Robin Fife Jenkins

Robin Fife Jenkins is an award-winning Muscogee artist, farmer/rancher, conservationist, and retired teacher. As the youngest of eight children, Robin learned from her family at an early age the importance of Mvskoke culture/heritage, family values, art, and education. Jenkins’ practice includes intricately detailed beaded bandolier bags and jewelry. Using glass beads, the designs are embroidered onto wool fabric using Southeast and animal motifs. “Wotkvlke” is a representation of Jenkins’ tribal clan – the Raccoon Clan. For this piece, Jenkins won Best of Show at the 2022 Cherokee National Holiday Art Show, first place in the Beading Category at the 2022 Muscogee Nation Native Heritage Month Contest, and second place in the Jewelry (Beading/Quilting) Category at the 2023 Mvskoke Art Market. Her beadwork practice is influenced by her mother, Carmen Griffin Fife. While beadwork is the primary focus of her artwork, she has worked with watercolors, acrylics, serigraphy, and pen and ink. Jenkins’ received her B.F.A. in graphic design from Oklahoma State University in 1984 and her M.Ed. in Secondary Education with endorsements in Bilingual and Multicultural Education from Northeastern State University in 1995. In 2004-2005, she was selected to participate in a Master-Apprentice Art Program, with Jimmie Carole Fife Stewart as the Master Artist. This year-long program trained Jenkins in traditional Muscogee art and concluded with an exhibit of the projects at the Creek Council House in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Her work was included in the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts exhibit Matrilineal: Legacies of Our Mothers in Santa Fe (July 2022-February 2023). She currently has a bandolier bag, Hvce teyakpo (Scissortail), on display in the permanent collection of the Muscogee Nation Department of Health, Council Oak Comprehensive Healthcare Center and Museum, Tulsa.