JOHNNY TIGER, JR.

Johnny Tiger, Jr. was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation and grew up in Eufala and Muskogee, Creek Nation.

Johnny is a full-blood Creek-Seminole and a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Research for many of his paintings began when he was still a child as he traveled with his maternal grandfather, Coleman Lewis, a Baptist Missionary. Coleman traveled throughout Indian Country and on the long rides through the backwoods to churches, Coleman taught his grandson the history of the Creek people in his native Creek language.

Among Johnny's awards, since beginning his career as an artist in 1967, are First Place, Five Civilized Tribes Museum, Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970. In 1977, Johnny won the Governor's Award at the Five Civilized Tribes Museum, and in January 1978, as Artist of the Month, he was invited to hang paintings in the State Capitol Building in Oklahoma City. Later that year he was awarded both the First and Second Place Awards at the Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial Show. In 1978, Johnny swept the Five Civilized Tribes Museum Annual Exhibition, winning five awards including Grand Prize, First Place Seminole Division, and the Heritage Award. He has since been declared Master Artist by the museum and has won several awards in Master competitions, including the 1993 Heritage Award, and 1994 the Best in Show Award. Other first place awards came from Southland Art Fair, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Okmulgee Art Guild Show, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Seminole Nation Art Show, Wewoka, Oklahoma; Red Cloud Indian Art Show, Pine Ridge, South Dakota; and Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Show, Gallup, New Mexico.

Johnny has exhibited his paintings and held one man shows throughout the nation. The Highgate Literary Institute in London, England hosted Johnny for an exhibition in 1987. Like his paintings, Johnny's sculptures have taken first place awards at numerous shows. His "Seeker of Vision" won First Place, Bronze at the Oklahoma City Indian Heritage Art Show.

Currently Johnny's paintings and prints are in galleries across the nation. He has paintings on permanent display at the Russian Cultural Museum, Togliatle, Russia. Johnny paints and sculpts in his studio southeast of Muskogee in Oklahoma's Green Country.