Cannon, T. C. 1946-1978

Tommy Wayne (T.C.) Cannon was a leader among the first group of Native artists whose work addressed the tensions of being a modern Native in an Anglo-dominated world.  He grew up in southern Oklahoma with his Kiowa father and Caddo mother, though as an adult, he chose to enroll in the Kiowa nation.  Cannon studied art in high school and was heavily influenced by Stephen Mopope and other members of the “Kiowa Six.”  He studied under Fritz Scholder at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe from 1964 to 1966, with fellow students Doug Hyde, Earl Biss, and Kevin Red Star.