Enoch Kelly Haney

Some might think that designing art for a T-shirt is beneath the talents of an internationally recognized artist and sculptor, but Enoch Kelly Haney says he doesn't feel that way at all.

Haney painted an original watercolor for the 2002 May Fair Arts Festival.The image will be used on T-shirts and note cards to be sold at May Fair May 3-5.It also will be used on posters, fliers and other promotional materials.The Assistance League of Norman honored Haney as the 2001 Celebrated Artist for May Fair.

"May Fair has truly benefited the last two years from the contribution of Sen.Haney's time and talents," Lynn McTeer, Assistance League president, said.
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Haney is certainly not your ordinary T-shirt artist, however.He is currently creating a 17-foot bronze sculpture, "The Guardian," that will top the new state Capitol dome.The assignment was won in open competition held by the State Arts Commission.Haney declined the $50,000 prize.The work is being done at The Crucible Foundry in Norman.

He features the state wildflower, the Indian Blanket, on the May Fair T-shirt.The familiar red blossoms, fringed in yellow, bloom profusely summer and fall beside highways throughout the state, most planted by Oklahoma Department of Transportation workers.A state senator from Seminole, Haney sponsored legislation naming the Indian Blanket the state wildflower in 1986.

"I sponsored legislation on the Indian Blanket being named the state wildflower as opposed to the mistletoe," Haney said."A biologist who taught at East Central University wanted to promote a state flower instead of the mistletoe, which is a parasite.We considered several flowers, including the Indian Paint Brush, but another state already had it.We planted the Indian Blanket statewide."

Haney said he had not really thought about his place in state history as the sculptor for the state Capitol dome."It is more meaningful to me because of what it means to my family," he said."I am already involved in state history as the first full-blood Indian in the Legislature and because of the Native American Cultural Center.I have always been honored to be a state legislator."

A new project he will be working on is designing the Ronald McDonald wall at the entry of Bricktown in Oklahoma City."I want it to be an Oklahoma wall.Part may be in bronze.
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I hope to involve other artists with the wall having a central theme," Haney said.

A Master Artist of the Five Civilized Tribes, Haney has exhibited his oil paintings extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.Haney, a full-blood Seminole Indian, last year completed four bronze roundels, a round flat sculpture, that represent tribes in both eastern and western Oklahoma.They are mounted at the entrances to the House of Representatives and the State Senate.

He is providing legislative leadership in the development of a world-class Native American Cultural Center in Oklahoma City that was approved by Congress recently.The center, to be affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, will be located southeast of the intersection of I-35 and I-40.

Haney holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Oklahoma City University and an associate arts degree from Bacone College in Muskogee.He was a student in a Special Arts Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and attended the Progress Management Institute in Philadelphia in conjunction with Temple University and Wharton School of Business.He owns and operates Haney, Inc., an art gallery in Seminole.