Sonya Terpening

2018 Distinguished Alumni

B.S. Art Education '77

Sonya Terpening has been an invited artist to the "Prix de West Invitational" at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for 24 years and participated in the "Masters of the American West" at the Autry Museum for 12 years. These are considered the top two invitational contemporary western art shows in the country. She typically is one of10or fewer women artists invited to these shows.

 

In 2008, Terpening received the Autry Museum Award for Watercolor, becoming the first woman to receive an artistic award from that show. She was selected as NBC Oklahoma’s ͞Oklahoma Artist͟ for 2017. In 2010, she was the inaugural recipient of the Smelser-Vallion Visiting Artist award from the OSU Doel Reed Center for the Arts. She was presented the honor again in 2013.

 

Terpening has served on the OSU Art Advisory Council since its inception in 2012. Her paintings are in the permanent collection of: the Edmon Low Library (two paintings); The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City; The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma (2006 Rendezvous Featured Artist); the Oklahoma Capitol Building; The Forbes Collection in New York City; the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas; and NBC Oklahoma in Altus.