Gary Colbert

Gary is a member of the Mvskoke Creek Nation of Oklahoma.  His hometown is Eufaula, OK and he currently resides in Norman, OK.  Gary's tribal clan is the Katcv (Tiger) and his township is Tuskegee.  Gary resides with his wife, Barbara, and son, David.  His daughter, Missy, resides in the Muskogee area with his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Gary's education began at Eufaula High School and he earned a BA in Art Education and MA in Counseling from Northeastern State University.  He also studied on the graduate level at the University of Oklahoma.  Gary has taught, coached, and counseled in the states of Kansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.  He was an Art Instructor for over twenty-eight years.  He has practiced and taught Native American Art for many years and has won a "Best of Show" Award and 2nd place award in traditional painting at the "Centennial of Native American Art" show in Dallas, TX in 1989.  This show was an invitational to artists of the Southwest area and Oklahoma.

Gary is basically self-taught, but incorporated a formal study of Art at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah and graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma.  He implemented the first Art Program at Eufaula High School in 1975 and later directed the Indian Art Program at Bacone College in Muskogee, OK from 1975-1979.

Gary has lectured and exhibited his art at the University of Oklahoma, Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Haskell Indian Nation University of Lawrence, KS, Minneapolis, MN and other regions in the United States.  Tribal masks, other 3-D objects, profiles of faces, and tribal history is a strong make-up of Gary's subject matter.  He works in the mediums of acrylic, watercolor, gouache, prismacolor pencil and inks.  Gary is a well recognized Art instructor and lecturer of Native American Art and continues to motivate, inspire, and teach his love of Native American Art and Culture.