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(Cotuit, Massachusetts) The Cahoon Museum of American Art announces the opening of Brenda Kingery: Weaving Messages, an exhibition of narrative abstract paintings whose vivid expressions draw from the artist’s global cultural vision and Chickasaw heritage. The exhibition will be on view October 6 through December 19, 2021. The artist reception will take place on Friday, October 8 from 4:30 – 6:00pm. In conjunction with the exhibition, the artist will present two talks. “Global Colors: Artist Brenda Kingery and Curator Heather Lunsford in Conversation,” will take place on Friday, October 8 from 11:00am -12:00pm and will be free with Museum admission. The curator and artist will discuss her artistic inspiration and process, as well as the creation of the exhibition. The exhibition features 12 large-scale artworks ranging from the artist’s formative pieces, contemporary mature works, and new paintings. Kingery's paintings are mixed media, sometimes acrylic and sometimes oil, with occasional additions of mica and small found objects, applied, and hidden within many layers of paint. Kingery paints using the sumi-e (ink wash) style conveying stories of classical Odori dancers and tribes in Central Africa, along with stories of Chickasaw powwow dancers her grandmother told to her as a child. Her work, filled with life, movement, and memories, is a celebration of indigenous cultural traditions. The second artist talk, Brenda Kingery: “Copper Treasure: A story of Remnants and Cultural Survival” will take place on Saturday, October 9, 4:30 – 6:00pm. Admission is $10, Museum members are free, and registration is requested at cahoonmuseum.org. In this program, Brenda Kingery will speak about her recent large-scale painting, Copper Treasure, inspired by her Chickasaw heritage and the indigenous women weavers of Okinawa and their experiences with preserving their traditional culture in post-war Japan. Okinawa had a strategic role in military expansionism in Asia and the Pacific for the US, China, and Japan. During the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, women weavers and potters buried their treasures to hide and preserve them from the destruction of war. As the ground of Okinawa was hit with bombs, precious buried textiles exploded into pieces. Kingery considers these remnants as a metaphor of the impact of occupation and how survivors, including women and children, piece their culture back together from broken fragments. Kingery draws a connection to her Chickasaw heritage, as her ancestors buried cultural treasures in large earth-made mounds in their homeland of Tupelo, Mississippi. For more information about all the Museum’s fall programs and events visit cahoonmuseum.org. About Brenda Kingery Brenda Kingery was born in Oklahoma City in 1939 into the Chickasaw Nation and educated in fine art painting and drawing. Kingery was first introduced to Abstract Expressionism as it rose to popularity in the United States. She later evolved this style while studying Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma where she graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor’s degree. Kingery migrated to Okinawa, Japan, in 1968 where she befriended weavers and potters, and was inspired to paint Okinawan textiles, textures, and tales into her artwork. While in Japan, Kingery studied beneath a renowned sumi-e painter and honed her skill in the ancient Japanese art of ink, water, and brush. Kingery's work is included in many private, corporate, and public collections worldwide. She is a founding member of Threads of Blessing International and travels to Honduras, Mexico, and Uganda to teach textile design in workshops that encourage women to use their indigenous artistic skills. In 2007, Kingery was appointed by the President of the United States to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has exhibited in Milan, Italy; Paris, France; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Okinawa and Tokyo, Japan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Washington, DC; and San Antonio, Texas.