Overview
Sixty-one site-specific commissioned artworks, wall-mounted artworks and sculptures dappled the new Chickasaw Community Bank Headquarters on opening day. The works, from monumental to miniscule, were created by a compendium of artists, craft-persons, design teams and studios from across the central United States; representing fourteen different cultural backgrounds. Support and presentation components, including pedestals and textile display rails, were designed in-house and fabricated locally. All temporary archiving, relocations and installations were also managed in-house by the creative oversight team. From initial communications to contract completion, this acquisition and commission contract was completed in less than seven months. The artworks in this project express the ethos of The Nation and also incorporate many historical references to The Chickasaw Nation through symbolism and reinterpretation of historical artifacts; such as an historic 1773 map created by a Lower Chickasaw man named Fanni Mingo, translated as “Squirrel King.”

The intent or theme of the curated collection of artworks is an expression of the bank’s work in service of the greater good, gathering light, focusing that energy and casting it across the globe to illuminate the world. This theme is bolstered through metaphors and subjective elements that incorporate or support traditional Native ideals, principals, and/or acts of Nature’s ability to frame our perspectives as it reshapes the world around us. These concepts are often delivered through simple expressions wherein, for example, we can see the power of persistence as a river cuts a path through stone. Curatorially, the goal was to implement artworks at major touch points throughout the facility that would help to establish a sense of character while also creating defined wayfinding identifiers throughout the four levels of the building. This was accomplished by implementing a variety of original artwork, site-specific commissions and licensed large-format photographs. 

Artists, traditional craft-persons, studios and design teams with major features in the project include, but are not limited to, creatives Mike Larsen, Paul Medina, Donald Narcomey, Brandon Reese, Billy Hensley, Chad “Nish” Earles, Alyssha Eve Csük, Mahota Textiles,Margaret Roach Wheeler, Whitney Forsythe Studio, Adam “Codak” Smith, Seminole Nation Chief and Oklahoma State Senator Enoch Kelly Haney, Wayne Scribner, John Vu, and Anton Morton.