# Clara Archilta

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**Clara Williams Archilta** (September 26, 1912–30 September 1994), was a [Kiowa](/source/Kiowa)/[Apache](/source/Plains_Apache)/[Tonkawa](/source/Tonkawa) painter and [beadworker](/source/Beadwork) from Oklahoma.[2] A self-taught artist with no formal art training,[3] Archilta is known for her [watercolor painting](/source/Watercolor_painting) and her pictorial beadwork.[4]

## Personal life

Clara Williams was born in [Tonkawa, Oklahoma](/source/Tonkawa,_Oklahoma). Her parents were David Williams ([Tonkawa](/source/Tonkawa)) and Helen Tseeltsesah-Sunrise (Kiowa/Apache). Clara attended Boone School in [Apache, Oklahoma](/source/Apache,_Oklahoma), followed by two years at the U.S. [Chilocco Indian School](/source/Chilocco_Indian_Agricultural_School),[2] through the eighth grade. She married Ward Archilta and had six children between 1930 and 1949.[2][1]

## Art career

Her husband died in 1956, and Archilta began to paint the following year as a means to support her family. Despite a severely injured arm, she soon began to sell her work and make a name for herself.[2][5] She was the first woman to exhibit a collection of paintings at the [American Indian Exposition](/source/American_Indian_Exposition) ([Anadarko, Oklahoma](/source/Anadarko,_Oklahoma)).[5] She also exhibited work at the [Philbrook Museum of Art](/source/Philbrook_Museum_of_Art). Her work has been in the collection of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Anadarko.[2]

Archilta was also the head woman dancer for the Apache Blackfeet Society.[1] In the late 1950s, she painted a rare version of the Kiowa-Apache Blackfeet Dance. In the painting, the Manatidie dancers are depicted in an earlier version of the dance which was no longer performed after the early 20th century.[6]

## Death

She died in 1994 at the age of 82 in Apache, Oklahoma. Her funeral was held at the Apache Tribal Complex in Anadarko. She was buried at Memory Lane Cemetery.[1]

## References

1. ["Clara Williams Archilta (obituary)"](http://files.usgwarchives.net/ok/caddo/obits/abc/a6240001.txt). *USGENWEB*. 1994-09-30. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210731184955/http://files.usgwarchives.net/ok/caddo/obits/abc/a6240001.txt) 2021-07-31 at the Wayback Machine.

1. King, Jeanne Snodgrass (1968). [*American Indian painters; a biographical directory*](http://archive.org/details/americanindianpa00king). New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. p. 6.

1. Reno, Dawn E. (1995). [*Contemporary Native American Artists*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9_5FToGzwHEC&q=clara+archilta). Alliance Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9641509-6-6.

1. ["Clara Archilta"](https://5019.sydneyplus.com/Heard_Museum_ArgusNET_Final/Portal/Portal.aspx?component=AAAM&record=3283a001-502d-4a2e-b67b-b90a5a8eb50e). *[Heard Museum](/source/Heard_Museum)*. Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives: Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives. Retrieved 2021-07-31. – via Native American Artists Resource Collection Online.

1. ["Arts, Crafts Exhibit Important Feature Of Indian Exposition"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82546926/arts-crafts-exhibit-important-feature/). *[Anadarko Daily News](/source/Anadarko_Daily_News)*. 1957-08-18. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-07-31. – via Newspapers.com.

1. [*Contemporary Southern Plains Indian painting*](http://archive.org/details/contemporarysout0000unse_s7p5). Anadarko: Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Cooperative. 1972. – via Internet Archive.

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