Wayne Wildcat has painted all his life. He is self taught. He is originally from Coffeyville Kansas. Wildcat is half Native American, half White. His father was full blood Euchee, a tribe, children of the Sun, who once lived in the southeastern United States, before their relocation on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory, now near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The government listed them on the Creek rolls. His mother’s family homesteaded in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Perhaps this mixed ancestry accounts for the balance & perspective in the portrayal of historic forces in his paintings.
Wayne has maintained an artist’s studio in Lawrence Kansas for 25 years. He began exhibiting his art publicly only six years ago. In that time, he has had 8 one man exhibits. He was the first to exhibit an epic size painting in the Topeka Kansas Capitol building, except for John Curry. The Strategy (10’x15′) was on exhibit the 1999 entire legislative session . For conferences and lectures at the University of Kansas, he has exhibited paintings for Desmond Tutu (Quest for Freedom), Yolanda King, & Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Rhodes (Einstein & Oppenheimer, as Rhodes spoke of The Making of the Atomic Bomb). The exhibit of The Strategy and Ceremony & other paintings transformed the KU Ballroom, for Minority Affairs Graduation Banquets. He exhibited the Strategy & Ceremony at a National Conference at Haskell Indian Nations University at Lawrence Kansas. Fall 2000, he was commissioned to create the art, Visions of Leadership, featured in the Indian Leaders Conference at the University of Kansas, Indigenous Studies Program.
Wildcat paints history and ideas, often by blending realistic portraits into an ideological landscape. He paints large so that viewers will have to look closely at this moment of history, look into the faces of those whose life and fate he captures. He always paints in oil on canvas or linen, so that the paintings will have a long life, and so that they can be moved to other exhibit sites. Wildcat believes and hopes that his paintings can actually change history, not merely portray it.
Website
http://www.waynewildcat.com
