FOLD THE MARGINS IN // OKLAHOMA VISIONARIES AT LIGGETT STUDIOS

by Olivia Dailey

The inaugural Oklahoma Visionaries Art Exhibit opens at Liggett Studios in Tulsa, from October 13 through November 3, and will be shown again in 2024 at Owens Art Place Museum in Guthrie from March 15 through April 19. Twenty “visionary” artists—self-taught artists also known sometimes as “outsider” artists—will showcase their original work.

Oklahoma Visionaries co-curator Pam Hodges has a longstanding interest in visionary art. She lived in Atlanta for several years, a hotbed for visionary artists, and then wondered why there were not more resources for them in Oklahoma. About the most she could find on the subject was the book Folk Art in Oklahoma, published in 1981 by the Oklahoma Museums Association. Folk art, however, is distinct from visionary art. Folk art is baked in tradition and fosters community, whereas visionary art is more novel and concerned with the individual.

In August 2022, having recently read the New York Times article “The Enduring Appeal of the Self-Taught Artist,” Hodges saw Liggett Studios’ call for exhibit proposals. She filled out her visionary artist proposal as best she could— having recently moved back to Tulsa, she did not know any artists who fit the bill. Steve Liggett, artist and proprietor of Liggett Studios, loved the idea and the challenge of tracking artists down. They decided to be co-curators and settled on the term “visionaries” rather than the more prevalent “outsider artists” because of the latter term’s negative and exclusionary connotations.

Liggett also has ties to visionary art. “M.T. Liggett said, ‘A man is never known by the things he doesn’t say,’ and visionary artists in Oklahoma have a lot to say!” The late self-taught artist Myron Thomas Liggett, well-known for his provocative roadside sculptures, is Steve Liggett’s fourth cousin. When M.T. expressed his desire to protect his sculptures after his death, Steve worked with the John

Michael Kohler Foundation in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the 547 Arts Center in Greensburg, Kansas, to collect and preserve them in Mullinville, Kansas.

Hodges and Liggett wrongly assumed a list of Oklahoma visionary artists existed to use as a jumping-off point, but they had to start from scratch. Molly O’Connor of the Oklahoma Arts Council helped them narrow the exhibit’s scope, find artists, and connect them with artist Wallace Owens, owner of Owens Art Place Museum, to collaborate further. For nearly a year, they searched the state for qualifying artists. Ultimately, they received 50 submissions that fit the criteria: Oklahoma residents who are self-taught, unconcerned with the mainstream art world, driven by their uniquely personal visions, and have experienced marginalization. Among the twenty artists selected, 10 hail from Tulsa, three from the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, three from OKC, and one each from Norman, Bartlesville, Cache, and Edmond.

One of the Tulsa artists, April McDaniel, has a personal quote that echoes M.T. Liggett’s: “If you are not seen, you will never be known.” McDaniel is currently renovating her home and studio space, a condemned and partially burned (!) house, with colorful murals. McDaniel hopes to replicate this process of renovating condemned homes to address the homeless crisis. Artist Nicole Moan also lives in a creative home-studio hybrid. Handmade tiles mosaic her home, which acts as a testing space for client work.

“My house is my portfolio,” says Moan.

Despite strong submission turnout, almost all applicants were from cities. Shaun Roberto, a participating rural artist, lives in Cache and is a self-taught woodworker who has always been interested in working with his hands. YouTube is his teacher, but the materials he uses, wood and driftwood, are his creative guides.

The three artists incarcerated at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center—Sonia Weidenfelder, Michele Knight, and Beverly Moore—all worked with the Tulsa nonprofit Poetic Justice, which offers writing and creative arts programs in women’s prisons and jails. Mass incarceration ostracizes people from society, holding them far-removed and often forgotten, but through their art, these women say, in effect, we are still here. We still have something to offer.

Early on, Hodges wondered, “Is it the work that is visionary or is it the person?” After getting to know the artists, she concluded that it’s the person who is visionary and their art manifests their vision. Some irony is unavoidable with exhibits that spotlight unknown artists, giving them exposure while highlighting their obscurity. Although some make their living exclusively from their art, and others supplement their income through sales or commissions, they all share something beyond the visionary criteria: they would still make art even if no one saw it.

Oklahoma Visionaries was recently awarded a Thrive Grant by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition in partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Funds will help pay artists’ stipends, ship art, and store artwork. Poverty or lack are common themes among the show’s 20 artists, both demographically and artistically—as Josh Waddell’s assemblages of broken, discarded, or unused objects testify. Significantly, people are more likely to pursue the arts if they come from financially secure backgrounds. A 2019 study “The Origins of Creativity: The Case of the Arts in the United States since 1850” found that, for every extra $10K a family has, their children are 2% more likely to work in the arts. Creative work is undervalued in our society, so it is a risky and low-paying career option that mainly the privileged can pursue, but self-taught and folk artists are antidotes to classism in the art world. We need more working-class artists because we need their stories. Oklahoma Visionaries proves that anyone can be an artist and art is everywhere.

Liggett says that Oklahoma Visionaries “has been a wild ride, but very fulfilling in starting something that will continue honoring and encouraging Oklahoma visionaries into the future. It’s just a beginning, but we have started something grand, we believe.” A second iteration of Oklahoma Visionaries is scheduled for fall 2025, and an evolving directory of Oklahoma visionary artists, based on research from this exhibit, is expected to go live in January 2024.

Oklahoma Visionaries can be seen from October 13 through November 3 at Liggett Studios in Tulsa and then from March 15 through April 19 at Owens Art Place Museum in Guthrie.

OLIVIA DAILEY has a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She works as a media production coordinator in Norman and is a frequent contributor to Art Focus.