Medicine Bluff at Ft. Sill 1870's
by Barbara Vaupel
It was decided in May of 1868 that a new post would be located near Medicine Bluff. The post was needed due to unrest among the Indians in the Red River area. After the battle at Chief Black Kettle's village on the Washita River, the Indians were moved from Fort Cobb to Medicine Bluff. General Philip Henry Sheridan believed that Fort Cobb was located too far north to be effective. The Kiowas called Fort Still "TSO-KADA-HAGYA", which meant "where the soldiers live at Medicine Bluff." Fort Sill was first called Camp Medicine Bluff or Camp Wichita, but on August 1, 1869, was named Fort Sill after General Joshua W. Sill who was killed at the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, in 1862. The painting depicts a peaceful encampment of Kiowas at the base of Medicine Bluff in the early 1870's.
Medicine Bluff at Ft. Sill 1870's by Barbara Vaupel was dedicated on March 26, 1999 the commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc.
Medicine Bluff at Ft. Sill 1870's by Barbara Vaupel is located outside the Oklahoma State Senate lounge on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30 when the Senate is not in session.
The Artist
Born
in San Diego, California, Barbara Vaupel taught herself to draw. She
took a night-school class in California with Floyd Chandler, who emphasized
color and atmospheric progression. For a while she did advertisements
and later proofread ads. But Vaupel wanted to paint horses - particularly
quarter horses. "I never lived the life of raising and showing
horses," she says. "But the next best thing to living the
life is painting it!" Leaving friends and family behind, in 1967
she headed for Oklahoma. Her earliest horse portraits and rodeo scenes
were done on commission. Among them was a portrait of retail wizard
Sam Walton with his hunting dogs and pheasant. Recently, the landscapes
dominate the horses on her canvases. "I guess that is because
of my love of this Oklahoma countryside."
Along with gallery representation, Vaupel has shown in the Women Artist and the West exhibit, Tucson, AZ, and with the Texas Cowboy Artists. She is also included in An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West, as well as named 1999 Outstanding Art Book, 38th Annual Western Heritage Awards. Vaupel, a Henryetta resident, passed away on December 27, 2006.