Carving out an adventure

Only when the time was right did Jerry Haney set free the final portion of artistic talent that has always dwelled in him.
When he did, a lifetime of experience and a proud heritage came spilling out as if he’d been a professional artist every day of his life. He discovered an ability to carve intricate eagle feathers on handsome walnut, chisel battle-weary lines into an Indian warrior’s face, pare small pieces of wood into sweet-sounding flutes.
But first the time had to be right.
Haney is the former principal chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, a Green Beret who served his country, a retired sign painter at Tinker Air Force Base. He has always gone about the business of living and raising his family, he said, but when it was time to abandon himself to art, the art was waiting for him.
“My whole family has been blessed with some talent within the arts,” said Haney, who is an uncle to renowned artist and legislator Kelly Haney. “I knew I had the ability to do what I wanted to do in the art field, but I’ve never had the time to do what I’m doing now. I always had to be making a living. Now all that’s done, and I can really be creative.”
So far, Haney has concentrated on wood carving and has found camaraderie in the local carving group Cowboys, Indians and Outlaws. He has carved several types of wood, including cedar, catalpa and walnut, and created a variety of pieces, including a panther, bear and alligator, stately Indian warriors and elaborate flutes.
He has entered his carvings in only a handful of shows, but at the recent Red Earth festival in Oklahoma City, he took home high honors, including a Best of Division among all wood, stone and metal entries. It was for a tall stickball player carved from cedar.
“Stickball is played now for recreation, but in older days, stickball was used to settle disputes. It was a really bloody game,” he said.
Haney also won first place in the wood division for his carving of the Seminole warrior Hulbutta Micco, or Billy Bowlegs in English. Before the removal of the Seminoles from Florida to Oklahoma, Indian Territory, in the 1830s, Billy Bowlegs led one of three Seminole wars, Haney said. He was eventually captured and moved to Oklahoma, and today the Seminole county town of Bowlegs is named after him.
Haney also has carved several animals representing clans of the Seminole Nation, such as a dark-wooded alligator and bear and a wavy-grained panther. He’s even carved a leaning tree to represent the Wind Clan, but the idea for one more eludes him.
“The other one that’s difficult is the Sweet Potato Clan. I can’t see doing a sweet potato,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure that one out.”
He has carved several flutes, some with intricate eagles’ heads, and all functional as instruments. He carved a Green Beret soldier and painted the hat, and he’s been commissioned by the Seminole Nation of Florida to carve busts representing military branches.
All this without a background in wood carving. He said he’s learned many tips from members of the local carving club and has branched out from knives and gouges for detail work to power tools for bigger pieces. But his fellow carvers say he really hasn’t had much of a learning curve.
“Most wood carvers work from rough-outs with some instruction, but he sees a piece of wood and he carves it,” said JoAnn Cox, a member of the local carving club. “Everything comes out of his mind. He is a natural.”
Haney said it’s important for him to create pieces reflecting his Seminole Nation heritage because it’s a way of taking the culture into the future. He also speaks to youth groups about finding their passion in life, whether it’s artwork or another calling.
“I use myself as an example,” Haney said. “We’re not all college material. If we’re all Ph.D.s, one Ph.D. will be emptying the trash. I encourage students to find their talents and hone them up sharply, then they shouldn’t ever see a hungry day. There’s a saying: ‘Find something you enjoy doing and you’ll never work another day.’ That’s basically what I do.”
Haney has already branched out into other artwork. He painted two of the Horses in the City projects, one in front of Ford Insurance on MacArthur, the other at the Sac and Fox Casino on Westech Road. And his nephew Kelly Haney has given him some clay so he can explore his bronze-making skills.
But Haney is bringing a wealth of other experience to his art. From 1989 to 2003, he served as chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. One of his main achievements was securing money from a judgment fund to be divided between the Seminole tribes of Oklahoma and Florida. Because the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma was bigger, Haney said he believed its members should receive 75 percent of the fund; the Florida tribe argued that it be split evenly. Before Congress, they lobbied their positions, and in the end, the Oklahoma tribe received its 75 percent, or $48 million. Under Haney’s leadership, the tribe used the funds to develop programs, such as assistance for the elderly, education scholarships and clothing aid, he said.
He started his military career with the 11th Airborne Division, and by 1954, he was jumping out of airplanes. When the U.S. Army launched the Special Forces in the late 1950s, he was already jump-qualified, so for the next 20-plus years, he served as a Green Beret, he said. In 1988, he retired as a sign painter at Tinker, then ran for tribal chief.
“After that, I had nothing planned to do, but I wanted to get into something,” he said. “I had some God-given talents I could fall back on.”
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Anyone interested in wood carving can visit the local wood carving (and socializing) club, which meets 9 a.m. Thursdays at the Shawnee Senior Citizen Center, 401 N. Bell.