James D. Tsoodle's 'Horse Nation' Chosen as Official Artwork for 2018 Litchfield Park Native American Festival

James D. Tsoodle's acrylic-on-canvas painting Horse Nation has been selected as the official commemorative poster artwork for the 26th annual Litchfield Park Native American Fine Arts Festival, The Gathering, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 13-14, 2018.

Tsoodle (www.jamesdtsoodle.com), of Albuquerque, whose ancestry hails from both Kiowa and Taos Pueblo, paints Native American warriors of the Northern and Southern Plains. The vivid orange and yellow background colors in Horse Nation are contrasted by the silhouetted foreground images of a single warrior guiding a herd of horses across the plains.

"The imagery flows from the brush and the mind, putting to canvas another image of the past," Tsoodle wrote of his artwork on his website. "I believe an artist can best portray the image by being well versed in the subject matter. Hopefully if I achieve this, others will be able to see the passion and power in not only the image but the pigment and flow and competition of the painting."

Tsoodle explains that the "one of the driving forces behind my artwork began as a young boy and the struggles I went through as a child." Dyslexic, "I could not read until I was 14 years old. As a result of this struggle, I found that my gift of paining was something I could do very well that pleased me as well as others."

Tsoodle sold his first pen-and-ink drawings at age six when he attended the New Mexico State Fair where his parents were selling jewelry. As a child, his grandmother told him stories about his people that were never written, but passed down as part of their oral tradition.

His work has been shown at The Heard Museum, Pueblo Grande Museum, Colorado Indian Market (Denver), Tucson 4th Street Festival, Weems Art Festival (Albuquerque), Rio Grande Arts Festival (Albuquerque) and Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (Santa Fe), among others. He received Best of Show at the 2013 Las Cruces Art Festival.

A limited edition of 100 signed Horse Nation commemorative posters will be sold for $25 each at the Festival and online (www.litchfieldparkgathering.com). The original 16x20-inch gallery-wrapped canvas of Horse Nation will be displayed and available for purchase at the 2018 Litchfield Park Gathering.

The 26th anniversary Litchfield Park Gathering will feature an estimated 100 of the Southwest's finest Native American artists and artisans. There is no admission fee. Festival hours Saturday and Sunday are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the tradition of a street festival, The Gathering will be in the center of town where artist booths will line Old Litchfield Road south of Wigwam Blvd as well as across the lawn of the Litchfield Park Library, 101 W. Wigwam Blvd., and on the nearby Gazebo lawn.

The Gathering will continue a tradition of sharing how Native American heritage is celebrated through the arts with active teaching, demonstrations and presentations throughout the weekend.

The invitation-only festival features artists and artisans representing numerous tribal affiliations through a balance of art forms including traditional and contemporary beadwork, clothing, jewelry, paintings and prints, pottery, sculptures and weaving.

Entertainment is scheduled throughout the weekend. A full schedule of performances will be announced in December.

The festival is presented by the City of Litchfield Park with funding, in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Arizona Office of Tourism. Additional sponsors include Sun Health La Loma Village and The Wigwam as well as cooperation from the Heard Museum and the West Valley Arts council.

For more information, visit www.litchfieldparkgathering.com.