Description
This mixed-media piece incorporates the image of a gar swimming in the layers of textured acrylic paint in the background. The gar is adorned with hand-stitched glass beads, reminiscent of scales, in shades of copper and green.
Materials
Acrylic and glass beads on canvas.
Category
Drawing, Graphics and Mixed Media
Billy Hensley
Chickasaw Nation
About the Artist
Billy Hensley is a Chickasaw artist living and working in Norman, Oklahoma. Mr. Hensley is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and was raised in Sulphur, Oklahoma. He developed a love of art at an early age, and although he pursued other career avenues, he returned to art as a full-time profession in 2011. Mr. Hensley desires to help bring Chickasaw artists into the global art community through art that incorporates history and tradition with relevance to the present. “I continuously strive to evolve in my work through experimentation with new techniques and processes,” Hensley says. Hensley gains inspiration from his life, the history of his family and the Chickasaw people. He often incorporates objects and images of historical significance into his works.
He has participated in numerous Native art competitions and markets, including SEASAM, The Artesian Art Market, Cherokee Art Market, Santa Fe Indian Art Market, FAM Winter Market, and Hushtola Art Market. He has also participated in a number of traveling exhibitions, including "Visual Voices," "Chiefs, Clans and Kin," and his current self-curated exhibition, "Collective Wisdom." His work has been shown in several galleries, including Exhibit C gallery and Wildfire Gallery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; The Vault Gallery in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma; and Fahrenheit Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
More information and examples of his work can be found on his website: www.billyhensley.com
