Gwen Coleman Lester
Tribe: Choctaw
Specialties: Acrylic Paintings and Colored Pencil Drawings
Location: OK|United States
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Focusing on Native American subject matter, the majority of her artworks are illustrations of contemporary Choctaw culture. They include illustrations of family life, dances, and stickball games. Sometimes Choctaw language is included as a design element. Gwen also has a series of illustrations of traditional Choctaw legends. The colored pencil drawings are realistic and tightly rendered, while her acrylic paintings are more loose and painterly. She also works in pastel using Native American subject matter.
Gwen is interested in all things Choctaw. She is learning the Choctaw language through the Choctaw Nation Community Class program. This will, no doubt, provide her with more subject matter for her paintings. Her paintings have won her many awards from the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Museum Board of Directors named her a Master Artist of the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in November 2007.
Gwen received a degree in commercial art from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Gwen produces limited edition prints of her Choctaw art through their company Native Traditions Artworks.