Tim Ramsey is originally from El Reno, Oklahoma and is of the Choctaw and Southern Cheyenne Nations. El Reno is a small town just eight miles south of Concho, Oklahoma, the site of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes' Agency(headquarters). The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation area is a checkerboard of land extending from the El Reno area, just west of Oklahoma City, 90 miles west and northwest into western Oklahoma. "I was raised around Indian culture and especially visual arts such as beadwork, leather and buckskin work, jewelry making and metal working, featherwork, and quilting. Although I am also half Irish, and look very non-Indian, I always wanted to be involved in whatever activities were happening in the Native community.

I learned to dance at a young age but didn't really start dancing until I was a teenager and my family required me to make every part of my regalia myself. My great-grandmother was one! of the most skilled moccasin and regalia makers known in Oklahoma at that time. She had great patience in teaching me what I should know and because of that I have had many rewarding experiences. In 1982 at the age of 22, I was chosen as an exhibitor at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. At that time I had completed hundreds of single articles and three complete buckskin outfits--two ladies buckskin dresses and one man's outfit consisting of a buckskin shirt, leggings, and all the accessories. The Smithsonian representatives reported my work to be of the highest quality and reported that was a very young age to complete so much work. From then on I have been traveling and exhibiting Indian cultural materials and presenting lectures regarding Native arts and culture many places around the USA and several other countries. After making my living as an artist for many years, I had an opportunity to go to work for the Smithsonia! n, National Museum of the American Indian, in New York City. I was on the team that installed the first exhibits for Smithsonian, NMAI which is located across from the Statue of Liberty in southern Manhattan.

While in New York City, I met the Silvercloud Singers and began singing with them. I now live in Buffalo, New York and work for the State University of New York at Buffalo's, University Art Gallery."

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