SCOTT MIDDLETON

Cherokee Artist

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After growing up in rural Northeastern Oklahoma, I spent the next 30-plus years relocating around the country for work. l've always been a voracious reader.  I love the cosmic horror, heroic fantasy and brooding folk horror of H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien and Arthur Machen. In the early 1990's, I published an original work of dark fiction.

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Returning home in 2012 to care for aging parents, awakened a long-suppressed passion for the arts and I forged new ties to my Oklahoma roots and Cherokee heritage. As I learn more about my heritage, I work to meld Cherokee oral traditions with my earlier literary influences. In my art, I find my greatest passion in shaping stone. I especially love unearthing the deep, rich colors buried within each piece.

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For me, working the stone is healing. I become absorbed by the motions. Stress and anxiety melt away. I also love that my workspace is under the open sky. I like to think that I infuse my work with the warmth of the sun, the rustling of wind in the hackberry branches, the rushing gurgle of water in the creek, and the hopeful songs of frog and bird. Once I begin a piece, I leave it out under the stars to absorb the darkness and moonlight.