Native artist’s first exhibition opens Saturday in Anadarko

ANADARKO — A Comanche/Kiowa artist will have her work featured at the Southern Plains Indian Museum.

The museum, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, at 801 E. Central Blvd. in Anadarko, will open the new exhibition, “Contemporary Southern Plains Beadwork, featuring Tessa Doyebi-Robledo,” on Saturday. The exhibition will be on display until April 10 and is free to the public, said Bambi Allen, museum curator

“This exhibit marks the first solo exhibition of Tessa’s work and the first time her art has been exhibited in a professional museum setting,” she said.

Doyebi-Robledo, an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma and descendant of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, is an accomplished beadwork artist with more than 40 years of experience, Allen said. She attended the Haskell Indian Nations University and Butler County College, and now resides in Rio Rancho, N.M., where she works as a representative for Molina Healthcare Inc.

Allen said Doyebi-Robledo has decades of experience to reach the level of artisanship she has. It stems from family.

“Over the past 40 years, Tessa has developed her beadwork to a high level of artistic expertise,” she said.

In her youth, Doyebi-Robledo attended community art classes taught by her mother, Ernestine Doyebi, giving her an early start to what became a lifelong passion for beading, according to Allen. Her great-grandmother, Ruby Doyebi, taught her the traditional methods, styles, and the meanings of family designs that have been passed down over generations.

“After spending many years practicing tribal styles, Tessa has developed a contemporary style that honors traditional teachings,” Allen said. “In her pieces, Tessa varies the use of a traditional two needle stitch and a one needle stitch, and often uses smoked buckskin hide, wool, or white deer skin.

Allen said another distinctive feature of Doyebi-Robledo’s artwork is the incorporation of quillwork, for which she uses a self-taught zig-zag stitch.

“Tessa takes great pride in creating beadwork that mixes contemporary ideas with traditional stitching and spends a great deal of time developing her designs and coordinating unique color variations to create one-of-a-kind pieces,” she said.

Doyebi-Robledo began displaying her beadwork in professional art markets for sale and competition in 2020, when she participated in the Santa Fe Virtual Market. Since then, she has displayed her work at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Guild Market & Fair, the Native Treasures Art Market, and the National Museum of the American Indian Winter Market.

The artwork featured in the exhibition may be purchased by contacting the artist directly via email ([email protected]), Instagram (@tdesignsbeadwork), or by visiting Doyebi-Robledo’s website (t-designsbeadwork.com/home).