ArtOFocus k l a h o m a
O k l a ho m a V i s ual A r ts C oal i t i on
Vo l u m e 3 0 N o . 6
November/December 2015
Art Focus
Ok l a h o m a
from the editor Perhaps it’s this time of year that always makes us a little bit more sentimental, but in sitting down to think about this issue as a whole, one word kept coming to mind—heart. Not that Oklahoma art ever lacks this quality—it certainly does not. But in editing this collection of essays, I was struck by the deeply personal connection many of our writers had to their subjects. As a result, this is an issue that equally balances the intellectual and emotional. The spectrum of art writing often runs the gamut from cerebral to visceral. Moreover, arts discourse can range from laudatory to critical. It can lead us to think differently, or sometimes stir up our emotions. But it’s important to remember that “critical” is not necessarily synonymous with “negative”. If a piece of criticism offers an artist some insight, which in turn leads to them improving their practice, then we as art writers have done our job. We are in the midst of wrapping up OVAC’s 2015 Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship program. The Fellows have just experienced a year of critical thinking and writing under the guidance of national leaders in the field. To celebrate the next generation of art writers, we will be devoting most of the January/February issue to writings from the program. Resulting, you may see some different things next issue. First, as a participant in the program myself, I will be stepping aside as Editor for just that issue and turning the reins over to Kirsten Fleur Olds, who will be serving as Guest Editor. Second, you may see some writings from areas outside of Oklahoma—as some Fellows come from our regional partner cities. Third and foremost, you may see a different type of writing than you may be used to seeing contained within these pages. I think I speak for all of OVAC when I say that we are excited to provide a forum for this artistic endeavor, and will use this opportunity as a new tool in our ever-growing mission to provide support to art and artists. Sincerely,
Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition 730 W. Wilshire Blvd., Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 ph: 405.879.2400 • e: director@ovac-ok.org visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org Executive Director: Holly Moye director@ovac-ok.org Editor: Lauren Scarpello publications@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson speccreative@gmail.com
Art Focus Oklahoma is a bimonthly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the visual arts in Oklahoma. Mission: Supporting Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities. OVAC welcomes article submissions related to artists and art in Oklahoma. Call or email the editor for guidelines. OVAC welcomes your comments. Letters addressed to Art Focus Oklahoma are considered for publication unless otherwise specified. Mail or email comments to the editor at the address above. Letters may be edited for clarity or space reasons. Anonymous letters will not be published. Please include a phone number. OVAC Board of Directors July 2015 - June 2016: Renée Porter, Norman (President); Susan Green, Tulsa, (Vice President); Michael Hoffner, Oklahoma City, (Secretary); Gina Ellis, Oklahoma City, (Treasurer); Bob Curtis, Oklahoma City; Hillary Farrell, Oklahoma City; Jean Ann Fausser, Tulsa; Jon Fisher, Moore; Titi Fitzsimmons, MD, Oklahoma City; Joey Frisillo, Sand Springs; Janet Shipley Hawks, Tulsa; Ariana Jakub, Tulsa; Stephen Kovash, Oklahoma City; Travis Mason, Oklahoma City; Suzanne Mitchell, Norman; Douglas Sorocco, Oklahoma City; Christian Trimble, Edmond; Margo von Schlageter, MD, Edmond; Dean Wyatt, Owasso. The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus Oklahoma. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff.
Lauren Scarpello publications@ovac-ok.org
Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the Americans for the Arts. © 2015, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.
Support from:
On the cover: Shane Scribner, Kaitlyn, Oil on Panel 11.75 x 19.5 (on four panels), 2015. Page 10.
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View the online archive at www.ArtFocusOklahoma.org.
contents
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Unspoken Woman: But Can You Hear Ronna Pernell?
Pernell’s newest body of work explores identity and the lives of African women.
Randy Watkins: The Last of the Oklahoma Truss Bridges
Watkins documents the architectural ingenuity and artistic beauty of Oklahoma’s disappearing bridges.
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In This Place We Have Become: Sara and Shane Scribner
The Scribners are local legends in Enid, Oklahoma—and nationally known for their allegorical portraits.
10 Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art
The OSU Museum of Art pairs 19th and 20th century objects with contemporary works in a conceptual exhibition.
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12 Retracing
New works from four FRINGE artists come together to tell distinct stories of personal journeys.
14 The Unbearable Absence of Landscape
This state-wide community outreach project will cloak 108 Contemporary and bring environmental concerns into focus.
F e a t u re s 16 The Eloquent Object: The Legacy of Thomas Manhart
An upcoming retrospective planned for 2017 will explore Manhart’s legacy of work.
18 Momentum Tulsa 2015: An Inside Look
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Emerging Curator Mary Kathryn Moeller reflects on her experiences working with the 2015 Spotlight Artists.
20 On the Map: City of Ada
AdaFest enjoyed a successful rebirth this past August, touting the city’s rich artistic roots, and asserting future plans.
22 Ekphrasis: Art & Poetry
Inspired by Sarah Leis’ collage, poet Benjamin Myers recalls the mark of a distinctive memory.
Business of Art 25 Ask a Creativity Coach: Maximizing Your Potential Tips on creating a body of work based on a theme.
26 OVAC News 28 Gallery Guide
(p. 4) Ronna Pernell, 2015 (p. 10) Akua’ba Figure, Pregnant, 20th century, Wood 13” x 5”, Gift of Larry W. and Mattie R. Harms (p.14) The Unbearable Absence of Landscape. Image courtesy of Romy Owens.
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Ronna Pernell, Awakened, 2015.
UNSPOKEN WOMAN: But Can You Hear Ronna Pernell? by B.L. Eikner
Unspoken Woman is a collection of twentytwo new images of African Women in various places, spaces, and life experiences. Ronna Pernell has been working in stippling for quite some time and is moving her practice from black dots on white paper to white dots on gray mat board. The results are deeper dimensions and richer textures. Pernell channels her inspiration through the technique, “Through the use of stippling, the artistic concepts are able to connect the past to the present and allow the viewers to envision the future.”
and community. They go to work with their mothers, attend religious ceremonies, participate in social events, and have other community encounters. Pernell dressed the mother elegantly with head wrap, jewelry, and flowing garb which indicates an appearance at a celebration. The child has a dark spot in the middle of his forehead which may indicate innocence or openness to knowledge. Though the stipple process is a singular color, it creates texture, volume and rhythms on the faces and bodies of both mother and child.
“The literal connection of charcoal and pen on paper allowed me to begin to tell the stories of people, primarily from the African Diaspora, their challenges, their joys, and their everyday experiences.” The exhibit will be accompanied by brief audio narratives of each image read by Dr. Melanie Bratcher, PhD, Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of Words and Songs of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.
Hidden Mist is an image of a woman and her younger self. It begs the question, when do we grow up and become women? Is it just age or life experiences? Is it when we bear children or bear the burdens of the world? Pernell states, “As a young girl transitions into a young woman, the world begins to see her and sometimes does not fully understand who she is. Young girls are often forced to grow up before they are mentally and physically ready.” The dual images reflect the two personalities that exist in many cultures and voice issues of safety and security of women.
The narratives reach deep into the artist’s feelings and emotions on how women are silenced around the world, and particularly in Africa, not only in day to day life, but even in the creative world. “With every piece of work, I was able to expand my creative message to tell a story of hope, of empowerment, and to allow the viewer to understand the culture of those that have achieved success through faith and determination.” Pernell illustrates the show’s namesake, Unspoken Woman, on the backdrop of the continent of Africa. Pernell has taken extra care to make this young woman, who is seeking to be heard, beautiful and without blemish. She states on the central piece of the exhibit, “Her voice is heard without her saying a word. Her beauty glows from the inside out and her presence demands our undivided attention. She does not speak but we hear her voice emanating from her soul.” In speaking to the role of women as mothers, Nurturing the Children shows infants that are not just carried on the backs of African women, but planted in a position of safety to grow into active members of the family
Unspoken Woman opens November 16, 2015 through January 17, 2016 in the Oklahoma State Capitol, North Gallery, 2300 N Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, 73105. Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and, weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. The opening reception will be Friday, November 20, 2015 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and the public is invited. The special website launch of unspokenwoman.com will be November 20, 2015. Editor’s note: Pernell received an OVAC Creative Projects Grant in 2015, which helped fund the creation of this body of work. n B.L. Eikner is owner of Trabar & Associates, author of How Do You Love…When? and Dirt and Hardwood Floors. She can be reached via email at Trabar@windstream.net, or Twitter @trabar1.
(top) Ronna Pernell, Nurturing the Children, 2015 (bottom) Hidden Mist, 2015
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RANDY WATKINS: The Last of the Oklahoma Truss Bridges by: Jill Hardy
Randy Watkins, Blackburn Bridge, Digital Photograph, 2013
H.G. Wells once said, “There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.” The thought of finding beauty in industrialized marvels of engineering isn’t a new idea, but it may be one that takes a mental gear shift for some art lovers. The same principles of appreciation for lines in space, visual harmony, workmanship and other aspects of what we traditionally consider “art” still apply, but there also has to be a recognition of elements we may not automatically associate with it. Photographer Randy Watkins is sharing both his love of the Oklahoma landscape and his deep admiration for the engineered art of the
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old truss bridges that dot our state through a series called the Oklahoma Historical Bridge Project. Watkins began his photography career almost a decade ago, after an interest provoked him to take a photography class at OCU. That initial foray led to almost 24 hours of photography study at the university, and seeing what he considered a dearth of good landscape photography prompted him to make that a focus. “I saw no one was really doing anything like that,” Watkins says. “Oklahoma is a beautiful state, I grew up here and think it’s beautiful.” Watkins aims to highlight a part of our state’s history by capturing images of bridges that may eventually all be replaced by non-steel alternatives. He’s also driven to encourage
recognition of the aesthetic and practical contributions of truss bridges. Truss bridges are comprised of trusses, connected beams that form units to bear the weight of the traffic on a bridge. Before the age of materials like concrete, and the rise of mass manufacturing, the security and longevity of a bridge depended on the sort of innovation and understanding of physics found in the construction of truss bridges. After 1850, steel mostly replaced wood as the material of choice for trusses, but the appearance of the designs needed to properly shift the balance of the bridge’s burdens remained the same. Ranging from simple to complex, the basic styles of truss bridges give them a geometric, eyeholding interest.
(above left) Randy Watkins, Carpenter’s Buff Bridge, Digital Photograph, 2012. (top right) Rusty Steel, Digital Photograph, 2014. (bottom right) Loyd-Dover Bridge, Digital Photograph, 2013.
Watkins points to the cultural contributions of truss bridges as an additional reason to celebrate them. “It took a lot of men to build them,” Watkins says. “Steel was expensive, but the result was strong bridges. A lot of people had a lot of pride in the craft that was involved.” “They were vital—for transport of different types—so there was an economic benefit. A lot of history happened around bridges. A lot of memories for kids have to do with bridges, hanging out, fishing off of them.” The severe flooding in Oklahoma this past spring caused the loss of some truss bridges, but the need for improvement in many roads, coupled with a modern reliance on concrete and quick construction turnaround constitutes their biggest threat. Watkins’ desire to capture the bridges through photography and share them with others has
a sense of urgency for this reason, and the fact that their replacements are often lacking in creative appeal gives his mission a poignancy. “They’re just not like the Plain Jane concrete bridges we have now,” Watkins says. “There’s not as much intricacy in the design.” Romantic notions about the price of progress aside (steel truss bridges were themselves a sign of industrial advances at one time, after all), the need to commemorate pieces of our past before they disappear is real. Randy Watkins has taken on that challenge, as well as the additional one of presenting the engineered elegance of truss bridges as art, and an important element of the Oklahoma landscape.
“To me, a lot of them are works of art.” Randy’s Oklahoma Historical Bridge Project is showing at the Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum in Woodward in November 2015, and at Graceful Arts in Alva, July 2016. To keep updated on Randy’s progress with the truss bridge series, and see more of his photography, visit randywatkinsphotography.com. Editor’s note: Watkins received an OVAC Creative Projects Grant in 2015, which helped fund the creation of this body of work. n Jill Hardy is a freelance writer and can be reached at jdhardy4@msn.com.
“They were just big, massive monuments, growing out of the soil,” Watkins says.
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IN THIS PLACE WE HAVE BECOME: Sara and Shane Scribner by Lucie Smoker
Shane Scribner, Jessica in White, Oil on Panel, 10x30, 2015.
Mention art to almost anyone in Enid and they will proudly tell you about the Scribners, our local, world-class painters. “You should visit their gallery downtown.” It doesn’t matter that it closed years ago when the artists started showing their work all over the country; that gallery still dominates the town’s artistic memory. So with trepidation I set out to interview the Scribners, not wanting to dismantle the legend, but at the same time a bit skeptical of it.
As Sara leads me past a pair of easels, confirming that she and Shane paint sideby-side every day, an onlooking magical guardian pauses her conversation with the grey fox. From a towering, six-foot grove of red and white hollyhocks, she seems to be asking who I am and assessing whether I pose a threat to the vulnerable world she protects. Unnamed and unfinished, this enchantress already owns that greatest gift from the artist—courage.
Entering their massive, workaday studio, past comfy mismatched couches and a light stage for models, I’m torn between getting to know the artists themselves and meeting all the other “people” about the place. Alright, they’re paintings, but they’re not shy and they keep luring my attention away from the Scribners, plainspoken in jeans.
She will come out at the Scribners’ exhibit, In This Place We Have Become, through November at the Paseo District’s JRB Art at the Elms. It’s a sort of homecoming for two painters who chose Oklahoma as their home. Straight out of art school, they came here for peace and low rent. Now, after eleven years of love and paint, they have achieved that rare career moment of their work being still fresh, ever evolving, and at the same time—in high demand.
Shane explains that while he and Sara never considered giving up painting, in the early years, the bills didn’t always get paid and the lights got cut off. As he speaks, Jessica in White illuminates the wall behind him. Flushed pink against a harsh, deconstructed white glow, she lies curled up with thoughts of another place, a cherished moment. I want to tap her on the shoulder and ask, “Are you okay?” except the artist mentions that she’s grieving. I’ll give her a little leeway.
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Each of the Scribners has a unique style, but their works complement one another. Shane’s abstractions bathed in colored light bring out a fluidity in the human form, while Sara’s magical realism sends ripples down the line between fantasy and true space in real time. Sara Scribner, A Harmony Became Them, Oil on Panel, 18x24, 2015
A Harmony Became Them, like many of her paintings, explores the dual themes of natural magic and feminine strength. Standing between a no-nonsense Dianaof-the-wilderness and a wise patron insect, I can almost hear their hushed secrets. This Diana isn’t smiling or posed to please someone else. She’s rapt with attention and ready, if necessary, to fight. Each of Sara’s works is more a doorway into another world than an art panel, yet one quality permeates them—confidence.
Each of these women is not only certain that she exists, but that she carries a past and is forging the future she wants out of it. Even her Time Keeper, dark and tortured by power, believes in herself and her mission. Such bold self-worth feels contagious. With that same assuredness, Fading by Shane reveals something about himself, a deep respect for the non-sexualized female image; and something about everyone— we’re perfect, every inch of us, and we don’t have to feel self-conscious about it. Like the Scribners’ in their eleven-year marriage, we don’t have to compromise or put on airs. And perhaps that’s the takeaway from an exhibit built on years of uncompromising creativity. Maybe art reaches deepest when it’s not self-conscious, but self-aware. Like the guardian in Sara’s unfinished painting, perhaps we all feel a little vulnerable when life intrudes on the magic of our personal space.
As Sara tells me how sometimes they paint all day, other times they teach figure drawing or drive out to Cherokee to sketch hollyhocks, the blue serenity of Shane’s Release keeps drawing me back for another gaze. Actually a pair of mirror-image paintings, it seems to sum up this moment in their career. “It’s good to have people calling us,” says Shane, “but it doesn’t feel like success. We set new goals.” Like his painting bathed in blue light, the Scribners are confident—and rising. In This Place We Have Become opens at JRB Art at the Elms in Oklahoma City November 4-28. The opening reception is Friday, November 2, 6-10 p.m. n
The Scribners in their studio.
Lucie Smoker is a suspense author, poet and freelance writer specializing in the arts. Learn more at luciesmoker.wordpress.com.
BIOTICA & FOLLIES: CRYSTAL WAGNER AND KATHLEEN TRENCHARD
October 2 – November 22, 2015 Biotica: Crystal Wagner will create a floor to ceiling gallery installation using brightly colored paper.
Follies: Kathleen Trenchard’s papel picado, or cut paper pieces, feature Day of the Dead motifs in traditional Mexican style.
108 East M.B. Brady Street, Tulsa, OK 74103 www. 108contemporary.org
Images: (top) Deluge by Crystal Wagner, (bottom) Tango in Black by Kathleen Trenchard Brady Craft Alliance, Inc., dba 108|Contemporary, is a charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art by Alison Rossi
from its original structure, a mud brick granary, becomes an intriguing sculptural form in the exhibition. Conjoined slats of wood bear lively, low-relief carvings of animal and figural forms; only a lock, an anthropomorphic protrusion cleaved by crossbars, provides insight as to the utility of the object. When one imagines this door guarding the entrance to a family’s vital supply of millet, there is a palpable sense of what has been lost: time, culture, architecture and the artist.5 Nineteenth and early twentieth century African art objects such as the Dogon door frame contemporary works throughout the exhibition. While a significant range of creative expressions over two centuries (largely drawn from the OSU Museum of Art’s permanent collection) are represented, the exhibition manages to forge “connections between cultures within Africa as well as between African nations and the rest of the world”6. Performance by Olaniyi R. Akindiya (AKIRASH), September 29, 2015. Photo courtesy of the OSU Museum of Art.
Contemporary art from Africa has recently garnered much attention. However, as Kevin Dumouchelle, Associate Curator of Arts of Africa & the Pacific Islands at the Brooklyn Museum, has stated, “Contemporary art from the African continent is not ‘emerging’.... the artists and movements recognised and celebrated in the west today are the product of a long and still widely underappreciated history”.1 While the demand for contemporary African art is high, historical works of African art often featured more prominently in Western museum collections. Museums are challenged to demonstrate the continuum of Africa’s diverse and dynamic creative traditions through the present rather than to perpetuate the misconception of African art as primordial and timeless.2 The exhibition, Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art at the Oklahoma State Museum of Art harnesses this challenge and presents a fresh 1 Kevin D. Dumouchelle “Exciting and Dynamic, African Art is the Future” Special Report: The Business of African Art and Design, Financial Times, March 27, 2015. 2 Steven Nelson. “Untitled.” Art Bulletin 95.3 (2013): 371.
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and engaging conversation between historical and contemporary art from the African continent. Encompassing a variety of media, artists, styles and geographies, disparate works are linked through “Wákàtí, a West African concept among the Yoruba that refers to time as it unfolds and marks its passage with signs of change”.3 Dr. Moyo Okediji, exhibition curator and Professor of Art and Art History and Director of the Center for Art of Africa and Its Diasporas at the University of Texas at Austin, narrates the “...Wákàtí of a story with a beginning in Africa and a second life in the Americas” and probes the “...new Wákàtí of transatlantic experiences remembered and replayed across time and space.”4 A four by two foot Bamana door (figure 1) displayed nearly a century after its creation and geographically removed and separated 3 Moyosore Okediji, “”Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art,” OSU Museum of Art, https://museum.okstate.edu/exhibitions/ w%C3%A1k%C3%A0t%C3%AD-time-shapesafrican-art. 4 Moyosore Okediji, Brochure, Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art, OSU Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK, 2015.
Lagos-born, Austin-based Olaniyi Rasheed Akindiya, an artist known as AKIRASH, references sculptural works in the galleries from at least ten African ethnic groups in his provocative installation and performances that comprise part of the exhibition and its programming. For AKIRASH’s interactive September 29 performances, Batetele/Libation, ritually charged objects such as a white bird, cowrie shells, red oil and kola nuts, along with the act of body painting, evoked a traditional coming of age ceremony for boys in late adolescence. While the Dogon granary door underscores the disjunction of time and space, AKIRASH’s work “focuses on moments” and how time “can only be preserved through documentation”.7 Video footage of African women in the process of Akire painting emphasizes the cyclical as well as ephemeral nature of time. Annual execution of this ritual and communal painting tradition marks the new 5 Ibid 6 Louise Siddons, Sharing a Journey: Building the Oklahoma State Museum of Art Collection (Stillwater: Oklahoma State University, 2014), 46. 7 Olaniyi Rasheed Akindiya, “Artist’s Statement,” Art with Akirash, http://www.artwithakirash. com/#!artist-statement.
year and murals from the previous year, visual vestiges of time that has passed, are erased. Artist and School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty member D. Denenge Akpem responds to Akire painting and delves into the futuristic dimension of time in both her transdisciplinary work comprised of video, sculpture, painting, photography and installations and her October 8th performance. This Afro-Futurist artist “...interrogate[s] stereotypes, titillate[s] the senses...” and asks “...Who controls the future?”8 After experiencing Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art, a heightened awareness of time in the present may beget reflection and inquiry related to perceptions and experiences of African art. Dr. Arlette Klaric, Curator of Collections and Academic Initiatives at the OSU Museum of Art, hopes that “...visits to the museum are not just isolated cultural experiences”, but rather opportunities to “reveal how art can be integral to our understanding of larger issues of daily living”.9 Klaric’s intentions are realized in this exhibition that both responds to the need for broadened cultural understanding in contemporary society and encourages introspection and critical thought about universal themes such as time, gender, ritual and power. Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art is on view Sept. 21, 2015 - Jan. 16, 2016. All related programming is free and open to the public. OSU Museum of Art, 720 S. Husband Street, Stillwater, OK 74074-4619 (405) 744-2780 museum.okstate.edu n Alison Rossi teaches in higher education and serves as a museum consultant.
Olaniyi R. Akindiya (AKIRASH) installing mixed media work in the museum. Photo courtesy of the OSU Museum of Art.
THIS LAND
(Fig. 1) Bamana Granary Door, mid to early 20th century, Wood and Iron, 48” x 26 ½” x 2”, gift of Larry and Mattie Harms.
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8 D. Denenge Akpem, “Faculty Profiles, D. Denenge Akpem, Personal Statement, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, http://www.saic.edu/ profiles/faculty/ddenengeakpem/. 9 Klaric, Arlette. Personal Interview. September 2015.
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Retracing By Olivia Biddick
This December, MAINSITE Contemporary Art in downtown Norman will be home to Retracing, an exhibit comprised of four multidisciplinary FRINGE artists: Lisa Allswede, Brandi Downham, Christie Hackler, and Beatriz Mayorca. Although many words with the prefix “re” (revisit, rebirth, review etc.) can adequately describe the overarching theme of the exhibit, “retracing” sums it up best. The show is “drawing a line from our past to our future,” Allswede says. Each artist will (re)examine how they shape the art they make and vice versa. The artists’ interpretations of the theme and title “Retracing” range from learning to let go, to managing grief, evaluating and embracing childhood, and navigating cultural clichés. They do so using a rich and diverse visual language with media that includes painting, sewing, woodworking, and metal. As a result, the work will be unified through the common thread of the human experience, yet distinctly represent four unique and deeply personal journeys. FRINGE President Christie Hackler said, “While they each have their own unique stories, the underlying sub theme exists within taking stock of the past, considering their steps to the present, and gaining a perspective of hope for the future.” Hackler’s work focuses on personal freedom. She pursues the ideal of being able to move about the day free from pain, grief, and turmoil, or moreover, to have freedom from fear. “Fear causes a lot of problems and I feel that we protect ourselves by putting ourselves in a sort of cage or sometimes we are placed in the cage by a captor, thinking that we are being kept safe.” Hackler muses, “But there are some things that transcend capture – that cannot be tamed or tethered.” Artist and interior designer Beatriz Mayorca will showcase her Latin-influenced furniture as homage to her Venezuelan heritage. The juxtaposition of the warmth of wood with the coolness of metal or concrete speak to
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the contrasting complexities of place and identity, while the clean lines and gentle simplicity are meditative. A common distinction for Lisa Allswede in all her art, whether it is an installation, textile or watercolor piece, is to highlight flaws as a way to challenge beauty stereotypes. Allswede says her portion of the exhibit will be inspired by resilient women, particularly her grandmother, who had the courage to get a divorce and earn a master’s degree back when such a lifestyle was unheard of for a woman. Allswede moved to Oklahoma a few years ago. FRINGE was a way for her to join and communicate with fellow artists in a new city. I met the four artists at The Project Box, Allswede’s gallery in the Paseo Arts District. The space has a high ceiling with purple stucco on the outside and warm terracotta floors on the inside. Our voices reverberated off the art-filled walls.
Christie Hackler, Excavate II, Copper, Patina, 2010
These women are all very close, despite their varied backgrounds and busy lives. Downham lovingly referred to Mayorca as “Sporty Spice” when she saw her donning a colorful workout ensemble – just one anecdote on the humor and camaraderie found among these women. The meeting began with talk about the comings and goings of The Project Box and other galleries and artists. The conversation organically flowed through topics like accountability, typical days as an artist, work ethic, being new moms or empty nesters, and exciting new opportunities. We also discussed Retracing, and while at times the details and execution of the exhibit seemed ambiguous (we did meet early on in the process), the feel of FRINGE and the work that they do was straightforward. These women as artists and friends are able to work through their individual work, and in this case their past, with help from the people surrounding them – FRINGE members especially.
The exhibit will open on December’s Second Friday Art Walk, the 11th, with an opening reception from 6-10 pm. A closing reception will be on January’s Art Walk, the 8th, also from 6-10 pm. This is FRINGE’s second exhibit at MAINSITE. FRINGE is an encouraging community for women artists and a way for them to create and show their art. Since its inception in 2011, FRINGE has been able to focus more on quality over quantity in shows, allowing for artists to devote the proper amount of time and energy needed for creating challenging and fulfilling work.
FRINGE, Krystle Brewer. “Every organization benefits from new leadership and ideas,” says current president Hackler. n
(top left) Image courtesy of Brandi Downham (top right) Beatriz Mayorca, SELs Linear Chandelier, Mixed Media, 2014 (bottom right) Beatriz Mayorca, C-Side Tables, Wood, 2014
Olivia Biddick is the Office/Production Coordinator at CVWmedia in Norman. She has a BA in Journalism with an emphasis on Broadcasting and Electronic Media from the University of Oklahoma. Contact her at Olivia.biddick@gmail.com.
The organization will regroup in January 2016 and welcome the new president of
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The Unbearable Absence of Landscape By Erin Schalk
Installation sketch of The Unbearable Absence of Landscape. Image courtesy of Romy Owens.
In the face of daunting obstacles, some of the world’s greatest leaders and activists have understood that extensive change does not necessarily require awe-inspiring deeds by a select minority of heroes or heroines. Rather, earth-shaking revolutions can be achieved by the small, consistent efforts of large numbers of seemingly ordinary people. The Unbearable Absence of Landscape demonstrates how this principle can manifest in an artwork to promote positive regional and national transformation. The Unbearable Absence of Landscape is a monumentally sized fiber artwork, and its existence is largely due to the efforts of Oklahoma artist Romy Owens and 108 Contemporary’s Krystle Brewer. Scheduled for display in November, this work will cloak the façade of 108 Contemporary, serving as a visual continuation of the surrounding natural landscape. Formally, The Unbearable Absence of Landscape effectively combines the microcosmic and the macrocosmic. The work is comprised of thousands of eight by eight inch knitted squares. Microcosmic references are further intensified by the squares’ knitted construction. Each individual square is composed of over one thousand stitches. In
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effect, tens of thousands of stitches combine to create thousands of squares that create one cohesive fiber artwork, which happens to be one of the largest projects of its kind to date. Through color palette and composition, the work pays homage to the quintessential Oklahoman prairie landscape: an expanse of land blanketed by a vast, open sky. Visually, The Unbearable Absence of Landscape is a mosaic-like tapestry in its color and repetition as fiber swatches of green, brown and blue hues intermingle into a patchwork configuration with a steadily pulsating tempo. The Unbearable Absence of Landscape is not simply concerned with pushing scale from the intimate to the monumental. Ideas of microcosm and macrocosm manifest conceptually as well. Brewer and Owens sought the contributions of knitters and artists throughout the state of Oklahoma who made and donated thousands of knitted squares. Concurrently, the communitarian focus of the project reveals itself in the squares’ rhythmic variations. Hundreds of volunteers throughout Oklahoma contributed their yarn to make squares, and their individual diversities are reflected in a sky which shifts from white, to cream,
to various shades of blue, and to gray, as well as fields comprised of solid and variegated shades of green and brown. Ultimately, the work’s collaborative nature presented volunteers with a shared objective that brought individuals and regional communities throughout Oklahoma together. Brewer consistently highlights the importance of community outreach as a major motivating force for The Unbearable Absence of Landscape. Brewer sees this collaborative project as an opportunity to break down boundaries among people from various regions of the state through knitting circles. Owens also actively worked to foster this statewide collaboration by orchestrating knitting groups in Edmond, Enid, Guthrie, Ponca City, Norman and Stillwater. She also sought the assistance and inclusion of knitters from established organizations in Ada, Lawton, Midwest City, Oklahoma City, Tahlequah and Woodward. Owens’ and Brewer’s dedication to social betterment also extends to Women in Recovery, a program which provides rehabilitation alternatives to women facing prison sentences. While The Unbearable Absence of Landscape unites Oklahoma individuals and communities, it is simultaneously conscious
of grave ecological issues that are not only statewide, but also national and global concerns. In the past fifteen years, urban expansion and technological innovations have undoubtedly provided many Americans with increased convenience in everyday life. However, more and more people and organizations are becoming aware of the future complications that unchecked “progress” can cause. Owens explains the nature of these anxieties in relationship to The Unbearable Absence of Landscape. “The inspiration for the concept, aesthetic, and composition all come from a body of work I started in 2011, which stems from a dystopian concern that in the future the landscape will be unrecognizable. This is kind of a romantic plea to maintain the status quo in development because the faster we develop technologies and populations and everything, the faster we deplete our access to nature.” The assembled work will be installed in November with the generous support of Wallace Engineering and Manhattan Construction. For more information on The Unbearable Absence of Landscape and Tulsa’s 108 Contemporary Gallery, please visit http://108contemporary.org/program/knit-bomb and the project’s Facebook page facebook.com/groups/ theunbearableabsenceoflandscapes. Knitters’ accounts of their experiences as project participants can also be found at 108 Contemporary’s blog: 108contemporary.org/news. n Erin Schalk is a practicing artist and freelance writer. She earned her BFA from the University of Oklahoma in 2010, and she is currently an MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She may be reached at elschalk@gmail.com. Installation tests with Romy Owens. Image courtesy of the artist.
For the last two decades, we’ve been dedicated to bringing engaging content to a loyal reader base, growing along with the community we love to live in and talk about … and now it’s time to take our endeavors to the next level. With 405 Magazine, our award-winning team of editors, writers, designers and photographers – plus a few new additions to our growing staff – will keep readers connected to the highlights of life in central Oklahoma, while digging a little deeper to share substantial stories that resonate with everyone who calls (or wants to call) the 405 area code home.
Premier Issue NOVEMBER 2015 Our next chapter begins here. 405magazine.com
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THE ELOQUENT OBJECT: The Legacy of Thomas Manhart by Caroline Moore
Thomas Manhart, Untitled (#20), n.d., Ceramic, 3 5/8 x 3 5/8 in., Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; Gift of Professor Emeritus Roger Corsaw, 1981
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Conceptual and traditional, subdued and complex, structural and effortless are just a few of the tensions Thomas A. Manhart’s work embodies. Manhart was a ceramic artist and long-standing professor at The University of Tulsa (TU), known locally, nationally, and internationally for his ceramic and fiber accomplishments. Over his almost forty-year career, he exhibited work from his hometown in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to New York City, Florida, Norway, France, Germany, and Egypt. An upcoming retrospective of his oeuvre, to be mounted in the fall of 2017 at Living Arts of Tulsa, and the University of Tulsa’s Alexandre Hogue Gallery, offers a prime opportunity for the re-evaluation of his artwork and legacy in Oklahoma.
bright, even acidic, hues. Untitled (#20), also from the Fred Jones Jr. collection, presents a series of muted green and orange ceramic cubes, with shifting linear decorations on their sides. In another example, the graphic porcelain piece titled Table Ornament (1973) combines an older technique with the style of the colorful and bold 1970s. In this work, Manhart uses a porcelain practice that originated in 1850s France called pâte-surpâte, or literally “paste on paste,” to create the relief effects on the bright red semi-spherical piece. He integrated techniques from various cultural traditions—European, Asian, African—to produce particular formal effects and relished in bringing together opposites to create a harmonious whole.
Throughout his career, Manhart experimented with different material, textures, and processes and in so doing he expanded the boundaries of the traditional ceramic object. For example, Vase (1964), from the collection of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, possesses a traditional vase design tinged in earthy tones with pinched-in sides resembling the beak of a bird. It seems, at first glance, to be a conventional ceramic object, but looking again, one realizes that the artist has transformed the vessel into a face, manipulating the form into a direct expression of abstraction. From an early interest in organic forms and color palette Manhart moves to geometric shapes and
In addition to exploring a range of ceramic techniques, Manhart brought to bear on his work an abiding interest in mathematics and geology. Algorithm Series exemplifies this practice. Inspired by the Earth’s shifting plates and the repeating steps of mathematical algorithms, Manhart creates two-dimensional slab-built works with black terra sigillata (“sealed earth”) surfaces. The style of his Algorithm pieces undoubtedly takes the formalist and simplified approach apparent in Japanese pottery that Manhart may have gathered from his studies abroad and the influence of his longtime friend and fellow ceramicist, Toshiko Takaezu.
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Manhart stayed close to his roots as a native Oklahoman. He taught at TU for his entire career, beginning in 1962. During his tenure at TU, he was promoted to full Professor of Art, and he served in various administrative capacities, including as Director of the Alexandre Hogue Gallery and Chair of the School of Art. He officially retired from his professional career in 1999. As a professor, Manhart specialized in Contemporary American Decorative Arts and Art in Craft Media Criticism, creating the landmark book and exhibition The Eloquent Object: The Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945 in 1987 with his spouse and retired Executive Director for the Philbrook Museum of Art, Marcia Manhart. The “emotional and historical” approach by the Manhart duo in the Eloquent Object encouraged the recognition of craft into the realm of fine art. During the development of the project, Tom Manhart worked and met with some of the leading craft artists and art historians nationally and internationally at the time. The Eloquent Object contained essays by Manhart and other contributors, who analyzed the works of Judy Chicago, Pablo Picasso, James Surls, Kenny Scharf, and Robert Aronson, among many others. The Manharts’ efforts were awarded the Ninth George Wittenborn Memorial Award from the Art Libraries
Society of North America for their work with The Eloquent Object, which originated at the Philbrook Museum of Art and toured for three years to locations such as The National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan. Throughout his career, Manhart not only contributed artistically to ceramics, fiber, and craft, but also to scholarship in these areas. He wrote numerous essays for museum and gallery catalogues, among them William Harper—Artist as Alchemist, published by the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida (for which he was also curator for the 1989−91 show) as well as the essays, “The Art of William Harper” and “Two Modern Masters: Jun Kaneko and William Harper,” for The Society for Arts in Crafts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Manhart and his artwork have been the subject of many books and articles, among them Selections from the Collection of George M. Irwin and Contemporary Ceramic Techniques. Periodicals, such as Craft Horizons, have also featured and reproduced his artwork. Interested in exploring new questions, Manhart delved into a range of fields that required design, technical, and architectural talent and expertise. Although known for his ceramics and fiber art, he liked to work with metals and other materials, and he created geometric jewelry and traditional handmade musical instruments. He produced wall hangings (one of which is in the Oklahoma State Art Collection) that melded his expertise with ceramic and fiber techniques, playing the hardness of ceramic materials off the fluidity of textiles. One such Wall Hanging, for example, was awarded first prize in the Fibers category at the Oklahoma Designer Craftsmen Exhibition in 1972. A sort of engineer and chemist, Manhart researched and experimented with different glaze chemicals and formulas. In 1984, he even created computer programs for IBM computers that could calculate glaze formulas. He spent considerable time developing glazes using safe materials (as some traditional formulas using uranium and other minerals were deemed health hazards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), while also replicating classic glazes. Additionally, Manhart expanded his realm as
an artist to work with the architect Richard Neutra in building a model for the AIA architect’s submission to the Dusseldorf theatre competition in the 1950s. Neutra and Manhart’s model received top honors and the architect’s design was executed in Germany. Manhart also worked with Neutra in a collaboration to enhance the streets in downtown Tulsa to be more “walker-friendly.” To many, it was Manhart’s passion for teaching that completed his career as an artist, writer, builder, designer, and teacher. Former student Jerri Jones remembers how “he once told me teaching was his utopia.” She appreciated how he “provided kind, inspired guidance for his students to succeed in ceramic work, yet he was also a taskmaster. He was both a friend and an objective critic of my art… I cherish the time I was a student of his.” Manhart taught and lectured the entirety of his artistic career. He led many lectures and workshops around the world and back home with well-known international ceramicists such as Yih-Wen Chuo and Marilyn Levine (whose Spot’s Suitcase, at the Philbrook Museum, is a ceramic tour-de-force). In 1989, Manhart was honored with the Harwelden Award for Individual Contributions to the Arts and Humanities for his work and contribution to craft and art as an influential teacher and artist in Tulsa. His work can be found today in private and permanent public collections such as the Philbrook Museum of Art, the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, and the George Irwin Collection in Quincy, Illinois. Manhart’s legacy lives on in his artwork and in the recollections of former students, friends, and colleagues. Living Arts of Tulsa and the TU School Art invite those who knew Thomas Manhart or have some of his work to contact them in advance of the upcoming joint retrospective, scheduled to be held in the fall of 2017. Please contact Steve Liggett (steve@livingarts.org) with any information. n Caroline Moore is a junior undergraduate at the University of Tulsa majoring in Art History and Art Management. She is a past intern at Living Arts of Tulsa and is a curatorial assistant for the Thomas Manhart retrospective.
(top) Thomas Manhart, Covered jar, 1972, Ceramic Stoneware, 12 ½ x 6 ½ in. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; Museum purchase, 1972 (middle) Ceramic Bowl, 1967, Ceramic, 2 3/8 x 8 in. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; ADF Museum Purchase, 1967 (bottom) Table Ornament with pat/sur/ pat, 1973, Ceramic Earthenware, 4 x 6 ½ in. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; Purchased with funds from the Charles Merrill Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1973
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Momentum Tulsa 2015: An Inside Look By Mary Kathryn Moeller
Erin Raux, Long Distance Call, Mixed Media, 2015. In-process studio image courtesy of the artist.
This is a very different type of article for me to write for Art Focus Oklahoma. I have covered OVAC’s Momentum Tulsa exhibition before but never as the Emerging Curator. This time it is a personal experience for me and one in which I have a vested professional interest. Much like Oklahoma’s young artists featured in the exhibition, I am growing my curatorial practice. The opportunity to work with the three Spotlight Artists and to learn from the Curator, American Meredith, has been very rewarding. It has challenged me to think about artistic process and curatorial practice in new ways. We met for the first time as a team in July and arranged studio visits for August. Our first stop was Ashley Farrier’s studio in Stillwater to view her work for Momentum as well as those for which she recently received one of OVAC’s Student Awards of Excellence. Ashley’s painting practice draws on the long tradition of history painting that dominated the great Salons until the dawn of modern art. For her Spotlight project, Ashley engaged in a highly personal exploration of grief and family ties in her series of oil paintings entitled After the Hopelessness. The narrative underlying these painting is her family’s journey through her grandmother’s battle with cancer. Though the figures in Ashley’s paintings are set against dark backgrounds and
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shrouded in shadows, they are surrounded by glowing orbs of light and blooming flowers. Ashley said, “My last body was a narrative about my family and I made in a particular time period that takes the audience from a happy family to a broken one. With this new body I wanted to go more positive and express hope coming in to, not only my life, but to others as well.” As evident by her choice of title for the series, these works focus on the process of healing and the personal growth that can come from experiences of grief and the trauma of losing a loved one. It is a process Ashley hopes inspired viewers at Momentum. We next visited Erin Raux at her studio space in Norman. Similarly to Ashley, Erin investigated topics of personal loss and memory spurred by the death of her grandmother. In her Spotlight project, Long Distance Call, Erin built a standard-sized phone booth out of cardboard and constructed a shrine which included wax, hair, and dirt. The booth also contained the skeletal remains of a rotary phone installed in the cardboard frame. Her project drew on the history of spiritualism and fascinating, if morose, practices surrounding grief in the Victorian age.
I asked Erin what she found to be the most exciting and challenging aspects of her Spotlight proposal. She stated, “I have found the most challenging and most exciting things about the work are often the same for me. I have never built something as large as the phonebooth/shrine and I love watching it all come together. It’s becoming a physical reality now because of this opportunity, rather than a part of my imagination.” Erin also designed her project to be interactive insomuch as viewers can enter the phone booth and spend time reflecting on their own experiences of loss. As Erin told me, “I want my viewers to feel contemplative; to feel like something just happened to them. I am working in this grey area of sentiment and nostalgia, basing much of the creepier parts of my work on Twilight Zone episodes and the like. It’s important for me that my audience feels like they are engaging in a participatory event, they are witnessing something.”
its sister show Momentum OKC are vital experiences for both artists and audiences. These exhibitions allow us to take the pulse of young artists and understand their “State of the Arts” in Oklahoma, while providing them the space and support to delve deep into their practice. Momentum Tulsa was October 2-23 at Living Arts. Momentum OKC will be March 4-5, 2016. n Mary Kathryn Moeller is a curator, arts writer, and educator. She is available via e-mail at mkmoeller77@gmail.com.
Ellen Moershel is also based in Norman and our visit to her studio allowed us to see her progress on her monumental gouache and ink paintings on paper, entitled Apple Country. Though Ellen has worked in large scale before, she has not done it in paper. It is the delicacy of the paper juxtaposed against the monumentality that Ellen finds so challenging and yet so rewarding. As she told me about her progress, “So far, I am enjoying the scale of these pieces. It has been challenging, but I have been looking for a challenge. The hardest part is reminding myself to be patient; I want the image to appear on the paper more quickly than I am able to work. I can’t allow myself to make rash decisions simply because I want to see the picture sooner. If I am not steady and thoughtful, I could easily mess up the entire composition.” As with much of the history of abstract art, Ellen’s conscientious and deliberate process might seem at odds with her wild and colorful compositions. Like other pieces in her existing body of work, Ellen utilizes large expanses of white space to create an environment in which her colors and shapes exist. As she stated in her proposal, the white space acts as “as a two dimensional gallery” for her amorphous designs. With that in mind, the pairing of two of these massive paintings creates for viewers an entire space within a space that draws them in. It is as immersive and contemplative as Ashley and Erin’s work yet in a remarkably different way. A new element to this year’s Momentum was a satellite show which ran concurrent with the main exhibition. Opening just ahead of larger exhibition, Momentum on Paper featured a small selection of works on paper as well as work by the three Spotlight Artists. Part of the purpose of this new addition to the Momentum line-up is to give the Emerging Curator a further chance to expand her curatorial acumen. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to curate this satellite show which gave viewers a small preview of what to expect at Living Arts. The exhibit was shown at Mainline Art Gallery in Tulsa. Watching these three Spotlight Artists develop leading up to the exhibition only strengthened my faith that Momentum Tulsa and
Nancy Friese The University of Tulsa School of Art presents Encircling Trees and Radiant Skies, an Exhibition by Ruth Mayo Distinguished Visiting Artist Nancy Friese. “I construct a piece slowly and in repeated outdoor sessions. Watercolor can be both additive and subtractive and lends itself to quick progressions. Being at the site, I use composites of nature to create the whole. Moving light, contrasting textures, a wide scope and scale continue to enthrall me. The whole painting project is both an exhilarating and experiential occasion.” The Nancy Friese Exhibition Encircling Trees and Radiant Skies will be on view from November 5th through December 17th. Nancy Friese will provide a lecture on her work at 5:00 P.M. on November 12 in the Jerri Jones Lecture Hall at the School of Art, Room 211. There will also be a reception at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery on November 12 from 5:00 P.M. – 7:00. P.M. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M.–4:30 P.M. Early Moonrise, Watercolor, 41” x 41” For more information, visit www.cas.utulsa.edu/art/ or call 918.631.2739 • TU is an EEO/AA institution
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ON THE MAP: City of Ada by Jill Hardy
ON THE
Ada, Oklahoma may not be high on the list of cities that come to mind when one thinks of a vibrant, thriving arts community, but the newly revamped AdaFest may change that. Eastern Central University Art Department Chair Brad Jessop, who spearheaded the rebirth of the festival, believes that this year’s AdaFest—a reinvented version of the Main Street Festival that the city hosted in the 90s—brought Ada’s art district back into the public eye. There is also the long term goal of infusing new blood into the city’s art scene; funds raised by AdaFest annually will go towards raising the amount of financial incentives currently offered for artist residencies. “Our ultimate goal,” says Jessop, “Is to increase funding for our artist relocation grants.” The typical image of a university town with a strong art department is one that educates and strengthens the budding artist, and then sends them off to a big metropolis to build a career. Jessop believes that Ada can not only resist that dynamic, but create a new one— built on the foundation of the city’s little known artistic heritage. “Surprisingly, Ada has had a long history of being almost like Memphis,” Jessop says. “There are a lot of music and visual artists that have either passed through or been associated with Ada. Blake Shelton, Hoyt Axton – we have deep musical roots, jazz musicians and rock and country musicians as well as visual artists.” Rather than have people pack up and leave, Jessop says it’s nice to keep them in the area. “Both pop culture and high culture—we want to keep it here. Share it with the rest of Oklahoma and the world, but also keep it here. And keep it vibrant. Long term we’d
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like to support artists relocating into our arts district—the synergy of a lot of artists together is a much different atmosphere.” The goal of cultivating Ada’s art community was one that garnered support for Jessop and AdaFest’s board; in addition to the Oklahoma Arts Council and other local sponsors, the festival received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. “We were approached by the NEA after sending our proposal and they partially funded us this first year,” says Jessop. “We’ve been able to raise funds through the university, and several local businesses and non-profits have partnered with us.” The rousing success of the first year of the revived AdaFest should make it easy to build momentum for future years, and the work of increasing both awareness of the arts in Ada, and the community that provides it. The unofficial head count for the evening attendance of the festival, which was held on Centennial Plaza in Ada, was over 5,000. A variety of activities (including Ada’s first beer garden) kept the crowd entertained, along with a musical lineup that included indie acoustic duo Dirty Derringer, husband and wife team Rowdy Folk, Ada-based pop band Haniwa, awardwinning Native American flute-centric Injunuity, and Grammy nominee John Fullbright. Local artists Scott Twitchell, Kelly Pennington, Chance Brown and Erin Weatherill were on hand displaying their work alongside vendors like Caddo Pottery, Emma’s Goat Milk Kitchen, Rustic Ridge and Mother Road Merch. Family-friendly offerings like a bouncy house and face painting made the festival a hit with kids, and the ample parking,
Images from AdaFest courtesy of ECU.
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accessibility efforts, and plenty of food trucks made it easy for everyone to enjoy. Brad Jessop says that the general feeling is that there’s been significant mileage gained on the road to success in the dream of amping up Ada’s art community.
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“All of us on the committee are exhausted,” Jessop says. “But all in all, we feel pretty good about how it went.” To stay in touch with developments in Ada’s Arts District, like their Facebook page: facebook.com/ArtsDistrictofAda. n Jill Hardy is a freelance writer and can be reached at jdhardy4@msn.com.
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Sarah Leis, Salad Days, Multi-media Collage, 22cm x 28cm, 2015
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EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetry edited by Liz Blood
Ekphrasis is a place for poets to express their imaginative understanding of a visual piece of art. Here, poem and artwork recall earlier times of life and year, reminding us that each interval is about beginnings and endings.
Benjamin Myers is the 2015-2016 Oklahoma State Poet Laureate and the author of two poetry books: Lapse Americana and Elegy for Trains. His poems have appeared in The Yale Review, The New York Quarterly, 32 Poems, The Christian Century, Nimrod, Redivider, and others. In 2011, he won an Oklahoma Book Award for Elegy. Myers teaches poetry writing and literature at Oklahoma Baptist University. Sarah Leis is an artist, graphic designer and educator living in Oklahoma City. She works primarily in pen & ink and collage. She teaches in the College of Art & Design at the University of Central Oklahoma and at Classen School of Advanced Studies.
Salad Days by Benjamin Myers We lay down in that apocalypse we called our 20’s and waited on stony ground to bloom into something like resurrection: new life shaking us like wind in the trees, like hubcaps on that car you drove back then. We ate a lot of lentils. The Pope came to St. Louis, and his bubble car blocked all traffic. I lay down at an incline so the change rolled from my pockets and carried away the little scraps of paper on which I had written my thoughts. Later, I slightly rear-ended a Chevy full of puppeteers, sliding in a heavy rain. When they opened their trunk to check, it was a little Antietam of wooden arms and legs. I wanted to laugh and to cry standing in the median in the downpour. I remember one puppeteer bent over the trunk, grimacing, yanking at the tangled strings, bidding his tiny, wooden people to rise.
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juried contemporary
CERAMICS EXHIBITION CALL FOR ENTRIES DIGITAL ENTRIES DUE Friday, Jan 15, 2016 to zgelona@uco.edu $25 entry fee
Opening Reception: 5 - 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb 4, 2016 Melton Gallery, Art and Design Building Exhibit will run through March 10
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN
ASK A CREATIVITY COACH: Got Talent? Motivation Matters More by Romney Nesbitt
ASK A CREATIVITY COACH:
MAXIMIZING YOUR POTENTIAL
by Romney Nesbitt
Dear Romney, I want to create a series of paintings on a theme, but painting with that much structure seems foreign to me. How can I keep my theme in mind without losing my creative spontaneity? — Go With the Flow Dear Flow, I commend your willingness to strike out and try a new approach. Artists create thematic exhibits tied to social issues, community concerns, health etc. These exhibits can fit in non-traditional settings such as hospitals, libraries, malls or museums. An unusual venue will introduce different groups of people to your art.
Romney Nesbitt is a Creativity Coach and author of SECRETS FROM A CREATIVITY COACH. She welcomes your comments and questions at romneynesbitt@gmail.com. Book her to speak to your group through OVAC’s ARTiculate Speakers Bureau.
To help you structure your thoughts around a theme I recommend Tom Sturges’ book, Every Idea is a Good Idea (2014). He offers twelve ideas to maximize your creative potential. One idea that may help you is called “a table of contents.” A table of contents in a book gives the reader a quick overview of the main ideas of the book. An artistic “table of contents” is a creative tool that will help you stay focused on your theme and structure your efforts. A table of contents defines your artistic intention—what you want your viewers to understand or experience--and provides a simple format to gauge your progress. What idea do you want to explore? This is your theme. A theme is almost like a working title for your body of work. Next list a number of ideas or images that visually express your theme. This list becomes your table of contents. Each painting is like a chapter in a story. How many chapters or images do you need to tell your story? Chapter by chapter, image after image, the table of contents tracks your progress to your final chapter/painting. Sturges’ table of contents is a creative tool that: •
Reminds you of your original intent and purpose
•
Allows you to see your project in a big-picture way
•
Helps you choose images that have the most thematic value
•
Serves as a finish line so you know how close you are to completion
•
When working thematically the artist’s challenge is to choose a set of visual images that are personally intriguing and engaging for the viewer. n
Experience the Historic Paseo! Local and national art, great food, art classes and plenty of shopping! 22 Galleries, 80 Artists ARTS DISTRICT
For more information about art classes, please see our website.
405.525.2688 www.thepaseo.org #FirstFridayPaseo
First Friday Gallery Walks every month FRIDAY 6-10 PM
business of art
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OVAC NEWS
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2015
The Oklahoma Art Writing & Curatorial Fellowship will hold this year’s final free public panel on November 7. Attendees will hear from three visiting experts on writing about art in academia: Robert Bailey, art historian and Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma; Lorelei Stewart, Director and Curator of Gallery 400 and faculty, University of Illinois at Chicago Museum and Exhibition Studies graduate program; and Karen vanMeenen, Editor of Afterimage, The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism and Lecturer, Rochester Institute of Technology Department of English. The panel will be held from 1-3 pm at MAINSITE Contemporary Art in Norman. Visit www.write-curate-art.org for more information. We are excited to host our first Collector Level Membership + Community Supported Art (CSA) Launch Event this November. Collectors will be invited to a reception with the artists to receive their first piece of original artwork. The program is a new way to connect art buyers with local artists. Through the CSA Program, collectors will receive 2 original pieces of art annually by Oklahoma artists and enjoy all of the additional benefits at the Patron Member
level. The next Launch Event will be held in the spring. For more information, or to sign up, please visit http://ovac-ok.org/getinvolved. Our Artist Survival Kit (ASK) workshop series continues this month with A Finger in Every Pie on Saturday, November 14, 1-4 pm at MAINSITE Contemporary Art, 122 E Main St, Norman. Creating a living from your creative practice isn’t always an easy road to navigate. For many successful working artists, a portfolio career (or varied income streams) is something to pursue and grow. In this workshop we hear from several artists working across a range of income streams – conventional and unexpected. After the presentations, join us for a panel discussion followed by a Q&A. This workshop is $15 for OVAC members and $20 for nonmembers. For more information, or to register, visit http://ovac-ok.org/programs/ ask-workshops/. Momentum OKC is an interactive, multidisciplinary art event highlighting Oklahoma artists age 30 and under on March 4 & 5, 2016. There will be over $1,500 in prizes selected by curator Trent Lawson and the emerging curator, who will be announced
later this month. Additionally, there is a $100 Viewer’s Choice Award selected by the audience. Currently, we are seeking Spotlight Artists to receive $2,000 and curatorial guidance to create a small body of work to exhibit. The Spotlight Artist application deadline is November 15. The general survey application will open in December. For more information on the event, visit www. MomentumOklahoma.org. The next quarterly deadline for all OVAC Grants is January 15. Applications are accepted monthly on the 15th for two of the five major grant categories: Education Grants and John McNeese Professional Development in Socially-Engaged Artwork Grants. All other grant categories are reviewed quarterly. Please visit http://ovac-ok.org/programs/ grants/ for a complete list of the available opportunities. Art People
The deadCenter Film Festival welcomes Oklahoma City native Lissa GumersonBlaschke to lead the organization as its new executive director. Blaschke attended Casady School and the University of Oklahoma.
Thank you to our new and renewing members from July and August 2015 Linda Alegria Ron Allen Randy Alvarado KL Andrew Emily Baker Bill Boettcher Dylan and Amanda Bradway Tammy Brummell Emily Burgess Sharon Caudle Karin Cermak Alesa Clymer Diane U. Coady Susan Cooper Ervin Crow Kyler William Daugherty Sara Downard
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ovac news
Brandi Downham Gina Ellis Janene Evard Hillary and Peter Farrell Lauren K. Florence Jim and Linda Franklin Joan Frimberger Amanda Gathright Barton Gernandt Meredith Gresham Stephanie Grubbs Ora Frasier Harrison Shane Hemberger Benjamin Herrington Gina Hoffman Rebekah Hogan Claudia Hunter
Andrea and Camille Jackson Robert James Yvonne Kauger, Oklahoma Judicial Center Mary Ketch Stephen Kovash Michele Lasker Bethany Lee Harolyn Long Elizabeth Lopez Eduardo Martinez Cindy Mason Lynette and Steven Mathis Joseph Messenbaugh Madison Miller Mary C. Monson Gregory Motto
Romney Oualline Nesbitt John and Jacqueline Odgers ElQuan Da Kuma Okonjo Nicole Poole Harold Porterfield Tony and Celia Powles Zachary Presley Amy Rockett-Todd Ladawna Sanco Jonna Kirschner & Jay Scambler Kayla Sherry D.G. Smalling Robert Smartt Richard and Jan Smith Anne Solomon Douglas Sorocco, Dunlap Codding
Bailey Spears Anne Spoon Karin Stafford and Rhonda Bell Ginger Tomshany Kathelene Vazquez Christine Verner Sandra Wallace B. J. White Carrie Wilson, Urban Art Lab Studios Jason Wilson Jime & Mike Wimmer Reginna Zhidov
AREZZO IN NORMAN
ON DISPLAY NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2015 FEATURING: ENRIQUE MOYA GONZALEZ, SARA LOVARI & MASSIMILIANO LUCHETTI
CLOSING RECEPTION: 6-10 P.M. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 OPEN 11 A.M. - 4 P.M. TUESDAY-SATURDAY
122 E. MAIN, NORMAN, OK 4 0 5 . 3 6 0 . 1 1 6 2 NORMANARTS.ORG M A I N S I T E - A R T. C O M
free to public bring own art supplies all ages music food
2015 Sept 14 Oct 16 Nov 9 Dec 7
SOCIAL
2016 Jan 25 Feb 22 NORICK ART CENTER at OCU March 21 April 18 6:00 - 8:30 OCUSchoolofVisualArts OCUSchoolof Art
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Gallery Listings & Exhibition Schedule Ada
Broken Bow
Durham
The Pogue Gallery Erin Shaw Exhibit Through Nov 24 Senior Exhibits Nov 30 – Dec 11 East Central University 900 Centennial Plaza (580) 559-5353 ecok.edu
Forest Heritage Center Beaver’s Bend Folk Festival & Craft Show November 13 – 15 Beaver’s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497 beaversbend.com
Metcalfe Museum 8647 N 1745 Rd (580) 655-4467 metcalfemuseum.org
Alva Graceful Arts Gallery and Studios Rooted In Opening Receptio: Jena Kodesh, Ken Crowder, and Audrey Schmitz Through November 6 Rooted In: Featuring Edana Caldwell, Roxy Merklin, Andrew Lauffer & Romy Owens Reception November 6, 6 – 8 pm The Spirit of Christmas Annual Show and Sale: Featuring Earl Kuhn, Carolyn Norton, Connie Moore, Calvin Graybill, Edana Caldwell, Brenda Weyrick & Vanessa Petitt Reception December 4, 6 – 8 pm 523 Barnes St (580) 327-ARTS gracefulartscenter.org
Ardmore
The Goddard Center Bobbie Moline-Kramer Through November 6 Seven-State Biennial Exhibition November 10 – 25 Kathy Sosa Opening December 1, 6 – 7 pm Through January 8 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909 goddardcenter.org
Bartlesville Price Tower Arts Center 510 Dewey Ave (918) 336-4949 pricetower.org
Chickasha Nesbitt Gallery The Artwork of Artists Chalet Comellas and Christina Poindexter Opening November 14, 7 pm Through December 4 University of Science and Arts Oklahoma 1806 17th St (405) 574-1344 usao.edu/gallery/schedule
Claremore Rogers State University 1701 W Will Rogers Blvd (918) 343-7740 rsu.edu Wolf Productions: A Gallery of the Arts 510 W Will Rogers Blvd (918) 342-4210 wolfproductionsagallery.com
Davis Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center Jim Trosper Nov 1st, 2015 – Feb 29th, 2016 35 N Colbert Rd (580) 369-4222 chickasawcountry.com/explore/ view/Chickasaw-nation-welcomecenter
Duncan Chisholm Trail Heritage Center The Art of Dylan Cavin November 3 – January 6 1000 Chisholm Trail Pkwy (580) 252-6692 onthechisholmtrail.com
Durant Southeastern OK State University 1405 N 4th PMB 4231
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gallery guide
Edmond Donna Nigh Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Dr (405) 974-2432 uco.edu/cfad Edmond Historical Society & Museum 431 S Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org Fine Arts Institute of Edmond Skip Hill Through November Santa’s Art Workshop/ Holiday Art Through December 27 E Edwards St (405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com Melton Gallery Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age 2001–2012 Through November 20 “INKED” Showcasing Printed Matter Opening December 1, 4 – 7 pm Through December 10 University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Dr (405) 974-2432 uco.edu/cfad University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 E Memorial Rd oc.edu
El Reno Redlands Community College Mike Wimmer Retrospective November 24 – January 23 1300 S Country Club Rd (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu
Guthrie Hancock Creative Shop 116 S 2nd St (405) 471-1951 hancockcreativeshop.wordpress.com
Owens Arts Place Museum 1202 E Harrison (405) 260-0204 owensmuseum.com
Guymon
All Fired Up Art Gallery 421 N Main (580) 338-4278 artistincubation.com
Idabel Museum of the Red River 40/40 (IV): 40 years, 40 objects Through November 8 812 E Lincoln Rd (580) 286-3616 museumoftheredriver.org
Lawton The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org Museum of the Great Plains 601 NW Ferris Ave (580) 581-3460 discovermpg.org
Norman The Crucible Gallery 110 E Tonhawa (405) 579-2700 thecruciblellc.com Dope Chapel 115 S Crawford (580) 917-3695 Downtown Art and Frame 115 S Santa Fe (405) 329-0309 Dreamer Concepts Norman Art Walk November 13 Norman Art Walk December 11 428 E Main (405) 701-0048 dreamerconcepts.org Firehouse Art Center 444 S Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com
Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers Through January 16 Immortales: The Hall of Emperors of the Capitoline Museums, Rome Through December 6 The Jerome M. Westheimer, Sr. & Wanda Otey Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair: James Surls Through December 555 Elm Ave (405) 325-4938 ou.edu/fjjma Lightwell Gallery Galileo’s World Through July 31, 2016 University of Oklahoma 520 Parrington Oval (405) 325-2691 art.ou.edu MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery 122 E Main (405) 360-1162 normanarts.org Moore-Lindsey House Historical Museum 508 N Peters (405) 321-0156 normanhistorichouse.org The Depot Gallery 200 S Jones (405) 307-9320 pasnorman.org
Oklahoma City
Acosta Strong Fine Art 6420 N Western Ave (405) 453-1825 johnbstrong.com aka gallery 3001 Paseo (405) 606-2522 aka-gallery.com [ArtSpace] at Untitled 1 NE 3rd St (405) 815-9995 artspaceatuntitled.org
Brass Bell Studios Ash Valentine November 1, 5 – 9 pm James K. Zeke Ruzicka December 6, 5 – 9 pm 2500 NW 33rd Contemporary Art Gallery 2928 Paseo (405) 601-7474 contemporaryartgalleryokc.com DNA Galleries Cody Rains, Eleazar Velazquez & Chandler Watson November 13 Trisha Thompson-Adams December 11 1705 B NW 16th St (405) 371-2460 dnagalleries.com Exhibit C Brenda Kingery Nov 1st, 2015 – Feb 29th 2016 1 E Sheridan Ave Ste 100 (405) 767-8900 chickasawcountry.com Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum 1400 Classen Dr (405) 235-4458 oklahomaheritage.com Grapevine Gallery 1933 NW 39th (405) 528-3739 grapevinegalleryokc.com Howell Gallery 6432 N Western Ave (405) 840-4437 howellgallery.com In Your Eye Studio and Gallery 3005A Paseo (405) 525-2161 inyoureyegallery.com Individual Artists of Oklahoma 706 W Sheridan Ave (405) 232-6060 iaogallery.org Istvan Gallery at Urban Art 1218 N Western Ave (405) 831-2874 istvangallery.com
JRB Art at the Elms Christmas at The Elms Dec 4th – 26th Paseo First Friday Opening Reception November 6 2810 N Walker Ave (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Kasum Contemporary Fine Art 1706 NW 16th St (405) 604-6602 kasumcontemporary.com National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 nationalcowboymuseum.org Nault Gallery 816 N Walker Ave www.naultfineart.com Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 208-5226 okcu.edu Oklahoma City Community College Gallery 7777 S May Ave (405) 682-7576 occc.edu
Ted Majika: Drawing & Painting November 30 – January 31 (Governor’s Gallery) 2300 N Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 arts.ok.gov Paseo Art Space Paseo First Friday Gallery Walk Through February 5 3022 Paseo (405) 525-2688 thepaseo.com The Project Box 3003 Paseo (405) 609-3969 theprojectboxokc.com Red Earth 6 Santa Fe Plaza (405) 427-5228 redearth.org Satellite Galleries Science Museum Oklahoma 2100 NE 52nd St (405) 602-6664 sciencemuseumok.org Summer Wine Art Gallery 2928 B Paseo (405) 831-3279 summerwinegallery.com Tall Hill Creative 3421 N Villa
Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Dr (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com
The Womb 25 NW 9th St wombgallery.com
Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd (405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org
Park Hill
Oklahoma State Capitol Galleries Marin Begaye: Printmaking Through November 8 (North Gallery) Ronna Pernell: Drawing November 16 – January 17 (North Gallery) Derek Penix: Painting November 23 – January 24 (East Gallery) Cynthia Brown- Painting Through November 15 (East Gallery) Fred de Odis Flatt: Painting Through November 22 (Governor’s Gallery)
Shawnee
Sulphur
Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 W Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org
Chickasaw Visitor Center Timothy Tate Nevaquaya November 1 – February 29 901 W 1st St (580) 622-8050 chickasawcountry.com/explore/ view/Chickasaw-visitor-center
Stillwater Gardiner Gallery Graphic Design Senior Portfolio Exhibition Reception November 1 Graphic Design Senior Portfolio Exhibition Through November 13 Senior Studio Capstone Exhibition November 18 – December 4 Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts (405) 744-4143 museum.okstate.edu Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Wakati: Time Shapes African Art Through January 16 Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Angie Piehl: Feral Beauty and Opulent Decay November 9 – March 12 Angie Piehl Opening Reception: Feral Beauty and Opulent Decay November 19 Wakati: Time Shapes African Art Guest Lecture with Reynaldo Anderson November 10 720 S Husband St (405) 744-2780 museum.okstate.edu
Tonkawa Eleanor Hays Gallery Northern Oklahoma College 1220 E Grand (580) 628-6670 north-ok.edu
Tulsa 108 Contemporary Crystal Wagner and Follies: Kathleen Trenchard Through November 22 Cultivating Craft: 108’s Artist Members Reception December 4, 6 – 9 pm Through January 24 108 E MB Brady St (918) 895-6302 108contemporary.org aberson Exhibits 3624 S Peoria (918) 740-1054 abersonexhibits.com Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.utulsa.edu
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Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S Keeler Dr (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org
Piedmont Red Dirt Gallery & Artists 13100 Colony Pointe Blvd #113 (405) 206-2438 reddirtartists.com
Ponca City Ponca City Art Center 819 E Central (580) 765-9746 poncacityartcenter.com
gallery guide
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Hardesty Arts Center 101 E Archer St (918) 584-3333 ahhatulsa.org
Joseph Gierek Fine Art 1342 E 11th St (918) 592-5432 gierek.com
Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education 124 E MB Brady St (918) 631-4400gilcrease.utulsa. edu/Explore/Zarrow Alexandre Hogue Gallery University of Tulsa 2930 E 5th St. (918) 631-2739 utulsa.edu/art
Living Arts 307 E MB Brady St (918) 585-1234 l ivingarts.org Mainline 111 N Main Ste C (918) 629-0342 mainlineartok.com
Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 S Rockford Rd (918) 749-7941 philbrook.org
Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 E 81st Street (918) 481-1111 hollandhall.org
M.A. Doran Gallery 3509 S Peoria (918) 748-8700 madorangallery.com
Pierson Gallery 1307-1311 E 15th St (918) 584-2440 piersongallery.com
Lovetts Gallery The Birds Through November 21 6528 E 51st St (918) 664-4732 lovettsgallery.com Philbrook Downtown 116 E MB Brady St (918) 749-7941 philbrook.org
Become a member of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. Join today to begin enjoying the benefits of membership, including a subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma. Collector Level + Community Supported Art (CSA) Program $1,000 ($85 a month option) · · · · ·
2 original and quality pieces of art by Oklahoma artists 2 tickets to CSA Launch Events twice a year 2 tickets to 12x12 Art Fundraiser $400 of this membership is tax deductible All of below
PATRON $250 · · · · ·
Listing of self or business on signage at events Invitation for 2 people to private reception with visiting curator 2 tickets each to Momentum OKC & Momentum Tulsa $200 of this membership is tax deductible. All of below
FELLOW $150 · · · · ·
Acknowledgement in Resource Guide and Art Focus Oklahoma Copy of each OVAC exhibition catalog 2 tickets to Tulsa Art Studio Tour $100 of this membership is tax deductible. All of below
FAMILY $75
· Same benefits as Individual, for 2 people in household
INDIVIDUAL $45 · · · · ·
Subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma magazine Monthly e-newsletter of Oklahoma art events & artist opportunities Receive all OVAC mailings Listing in and copy of annual Resource Guide & Member Directory Invitation to Annual Members’ Meeting
Plus, artists receive: · Inclusion in online Artist Gallery, www.ovacgallery.com · Artist entry fees waived for OVAC exhibitions · Up to 50% discount on Artist Survival Kit workshops · Affiliate benefits with Fractured Atlas, Artist INC Online, Artwork Archive, and the National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture.
STUDENT $25
· Same benefits as Individual level. All Student members are automatically enrolled in Green Membership program (receive all benefits digitally).
30
Tulsa Artists’ Coalition 9 E MB Brady St (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org Tulsa Performing Arts Center Gallery 110 E 2nd St (918) 596-2368 tulsapac.com Waterworks Art Studio 1710 Charles Page Blvd (918) 596-2440 cityoftulsa.org
Woodward Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum Jennica Kenny FFA Opening Reception November 7 – December 5 Lane Kendrick Reception December 12, 2 – 4 pm Through January 2 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.info
Wilburton The Gallery at Wilburton 108 W Main St (918) 465-9669
MEMBER FORM ¨ Collector Level + Community Supported Art Program ¨ Patron ¨ Fellow ¨ Family ¨ Individual ¨ Student ¨ Optional: Make my membership green! Email only. No printed materials will be mailed. Name Street Address City, State, Zip Email Website
Phone
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Exp. Date
Are you an artist? Y N Medium?________________________ Would you like to be included in the Membership Directory? Y N
Would you like us to share your information for other arts-related events?
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Detach and mail form along with payment to: OVAC, 730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Ste 104, Oklahoma City, OK 73116 Or join online at www.ovac-ok.org
Double Wedding Ring Quilt (detail), 1940. Pieced cotton plain weave top, cotton plain weave back and binding; quilted. Gift of Pilgrim / Roy Collection, 2014.1945. Photograph Š 2015 Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
THIS EXHIBITION IS SPONSORED BY .
Art Focus
Ok l a h o m a
Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma are free with OVAC membership. Nov 7: Public Panel: Art Writing in Academia (Norman)
730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities.
Non Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Oklahoma City, OK Permit No. 113
Visit www.ovac-ok.org to learn more.
Nov 14: ASK: A Finger in Every Pie (Norman) Nov 15: Momentum OKC Spotlight Artist
Application Deadline
Nov 15: Art 365 Application Deadline Dec 1: Momentum OKC Survey
Applications Open
Jan 15: OVAC Quarterly Grants for
Artists Deadline
Jan 15: Concept Survey Applications Open View the full Oklahoma visual arts calendar at ovac-ok.org/calendar.
NOVEMBER SARA SCRIBNER SHANE SCRIBNER
Opening ReceptiOn: FRiday, nOvembeR 2 6 - 10 pm SHANE SCRIBNER
DENISE DUONG
DECEMBER SARA SCRIBNER
DENISE DUONG CHRISTMAS AT THE ELMS
Opening ReceptiOn: FRiday, decembeR 6 6 - 10 pm GALLERY HOURS tue - Sat 10am-6pm Sun 1pm - 5pm
2 8 1 0 N O R T H WA L K E R PHONE: 405.528.6336 WWW.JRBARTGALLERY.COM