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CONTENTS // Volume 37 No. 1 // Winter 2022
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BY LIZ BLOOD
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IN THE STUDIO Beyond the Canvas: Antonio Andrews Does Big, Dreams Big
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
BY MARY NOBLE
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PREVIEW Aesthetic Power and Conceptual Heft: Kristen Tordella-Williams at Pogue Art Gallery BY OLIVIA DAILEY
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REVIEW Building Bridges: Mind Mirrors at Science Museum Oklahoma BY KAREN PAUL
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PROFILE heather ahtone: A Case for Indigenization BY CASSIDY PETRAZZI
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REGIONAL REVIEW Making and Missing Connections: Paper as Medium in Arkansas Women to Watch BY SAMANTHA SIGMON
TOP // On the cover: Rea Baldridge, Ride of the Obliterati (detail), 2021, oil on canvas, 50” x 57”, page 26; MIDDLE // Antonio Andrews, Untitled, (detail) page 6 | Liz Blood; BOTTOM // Science Museum Oklahoma, Mind Mirrors interactive component, page 14
Support from:
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BY DANIEL SIMON
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OVAC NEWS // NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERS
EKPHRASIS
BY KRYSTLE KAYE
Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition PHONE: 405.879.2400 1720 N Shartel Ave, Ste B, Oklahoma City, OK 73103. Web // ovac-ok.org Executive Director // Krystle Kaye, director@ovac-ok.org Editor // Liz Blood, lizblood87@gmail.com Art Director // Anne Richardson, speccreative@gmail.com Art Focus is a quarterly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the visual arts in Oklahoma. Mission: Growing and developing Oklahoma’s visual arts through education, promotion, connection, and funding. 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 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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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.
2021-2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS // President: Douglas Sorocco, OKC; Vice President: Kirsten Olds, Tulsa; Treasurer: Diane Salamon, Tulsa; Secretary: Kyle Larson, Alva; Parliamentarian: Jon Fisher, OKC; Past President: John Marshall; Matthew Anderson, Tahlequah; Marjorie Atwood, Tulsa; Barbara Gabel, OKC; Farooq Karim, OKC; Kathryn Kenney, Tulsa; Jacquelyn Knapp, Chickasha; Drew Knox; Heather Lunsford, OKC; Russ Teubner, Stillwater; Chris Winland, OKC. The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff. Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the Americans for the Arts. © 2022, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved. View the online archive at ArtFocusOklahoma.org.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Sitting down to write this letter in early December, a full month before it will reach your hands, readers—I’m reflecting back on 2021. At the beginning of ‘21, looking backwards meant, for many of us, ruminating on a year of loss. So, I mostly looked forward. But in the early days of January one year ago, we watched as the U.S. Capitol was attacked and invaded, not knowing what this would mean for our country’s future. We also knew relief from a COVID vaccine was months away and the pandemic Melissa Lukenbaugh, Tulsa Artist Fellowship
seemed like it would never end. My chest tightens as I think about the uncertainty of that time. But when I reflect on the moments that helped get me through 2021, I see that so many of them had to with visual art—discovering new-to-me artists (and following them on Instagram, as you do), attending artist talks on Zoom, safely viewing exhibitions at galleries and museums, making studio visits and joining in artist-writer collaborations, buying art to fill my home, and even experimenting with crayons and markers alongside my small child. Last May, my husband and I purchased a piece from painter and hip-hop artist Antonio Andrews, aka Dialtone, who is featured in an interview on pg. 6. My son learned the words “art” and “painting” as we looked at the piece together in our home. In July, amid the buzzing energy of Oklahoma Contemporary’s biennial, ArtNow 2021, Rea Baldridge’s painting, Ride of the Obliterati (see “Ekphrasis” on pg. 26), grabbed hold of me and hasn’t let go since. The work looks backwards and forwards in time, while also commenting on our present American moment. A few months later, in September, the First Americans Museum (FAM) opened to visitors—a momentous occasion for Indian Country and Oklahoma. See our profile of FAM’s senior curator, heather ahtone, on pg. 18. Travel also opened up and, in this issue, we have a review of Women to Watch in Arkansas, just a day trip away, on pg 22. Look for more of these regional reviews as Art Focus moves forward. I am honored to be serving as guest editor for this year of Art Focus, as Krystle Kaye and the rest of OVAC’s incredible team debut the redesign of the magazine, and I look forward to the year ahead of us. Happy New Year!
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L E T T E R F RO M T H E E D I TO R
— Liz Blood
GET BACK IN THE STUDIO
WINTER SESSION JAN. 17 - MARCH 13
Explore four- and eight-week classes or single-day workshops across a variety of favorite disciplines and creative new topics.
okcontemp.org/StudioSchool Exhibitions | Classes | Camps | Performances 11 NW 11th St., Oklahoma City feature
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BEYOND THE CANVAS: ARTIST ANTONIO ANDREWS DOES BIG, DREAMS BIG By Mary Noble
Antonio Andrews, aka Dialtone, is a multi-disciplinary
You’ve expanded beyond the canvas by putting your
artist with noteworthy achievements in both hip-hop
artwork on products. But you’ve also said that can make
and visual art. Since establishing his art brand and
the art suffer. What do you mean?
collective, No Parking Studios (NOPS), in 2017, Andrews’ commissions continue to grow. He’s painted murals around Tulsa—including a wall inside the Woody Guthrie Center— and Oklahoma City, shown in galleries, and, in January 2021, moved to a collaborative studio space owned by mural and design company Clean Hands. Andrews accomplishes all of this while continuing to release original music. The Woody Guthrie Center wall was unveiled in May 2021, shortly before the release of Fire in Little Africa (FILA), a 21-track compilation album commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Andrews is featured on two of FILA’s hit tracks. In November 2021, the music video for hit track “Party Plane” (featuring The Gap Band
I like trying pottery, shirts—I’ve done a shower curtain, a chair. But if you get so wrapped up in a product, it starts to feel like I’m a clothing line. I don’t want to turn into Ed Hardy, where you just hate seeing my shit. I need to balance it all. I don’t want people to not buy my work and just buy a shirt. I don’t want to overdo it. Do you spend equal time creating music and visual art, or is there a give-and-take with each? I just set up a [recording] studio in the closet; now I can do both. Some days I come up here and I don’t paint anything, I just record songs. Being able to do it simultaneously now in the same space, is the shit. Whatever I feel like doing
star Charlie Wilson) was released. In it, Andrews dances
that week or that day, I do.
with Wilson on a private plane, champagne bottle in hand.
What was it like filming “Party Plane” with Charlie Wilson?
In addition to his art and music, he blogs on the NOPS
I wish we would have had way more time. He was talking
website. In a recent post, he detailed his aspirations of
to me like, “What’s going on in Tulsa? Who’s making
providing funding to under-resourced artists. I met
music?” You know, this and that. He even said, “What we
Andrews at his studio for our interview. We chatted for
doing after this?” But his management team was like
nearly two hours as he worked on a painting. The next day,
sharks. I asked him about working with Kanye and with
he headed to Miami to perform music as Dialtone with
Snoop. He said when he’d go to the studio (Kanye) would
Steph Simon at Art Basel.
roll out the red carpet.
How would you describe your creative process?
You hope to start a nonprofit, Black 1, to fund independent
I love working either early in the morning or late at night. I
Black artists without the strings often attached to grant
try to find windows of time to do work alone in the studio.
funding. Why is that important to you?
I like listening to jazz—music like Miles Davis and John
People don’t want censorship. Decentralized culture,
Coltrane—while I’m painting. I don’t really like to listen to
you can’t necessarily do that. If I sell something or get
rap while I work. I listen to a lot of random music to listen
my (big) break, everyone gets a piece and can fund their
for samples for [Tulsa music producer] Gary Mason at the
projects. That’s why I started with NFTs. There’s a lot of
same time.
people that don’t have funding for their stuff who are CONTINUED
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IN THE STUDIO
TOP // Antonio Andrews in front of his finished mural, Everything is Us, at Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, completed May 18, 2021. | Tim Bonea RIGHT // Andrews working on a painting in his studio. | Fivish
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Andrews in his downtown Tulsa studio. Behind him are works for his December 2021 show, NOKEA, at Center for Public Secrets in Tulsa, and a painting-in-progress by another No Parking Studios collective member. | Liz Blood
doing great work. Me and Steph [Simon] aren’t going nowhere, so if we are successful in the city, we are going to spend our money here. What does it mean to be a descendant of Black Wall Street making art in the same city? It feels like doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I feel purposeful. Talking to my brother, I didn’t realize my family owned the first gas station here. My grandmother passed away last year—she had a lot of documents, photos, and random stuff of my family and businesses. Greenwood shit. I’m in it at this moment in time to carry my family’s legacy. I think this time is very pivotal with so much changing. I can set my family up for the next 100 years. For more information, visit noparkingstudios.com.
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PREVIEW
One of Andrews’ untitled pieces for his December 2021 show, NOKEA, at Center for Public Secrets in Tulsa. | Liz Blood
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Kristen Tordella-Williams, Industrial Amber (detail), 2020, cast pigmented resin, collected insects, 72” x 24” x 3”. | Kristen Tordella-Williams
Tordella-Williams, 40 Stumps (foreground) and Working Impact (background) | Kristen Tordella-Williams
AESTHETIC POWER AND CONCEPTUAL HEFT: KRISTEN TORDELLA-WILLIAMS AT POGUE ART GALLERY By Olivia Dailey
Mixed-media artist Kristen Tordella-Williams’ upcoming
present-day Oklahoma. Ada, where the show will be
show, Of an Industrial Nature, examines migration and
located, is the headquarters of the Chickasaw Nation.
labor in the Southeast U.S.—particularly related to the history of logging, its interactions with nature, and its impact on the present. Opening at East Central University’s Pogue Art Gallery in Ada on January 17, the exhibition will feature four mixed-media works, including a new site-specific piece. For this show, Tordella-Williams uses materials that are often natural and derived from trees, with additional, artificial materials either mimicking or enhancing the others.
In Working Impact, woodblock prints laser-etched onto handmade paper depict 100-year-old scenes of laborers from Laurel and Jones Counties, MS. The photographs, along with various text excerpts, tell stories and sometimes shameful histories of a particular place and time. On one print, a tree stump removal image is paired with text about the Trail of Tears. The visuals are further impacted by the grain of the woodblock and the crinkle of the handmade paper—the history of the trees is literally a part of the body
“The term I use is ‘conceptual artesian.’” says Tordella-
of work, in part, documenting a place once stewarded by
Williams. “I have these ideas, but also the material and
Indigenous people who were then removed.
the imagery shape those ideas just as much as the idea shapes them.”
“Tordella-Williams is adept at finding what each medium
Three of the exhibition pieces were most recently seen
professor at ECU. “She uses those characteristics to make
together at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Mississippi—a town where northerners came a century ago to join the timber industry. Tordella-Williams, originally from the Northeast but now a resident of the South, followed a similar migratory pattern when she moved to Jackson, MS, and then again, in 2021, to teach sculpture at Auburn University. Migration is often tied to
or process can say or do,” says Anne Yoncha, assistant art her point. In this exhibition, she is raising questions about labor … Her work is place-based, investigating impacts of the timber industry in her home region, the US Southeast. But this investigation is a model for how we can look at our own labor, and our own post-human landscapes, here in Oklahoma.”
labor—work, better opportunities, and survival. It is both
Yoncha says they were drawn to Tordella-Williams’ work
natural for people and animals to migrate, but in the case
for its “combination of aesthetic power and conceptual
of current-day climate-fueled migration and ecosystem
heft.”
loss, it is human-caused.
The show’s centerpiece, 40 Stumps, is a collection of
The forthcoming site-specific artwork will address migration
paper tree stump sculptures surrounded by pine shavings
more specifically. A throughline in this exhibition is
and lit by twinkling LEDs that mimic fireflies in a forest
the Trail of Tears, along which Indigenous communities
at dusk. Archival images from Laurel, MS, provided
were marched after being forcibly removed from their
Tordella-Williams with the context and purpose needed to
homelands in the Southeast under the federal Indian
create the piece. The logging-related photographs appear
Removal Act of 1830. Much of that diaspora landed in
as a disruptive time-lapse as seen in Working Impact. CONTINUED
PREVIEW
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Kristen Tordella-Williams, 40 Stumps, 2020-2021, grass and paper pulp, chicken wire, pine shavings, LED lights, 20’ x 30’ x 36” | Kristen Tordella-Williams
First, there are images of the old Mississippi forest,
also act as a visual biodiversity sampling, preserving
expansive and untouched. Next, the flurry of the timber
insects that are quickly disappearing from the planet.
industry is captured in multiple images showing the
Amber is fossilized tree resin and, as Tordella-Williams
leveling and removal of tree stumps. And finally, pine
quickly realized, is not easily recreated in a studio.
regrowth is shown, the forest a shadow of its former self. The pieces are layered not just in terms of materials,
work out, you don’t actually know how everything’s going
but also in their meaning. Even in 2021, with all its
to work out,” says Tordella-Williams.
technological advances, trees are necessary for everyday
Patience and openness allow for artistic moments that
life—and not just for their wood, paper, and the beloved
can’t be forced or predicted. The result is seen in each
avocado. They are critical to the future of life on Earth.
piece in this body of work. Together, their interaction is
This show is a timely reminder of that as human-led
complex, powerful, and—like a levelled forest—hauntingly
deforestation threatens our planet.
quiet.
The show’s fourth work, Industrial Amber, is a collection of
Of an Industrial Nature runs January 17 through March 14
insects suspended in resin resembling amber. Reminiscent
at the Pogue Art Gallery in Ada.
of social isolation, or social bubbles during the pandemic, the piece is a snapshot in time. These 21st century fossils 12
“If you just wait until you know how everything’s going to
PREVIEW
Kristen Tordella-Williams, Working Impact (detail), 2020-2021, laser etched woodblock prints on artist made kozo and grass paper. Series of 20 unique prints, each 15.5” x 19.5”. | Kristen Tordella-Williams
PREVIEW
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BUILDING BRIDGES: MIND MIRRORS AT SCIENCE MUSEUM OKLAHOMA By Karen Paul
In these current times often plagued by discord and
Megan Daalder’s The Mirrorbox serves as a transition to
disconnect, the ability to heal communities, build
the second part of the exhibit, where viewers begin to
bridges to common ground, and understand each other
understand the foundational science of empathy—mirror
is more important than ever. Mind Mirrors: Empathy in
neurons, the biological components that make emotions
Art and Neuroscience at Science Museum Oklahoma’s
and social behavior contagious.
smART Space Gallery explores how these connections can be made at the intersection of art and science.
Visitors can observe their own mirror neurons in action while engaging with Eyakem Gulilat’s The Moments
Developed by Oklahoma artist and curator Alyson
Before. This series of videos shows individuals in the 20
Atchison, this powerful exhibition invites visitors to
seconds before their formal portrait is taken. Displayed
connect to a deeper vision of an empathic world. In this
at eye level, the experience creates empathetic feelings
multimedia, three-part show, viewers are taken on a
of vulnerability during the awkward moments and joy as
deep creative and personal exploration of empathy that
individuals smile in the final seconds.
demonstrates the science behind our reactions to each other, and, ultimately, how we can increase empathy to
Gulilat’s work also provides an insight into modern society,
affect positive change.
where we often mirror each other’s social cues based
The first part of the exhibition offers five artworks
the uncomfortable and complex moments occurring
with which viewers can empathize. Positive quotes, centered on the power of connectivity and compassion, also appear throughout the exhibition. This process develops a personal, somewhat self-guided framework viewers can use as the basis of their exhibition
on their highly-curated social media images. Showing before those final, processed images further reinforces the exhibition’s thesis—empathy and compassion can be diminished or increased, depending on our own awareness and willingness to be vulnerable.
experience. The five works, all on loan from Oklahoma
In the third and final section of the exhibition, viewers
City-area museums, display a range of different styles
explore the concept of neuroplasticity, or how the brain
and emotions, from impressionism to photography and
can grow and adapt, specifically as it relates to increasing
sadness to joy, giving every visitor the opportunity to
empathy. Using neuroscience research from the University
find aesthetic and emotional entry points.
of Oklahoma, visitors can participate in hands-on
Each artwork is paired with Visual Thinking Strategies and physical cards with questions related to its emotional content. Through this interaction, viewers uncover both
exercises and activities (like a VR mirror, tactile assembly puzzles, and other brain games) designed to strengthen their neural networks.
the stories behind the works of art and how their personal
The show’s final work is Smiling Indians, a video from
empathy can change depending on context.
The 1491s, a Native comedy troupe. Made to counteract
CONTINUED
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REVIEW
Mind Mirrors entry at Science Museum Oklahoma
Megan Daalder, The Mirrorbox, interactive sculpture, 2011
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common stereotypes of Native Americans, the video shows a series of smiling faces that engage the viewer’s mirror neurons and, hopefully, increases their empathy. Empowering its visitors to approach the world with vulnerability and compassion, Mind Mirrors is the change it wants to see in the world. Mind Mirrors: Empathy in Art and Neuroscience will be at Science Museum Oklahoma’s smART Space Gallery through April 24. Admission to the gallery is included with museum admission. For more information, visit sciencemuseumok.org.
Installation view, from left to right: Revered Matthew William Peters, The Storm, oil on canvas, c. 1771; Tommy Wayne “T.C.” Cannon, Woman in Window, woodblock print on paper, 1975; Alexandra Nechita, Oklahoma – Terror and Tears, oil on canvas, 1995; Peter Turnley, Writing Home, Gulf War, Saudi Arabia, Christmas Day, photograph, 1990; Ralph R. Doubleday, Hatless Tad Lucas wearing woolly chaps riding “Hell Cat,” photograph, nitrate negative, ca. 1945
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REVIEW
Science Museum Oklahoma, Mind Mirrors interactive component teaching visitors about nonverbal communication
The University of Tulsa’s School of Art, Design and Art History is an intimate school where students are encouraged to thrive as an individual with their own goals, talents and vision. As a senior in the The University of Tulsa’s graphic design program, Cailie Golden has found that with commencement approaching, faculty mentorship, opportunities for hands-on experience, and a well-rounded curriculum made all the difference in preparing her for the future. “Without Third Floor Design... all the opportunities I’ve had at TU,” she explains, “I think my future as a designer would look very different. I have so much more confidence; my time here really prepared me for graduation.” In addition to pursuing her degree, Cailie is an editor with Stylus Student Journal, a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity in which she was elected fundraising chair, and a recipient of the Kimberly Hanger Award for an essay on Shakespearian Lit. She has also had the opportunity to take two semesters with Third Floor Design (the school’s student-staffed design firm), then interviewed for the D’Arcy paid internship over the summer. This is the experience that she credits with preparing her for life after college. “Real deadlines and client interactions pushed me to learn and grow; now I have a stronger portfolio, featuring work done for real organizations.” The program also connected Cailie with mentors that provide insight and encouragement. In her four years at TU, she has found not only a community but also the perfect place to prepare for, then pursue, her future in graphic design.
HEATHER AHTONE: A CASE FOR INDIGENIZATION By Cassidy Petrazzi
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PREVIEW
One of heather ahtone’s (Choctaw/Chickasaw) origin stories begins when she was twelve years old in Aurora, CO. When school was out and ahtone’s mother went to work, she would leave a dollar, one for her and one for her sister, on the kitchen table. They could spend it however they wanted, but they had to be home by dinner. “She never really asked us what we did,” says ahtone. “I think many times she probably thought we were playing quarters at the arcade down the street.” Instead, ahtone and her sister would take the local bus to the Denver Art Museum, where they would play inside the museum or on its grounds. “It felt very freeing but also very safe,” she says. “One time, we were playing in the Native American galleries … I kept feeling like something was trying to get my attention and I couldn’t figure it out … Suddenly, I realized that there was an object that felt very familiar, and I stopped and looked at it, and it was a cradleboard. I recognized the designs … the materials, and I was like, oh, this is by somebody in my grandfather’s community. And then I read the label and it was made by my great grandmother.” The museum became not only a playground, but a place for her, her family, and their things. It was clear to ahtone that whoever wrote the didactic did not understand the object’s significance. It was divorced from its maker, purpose, meaning, and community. This moment is central to ahtone’s methodology as a curator, and, most recently, as senior curator at the First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, where she has been since 2018. Every aspect of FAM—its leadership, exhibitions, social media presence, and the building itself—is guided by the organization’s core values of respect, reciprocity, relationships, and responsibility. Ahtone developed this methodology in her practice and now implements it at FAM. These values can be seen in both of the exhibitions currently on view at FAM. Curated by all-Native teams lead by ahtone, WINIKO: Life of an Object, Selections from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Installation view of OKLA HOMMA, First Americans Museums, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. | Cassidy Petrazzi
Indian reunites objects with the 39 tribes in Oklahoma CONTINUED
PROFILE
19
for the first time in 100 years. OKLA HOMMA charts the unique and interwoven stories of the 39 tribes. Indigenization, the process of adopting Indigenous knowledge systems in a structural and transformative way, has been embraced by the curatorial team at FAM and is demonstrated in their galleries and inaugural catalogue. In anticipation of ahtone’s forthcoming projects both at FAM and as an independent curator, one can look back to From the Belly of Our Being: Art by and about Native Creation, (2016) which she curated at the OSU Museum of Art in Stillwater, OK. This show joined 20 contemporary Native women artists whose work explored the feminine force in creation stories. The exhibition was a rare example of a national survey of contemporary Native women artists and represented a critically underrepresented field within Indigenous curatorial practice. Instead of implementing the typical top-down approach and interpreting the artist’s intention and style, ahtone embraced the collaboration that characterizes her curation, inviting each artist to contribute an artist statement to be included in the exhibition catalogue and artwork labels. Her commitment to collective enterprise and responsibility was also seen when she advised on Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists (2019-2020), a traveling exhi-
Installation view of OKLA HOMMA, First Americans Museums, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. | Cassidy Petrazzi.
bition organized by Jill Ahlberg Yohe, associate curator of Native American Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Teri Greeves (Kiowa), an independent curator and artist. This landmark show presented work by over 100 women artists from across North America spanning the last 1,000 years. One major contribution of this endeavor was the reattribution of many works to women who had been misrepresented. Currently, ahtone is gearing up to cultivate FAM’s permanent collection of contemporary Native objects and is working with her team on opening another wing at FAM that will host rotating exhibitions. Ultimately, ahtone has high hopes for museums. The enduring story of the 39 tribes in Oklahoma demands a new methodology. FAM’s use of digital technologies to 20
PROFILE
aid in reconnecting objects with their communities is a considered, cooperative approach that creates a charged experience for the audience. “I think audiences are tired of the same approach,” she says. “The objects speak, so the work is on the curators to do things better.” Change doesn’t happen overnight. But it becomes more possible when new ways of being in the world aren’t just imagined but named, as ahtone does in each exhibition she touches. We no longer need to imagine the museum of the future. ahtone is making that a reality through her work at FAM.
ABOVE // heather ahtone, PhD (Choctaw/ Chickasaw Nation), 2018. | Jennifer Scanlan; BOTTOM LEFT // Installation view of Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists at Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 7, 2020– January 3, 2021. | Tom Payne
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MAKING AND MISSING CONNECTIONS: PAPER AS MEDIUM IN ARKANSAS WOMEN TO WATCH By K. Samantha Sigmon
This January and February, Fenix Gallery in Fayetteville,
viewing in any installation. In All That I Love, over a thou-
AR, provides the final venue for Women to Watch 2020:
sand scarab beetles—an ancient symbol for transforma-
Paper Routes, a showing of some of Arkansas’ submissions
tion—have been origami-folded out of her personal diary
to the Women to Watch biennial at the National Museum
of meaningful images and photos of loved ones. These
of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. Offering a some-
images are lost to the viewer via their transformation into
what spare view of paper as a medium, Paper Routes
three-dimensional forms. In Imperata Grassland, Livaudais
explores our abstracted connections to the material
folded photographs of wild, hardy grasses into blades of
through subtle moments and relationships in our lives.
grass as part of a meditative, healing process. With each
The exhibition features a small selection by Joli Livaudais, Kim Brewer, Linda Nguyen Lopez, and Suzannah Schreckhise, and was curated by Allison Glenn, former associate curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges
new venue, she installs every blade and beetle herself to create a site-specific narrative drawing attention to spaces often overlooked—corners, white space too high or too low for optimal viewing, even air vents.
Museum of American Art. From Glenn’s shortlist, Livaudais’s
The other three pieces of Women to Watch are diminu-
All That I Love was chosen by the national committee to
tive compared to Livaudais’ works and some have only a
represent Arkansas in the international D.C. showcase.
tenuous connection to paper. Brewer’s Rosebud Moments
Arkansas is the only regional Women to Watch committee
pulp paintings of individual mugshots mounted in front
to tour finalists around its state. I saw the installation in a
series fits the theme well, presenting cropped, close-up of vividly-patterned wallpaper inside a found frame.
white cube gallery at the Windgate Art & Design Gallery
Referencing “Citizen Kane,” Brewer feels that every person
at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, in late 2021. The
holds within themself a highly personal moment that
prevalence of white space seemed to swallow the work
would help explain their character. Like Livaudais’ trans-
and text panels, giving the appearance that there was
formed photographs, these cropped images deny a whole
not much to see. The introduction text describes paper as
portrait, yet connect viewers to a deep message. The
being a universal medium for thousands of years—both
layered mounting style encourages viewers to consider the
cherished as an example of low-tech authenticity and also
relationships between the nostalgia-evoking materials.
haphazardly thrown away—but doesn’t offer any other unifying threads signifying why these four artists and their particular pieces are on display.
Primarily known as a ceramicist, Lopez’s Start/Neverending is an assemblage representing the constant presence of the indefinable in our relationships. The white gloves
Livaudais’s pieces are overwhelming compared to the
placed on the unfinished woven rug might represent a
other, smaller works, making the show immediately
passed ancestor’s belongings, or the care given to a rela-
seem like hers while giving the other artists short shrift.
tionship woven through time. The ceramic sculpture is
However, curation aside, Livaudais’s two pieces are worth
reminiscent of a wall or tombstone and its front bears a
CONTINUED
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REGIONAL REVIEW
ABOVE & LEFT // Joli Livaudais, All That I Love, mixed media | K. Samantha Sigmon
framed drawing on paper of hands and shapes—the only paper visible in the piece. I found myself more concentrated on how this work fit the show’s theme than on its nuances that unfold over time. Shreckhise’s selection sticks out among the others for its lack of subtlety. Who Belongs on Our Money? criticizes the U.S. currency’s display of only white, elite males. Dollar bills cover Shreckhise’s work, with each image of George Washington painted over with acrylic and diamond dust in over 100 different skin tones, calling attention to the race- and gender-based power imbalances in the U.S. The pattern of the currency along with the colors and the shimmering dust is alluring, but I struggled to see its place among the more meditative surrounding works.
CONTINUED
REGIONAL REVIEW
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While each of these works and artists deserve attention, together, they do not constitute a robust, cohesive show. Connections I could discern in Paper Routes were incidental, such as the tactile quality of textures, patterns, and finishes, highlighting the versatility and malleability of paper as object. Abstracted or obscured reflections on small, everyday moments also appeared as a sub-theme, but the show demands too much from audiences without any additional didactic information. Perhaps these issues will be less obvious with the change of venue into Fenix’s quirkier spot in Millar Lodge atop the historic Mount Sequoyah, where member artists have the opportunity to add their own paper pieces to the show. Fenix’s installation may make any curatorial thread even looser, or it may create a true showcase of paper TOP ROW // Kim Brewer, Rosebud Moments | K. Samantha Sigmon
as medium rather than a hyper-selected, disconnected
ABOVE // Suzannah Schreckhise, Who Belongs on Our Money? | K. Samantha Sigmon
snapshot.
OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP & RIGHT // Joli Livaudais, Imperata Grassland, mixed media | K. Samantha Sigmon; LEFT // Linda Nguyen Lopez, Start/Neverending, mixed media | K. Samantha Sigmon
Paper Routes: Arkansas Women to Watch Exhibition 2021 will be on view from January 13 to February 26, 2022 at Fenix Gallery, 150 N. Skyline Dr., Fayetteville, AR, 72701. Gallery hours are Thursday and Friday, 1-5 p.m., and Saturdays, Noon-6 p.m., or by appointment. Visit acnmwa.org/women-to-watch/ for more information.
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REGIONAL REVIEW
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E K P H R A S I S Ekphrasis is an ongoing series joining verse and visual art. In each installment, an Oklahoma-based poet responds to an Oklahoma-based artist’s visual work.
Days of Reckoning // Daniel Simon
Whited out, disappeared, disremembered – a national reign of obliteration would blot our collective memory were it not for the storykeepers who keep the true oath: to bear witness to that which happened. Yet horsemen rein apocalyptic steeds across desolate landscapes, brandishing weapons while trampling bodies underfoot, as helicopters tighten their noose around strays who might make a break to escape the killing fields. Hemmed in and assaulted by endless video loops and brawling screeds, does our field of vision exceed the mind’s capacity to order the overwhelming chaos? to make sense of what we see? We lay down stories like breadcrumbs that others might retrace our paths. Words, too, beckon like crumbs, and we trust that brushstrokes, leading the eye into the maelstrom, might give us moments of respite in small eddies of calm: semaphores of hope, testaments of balladeers, sentinels that keep watch lest democracy die.
Poet, essayist, and translator Daniel Simon—an award-winning author/editor of four books—is the editor in chief of World Literature Today magazine at the University of Oklahoma. A Nebraska native, Daniel lives in Norman with his wife and three daughters. “Days of Reckoning” is from a manuscript in progress. 26
EKPHRASIS
Veering between representation and abstraction, painter Rea Baldridge tries to keep the focus on the space between canvas and the brain, letting imagination
Rea Baldridge, Ride of the Obliterati, 2021, oil on canvas, 50” x 57”
do its job. She believes a successful painting takes as much time to look at as it did to paint. Baldridge lives and works in Oklahoma City, where she was born. EKPHRASIS
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PLAN YOUR VISIT
Image courtesy Andy Arkley
ahhatulsa.org
Pictured: Andy Arkley's Together is a collaborative interactive installation that combines sculpture, animation, music and light.
Modella Art Gallery 721 S. Main St. Stillwater, OK 74074 405-880-4434 modellaartgallery.org
OVAC N E W S Welcome to the new Art Focus! We want to say a special thank you to Dylan Bradway for his work on the new vibrant logo and to Anne Richardson, our long-time Art Focus designer, for the layout refresh. We also want to say thank you to our volunteer committee that reviewed all of the survey data, conducted research on similar publications, and helped us workshop the publication: Lynette Atchley (Seminole), Kristin Gentry (OKC), Kirsten Olds (Tulsa), Heather Lunsford (OKC), Terron Lyles (Ponca City), and Michaela Slavid (OKC).
Krystle Kaye, Executive Director |
We are excited about the new look as well as the new format.
Lauren Fourcade Creative
Many of our favorite article categories will stay the same, such as Previews, Reviews, Features, and “Ekphrasis,” and the recently added Studio Visit, is here to stay. The Gallery
To celebrate this refresh, we would like to invite all of
Guide that was in the back of each publication has moved
our readers to join us for a refresh launch, January 20th,
online and can be found at ovac-ok.org/gallery-guide.
from 5:30-7:30pm at 21c Museum Hotel. You can enjoy
This allows us to add hyperlinks so readers can jump
live music, light bites, and a cash bar as we celebrate this
straight to the gallery’s website to see the most up-to-date
accomplishment and the long legacy of the publication.
information. This move also allows more space for images, which was the most common suggestion in our redesign survey last spring. Additionally, we also have added a new Regional Review to strengthen our regional connections.
As always, you can stay up to date with the latest OVAC news by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or join OVAC as a member to receive our monthly E-News.
Along with the new look and format, we have also added
Sincerely,
a Guest Editor. Each year the Guest Editor will rotate to
Krystle Kaye Executive Director
allow for new perspectives and content. We are thrilled to have long-time OVAC supporter, editor of “Ekphrasis,” and Oklahoma Art Writing & Curatorial Fellow, Liz Blood, to be our inaugural Guest Editor.
MEMBERS Sheridan Conrad Becky Deed Amy Jo Garner Cheri Tatum BJ White Virginia Dowling Alana Embry Ann Barker Ong Cathryn Thomas Cybele Yanez Hsu
N E W A N D R E N E W I N G M E M B E R S A U G U S T T H R O U G H O C TO B E R
Donna Newsom Dustin Oswald Faye Miller Ginger McGovern Harolyn Long Janene Evard Joan Frimberger Joey Frisillo Karin Cermak Kim Pagonis
Kortny Miller L.A. Scott Lauren Rucker Lisa McIlroy Lynette Atchley Madison Moody-Torres Matt Goad Michelle Junkin Nick Lillard Sandy Wallace
Sarah Day-Short Steve Hicks Therese Williams Tina Layman William Struby Shenandoah Del Rio Alyona Kostina Joseph McGlon III Mackenzie Cooper Shyanne Kay Dickey
Richard McKinstry Tanner Bowen Denise Paglio Isabel Kienzle Molly Kaderka Clover Bitting-Cheek Erin Owen
To join or renew your membership, visit ovac-ok.org/membership-form or call 405-879-2400, ex. 1. OVAC NEWS
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WRITERS OLIVIA DAILEY has a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She works as a media production coordinator in Norman.
M A RY N O B L E is writer, hip-hop critic, and social worker based in Tulsa. She has been published in The Tulsa Voice, Tulsa People, ASLUT, and Oklahoma Today.
K A R E N PAU L is a writer and photographer based in Oklahoma. She has a Master’s Degree from the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College. You can see more of her work at karenpaulok.com.
C ASSIDY PETR A ZZI, MA, is a writer, curator, and art historian. She is the director of the Gardiner Gallery of Art at Oklahoma State University, where she facilitates exhibitions by emerging and mid-career artists and OSU students, while developing inter-departmental and multidisciplinary programming. She can be reached at cassidy.petrazzi@gmail.com.
SAMANTHA SIGMON is scholar, writer, and arts worker with master’s degrees in museum studies and architectural history. She previously worked at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as interpretation manager, and has worked in galleries, DIY spaces, and arts organizations around her home region of Northwest Arkansas.
LIZ BLOOD is the 2022 guest editor of Art Focus. In 2014, Blood founded the magazine’s poetry and art column, “Ekphrasis,” which has appeared in every issue since. A writer, editor, and lifelong Oklahoman, her work focuses on place, memory, and contemporary art. She is a four-time recipient of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and is a former Oklahoma Art Kristen Tordella-Williams, 40 Stumps (detail), 2020-2021, grass and paper pulp, chicken wire, pine shavings, LED lights, 20' x 30' x 36" | Kristen Tordella-Williams
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Writing & Curatorial Fellow at Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. She lives in Tulsa with her husband and son.
1720 N Shartel Ave, Suite B Oklahoma City, OK 73103
Non Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Oklahoma City, OK Permit No. 113
Visit ovac-ok.org to learn more.
UPCOMING EVENTS //
1/13
Momentum General Survey Deadline
1/15
Grants for Artists Deadline
1/20
Art Focus Refresh Launch Party
2/17
ASK: Exhibition Ready
3/25 -27
Momentum Exhibition
DECEMBER 2, 2021 - JANUARY 22, 2022 WATCH FOR THESE ARTISTS COMING IN 2022: Stuart Asprey Charles Rushton Whitney Forsyth Brent Learned George Levi Jason Wilson Lawrence Naff
1400 Classen Drive, Oklahoma City