I work in multiple mediums, just creating things that I like.

You know, finding some peace, working outside and working with, you know, natural materials “in the world of Cherokee art”, trying to find that green, the exact same green “brothers, Brian and Jake waytula” I'll try to help me, and I'll do.

“Have carved distinct paths each with a style all their own.

” “Known for their smaller, detailed works,” but work with Bryan, Yeah.

It's just it's just been a treat.

Later in life.

“They've now come together for their biggest canvas yet.” 18ft by 24ft is a monster.

We've been wanting to collaborate and kind of do a project o just work on something together.

You never kno how many times you can work with another great artist, but you can also call your brother “two individual styles, one vision.” “These are their masterpieces.

” Hello, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Gallery America.

I'm Jonathan Thompson.

Today we meet brothers Brian and Jake Waytula, who created the eight new murals here at the Okana parking garage.

Follow along as they complete their biggest project to date.

I'm not sure what this doin.

.

I can guide your guys through.. This is 24 hours a day.

You guys want to do a taco casa run at 11?

boom!

Give us a call or a donut run at 4:00 in the morning.

go down to get something out of it.

Yeah.

Good afternoon, and welcome to open.

Oh, got a big bad dually.. Let's take care of this.

Good afternoon.

Welcome to Okana.

Hey, what's going on, ladies?

Let's just leave it there.

Leave the keys with me.

Thank you.

My pleasure guys.

The murals?

Outstanding.

painted them when we were getting trained here.

Colors will be interesting.

Oh, Lord.

Oh, we're throwing up color on 8 18ft by 24ft concrete murals that they have built around their parking garage.

My name is Brian Waytula.

And my Im an Oklahoman Cherokee artist.

Oh, so people that are coming to enjoy the resort and enjoy water have, you know, some some nice things to look at.

Although you.

Know, I'm high up until it just gone.

We're working probably anywhere from 16ft off the ground to 25ft in the air.

And this was definitely, getting over that fear.

I lik keeping my feet on the ground.

Take a break.

Let me.

Let me mess with it.

Just take this one.

Yeah.

I'm trying to get myself a little slack there.

Yeah.

All right.

This one might be fine now.

Oh, wait.

Didn't you Did you just put it back in?

So.

Yeah, just take the slide.

Why?

It's just.

All right.

I didn't do anything.

Okay?

I just loosen it up.

Move.

Oh, there was a kink.

Just take the whole drive.

There.

Okay?

Let me stress this in.

All right, so we are going to go right like this.

We're just going to throw up these designs.

We have it this way.

We're going to be working at night long.

They're good.

Yeah.

That feels good.

Tonight my brother and I we're going to be projecting the design that I've been working on.

Yeah, we made a, piece of wood there with the stand on it, and he straps this in ratchet, strap the projector down.

You know, we had to make sure it was somewhat level circuit, man.

My brother was running th bucket lift to get it up there.

Yeah.

Just getting him positioned right.

And then we're projecting, was a challenge in its end because none of it.

I built them to 18ft by 24ft.

Well, somewhere a little smaller or somewhere longer.

I don't know why.

I can just go up.

I can go up real quick, and then, we'll just see.

Okay?

Okay.

We're going to.

We'll try and get going.

I don't know why it's so crooked.

Yeah.

He's making sure, you know, there nothing happens with the projector.

Nothing is unplugged.

Nothing goes to sleep.

You know, I have my laptop set for, like, four hours just to be safe.

But you just never know.

Being completely still is sort of an inherited gene every youngest sibling, probably inherits So you know how to be real quiet still and just let that moment pass in peace.

So that's pretty much what it was like sitting up there for two hours straight bu I had snacks and a hand drinks.

Everything was fine.

Hopefully I can be in that bucket lift as little as possible.

Plus, my brother's going to be in the lift for with the projector for a while, so the faster I get done, the faster he's back on the ground too.

Plenty of gas.

I'm not the best with heights.

That gets me to go really fast.

As fast as I can.

All right.

Heading up.

I have my brother sitting up there for hours while I'm on the other bucket lift outlining this.

That didn't sound good, did it?

As long as I get some reference lines up there.

I don't need to outline everything.

It just needs to be proportionately accurate, you know, and believable on some of these things.

I. But as we got them up, we would just be like, all right, I can freehand that or I can make that up.

We'll just get the main, main objects outlined.

My idea was to center these designs, around the necessity and need for water, design it around the 11 clans of the Chickasaw Nation.

Wooouughhh.

Oh, I'm sure I don't take this out.

Oh, that was fast.

Hey, Jake, don't forget about that cardboard up there.

Yeah.

So tonight I'm going to get out of this.

Get up.

Probably have a cold one shower, and then just relax.

It's been a lot of fun to work on this.

We've been wanting to collaborate and kind of do a project o just work on something together.

And even though they're my designs and my concepts and everything, I couldn't have done this without him out here working with me.

All right, let's go.

Who are you ?

My name is Jake Waytula.

I'm a traditional baske weaver with the Cherokee Nation.

And, I'm here today to describe what it's like working with my brother.

Jake and I are about six year apart, so there is an age gap.

You know when I was hitting high school, he was still in middle school.

So we didn't have a lot of, close things to do together until we got older.

You know, and we started taking an interest in, in the arts.

As we got older, we'll roll it just a smidge, right?

Yeah.

Lee, as be able to work right here.

I've seen him develop from an early age.

We hadn't worked on any project together before.

I'd been really trying to think about how we could do something together.

He was the first person I thought of to to work on this with me.

So it's.

It'll be a lot of fun to get to, you know, make some memories on this project.

Chickasaw Natio gave me a fantastic opportunity with this, and I'm glad they enjoyed my concept.

We're out here sweating, humidity.

We're drenched.

We're losing water weight.

It's like, how many bottle of water have you had to today?

none.

it's brutal on our muscles.

Our body.

Yeah, yeah.

My back.

Yeah.

We're we're soaking by the time we're done.

But we're getting paid to paint.

I'm getting paid to paint and create.

We're getting paid to paint.

*indistinct singing* Yeah.

there shouldn't be a highlight there.

Okay.

alright.

I need to stop.

This is the first, large project that I'm venturing out into.

Doing some murals and putting things up on a much larger scale.

It feels more like you're, you know, you're like, bingo, impressionistic.

But whenever you step back you realize that all the colors tighten in lines tighten in.

I mean, that's how I knew how to just be real.

A little bit more chill about how exact I need to be.

So working up close.

People aren't going to se these small, minor imperfections when they're looking at it, say, from ten feet off the wall or anything till you get up close.

Well, my brother and I are so detail oriented.

We try the realism, we try and get, in our drawings or paintings.

People aren't going to be up here in these boom lifts, really close, looking at every line that we make or the overspray or maybe a small little dot we missed.

*giggling* That's right.

I'd be sitting at the house and you can hear that painting when one's empty, you know, I don't know.

Yeah.

You hear that I. Okay.

How many cans of paint?

That's a good question.

After a while, you just stop losing.

You stop keeping count.

Like.

Okay, I went through, I went through six boxes and, I don't know, six to a box?

I don't know, really honestly, it's just canned after canned at this point.

You know, we got to about 50.

We were kind of like, okay, that's quite a few.

And then we just kept adding, and I was like, I'm tired of counting The style, it's not mine.

The bright, bold outline colors, the spot colors.

Yeah.

Nice to bring some, some art for one.

to kind of beautify an area people can enjoy and look at and just and just appreciate and enjoy it.

The Chickasaw Nation wanted to showcase their history and culture.

They wanted it to tie in with water.

You know, when I was younger, we didn't have cell phones.

We didn't have video games.

It was either a book or coloring books.

I would look out, you know, and I would see the U-Haul trailers.

I loved it because the artwork on those things.

I wasnt until later on when I started studying art.

I learned about the WPA style.

And go back to the national park posters, and you can see that style being done on other things.

So because it is a resort and it's meant for recreatio out here, I wanted to give a nod to the design for the National parks that they did.

This was meant to be seen also from like I-40 over here to kind of draw you in.

What's that?

Kind of add some color to a, you know, a parking structure that's normally doesn' have a lot of color around it.

I know most visitors that come out here, you know, they don't nee to know the message behind them, but it is important to have artwork out there, for peopl to be able to enjoy the artwork.

That took a lot out of me.

It it was, definitely a great learning experience.

I really enjoy it out here.

It just seems to help with my thought process, my anxiety.

And helps to relax me a little bit so I don't.

I'm not on a busy street in the city.

It's th only thing I'm really good at.

I mean, I can't sing or dance, can't act.

Hey, welcome to OETA cribs.

Come on in.

This is my ride.

This is the 46 inch cut, the husky man.

I've got 20 inch rims on this.

I was going to put spinners, but I still got to sell some more artwork to do that.

Okay.

All right, so this is my my place.

I really enjoy, having my studio out here and the peace and quiet.

Hopefully I'm fortunate enough that people enjoy what I do, you know?

Well after I retire, I just like to draw.

As long as it something cool.

I really lik how my Buzz Lightyear came out.

Got to finish up Boba Fett later today, and I've got to do a little bit more detail on this one.

Asoka.

I don't want to brag or nothing, but it's like, this is perfect weather to work.

And, you know I don't like to be like someone, like, super prideful of things, but I can't.

I can't deny how good it makes me feel.

Out of every job I've had, I'd say just doing this gives me the most peace working outside and working with, you know, natural materials.

That just adds a level of fulfillment.

just having a good setting.

I'm grateful for that.

Just the right setting.

So I just dropped everything in order to start picking it up and going.

Just reminds me of, how close the family seemed when you were a kid and you got grandma and your mom going to the same crafts.

Doing the same things.

And I got to grow up with that before I even, you know, wanted to do it.

Look like extremely hard work.

But all the ladies are laughing and smokin, smoking cigarettes in the den in a little circle.

and you have memories attached to that.

I remember the smell of the tobacco, and I used to love the smell.

I still love it but it's one of those memories.

And you go to the you go to the pow wow man and I my heart jus connected with those those drums and the singing, and it just feels like it's a memory every time I experience it again.

And it just always connects me back, back to childhood.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

Oh.

I finish working 18ft by 24ft.

And now I'm working on, two and a half by three and a half, card.

That should take me, you know, a couple hours to finish out.

They call them “sketch cards that I'm hoping to be a part of.

today.

I'm just finishing up basically, like, an application for this, and I need to sho them a couple different styles.

So we have Disney, which is more of the flat 2D colors than the Pixar.

More shading, a little bit more dimension to them.

Marvel.

They want more of the comic book artistry done.

Lucasfilm's.

They're wanting some different skin tones on things that I what I can produce skin tone wise, I'm just sketching out some examples.

I just kind of leave these hanging.

I just remember being amazed at every piece of work I'd see over it when Red Earth when I was little.

Working in three dimensions feels better than just two.

Even though you're trying to manipulate a, you know, a third dimension within it.

My level of frustration in things is is pretty crazy.

Most people can just go, oh, I'm not getting it.

It can be destructive.

But with my mother around it, she was always good about knowing when I needed a break and just let it go.

Yeah, my mom would just be hummin while she's working and I'm huffin, trying to, put these things together, and she would always it alway it reminded me of being a kid.

I'd hear her hummin or her singing and then, you know, every no and then I'll.

I'll do the same.

Hmm, hmmm, hmmmm, hmmm, hmmm.

Just got to think.

You got to think about what's coming up.

So you're kind of thinking three moves ahead really.

I have to check my design every now and then.

Like.

I might get a little lost in something.

Once you start and you get it all going, then you're you're off to the races.

This is a very large colored pencil drawing.

It gets mistaken for paint, I think, with all artists, you know, we enjoy working on it, but there's a there's a struggle in there too, a little bit where we're like, I can't wait to finish this.

It's been a pain.

And then when we're done, you know, we have that, moment of appreciation wher we sit back and just enjoy it.

But that one ended up, was chosen as a semifinalist for, one of the portrait competitions at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian.

A lot of fun for me is nerve wracking, but, you know, sending a piece like this freight worrying if it'll get damaged.

But, yeah, this is probably one of my favorite pieces that I've I've I've finished this piece.

I really lik here are my spray paint works.

I think I produced probabl about 15 of them before it just the stencil started just, failing on me.

These are my heritage horses What I call them.

And this one here, it's kind of designe after my favorite summer treat when it's just hot, humid here.

I know, Oklahoma, watermelons, they were really popular.

Call this my Revelations War Pony, “behold a pale horse and his name is set on him was death and hell followed with him.

Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth.

” With the plains, tribes, they would, put symbols and markings on their on their horses that've seen battle.

So that's why he has the, has battle or seen war.

That's why he's got the scoring around one of his eyes.

Let's see.

I want to put it this way.

I think it came out successful.

Originally, I wanted to do four of them, almost like chess pieces.

I love playing chess.

I found out how expensive bronze was to make.

And there's a reason I don't have a foundry here.

So when I was screen printing, you know, just type.

Sir, that's when I actually screen printed kind of a parody off the realtor.com.

You know, this jean jacket I've sprayed and, from a drawing and stencils again, color separating.

And this is Eugene Brave Rock, who has been seen in movies.

He's a stunt man.

Cut out this patch and probably trying center it in here.

Probably do a couple other things with some dates or textures or designs.

Sign it and let someone enjoy it.

Yeah, I still like.

Just making a cuff, you know, an aluminum cuff.

That's, 1.5in width by six inches length.

And, we've around it, using my black ash, very thinly cut black ash.

I always wet it and, my splint So that are my colors.

So I don't really have to wet much.

I just have to make sure thi thing is pliable enough that it.

It won't rip or anything like that.

It doesnt.

Oh, come on, so hot in here.

Sometimes I can't even tell what kind of artist I am.

I don't know, I'm mixed media artist.

I'm.

I'm just kind of so random.

I'm all over the place.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll take a a drawing to a show, and then next thing I know, I bring a bronze.

It's like what?

What's he doing?

So I'm going to end up just weeding this out right.

My mother started doing this actually, and I just fell in love with it.

Right around the time I was learning how to weave the baskets.

You know, same traditional shapes using the basketry, sometimes fun shapes that aren't traditional and they just kind of work together.

I like to play around with everything and crazy.

It goes fast.

I'm about to come up to the end where I, wrapping it, pretty much tie it off.

But you have to do, like this thing where you tuck in under it.

Real quick.

that's overkill.

We worked tirelessly to save for for years and put back so I could have a studio out here.

And have the space to do multiple mediums.

You know?

The best.

The silkscreen press out there, spray painting, large canvas works.

Yeah.

I'm sure it's going to look good guys.

Okay, how do I. What am I doing in.

Oh, that.

That looks good.

just watned to throw a little bit of that in there.

Dont have my xacto knife, that's all right.

I'm really happy with how they turned out and the finished product and everything, but now I feel like I can take it.

I can breathe.

Now that that that they're finished, you know, and just kind of enjoy the artwork themselves.

It's very thinking about at th beginning how daunting it was.

And to be on the mountain top, you know, with just me and him, we hit a groove and, and we just go, and I just want to celebrate and choose my brother out and say that, you know, the moment was memorable and it would be great to do it again.we're done.

You know?

Jthats good.

sleep in, relax, take a little vacation.

You can keep up with Bria by following him on Instagram.

@waytulajit And Jake @ Native Cuff.

If you want to see their work in person.

Swing by the Cherokee art market every October in Tulsa.

Well, that's all the time we have for Gallery America.

Thank you so much for joining us.

As always, you can see past episodes by going to our website OETA dot TV Slash Gallery America.

And don't forget to follow us on Instagram @OETAgallery We'll see you next time.

Until then, stay arty Oklahoma.