(Union City, Tennessee, June 22, 2023) — Discovery Park of America’s Southern Artist Showcase featuring Kimberly Greene Bugg is open.

The Southern Artist Showcase features southern painters, photographers, sculptors and other fine artists. Rotating frequently to expose guests to the widest variety of art possible, shows feature works produced in a variety of mediums. The current exhibition includes a collection of more than twenty pieces created by Bugg, including beadwork, corn husk dolls and other traditional indigenous artwork she and her husband have loaned the museum.

Bugg is an award-winning artist and member of the Oneida Nation on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. She is now a resident of Obion County. Bugg began dancing and competing in Pow Wows in 1994 as a Southern Traditional Buckskin dancer, which is a traditional dance among the southern nations. In 1997, she was selected as the Memphis Powwow Princess.

Bugg and her husband are leading the planning team responsible for the inaugural Northwest Tennessee Native American Educational Powwow to be held at Discovery Park of America on October 27-29, 2023. The event will include competitions and displays of Indigenous storytelling, drumming, singing and competition dancing, as well as more than 15 vendors selling authentic Native American art, jewelry and home goods. The event will also include a concert by popular Native American performer Arvel Bird, an award-winning recording and touring artist, violinist, composer and songwriter.

The exhibit featuring Bugg’s art includes corn husk dolls, two paintings, a gourd with an exterior burn design and many examples of Kim’s handcrafted beadwork. The beadwork collection includes a backpack, a women’s breastplate, a necklace, moccasins, a leather shirt, a stuffed bear wearing dancer regalia, a northern traditional cape, purses, a buffalo fur bag and more.

“At Discovery Park, we strive to share the visual arts with our guests and to encourage public interest in the cultural heritage of Tennessee,” said Jennifer Wildes, senior collections and exhibits director for Discovery Park. “Kim’s work certainly allows us to do that, and I look forward to sharing this special exhibit with our guests as we plan for a Native American Educational Pow Wow at Discovery Park this coming October.”

The exhibit and Powwow are intended to enhance Discovery Park’s permanent Native Americans Gallery that takes guests from the ancient past, through European contact and up to today. There are more than 4,800 artifacts on display in the gallery, including 4,652 arrowheads and spear points mounted to the walls. A Woolly Mammoth on display in the exhibit is about 12,000 years old and was found in 2000 on the Istra riverbank in Russia and took three years to excavate.

Southern Artist Showcase: Kimberly Greene Bugg will be on display at Discovery Park until October 29, 2023.