The Doodle Academy

Creative Commons is an outdoor classroom and placemaking project designed to provide summer art classes in a safe, inspiring, and accessible space. This project will serve as a bridge between The Doodle Academy’s established in-school partnerships and our long-term dream of transforming our newly gifted building into a thriving creative community center.

The Doodle Academy was recently gifted a building diagonally across from Liberty Elementary School, where 97% of students are identified as economically disadvantaged (U.S. News & World Report). Directly across the street sits a city park that, while featuring a playground, currently lacks tables, pavilions, or gathering infrastructure. This context positions Creative Commons as both a practical solution and a natural opportunity to partner with the city and the school.

Amber Bachiochi Thompson + Joi Bachiochi

Who and Where We Are is a photography exhibition featuring the work of my mother Joi Bachiochi and myself, Amber Bachiochi Thompson, spanning 30+ years and comprising approximately 40 photos. The project explores rural life, women’s identities, and intergenerational conversation. The narrative of the exhibition unfolds over four sections:

1. Film photographs taken by Joi in Dempsey, Oklahoma, in the years and months immediately preceding my birth.

2. Digital photographs taken by my mom and I during my teenage years at our home in Sweetwater, Oklahoma.

3. Digital self-portraits taken by me between 2023 and 2025.

4. Film photographs being taken by my mother and I, blending a range of subjects from the previous periods such as family, nature, and home.

Jennifer Saenz + Vicky Watson

Through portraiture beadwork, Jennifer Saenz and Vicky Watson address a long-overlooked gap in art by reclaiming histories often absent from mainstream narratives. Their work explores the dualities of Native American identity—the lived experience of existing between two worlds.

The artistry of their beadwork lies not only in its visual form but also in its narrative power. These portraits do not simply depict faces; they embody lives, serving as testimony toresilience and survival. By placing glass beads within the framework of portraiture, the artists invite viewers to pause and reflect, offering new perspectives on identity, memory, and history.

Public Engagement is central to this proposal. Saenz and Watson aim to make portrait beadwork more accessible to the public, inspiring learning about beadwork as an art form and highlighting the remarkable individuals whose lives bridge cultures.

New and Ongoing Works will focus on cultural figures tied to Oklahoma and Indian Territory whose lives reflect the intersections of Native heritage and artistic achievement.

Cowgirl Artists of America

Cowgirl Artists of America (CGA) is dedicated to elevating and equipping women artists across the country. In Fall 2026, we will launch our the first-ever in-person professional development conference in Oklahoma City, providing artists with concentrated, high-value training while inviting local Oklahoma artists to participate alongside our members.

The conference will run over three days, in early November. Each core session will include 45 minutes of presentation followed by a 30 minute interactive element. Additional programming includes optional portfolio critiques, a “Creative Gift Swap,” and CGA’s annual awards. On Saturday afternoon, participants will visit the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, coffee/snacks at the museum café, and a group discussion in the Prix de West Purchase Gallery.