 30 at the Southeastern Art Show sponsored by the Chickasaw Nation. She placed first in photography with her work “I Only Have Fish Eyes for You,” first in graphics for “Letter from Brave Bull,” and took “Best of Category in 2D” for her painting “Necessity is the Mother.”

A contemporary Cherokee artist, Irla’s collective body of works span the fields of painting, murals, graphics, photography and now picture frame designs. She works in her private studio in her home.

Her current artistic field of focus is of oil paintings, which are almost exclusively portraits of Native American women in which she seeks to capture contemporary, traditional and historical Cherokee feminine and matriarchal themes.

“Throughout history, Native American women have been depicted in art far less often than Native American men, yet women played at least as important a role,” Irla said in a media release. “For instance, the Cherokee used to have a Council of Women, and some Cherokee, women, like Nanyehi (Nancy Ward), rose to the honored status of Beloved Woman, or War Woman.”

Her goal is “to create art — to capture the spirit of the subject matter, not duplicate for the sake of duplicating.”

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