Traditional weaponry featured at Artesian Arts Festival

Chickasaw artist Gary Maytubby will showcase handcrafted traditional weapons at the 12th annual Artesian Arts Festival in Sulphur, Oklahoma, on June 7. Maytubby, a retired Chickasaw Telephone Company employee, draws on ancestral knowledge and family teachings to create war clubs, bows, arrows, knives and more using traditional methods and materials.

According to the Chickasaw Nation Media Relations Office, Maytubby began learning weapon-making from his uncles at age 7 and returned to the art in retirement. He researches Chickasaw history to ensure authenticity in his work, including crafting arrows with flint-knapped “Chickasaw points” and river cane shafts. Maytubby will enter the festival’s juried competition with a war club and display a range of pieces for public viewing and purchase.