"I strive to tell the Kiowa story of their transition from their nomadic existence through the imposition of the Dawn Act when they became successful farmers in the modern society." --Jay Benham

As a child, I loved to draw: I would draw on any surface from paper to discarded wood and sheetrock.

I also enjoyed color as a child. One of my earliest remembrances as a child was the many different colors of the cars on the kiddy-car ride at the American Indian Exposition (Indian Fair) in Anadarko, Oklahoma. All the cars were shaped the same but each one was a different color. To this day, I can see the bright beautiful colors.

We camped each year at the Indian Fair. One year when I was about 10 years old my mother and I were walking through one of the exhibition buildings. My mother said, "There's Al!" It was Al Mamaday, my mother's cousin. Al was a famous Kiowa Indian Artist and art teacher on the reservation in New Mexico. He and my mother visited for a while, then he gave my mother one of his prints. I was an impressed young man. The very idea that you could make art and teach art as an adult affected me deeply. At that time the seeds of art were sown in that young boy.

The creative genes run deep in the Kiowa family. From Silverhorn though the Kiowa Five, the need to draw, paint, create and tell the Kiowa story is a driving force.

Another influence I nave never revealed until now, is that of my Aunt Amy. Amy (Bear) Tonamah was dying of cancer in 1953. She had viewed my early adolescent art work and was most encouraging. She had me promise to pursue art to its fullest.

Where I grew up in Arkansas there was not much understanding why a young man would be interested in art. "What's wrong with him?" they would say. I played football in high school and was fortunate to be awarded Arkansas All-State Honors and Honorable Mention All-American for the Sporting News Magazine. I never graduated from high school but was awarded a college football scholarship. I accepted the scholarship and majored in Art Education. I received my B.S.E. from Henderson State University and also earned an MA in Art Education from Northern Arizona University.

I strive to tell the Kiowa story of their transition from their nomadic existence through the imposition of the Dawn Act when they became successful farmers in the modern society. It is my intention to make the best art that I know how, including all the elements of a good painting. Applying good Kiowa color and interesting placement of the subject matter.

When I am painting, there is a mystic and close relationship to God. During the creative experience of painting, time stops. I've always thought that everyone should engage in some type of creative process, no matter the medium. --Jay Benham.