Take Me To The River: A Selection of Tahlequah Paintings, 2015-17 by J. Wade Hannon

Dr. J. Wade Hannon's work  is abstract, often without any figurative or objective elements. Often he addresses contemporay issues, personal issues and ones related to his Cherokee ancestory.

Dr. J. Wade Hannon, a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was born in Parsons, Kansas. He grew up in Edna, Kansas in a working class, mixed-blood family (Cherokee, Irish, Dutch, German and English). He holds a doctorate in Counseling from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), along with a masters and bachelors degree from Pittsburg State University (Kansas) and an associates degree from Labette Community College (Kansas). He is happy to report that none of them have racist sport team mascots.

Wade has worked at a variety of jobs over the years. In his youth he toiled in the hay fields in Southeast Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma during the summers. In college in he worked as a bartender, a janitor, and at various factory jobs. He has been a counselor, tenured college professor, union organizer, adult educator, mediator, poet and painter. He has published a book poems and written many articles, book chapters, and academic papers. He has been painting since the age of  thirteen. His work has been in many shows and is in private collections throughout the US.

He has been involved in a variety of community, professional, political and labor organizations over the course of his time on the planet.

His goals in life are to help usher in a rational, peaceful and egalitarian world were all beings are valued and respected. He also strives to have a good time in the midst of chaos and madness. Wade is currently an artist and poet who lives and works in Tahlequah, OK. His daughter, Carmen, is a librarian in Kansas City, Kansas and his son, Adam, is a scientist in Fargo, North Dakota.