New Oklahoma Tags

A couple of days ago I was driving home and I saw the new Oklahoma car tag. Apparently the new tags went into effect on January 2, 2009 (for anyone replacing a tag or purchasing a new one). I didn't think the old ones were too bad. It was short and sweet and to the point (it just had the symbol that's on the Oklahoma flag in the middle of the tag).



The new tag features a photo of a sculpture called Sacred Rain Arrow by a Native American Oklahoma artist named Allan Houser (1914 - 1994).



Here is a photo of the original sculpture, Sacred Rain Arrow.



I haven't decided whether I like the new tag or not. I do like Allan Houser's work, but I'm not sure that I would necessarily use it to represent all of Oklahoma. I mean, a large part of our history is Native American in origin, but I would not use that alone to define what Oklahoma is all about. We're much more than that.

Anyway, that being said, Allan Houser really is a fantastic artist. I'm a University Of Oklahoma graduate and I remember taking a Native American Art class where we studied his work. In fact, OU has several pieces of work by Houser all over campus. Here are just a couple that really stood out to me.







To learn more about Allan Houser, you can visit the following links:

www.allanhouser.com

Wikipedia - Allan Houser