J Misenheimer

“Ilvppako Amiti: From These Places” features Choctaw artist Jaime Misenheimer, whose work is based on the idea that land is not just a setting, but a living presence to which she is deeply connected.

Misenheimer's paintings are shaped by her lifelong relationship with the places she has lived. Her childhood in Oklahoma is a constant influence, seen in works depicting Choctaw stories, Tushkahomma (the capital of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) and recurring nature motifs like Dogwood trees. Riding horses and performing as a trick rider gave her a strong sense of rhythm, balance and motion, which brings dynamic energy to her paintings of animals, especially horses and deer.

Her travels around the world have also influenced her work. While working as a young artist in Italy and Greece, Misenheimer absorbed classical literature, architecture and myth, weaving these influences into reflections on her own origins. Unable to afford shipping her canvases home, she rolled them up, slept beside them in airports, and carried them back herself—showing how inseparable her art is from her life. Today, these works hang in her studio in McAlester, Oklahoma, grounding her practice in the place her grandparents called home. Other works, like her piece titled "Borojo Tree," are inspired by her time in Colombia and further expand her range of influences.

Together, these paintings testify to a life shaped by many places, all of which continue to shape her.

Curatorial Statement by Claire Green Young.