December 01, 2025

Cowley College Student Regina Free Wins “Best in Show” at Santa Fe Indian Market

Cowley College proudly highlights the remarkable achievements of Regina Free, a non-traditional Cowley art student and Chickasaw Nation artist, who earned the prestigious “Best in Show” award at the 2025 Santa Fe Indian Market, the largest and most esteemed Indigenous art market in the world. Competing for the first time, Free impressed judges with her innovative, life-sized bison head sculpture titled Windswept, created from an unexpected combination of materials including paper towels, foam, felt, reclaimed Arkansas River driftwood, fabric dyes, plaster, and weathered metal.

Though Free already held a Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma State University, she enrolled in Cowley College’s 3D design class simply for enjoyment and to reconnect with the creative passions she had set aside while raising a family and helping run her husband’s veterinary practice in Newkirk, Oklahoma. What began as a fun elective quickly became a transformative experience. A class assignment requiring a sculpture made entirely of paper products led her to attempt a life-sized great blue heron. When traditional paper materials proved too rigid, she experimented with paper towels—an experiment that unexpectedly changed her life. Through dyeing and texturing, she discovered they could mimic feathers with stunning realism. The resulting sculpture, Puskawo (“heron” in Chickasaw), went on to win multiple awards at Native art shows throughout 2023, 2024, and 2025, launching her into the national art scene.

Free describes creativity as something that has always been part of her life. “I can’t remember a time I wasn’t drawing or making things,” she said. “Life got in the way for a while, but the passion never left.” That passion is deeply tied to her identity. Although she notes that she doesn't necessarily appear Indigenous and comes from a family where cultural connection was lost in recent generations, she has worked intentionally to reclaim her heritage. “I was severed from my culture, as so many of us were,” Free said. “It’s my desire to reclaim my heritage through art. Conversations with artists and elders help guide me back to what was lost. The culture and its artwork cannot be separated—to know one is to know the other.”

Her winning sculpture, Windswept, depicts a bison lifting its head into a strong plains wind, fully aware of the viewer yet confidently unconcerned—steady, grounded, and connected to the land. Though symbolic intent wasn’t part of her initial concept, the use of weathered railroad ties naturally evolved into a commentary on the environmental and cultural transitions bison faced at the turn of the century. Free chose the name Windswept to reflect the environmental force acting on the animal. “I wanted him to acknowledge you’re there but not care,” she said. “The wind sweeping across the plains felt right. That’s his world.”

At Santa Fe Indian Market, Windswept was selected from more than 1,500 entries after being evaluated by a panel of 60 judges, including curators, collectors, appraisers, and fellow artists. To be considered for Best in Show, a piece must first win its entire division; Free not only won her division but also impressed the judges more than any other division winner. She submitted three works total: a painting, Windswept, and her bald eagle sculpture Osi, which placed 2nd in the Sculpture (Other) category.

Despite the national attention, Free did not sell Windswept. The sculpture currently resides in her living room, sharing space with her heron and eagle. “Other than taking up a lot of space, they’re well behaved and don’t eat much,” she joked. The pieces continue to show at major markets, with Osi scheduled for exhibition at the Hustola Art Market at the new Okana Resort and Indoor Waterpark in Oklahoma City on December 13–14, and Windswept set to appear at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix this March.

As for what comes next, Free has begun development on a new large-scale sculpture of a golden eagle. The process is slow but deeply meaningful. “Everything is new,” she said. “Each piece builds toward a knowledge base you can only gain by doing. It takes hours, problem-solving, and prayers.”

Cowley College celebrates Free not only for her artistic excellence, but for the courage, curiosity, and determination that define her journey. Her story demonstrates the transformative power of education at any age—and how a single class can reignite a lifelong passion.