[3] T. C. Cannon enrolled in the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe in 1964, where he studied painting with Fritz Scholder (Luiseño).

[5] In 1972, Cannon and fellow artist Fritz Scholder (Luiseño) had a two-man exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Collection of Fine Arts, titled Two American Painters.

In this exhibition, according to Janet Berlo and Ruth Phillips, Cannon and Scholder subverted visual stereotypes about Native Americans, creating an exploration "in irony and kitsch" which "opened up a new phase of contemporary art".

[6] Cannon produced a large body of work over the next six years, in preparation for his one-man show, scheduled to open at the Aberbach Gallery in New York in October 1978.

Cannon painted murals at the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle, Washington, and the Santa Fe Opera Guild.