Roy Boney Jr. (ᎧᏂᎦ ᎪᎳᎭ, b. Dec, 1st, 1978) is a Cherokee comic artist, fine artist, computer animator and language preservationist from Locust Grove, Oklahoma, a citizen of the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

, and a hereditary member of the Deer Clan.

Background

Roy Boney Jr. grew up speaking the

Cherokee language 200px, Number of speakers Cherokee or Tsalagi ( chr, ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, ) is an endangered-to-moribund Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. ''Ethnologue'' states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speaker ...

. He studied at Oklahoma State University, earning a BFA in Graphic Design. He received his Master of Arts degree at the

University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year ...

, where he was a member of the Sequoyah Research Center team and received the

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation ( pot, Mshkodéniwek, formerly the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians) is a federally recognized tribe of Neshnabé (Potawatomi people), headquartered near Mayetta, Kansas. History The ''Mshkodésik'' ("People of t ...

Fellowship.

Cherokee language

Boney works as the manager of the Cherokee Nation language program, and previously was as a language media specialist for the Cherokee Nation.

Visual arts

With Matthew Shepherd, Boney created the graphic novel series, ''Dead Eyes Open'', published by Slave Labor Graphics. From a comic background, Boney ventured into fine art drawing and painting. His fine art debut in 2006 yielded the Grand Prize at the Cherokee Heritage Center's ''Trail of Tears'' art show and inclusion in the traveling exhibit, ''Frybread and Roses: The Art of Native American Labor.'' Several of Boney's paintings are in the permanent collection of the Sequoyah National Research Center.

Media arts

Boney collaborated with Joseph L. Erb at American Indian Resource Center, Inc., teaching animation to Muscogee Creek and Cherokee Children. Their Native language animated films have received numerous awards. Erb and Boney developed an iPhone application for Cherokee language text messaging and are developing Cherokee language social network and video games.Proposal for the creation of RezWorld 3D video game to teach Cherokee.
(retrieved 5 Nov 2009)

Writing

Boney is a regular contributor to '' Indian Country Today Media Network'' and ''

First American Art Magazine The ''First American Art Magazine'' is a quarterly art magazine covering living, historical, and ancestral art of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Background ''First American Art Magazine'' was established in 2013 "to provide a common platfo ...

''.

References

External Sources

Oral History Interview with Roy Boney Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boney, Roy Jr. Cherokee Nation artists Native American drawing artists Native American painters Living people 1978 births Painters from Oklahoma People from Locust Grove, Oklahoma Animators from Oklahoma 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American artists