Brenda Kingery

Best Friends, painting, by Brenda Kingery, Chickasaw, pow wow, dancers, red

2022

"My paintings have been described as Narrative Symbolism. The paintings reflect my history, experiences, and the way I see my environment. I see life in a series of patterns that can almost be described as visual tapestries—full of as many as twenty-five thin, overlapping layers. The goal is to create paintings full of life’s breath that are full of boundless energy, and yet exacting. I want to combine complementary opposites. Every culture gathers for song and dance. In that movement I try to capture time. These are the times when we abandon the self to enjoy the simplicity of joy in God’s blessings." Brenda Kingery is a contemporary artist and champion of women’s empowerment around the world. Born in Oklahoma City, Kingery earned a bachelor’s in fine arts and history from the University of Oklahoma. She attended graduate school at Ryukyus University in Okinawa and completed a master’s in arts from the University of Oklahoma. Kingery returned to Okinawa, where she taught drawing, painting and Okinawan cultural history for the University of Maryland’s Far East Division. She later settled in San Antonio, Texas, where she taught at San Antonio College. Her artwork has been displayed in many private, corporate and public collections around the world and is part of numerous permanent collections. Kingery is the founding member of Threads of Blessing International, an organization that teaches textile art and design to women in developing countries to use their indigenous artistic skills. In 2007, Kingery was appointed by the president of the United States to the board of trustees of the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her efforts to empower women around the world led to her being named the Dynamic Woman of the Year for the Chickasaw Nation in 2017.