The “Carrying the Fire: New Paths in Chickasaw Art” exhibit on display in the Aapisa' Art Gallery features the artistic visions of Keegan Bellefeuille, Natalie Charqueno, Danielle Fixico, Micah Hart, Tyson Hudson, Logan Nitzel and Jeni Presley.

This exhibition celebrates the creativity of Chickasaw artists who are newly exploring their artistic voice. Each piece represents an individual spark contributing to the living fire of Chickasaw culture. Through many forms of art, these artists share their own paths of discovery, rooted in tradition and glowing with fresh perspective.

These works honor the balance between tradition and innovation. Together, they remind us that Chickasaw creativity is not fixed in time but moves, grows and adapts. It is shaped by the world around it and by those who continue to create.

Every artist here contributes to a shared legacy, keeping the flame of Chickasaw expression alive. The fire they carry connects generations, illuminating both where we come from and the endless possibilities of where we may go next.

Keegan Bellefeuille

Keegan Bellefeuille is a Chickasaw artist from Ada currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in nursing at East Central University. Creativity is a vital part of Bellefeuille’s identity because it connects her artwork to her heritage. It allows Bellefeuille to represent the beauty and strength of First Americans. Guided by many mentors, she finds joy bringing her subjects to life and forming a personal bond with her works created in either Prismacolor pencil, graphite or acrylic paint.

Through her journey as an artist, Bellefeuille has deepened her understanding of Chickasaw culture. She has found belonging within the Chickasaw artist community, a group Bellefeuille describes as warm, welcoming and deeply supportive. She expresses heartfelt gratitude to the teachers, friends and family whose love and encouragement have helped shape her into the artist she is today.

Natalie Charqueno

Natalie Charqueno is a self-taught Chickasaw artist from Ada, Oklahoma. She enjoys the ever-evolving relationship with her art as her style and ideas continue to grow. Charqueno desires to create beautiful wearable pieces of art that bring joy, confidence and pride to those who wear them.

She views her art as a love letter to the Chickasaw people. Charqueno strives for her larger works to give people a new look and perspective into Chickasaw culture as well as herself as an artist and visual storyteller in a beautiful and compelling way.

Charqueno has showcased her work at several noteworthy events, including but not limited to the Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM), the Artisan Art Show and Market, the Mvskoke Art Market and the Hushtola Art Market.

Danielle Fixico

Danielle Fixico is a Chickasaw, Muscogee and Choctaw artist from Morris, Oklahoma. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Oklahoma, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Native American studies. Fixico is an alumnus of the College of Muscogee Nation, where she is now a general studies instructor. She was also a 2022-2023 Center for Native American Youth Remembering Our Sisters fellow.

Fixico’s work has been featured in the Tribal College Journal, publications from the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and is used for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. She has been exhibited in shows at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, the Cherokee Heritage Center, In Your Eye Gallery, Chokma’si Gallery, the Five Civilized Tribes Museum, MAINSITE Gallery, Tulsa Living Arts Center and Exhibit C Gallery. Fixico is also a published illustrator for the book “Little Big Girl” by Amanda Cobb-Greetham.

Micah Hart

Micah Hart is a Chickasaw and Cheyenne artist based in Oklahoma City. Hart has spent his entire life surrounded by art. His mother, Jeannie Barbour, is an accomplished painter and illustrator. His motivation to take up woodturning in December 2024 is credited to spending his childhood watching his father, an experienced woodturner.

As an adult, Hart began a career in the film industry and currently works as a creative producer for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Communications and Community Development.

With being a First American, he has deep ties to his culture, which inspires much of his work. Hart’s piece, "Grandfather" was awarded a third-place ribbon at the 2025 Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM), and he was awarded Best in the 3D division at the 2025 Artesian Arts Festival for his piece "Dancer."

Tyson Hudson

Tyson Hudson is a Chickasaw artist who took an interest in painting as a child and has been drawing since he was able to pick up a pencil. Not surprisingly, a career in art was a natural progression.

Hudson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. During his collegiate experience, he was able to enhance his skills in various mediums, which include the painting and digital work he is known for. Hudson likes to combine the imagination he developed as a child and the skills honed as an adult to create vibrant works of art that make the canvas come to life.

He resides in his hometown, Davis, Oklahoma, where he finds inspiration in nature and wildlife for his work.

Logan Nitzel

Logan Timothy “Oski” Nitzel is a Chickasaw artist from Dibble, Oklahoma. Born in 1999, he grew up near his family’s allotment and Goins School, founded by his ancestors. The son of Chickasaw artist Robert Nitzel, he and his father are the first in a new line of reconnected Chickasaw creators and artists. Nitzel is also the third great-grandson of Susie Goins, an original enrollee; and the fourth great-grandson of Robert Thomas, a Chickasaw soldier remembered as “the last one of the old family of Thomas.” His family heritage also traces back to Levi Thomas, who walked the Removal in 1837 and became one of the first blacksmiths in the Chickasaw Nation.

Nitzel earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 2021. Since graduating, he has worked with the Chickasaw Nation and has exhibited his art at the Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM) in both 2024 and 2025.

Jeni Presley

Jeni Presley is a Chickasaw artist whose beadwork and sewing reflect her deep respect for family, culture and healing. Presley discovered beadwork as an adult and found that the quiet, deliberate process brought her peace and relaxation. Presley’s portrait of her great-grandmother, Bygimie Mae Perry-Parker, created with more than 33,000 Miyuki Delica beads in a brick stitch, honors the strength and perseverance of her grandmothers. 

As a licensed professional counselor at the Chickasaw Nation Pediatric Empowered Living Clinic, Presley integrates beadwork into her work with children, teaching the healing effects of connection to culture and community. Through this practice, she helps young people build mindfulness, resilience and pride in their heritage. 

This exhibition marks her first formal entry into the art world.