A statue honoring famed actor and rodeo cowboy Ben Johnson will be unveiled Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa. The statue, created by sculptor John Dale Free Sr. and painted by Yatika Starr Fields, will be displayed in the Pickens Learning Commons at the Vineyard Library/Administration Building. (photo by Caroline Hillock/NOC)
Ben Johnson statue unveiled at NOC Tonkawa Feb. 18
A statue for famed actor and rodeo cowboy Ben Johnson will be unveiled on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa.
Johnson’s statue, created by sculptor John Dale Free, Sr. and painted by Yatika Starr Fields will be unveiled at the Pickens Learning Commons in the Vineyard Library/Administration Building on Feb. 18, from 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. with brief remarks at 1 p.m. The event is free to the public. The event will be livestreamed by NOC.
The art is sponsored by the Hugh and Dr. S.J. Pickens Museum.
Ben Johnson
A native of Foraker, Oklahoma, Johnson was an American film and television actor, stuntman, and world-champion rodeo cowboy. Johnson brought authenticity to many roles with his droll manner and expert horsemanship. The son of a rancher, Johnson arrived in Hollywood to deliver a consignment of horses for a film. He did stunt-double work for several years before breaking into acting with the help of director John Ford. Johnson also operated a horse-breeding ranch throughout his career. Although he said he had succeeded by sticking to what he knew, shrewd real estate investments made Johnson worth an estimated $100 million by his later years.
John Dale Free, Sr.
Born in Pawhuska in 1929, John Dale Free grew up on his grandfather’s ranch near McAlester, Oklahoma. There, he earned a lifelong admiration of cowboys and the ranching lifestyle. By 1971 he had his first one-man show at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (now the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum) in Oklahoma City and was becoming recognized for his talent. Many of his creations depicted American Indian subjects, reflecting his Osage/Cherokee heritage. In 1981 Free founded the Bronze Horse Foundry, a fine arts bronze foundry, to provide himself and others a convenient facility for casting their sculptures. This successful enterprise continued into the twenty-first century as a family business under the management of John Dale Free, Jr.
Yatika Starr Fields
Yatika Starr Fields, is a Painter and Muralist. While attending the Art Institute of Boston from 2000 to 2004, he became interested in Graffiti aesthetics, which has been integral to his knowledge and process along with Landscape painting- and continues to influence his large- scale projects and studio works. Fields is from Oklahoma and currently living and working in Tulsa in conjunction with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Fields has spent the last decade on the East Coast, New York City and most recently Seattle where the energy of urban life inspires and feeds the creative force in his artwork. He seeks to influence his viewers to rethink and reshape their relationships to the world around them. His canvasses and Murals are alive with movement and filled with images that rely on vibrant colors and swirling patterns to build narratives that carry the eye.
Pickens Museum
Pickens Museum is a fine arts museum with exhibition spaces at three locations in North Central Oklahoma: Pickens Learning Commons in the Vineyard Building at Northern Oklahoma College, Pickens Museum at City Central in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Pickens Art Gallery at Woolaroc Museum in the Osage Hills of Northeastern Oklahoma between Barnsdall and Bartlesville.
Pickens Museum displays Native American jewelry, African American Art, Native American art, art by Oklahoma artists, bronze sculptures and verdite sculptures from Zimbabwe.
