Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder is the daughter of Amos Harjo and Sharron Ahtone Harjo, a respected painter, ledger artist, and educator. Her maternal grandparents were Evelyn Tahome and Jacob Ahtone, who served as Kiowa tribal chairman from 1978 to 1980, and as a United States Department of Interior administrator who contributed to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the Indian Arts and Craft Act of 1990. Tahnee is named after her great aunt who died as a child, Ah-stom-pah ote, which translates to "The One Chosen to Lead In." She is the great granddaughter of famed lattice cradleboard artists Kiowa captive Millie Durgan, and Tahdo Ahtone. The Ahtone family are descendants of Fort Marion prisoners held at St. Augustine, Florida, noted as Kiowa Ledger Art artists. After incarceration from Fort Marion Richard Henry Pratt relocated Beahko into the custody of Hampton Institute where research would be conducted on the prisoners to further educate, and to learn of their genome differences. Today the Ahtone family along with many other Kiowa families hold distinctions as fifth and six generations to obtain advanced and higher education degrees. Tahnee earned her B.F.A. degree in 2015, in museum studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and earned her Master of Liberal Arts degree in museology, from Harvard Extension School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Artwork
A successful dancer on the powwow circuit, Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder mastered beadwork and sewing dance regalia. Besides creating regalia for the Native community, she also exhibits at major Native American art events, including Santa Fe Indian Market, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Chickasaw Nation's Artesian Arts Festival, and the Red Earth Festival, where her beadwork has won prizes. She is known for figurative work in beadwork. Her work has been part of curated art shows, such as Generations at the Red Earth Center and Current Realities: A Dialogue with the People at Individual Artists of Oklahoma gallery.
Curatorial practice
Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder works for the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a liaison to Oklahoma's 39 American Indian tribes. She served as curator of the textile and American Indian Collections at the Oklahoma History Center, and previously, as a curator and collections manager for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut. While at the Pequot Museum, she curated Without a Theme, a group exhibition of First Nations and Native American visual artists who did not necessary use Native imagery or subject matter in their artwork. Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder's other museum contributions include serving the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany Once Upon A Time in America, Three Centuries of US- American Art as the cultural adviser, and her participation in the Brown University, Haffenreffer Museum of AnthropologyGifts of Pride and Love: Kiowa and Comanche Cradles exhibition, a research project the Ahtone family contributed to with curator Barbara Hail. Her research focus is textiles; however, she has extensive knowledge on Native American textile art and beadwork, including beaded medallions. Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder and her husband, George Growing Thunder, own GT Museum Services, a New York City based firm offering consulting and other services to museums.
Personal
Ahtoneharjo-Growingthunder is married to George Growing Thunder. Her mother-in-law is beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty. Tahnee has three step-children, and the couple have two daughters, both of whom are emerging artists.
