Art Focus Oklahoma, July/August 2007

ArtOFocus k l a h o m a

Okl a ho m a V i s u al A r ts C o al i t i on

Vo l u m e 2 2 N o . 4

Pop Surrealism and Super Realism at City Arts Center page 11

July/August 2007

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ArtOFocus kl a h o m a Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition P.O. Box 1946 • Oklahoma City, OK 73101 ph: 405.232.6991 • e: director@ovac-ok.org visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org

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profiles DJ Lafon

6 Mel Cornshucker

reviews/previews

8 Landscape Paintings at Firehouse 9 Partnering up for the Arts 10

Fiber Art at Artsplace Ponca City

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Pop Surrealism and Super Realism

features On the Cover: Josh Heilaman, Oklahoma City, Kan, Acrylic on Panel, 24”x24”

14 ART 365 16 On the Map

business of art 17 Summer Reading 18 Ask A Creativity Coach

member agency

19 New & Renewing Members 20 At a Glance/Round UP 21

This program is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council

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OVAC news

gallery guide

Executive Director: Julia Kirt director@ovac-ok.org Editor: Kelsey Karper publications@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson anne@speccreative.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: The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports visual artists living and working in Oklahoma and promotes public interest and understanding of the arts.

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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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.

Art Focus Committee: Janice McCormick, Bixby; Sue Clancy, Norman; Michael Hoffner, Stephen Kovash, Cindy Miller, Debbie Nauser, Roger Runge and Sue Moss Sullivan, Oklahoma City.

OVAC Board of Directors 2007-2008: Kathleen Rivers, Ada; Richard Pearson, Rick Vermillion, Edmond; Jonathan Hils, Norman; Skip Hill, Stephen Kovash (Vice President), Suzanne Mitchell, Ira Schlezinger, John Seward, Carl Shortt, Suzanne Thomas, Lila Todd, Sydney Bright Warren, Elia Woods (Secretary), Oklahoma City; Joellen Frisillo, Pam Hodges, PhD (President), Sand Springs; Cathy Deuschle, Elizabeth Downing, Jean Ann Fausser (Treasurer), RC Morrison, Tulsa; Eunkyung Jeong, Weatherford 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.

Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations. © 2007, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.

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DJ Lafon, Norman Kick Ass Man Oil on Canvas 60” x 61”

PROFILE:

DJ Lafon

by Grant Lacquement D.J. Lafon has been an active artist in central Oklahoma for more than forty years. He moved to Oklahoma in 1964 to chair the School of Art at East Central University. For the next twenty years, he taught art during the day and worked nights on his own projects.

In 1984 he retired so that he could devote his time exclusively to his artistic work.

While he has worked in ceramics and sculpture he is predominately a painter. His work is witty, very well executed, insightful and aesthetically appealing. While he has a unique representational style that is immediately recognizable, it is always fresh and unexpected. His work is broadly held in museums, and public and private collections.

You can also often see his work in group and solo shows. Most recently he had a solo show at the excellent JRB Art at The Elms gallery in Oklahoma City. Despite health difficulties and decades of activity he still relishes the act of painting and works most every day for several hours.

In addition to all of these external accomplishments he has developed many internal traits which I admire greatly. He is

the most humble and genuine person I have ever met in the field of art, and regardless of his life situation, he is invariably inquisitive, cheerful, and dedicated to his work. He has also spent his life in continual study and has a well-versed intellectual knowledge on virtually every subject.

Recently, I visited him along with Dortha, his wife, at their rural east Norman home.

The house is nestled among sheltering woods on rolling hills surrounded with self made sculpture. The process of arrival is like the perfect appetizer: tasty, but leaving you pregnant with anticipation for what is next.

The house is filled with furniture and design objects of exceptional taste and every surface is covered with paintings, sculptures, or books.

The eye has no place to rest and the effect is like the ornate surface of an icon; the entire place glows.

I asked Lafon about teaching, what the meaning of working with students was for him, and how he felt he had affected them. He said “I’m always surprised when I do find out that I’ve inspired people to keep going and do something in their career. It’s not a huge

amount of people, but it’s always interesting to see how it came across because at the time it was not something you were concerned with.

I did spend 23 years with teaching and in part it was a job. And I chose that job because I felt like you had a little free time during the day and I always kept something going. And then I always worked at night. So in a sense I had two jobs. I never did think of it as one job. I was a teacher and I was also an artist. I had a family to take care of and that seamed like a reasonable job and something I could handle, to some extent, how I used my time. I sort of set up my routine that way. I never thought of teaching as standing up in front of a group and talking. To me you kind of just showed them, you had to be an example of an artist. I just very simply said artists work, and they do art work. I don’t talk about it, and so I kind of had a rule – don’t talk over ten minutes. Just show them what you wanted them to do then let them do it.”

I know Lafon has a very deep interest and concern about process; that the good things that happen in art are a direct result of the process, and I asked him if his teaching was about the process of being together making continued page 4

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continued from page 3 art. He replied “That’s what I tried to make it and that’s what I tried to make the art department. It was kind of a big studio in that sense. You have a certain amount of information to convey, but you try to keep a good balance. Mostly it was learning what art is about. And I kept having reviews with my staff to find out what do we need to change? What do we need to update? Do we not need to do this anymore? Because the world of art was changing, and did you want to go along with every new fad? Or how do you feel about it. And we kept coming back to the same conclusion: we were a four year school and we taught undergraduate students (we did not have a graduate school).

The best thing we could do was to prepare them to go on to higher education, or to go on with a career. That was our job. We did not have to be faddish, we did not have to be up with the latest necessarily, it was the basic fundamentals. That is what they lacked and that is what we felt was the most important thing to teach. Really, in very simple terms, it was how to work. And that is the way I looked at it. I had a teacher many years ago, and I liked what he said, because when I asked him how he was able to do them, the art he did, he said ‘Well, I treat it like chopping wood. I get up in the morning and I chop wood.’ And I thought, well OK that kind of says it all. And I feel that is a very true statement, because I often tell people it’s not words. So I held back on that part (conceptual stuff) because the teaching, as I was able to work it out, there was not a huge separation between that and my work. Being chairman of the department I did have some control over how things went. Not a lot, but I did not want a lot.

That helped, too. If you could get away with it you could set it up the way you wanted.”

Lafon has had a long running series investigating people in power, generals, popes, business leaders, and politicians. It is a very powerful series spanning several years and I have often wondered about it, and the process that people go through to end up the way they are in his paintings. It feels like they have stepped into a façade, the store front of an identity, and while at first they may have felt they had some autonomy, the façade slowly takes over and soon this false identity squeezes out the being inside.

I asked Lafon about this and he replied ‘I’ve

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never tried to analyze it. That is, I don’t want to, that is not my way of thinking, or working. There is always a certain amount of it left pretty open to improvisation, I guess you would call it. I might have what I thought was a very clear idea, and when I get done I may not be even close. It can sometimes go its own way, and sometimes it’s much better. It does not happen all the time, but that is the great moment, when it kind of paints itself, and I don’t really know what the hell happened.”

He did expand about the work he does leading up to these paintings: “I think you need to know about a lot of things.

One of the most mysterious and difficult things is people. Why do they do what they do? I used to spend a lot of time looking through magazines to see ‘what is General so and so doing? And what is this person doing?’ And you do hear a little bit about businessmen now, but we really don’t know what they do. I don’t know what they do really behind closed doors. They are kind of mysterious. Some of those images come from The Godfather, and I think of this shadowy mysterious figure that has a power over life and death. And exerts it. Sometimes in a very cruel way. Sometimes not.”

I do call them business men and I do have some concerns about what that means. It may be my concept of an image out there and I don’t understand it. I used to be very interested in anybody in a position of power.

I finally came to the conclusion that it did not matter what you painted, you could just change the heads and it would all be the same. And business, to a certain extent, is that way, because there becomes a certain attitude of presentation so you would not know who it was. They have acted the part.

And I don’t understand what the thinking, what is going on, that you would pay 25 or 50 million dollars to a CEO, and you pay the workers $10 an hour? I don’t understand what’s the difference between this person and somebody else, that he is worth that much? I don’t understand this at all and I think it’s just a big sham game. And do you want to play the sham or not? It’s a ruthless, mean sort of thing but it is also a reality.”

Lafon and I have talked before about the process of creation and how mysterious

DJ Lafon, Norman Lily as a Bird of Paradise Oil on Canvas 60” X 40”

DJ Lafon, Norman Pinned Down Oil on Canvas 40” X 32”

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it is. While I believe very strongly in the importance of rational thinking I also see that it has staggering limitations. It seems like profound art requires much more than rational processes are capable of providing. Talking about it is difficult, because we are limited by our words (a rational process after all). Because of this limitation in communication, when we use too much analysis it destroys the beauty of the music being played. After all, if words were sufficient we would not need paint. My observation of Lafon is that he has simply observed what works for him and focused his effort on whatever that process is without letting too much conceptualization get in the way of it. If you have to attach a word to it, I would call it a super-rational process, a process beyond the constraints of thought.

As Lafon says: “It is the realization of an image you sort of want but there is something else out there that you don’t always have a certain control over. And I think again it’s kind of a metaphor; I think artists can understand it.

There are certain things that happen, whether it is habit, experience, where you can sort of go into the painting and it paints itself. It’s not irrational at all and it does not happen all the time, but it’s nice when it does happen, I wish

it happened more often. From what feedback I get from other people, I do find it pleasing that they find some meaning that I was not even aware of. That it means something to them, that I don’t think it meant that to me.

And I think that is good, because that means it has some kind of value, that they can project themselves into the work, and get something out of it that is personal. I guess that is what a lot of it is about. That is what is important to me. But I don’t do it intentionally, I don’t know how.”

There is a kind of physical pleasure as well as somewhere in the mind something is working.

And it’s my theory that you have to have it in your mind first. It does not come as if by magic, but you saturate your mind with this stuff, then it can come, but if you don’t have a place to start then nothing can come. Other wise, I’d be an abstract painter, and I can’t paint abstract worth a damn.”

It’s always a surprise to me because I may do sketches, drawings with variations on this thing before I do the painting. I spend a lot of time, a lot of energy, thinking about it, mostly just drawing. And trying to evaluate those things some way or other. So by the

time I get to the painting I have a pretty good vocabulary. I’m not always certain how it’s going to work. And I’m not sure I want to, that is a contradiction I have. I don’t want to have a lot of control. So I amass all this visual information then I do the painting.

And sometimes I will follow that stuff and sometimes I don’t and that is what I mean that sometimes it goes its own way. It all sounds very vague and strange. But it’s not, because I’ve been doing this for sixty plus years and a lot of it does kind of come up automatically.

It’s like whistling a tune: you just do it.”

Just doing it, like going out and chopping wood, without a lot of concern, but simply having faith that the work will turn out the best way it can by getting out of the way and letting it come. I hope we can all whistle a tune in such a way, and for me there is pleasure just knowing DJ is out their, just doing the work an artist does. n

DJ Lafon, Norman Lost Oil on Canvas 32” X 24”

DJ Lafon, Norman Brunelleschi Mixed Media 8” X 8”

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(top) Mel Cornshucker (bottom) Cornshucker holding a piece of his pottery.

Profile of a Successful Potter:

Mel Cornshucker

by Janice McCormick Mel Cornshucker, a western-band Cherokee, is a highly successful, contemporary pottery who continues the Native American tradition of creating functional yet beautiful pottery. His studio, in Tulsa’s Brady Arts District, is located at the corner of Boston Avenue and Brady Street, hence the name Boston Artists Studio.

His pottery can be found at the Bead Gallery on 15th Street in Tulsa. He and Donna Prigmore are partners in both the studio and the gallery.

Mel also teaches pottery to children and adults.

JM: Tell me about your background and how you got started in pottery.

MC: I’ve always been surrounded by art. My grandfather, Lincoln Trotting Wolf, was a weaver until he was 95 years old. My other grandfather was a stonemason and my Dad is a silversmith.

In grade school I would win for the best Valentine box. In high school art competitions, I would place. But I never thought of it as a career.

I was interested in history and art was just a sideline. In college I was studying to be a tribal lawyer. I needed a studio class, so I took ceramics.

I spent so much time in the studio, I quit school and went to Silver Dollar City to be a potter. The master potter hired me over nine other people wanting the job. Within a year I was running the pottery shop. I’ve been throwing pots ever since.

I do shows all across the country - New York, Seattle, Indianapolis, Miami (Florida), Los Angeles. In Chicago, I am represented in the Hozhoni Gallery. “Hozhoni” means “walks in beauty” in Navaho. I have two shows a year - in March and October. I sell out every time I’m well liked in Chicago!

JM: How did you end up in Tulsa?

MC: For thirteen years, I had a studio in Seligman, Missouri, in the woods. I had little contact with the public. I got tired of seeing the trees grow. I was in a Native American art show with Donna Prigmore, John Wissinger and Lisa Kahn. This show, which was during the Atlatl national convention, was in conjunction with Gilcrease Museum of Art and TU’s Alexandre Hogue Gallery. John and Lisa asked me if I were interested in going into business

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with them in their ceramic studio and gallery.

After three years, they got a job offer from the Tampa Museum of Art. So I bought their half of the business. For several years I commuted from Missouri to Tulsa. But, once my daughter graduated high school, we moved to Mannford.

We’ve been here five or six years.

JM: Who has influenced you most in your work?

MC: I enjoy making something which people can appreciate its function and it looks nice aesthetically - just like the ancient pueblo potters. I like the Japanese pottery that can be highly decorated and still functional. And, there is John Glick, from Michigan, whose work I’ve seen in ceramic shows in St. Louis.

JM: What gets your creative juices going?

MC: Actually, it is when I’m teaching students. They always come up with ideas and I’ll say “Yeah, that’ll work, if you do X, Y and Z; though what it will come out looking like, huh!?” I travel a lot to shows and I visit studios and galleries, looking for ways different potters do things - how they make a twist in a handle or a knob on a piece. There are so many ways of doing things. It’s that creative interaction that gets my creative juices going.

JM: Tell me about this African project. How did you get involved? Who is sponsoring it? What will you be doing? When do you go?

MC: I will be going with 44 other people (30 artists and 15 staff members of the Institute of American Indian Art) to Johannesburg, South Africa, and then we travel to Graham’s Town for a national festival of the arts - music, theater, writing, video, arts and crafts. It is the biggest festival in Africa. This cultural exchange is under the auspices of the Kellogg Foundation. The purpose is to see if we can help indigenous people promote their wares on the international market.

A contingency from South Africa came over and went to the pueblos to check out their pottery. They wanted to get a dialogue going among their artists and Native American artists. They visited the Institute of American

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Indian Art’s museum shop, where I have some of my work. Someone liked my work and asked me if I were picked would I like to go to Africa. I said “Yes” - thinking “No chance will I get picked.” But, I did.

I leave the 26th of June and return the 10th of July. It will be an interesting trip. I’ll be traveling with well-known potters, jewelers, fashion people, mixed media artists, and printmakers - all are Native American. Then we’ll be divided into groups and the potters will go to studios in other villages.

mean by “Make what you like” because you might be making a lot of them.

This practical advice comes from a down-to-earth potter who takes quiet pride in his creative endeavors and who willingly shares his insights with the world. n

JM: What is the thing you like least about doing pottery?

MC: I like most of it - traveling, meeting people, and now I work less than 8 hours a day. Sometimes when I see new pieces, they seem off the wall. I just don’t get it. But, once I see the process and get an understanding of the thought process behind the pieces, I can appreciate them.

JM: What about making sets of dishes?

MC: Yeah, I make dishes, if the customers pay the price.

I don’t like doing it because it is a little boring, making the same piece over and over. But, I’m accomplished - to the point where I can make a dish out of 4 pounds of clay to a one-eighth inch tolerance. I keep raising the price, but people keep ordering them. So I keep making them.

JM: Any advice to beginning potters?

MC: Learn the medium. There are so many things clay can and cannot do. Never stop learning what clay is capable of doing and its limitations.

And, this is very important, like what you’re making.

It’s also a good idea to make it so that it is easy to ship.

I had a student who went to a festival with teapots. Her prices were so low that she had too many orders. They were difficult to make and were hard to ship. She learned a valuable lesson from that.

I was asked by Coldwater Creek, a catalogue company, to design a piece. I created a bowl with the buffalo motif out of 2 and a half pounds of clay. The catalogue goes out four times a year to over a million customers. They told me I would probably be making 100 to 200 bowls a month. That’s easy to do in the production mode. The first time I made 200.

Within 5 days, they said they needed another 200. Soon I was making 400 to 500 bowls a month for a year. It was all I did - 25 bowls thrown, decorated and glazed in one day.

I hired people to do the shipping. The money was good. I bought equipment and could afford to travel. It was good experience. But, I couldn’t take it anymore. Coldwater got another potter to make my bowl and I got a royalty check for about another year. That potter couldn’t keep up with the demand and they had to take the bowls out of the catalogue.

Now they are my bowls again, not theirs. So that’s what I

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Brad Price, Norman, Galisteo, Oil on Canvas

For the Love of the Land:

Landscape Paintings at Firehouse Art Center

by Kelsey Karper The creative mind seems to have always been captivated by the land around it. The subject has spanned the history of art, being recreated in a countless number of styles and media. The landscape serves as an endless source of inspiration for many artists. An exhibition at the Firehouse Art Center in Norman is examining this fascination through an exhibition titled Interpretations of the Landscape, revisiting the importance of the landscape in today’s society.

The featured artists in the exhibition are Brad Price and Rick Fry, both of the Norman area. The styles of the two artists are distinctive but their love of natural and untouched places is evident. Brad Price’s impressionistic paintings of northern New Mexico are colorful memories of places he has been. He describes himself as a romantic, a backpacker, and a lover of high places.

Rick Fry paints in oil on panel, creating realistic images of unspoiled areas of the American landscape. In his artist’s statement, he says his favorite areas to work are where he can travel for miles without seeing evidence of people. His paintings include images of beautiful mountain ranges, roaring waterfalls and pristine lakes. Painting in plein air, Fry believes that a wildlife and landscape painter must be an observer first and foremost.

By placing the works of these two artists together, the Firehouse Art Center hopes to stir the viewer to look past the “pretty picture” and question the artist’s intent in painting these intimate relationships with the landscape.

Interpretations of the Landscape will continue through July 27.

Rick Fry, Norman, North to Ketechikan, Oil on Panel, 36”x48”

The Firehouse Art Center is located at 444 S. Flood Ave. in Norman.

The Center also holds events for children and families. On July 1314, they will host the annual Mid-Summer Nights Fair. The Fair is a free event, providing an opportunity for the community to view and purchase artwork from talented artists across the region. Visitors will find live artist demonstrations, entertainment, food and a kid’s art area. For more information about Firehouse Art Center, visit www.normanfirehouse.com or call 405-329-4523. n

I know I’ve done my job when the viewer can feel the open sky or the grandeur of a mountain or the chill of winter’s first snow.

-Rick Fry, painter 8

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Left: Jaymes Dudding, Rio Rancho, NM Amphora Effigy Vessel Ceramic 31.5”x11”x9”

Right: David Phelps, Oklahoma City Queen of Sheeba Bronze and Concrete 79”x50”x27”

Partnering Up for the Arts

by Anne Allbright Once again, the Leslie Powell Gallery and the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton, Oklahoma, are collaborating on a joint art exhibition entitled, Heart and Soul of the Great Plains II. With around 110 artists participating, all of whom have ties to the Central Plains, visitors will get an excellent overview of the art being produced regionally by a large array of artists. The exhibition opened on June 30 and will continue through August.

Of course, it would be difficult to mention all of the artists involved in this multimedium event, so I have selected two of the participants at random in order to provide a brief overview. When I first encountered Jaymes F. Dudding’s piece, entitled Amphora Effigy Vessel, it immediately struck me as a work that demands further investigation. As a budding historian, I tend to wonder what inspired a particular piece, so needless to say, Amorpha Effigy Vessel had my imagination working overtime. After reading his artist’s statement, I began to reflect on how Dudding’s vision lent itself to the piece’s multilayered presence.

In part, Jaymes F. Dudding notes that, “The amazing abundance of symbolic forms and images through time and across the earth on pottery vessels, female figurines and other cult objects, has persuaded me that these works are much more than simply decorative geometric motifs. I’m convinced that they belong to an un-deciphered language of the metaphysical.” He goes on to say, “The watercarrier is another familiar image of the goddess and is associated with the waters of life, lifegiver, and ultimately, the mysterious source of all life…My ceramic sculptures have been inspired by these powerful forms and images.

The shapes seem to have been stretched by their own contents.”

Often artists work with familiar material, drawing inspiration from their past, such as internationally known sculptor David Phelps, who uses his memories to create contemporary figurative sculptures in bronze and other materials. Phelps, reflecting on his roots comments, “I grew up on a farm in the central valley of California where the fields become an extension of oneself. I continue to live in

the wide open spaces of Oklahoma where my sculptural images expand to include their own environments as an integral part of the aesthetic experience.” This helps explain why so many of Phelps’ sculptures appear to be half rooted in the ground from which they emerge.

For this exhibit, he selected the sculpture Queen of Sheeba to display because of its symbolic meaning. From his youth, he recalls that his Grandfather bought a John Deere model 55 combine in 1953 and often put his sister “in the operator seat and called her the Queen of Sheeba” and his chosen sculpture “honors the spirit of that memory.”

Of course, there is an abundance of other creative work on display to see and appreciate.

Hopefully, all manner of art enthusiasts will help support this unique collective effort. For additional information, please contact the Museum of the Great Plains at 580-581-3460 or www.museumgreatplains.org, or the Leslie Powell Gallery at 580-357-9526 or www.lpgallery.org. n

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rev iew (top) Elizabeth Smathers, Tulsa Basalt Trio Pine Needles, Waxed Linen, Raku (bottom) Stephanie Grubbs, Edmond, Sky Wrap, Felted Wool

Fiber Art at Artsplace Ponca City: A Common Thread

by Kathy McRuiz What most impressed me as I entered Artsplace in Ponca City was the serenity that comes from a well-crafted, well-balanced display of artwork. That Fiber Art was curated

by Sue Moss Sullivan, who is herself a fiber artist was evident.

The allure of texture, form, and color pulled me in to take a closer look. The intimacy of the movement and rhythm seemed to have originated in the heart, rather than the head, of each of the artists. A common thread throughout was nature.

The texture of pine needles, painstakingly layered to produce undulating lines bound together with waxed linen, perfectly play against the surface of the attached raku forms in Basalt Trio by C. Elizabeth Smathers. The depth of color produced by the raku process recalls the rich black hues achieved by the cooling process of lava.

The objects Smathers included in this show are made of pine needles either alone or in tandem with raku or turned wood. Her forms are graceful and her work is clearly inspired by nature. The processes of gathering pine needles, forming and firing the clay, and choosing and turning the wood, are all evident in the final product and combine to give Smathers’ work interest, vibrancy and soul.

The silhouette of Stephanie Grubbs’ Sky Wrap looks like a female torso. It also evokes a vessel. The colors are sky blue. The felted wool brings to mind warmth and comfort.

The wrapped branches suggest strength and act as a means to bind together the whole.

All these elements combine to produce a sensual play between the familiarity of the womb and the openness of the sky.

It is admirable and compelling that Grubbs forms three-dimensional objects from felted wool: I have been felting wool for many years and still find it exciting and challenging. Very hard labor is required to change soft wool fibers into solid form. Felt takes the imprint of the maker to become something new, yet the wool always has a say in the form it takes. It can be soft and filmy or thick and hard enough to serve as a shelter.

Emily DuBois stated that the weavings in her series were made of two kinds of fabric: hand-dyed threads using the ikat process for both the warp and weft, then handwoven by the artist on a computer-linked 16-harness dobby loom with the resulting fabric often tie-dyed, painted, stitched, or pieced; and the more photorealistic fabrics hand-woven by the artist from her own digital photographs and from photographs in the public domain.

Dubois’ technique and vision fuse to create a distinct body of work that reads like a book of poetry that reveals deeper levels during subsequent readings. In a small but powerful weaving called Sun, Moon, Sea the viewer assumes the primitive images on the

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top refer to the sun and the moon that reflect in the sea below. Upon closer inspection red, yellow and blue are patterned into the overall composition of the sea below – like the sun reflecting hidden color in an overall black and white world.

Each of the artists in this show has taken her craft beyond its respective traditional confines and developed a finely-honed and unique art-form with a resultant body of work that seamlessly communicates an intriguing personal lexicon…from the heart. n

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Pop Surrealism and Super Realism at City Arts Center

by Cathy Deuschle Off-season, fairgrounds are more than empty, the absences are palpable. But Oklahoma City has City Arts Center to help fill the void. Yearning for monster trucks, eating contests, abusive clowns, or fainting goats? Never mind those, let’s look at art instead. In the case of the pop surrealism show this past April, the art segued into the fairground setting very well.

Pop surrealism, or lowbrow art, originated in southern California in the 70’s. Although it began in response to underground comix and hot rod street culture, the movement now references many aspects of contemporary life including surf culture, graffiti, tattoo art, anime, erotica, psychedelia, circus and sideshow culture, and advertising. Just about anything that might be considered kitsch or a cultural threat is heartily embraced.

Consumerism is embraced as well. This show displayed collectible adult toys designed by Frank Kozik, Jamungo, and Chad Mount. Many pop surrealists have entered this market, designing darkly adorable vinyl figures. Indeed, reminiscent of the beanie baby debacle of the late 90’s, some of these limited edition toys auction for hugely inflated prices on Ebay.

Some pop surrealist painters have crossed over to the mainstream market and are wildly popular despite the fine art establishment’s reluctance to legitimize this movement. Mark Ryden (not in this exhibit) seems to be paving the way in this respect. The movement’s reach has been further extended by strong ties with the music industry. Nationally and locally known artists in this show including Winston Smith, Mexican Chocolate, Frank Kozik, Michael Michael Motorcycle, Matt Goad, and Josh Heilaman, have created album art and concert posters for groups such as The Dead Kennedy’s, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The Cramps, and locally, The Starlight Mints.

Oversized heads, big eyes, and snub noses were common in much of the figurative work; as were contorted bodies, a multitude of skulls, and truly miserable combinations of human and machine, human and animal, cat and six pack, etcetera. Here, cutesy and creepy were forced to coexist, albeit uncomfortably.

In the paintings of both Chad Mount and Josh Heilaman, finely painted, hairycreatures were placed in a loose, psychedelic slurry. One collaborative piece titled Rya Wa Zen effectively combined Mount’s black tendrils continued to page 12

Clockwise from top: Kathie Olivas, Tampa, FL, The Loyalists, Oil on Canvas, 24”x36” Josh Reynolds, Oklahoma City The Tea Party Oil on Canvas, 22”x28” Josh Heilaman, Oklahoma City Botanical Codex...Not Found Acrylic on Panel, 24”x36”

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Eric K. Stevens, Ft. Worth, TX, White Gladiolas No. 1 Oil on Birch Panel, 12”x24”

with Heilaman’s shaggy, white beast. Josh Reynold’s naive, softly handled paintings were campy and slightly bizarre. His Mermaid poised on a rocky outcrop maintained Texas beauty queen hair in spite of her watery home. More complicated were Sarah Atlee’s pastiches of figure, symbol, and cultural/historical reference held together by sensitive line. Some of her work had a fractured quality reminiscent of futurism.

Vivid and direct was the work of design team, Jamungo (comprised of FERG and Van Beater) - no superfluous detail here. Steven Schmidt’s pieces made use of numerical symbols, op art, and photography. His literary sounding titles were amusing within the lowbrow context.

Matt Goad’s paintings were hard edged, dynamic compositions whose solid masses offset the linear work that dominated this show. All of these artists worked with black and white, and limited, though saturated, color. The result was forceful and graphic.

Kathie Olivas painted static portraits of cartoonish children often sporting eyeless sockets, serpent limbs, rigid mouth restraints, and instruments that just might be used for torture. She linked childhood to cruelty in a casually exploitative way. Also on view were elegant and freaky screen prints by Michael Michael Motorcycle, Winston Smith’s collages with a ‘more is more’ bent, Mexican Chocolate’s sinuous work juxtaposing death and beauty (his skulls were enchanting), and numerous Frank

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Kozik drawings and prints that referenced, among other things, Hinduism and anime.

Super Realism Extremely detailed realism is extremely popular in Oklahoma. It must be; it’s everywhere. In my hometown of Tulsa, its preponderance feels, at times, like an edict. Water drops on flower petals, skin with every follicle and freckle accounted for, detailed images on the reflective surface of marbles; it takes a surgeon’s hand and a certain personality type to paint such minutia.

But too often technical accomplishment feels like the end point of the painting rather than a tool in the service of artistic expression, thus making the conversation between art and viewer a shallow one.

In May, however, City Arts Center displayed the work of two oil painters who lightly stirred emotion while working in a hyper realistic style. Morgan Craig, from Pennsylvania, and Eric K. Stevens, from Texas, both worked from photographs using limited palettes and displaying little, or no, evident brushwork.

Otherwise, in terms of subject matter and stance, their visions diverged dramatically.

Craig produced large canvases depicting the interiors of ruined factories, prisons, hotels, and asylums. His many thrusting diagonals agitated the work; in one painting titled Contemplating Babylon (Christine’s World), the perspective was

dizzying. Though the dominant colors were the primaries, they were typically subdued; the artist relied more on strong value contrast. The atmospherics of light came through in these canvases giving further credence to the temporal nature of his subject matter. Though one felt the vigor of the work through the thin and carefully applied paint, this detached handling muted the emotional response.

Eric Stevens painted landscapes, and enlarged close ups of flowers on jet black backgrounds.

He made much use of chiaroscuro. Softly focused white gladiolas, red carnations, or red tulips perched on stems containing a variety of subtle greens. They emerged from and receded into the darkness. Flowers deserve such tenderness and reverence and his treatment of them brought intimacy to these medium sized paintings. One somber landscape titled Czech Republic was solely comprised of finely modulated lights and darks.

Clint Stone, artistic director of City Arts Center, seems to be a master of juxtaposition. Pairing soft flowers with hard, wasted structures complicated the response to the individual pieces. In addition, putting Super Realism back-to-back with the similarly titled but far differently flavored Pop Surrealism show, created a satisfying friction that heightened this reviewer’s remembrance of both. n

University of Central Oklahoma C o l l e g e

o f

A r t s ,

M e d i a

&

D e s i g n

AFRICAN ART COLLECTION Chambers Library, 2nd & 3rd floors Explore the most comprehensive exhibit of African art in the region.

Objects from the 1st Century BCE through the 20th Century.

This collection features pieces on loan from the Kirkpatrick Center AfďŹ liated Fund and Perry and Angela Tennison.

For Information contact: Dr. William Hommel (405) 974-5252 bhommel@ucok.edu

F o r M o r e I n f o r m a t i o n : ( 4 0 5 ) 9 7 4 - 2 4 3 2 • w w w. c a m d . u c o k . e d u / e v e n t s

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SPECIAL SERIES:

ART 365

Article 1 of a six part series highlighting one of the six artists selected for Art 365

Liz Roth, Stillwater Pink and Green: 36 Views of Kamiyama [Japan] View of Painting Installation, Mural on top, 36 oil paintings on panel within a grid on the bottom.

ART 365: NEW ART EXHIBITION

by Stephen Kovash Art 365, a new exhibition from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC), is hoping to create new and exceptional opportunities for artists in Oklahoma. Armed with the recent success of Momentum and several years of VisionMakers and the Biennial, OVAC wanted to see if current or new exhibitions of contemporary Oklahoma artists could make a larger impact on the community. In 2004, OVAC convened an “Exhibitions Think Tank” and then worked with OVAC’s standing exhibition committee to look at strategic issues related to future planning of their exhibitions program. For Oklahoma artists, OVAC wanted to find out what they needed in terms of exhibitions. For art patrons, OVAC wanted to pick the best mix of exhibition formats (curated, juried, traveling, etc.) to make exhibits accessible as well as educational.

There was also recognition of the debate going on in the “art community” for the last ten years or so related to the impact of the jury and curatorial processes. Nationally, the number of juried shows has been on the decline and according to OVAC Director Julia Kirt, curators, galleries and museums are not giving these shows the recognition they have

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received in the past. The curatorial process was questioned in that, while a selection of slides by “experts” can create an interesting survey, it doesn’t really create a “body of work.”

The juried show model was also seen as an inconsistent “jumping-off” point, creating very little long term impact for the featured artists.

In order to maximize the impact of a new exhibit, a number of national models were looked at, including a North Carolina Invitational and a New Orleans museum exhibition that included major commissions, similar to the Whitney Biennial. The model ultimately constructed by OVAC focused on the involvement of a guest curator working directly with selected artists in the artistic process, allowing the curator to develop a relationship with the artists and thus avoid the proscribed format of shows based on a specific organizing principle. An open call to artists was used to offset the fact that an outside curator would not necessarily be acquainted with Oklahoma artists.

The statewide call for proposals issued in late 2006 offered the chance for six artists to receive honoraria of $10,000 each to work with the

guest curator over the course of one year to create artwork for a major exhibition to open in March of 2008. By the deadline in February 2007, 134 artists had submitted proposals.

The stated goals of Art 365 include: challenging artists to create new, innovative artwork; developing contemporary art audiences who are educated in how to interpret new artwork; offering artists more depth of contact with a significant contemporary curator; presenting a focused examination of contemporary artists in the state; forming a quality and cohesive exhibition and giving direct financial support to artists.

The guest curator chosen for the exhibition is Diane Barber. Barber serves as Co-Executive Director of DiverseWorks in Houston, where she was previously the Visual Arts Director. She is responsible for developing and implementing the organization’s visual arts, curating exhibitions and organizing educational projects. DiverseWorks houses two on-site galleries featuring a combined fourteen to sixteen exhibitions a year.

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Artist L iz R oth

Reviewing the proposals, Barber found many artists defining and exploring American identity, whether they named it literally or not. According to Barber, the selected proposals consider aspects of the American identity through icons, introspective explorations, symbolic natural worlds, consumerism and surveillance. Barber has already made studio visits with all the participating artists and will be conducting several more over the project year.

The six selected proposals are from artists Sarah Atlee, Norman; Betsy Barnum, Edmond; Joseph Daun, Oklahoma City; Ashley Griffith, Oklahoma City; Darshan Phillips & Aaron Whisner (collaborative project), Tulsa; and Liz Roth, Stillwater.

Their work represents painting, printmaking, mixed media, sculpture and modified technologies.

Stillwater artist Liz Roth will be profiled for this article. The remaining artists will be profiled in subsequent issues over the course of the next year.

Roth received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin. She teaches Painting and Drawing at Oklahoma State University. Roth’s work has been featured in exhibitions across the country and the globe. She is the recipient of many awards, grants and residencies including a residency at the Awagami Paper Factory in Japan and the national Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant for Painting.

According to Roth, her work often depicts social concerns in a humorous way, whether it’s about coworkers functioning as a reluctant substitute family in the United States, or how Americans perceive the relationship between beauty and weight (she completed a nude self-portrait–a-day project for six months, see www.lizroth.com). She was invited to Japan in 2003 to create art installations and public art works dealing with environmental issues.

Roth’s Art 365 project is titled America 101, and according to the artist, is a commentary on environmental losses as a result of consumerism. It is Roth’s hope to use the project to invigorate people about environmental issues rather than depress them. The project plan includes traveling

to all 50 states and creating 100 small panel oil paintings, two from each state, of typical but not iconic places in each state. These will be displayed together with a large mural of a commodity. Roth completed a similar, smaller project in Japan called Pink and Green: 36 Views of Kamiyama [Japan], a tongue-incheek installation of 36 small oil paintings of Kamiyama’s natural beauty juxtaposed with a mural-sized painting of a Hello Kitty brand toy cell phone. The installation was created to draw attention to the relative importance people place on nature and on commodities.

The artist has photographed and sketched 42 states to date. Thanks in part to the honoraria she received as a result of her Art 365 proposal, Roth will be able to travel to Hawaii and Alaska this summer. Her trip to Alaska will also include a residency at the Wrangell Mountain Center in McCarthy.

Roth plans on making some major road trips in the fall to capture the final sketches and photographs for the project. She is not ready to announce the subject of the large commodity mural, but assures that it will be representative of the issues she sees in current American culture.

On being a part of the Art 365 project, Roth described being honored and excited about the project and the ability to work with the curator. “Diane was great,” states the artist.

“She understood my project immediately, and we were able to talk about interesting technical specifics pretty quickly. I showed her some other pieces I am working on as well, and appreciated her feedback.” Roth also spoke about the extra motivation she is experiencing. “…it certainly lights a fire under you; when you have been given such a gift, you really want to be able to provide something marvelous in return.”

The work by Roth and the other selected artists will be shown at Untitled [ArtSpace] at 1 NE 3 in Oklahoma City, March 14April 26, 2008. Plans are also in the works to tour the show across the state. The Art 365 project is funded in part by the Oklahoma Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Oklahoma Arts Council, Allied Arts, Kirkpatrick Foundation, and Jean Ann Fausser. n

(top) Liz Roth, Stillwater Untitled Oil painting from Pink and Green installation (bottom) Liz Roth, Stillwater Untitled Oil painting from Pink and Green installation

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ON THE

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Art-O-Mat

by Lori Oden Sue Clancy, Norman, OK

I learned of an organization this past summer called Art-o-Mat. After some research on the website, www.artomat.org, I found that Art-o-Mats are located all over the United States.

Clark Whittington founded the group Artists in Cellophane (AIC) in 1997. According to Whittington, “The inspiration for AIC came to me while observing a friend who had a Pavlovian reaction to the crinkle of cellophane; when my friend heard someone opening a snack, he had an uncontrollable urge to have one too. AIC is based on the concept of taking art and repackaging it to make it part of our daily lives. Our mission is to encourage art consumption by combining the worlds of art and commerce in an innovative form. AIC believes that art should be progressive, yet personal and approachable.” About the same time that Whittington formed AIC, he started Art-o-Mat. Many states started to ban cigarette vending in the 1990s, which led to thousands of abandoned machines. Whittington, who lives in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, had the brilliant idea to turn the cigarette machines into art vending.

I had planned a summer road trip to Cincinnati and up-state New York when I found Art-o-Mat. Since I did not have a specific timeline, I decided to make some detours to experience the art vending machines.

Rochester, New York; Artworks in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio. All the museums were excellent and places I might not have seen if it had not been for Art-o-Mat. The machines either take a token, exchanged for $5, or they have been converted to take bills. It is a hard choice; the art includes sculpture, original prints and photographs, jewelry and more. Not only is the experience fun, but it opens a whole new world of artists around the country.

Norman artists Sue Clancy and Judy Sullens have been a part of the project for almost 10 years. Clancy says, “Another reason we have enjoyed working with the project is that through our involvement in Art-o-Mat we have developed a good nation-wide networking system.

In each of the little cigarette pack-size boxes that contain our book is a brochure that tells more information about us and our books. As a result we have been contacted by gallery owners, publishers, individual artists and other folks. We even get photos occasionally of people using their little books they bought from us via the Art-o-Mat vending machines.”

Art-o-Mat gives everyone a chance to buy original art. There is an Arto-Mat located in the lobby of Kirkpatrick Foundation in Oklahoma City and it is definitely a unique experience. n

My first stop was the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. The museum was gorgeous and the contemporary art was fantastic. My other stops included

Derrick Method, South Bend, IN

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Emily Long, Chicago, IL

Emma Anne Brown

Art-O-Mat Machine

bus i ness of ar t

business of ar t

Summer Reading

by Sue Clancy

I love to read almost as much as I love creating art. I’m certain that while I’m sitting out on my back patio reading a book, cold beverage in hand, I’m also developing my artistic ideas. Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, writes “We should read other people’s books in order to learn what WE feel; it is our own thoughts we should be developing, even if it is another writers thoughts that help us do so.”

John Ruskin, who wrote about art, architecture and nature in the 19th century, said “There is no better way of coming to be aware of what one feels oneself than by trying to recreate in oneself what a master has felt.” Reading biographies of artists are wonderful ways of learning what a master has felt. I have several on Henri Matisse. Books are starting points for me. My responses to what an author has written can help me better understand what I think and feel. I find authors that I can relate to, who make me feel less alone in the world. I find ones that challenge me, inspire new thoughts and encourage my own self-expressions.

Some of my artist friends have asked me how I find so many good books that inspire my art-making. There are two approaches that I use to finding books: by name and by topic.

The University of Tulsa School of Art Presents

ED

ED

Facets of Perception Paintings by Members of

Zeuxis

An Association of Still Life Painters

ED Opening Reception, August 23, 5-7pm Alexandre Hogue Gallery Show Runs: August 23 through September 28

By Name: 1) I think of authors and artists who are already familiar to me. I do a search, either via the Internet or at my local bookstore or library, under the author or artist’s name. I look for anything by that author – or about the artist - that I’ve not read.

2) I look in a book that I’ve enjoyed in the past. There is usually a list of other books that author has written in the front. Sometimes one of those will sound fun. A non-fiction author will list books in the bibliography in the back of the book and sometimes one of those will be of interest to me. I will look through the book and see what other authors, artists or topics the writer names within the text of the book.

Then I’ll search for them.

By Topic: 1) I will think of a topic that interests me, some theme I’m working on in my current body of artwork. (Hint: such topics often show up when you write your artist statements.) It could be something broad like ‘patterns’ or ‘environments’ or ‘happiness.’ It could also be as specific as ‘dogs.’ With this topic in mind I can cast a wide net and ask “What do you have on (name topic here)?” when I’m at a library or bookstore. Often I’ll be directed to a section that contains books on, or related to, the topic requested.

Most often I use a combination of the above methods. For example, I really enjoyed Linda Weintraub’s book, In The Making. An Internet search revealed her website www.avant-guardians.com (and www.LindaWeintraub.com) and there I discovered that she had two new books on specific topics that I’m interested in – art and ecology. Ms. Weintraub’s books are titled: Cycle-Logical Art – Recycling Matters for Eco-Art and ECOcentric Topics – Pioneering themes for Eco-Art. I’ve been interested in environments, both ecological and mental environments and recycling of both actual things and how ideas themselves get recycled and re-used so both of these titles intrigued me. In ECOcentric Topics, there are topic chapters on: Desire, Newness, Power, Nature, Globalism, Diversity, Mercy, Death, Decay and Dirt. There is a discussion of the topic and a dialogue with an artist who has done art on that topic. Jackpot! Talk about great reading and fodder for new thoughts!

I read this book actively. Active reading for me means that as I read I will pause periodically to ponder what the author is saying and to write in my sketchbook (and the margins of the book if I own it) my own thoughts and questions. Ms. Weintraub uses a workbook format, containing exercises to write about and act upon. This facilitates active reading nicely. (Not all books do this but you can create your own “workbook” in any book you select.) After I had finished reading Ms. Weintraub’s book my take-away ‘new thought’ was regarding the impact of various Time concepts upon humanity. Time is a topic that is not covered explicitly in ECOcentric Topics. I have begun to search for other books about Time and so far I’ve found 2 fiction titles: Bearing an Hourglass by Piers Anthony and Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett and one non-fiction: A Sideways Look at Time by Jay Griffiths. continued to page 18

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busi ness of ar t

ASK A CREATIVITY COACH

by Romney Nesbitt continued from page 17 Ms. Weintraub’s book Cycle-logical Art excellently discusses materials (such as metals, plastic, glass, food and paper) and the impact each has upon the environment. Most helpfully she talks with a number of artists and how they deal with and utilize waste, debris, etc. in their own artistic lives and how it becomes art. In a nutshell, this book cycles through various thoughts in exactly the way Ms. Weintraub writes in her preface, “Meanwhile, the engines of production within my intellect kept generating additional lines of thought. This relentless processor of information churned out new ideas about my old ideas and these new ideas also had to be attended to.

They, in turn generated new thoughts about the problem of contending with the onslaughts of conceptualizations.”

(Cycle-logical Art also includes some “further thinking” exercises.) After reading this book I thought newly about cycles of thought. As a result, I looked for books about epistemology - how we “know” things - and systems of learning. Now I have several books on these topics to read this summer in addition to my books on Time.

As you can see, one book leads to another, but books are only starting points not end results. I take my newly formed thoughts and ideas that I had written in my sketchbook back to the studio and use them to develop my paintings. Part of the fun of being an artist, in my opinion, is expressing your own point of view within the universal art & literature conversation.

One of these summer evenings if, like me, you’re out on your patio reading and sipping a cold margarita, or an iced tea, and someone asks you what you’re doing…. tell them you’re working. n

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Occasionally a really great opportunity drops in your lap. Lori Brack, Community Learning Coordinator for the Salina Public Library asked me to do a creativity coaching residency for artists and writers in Salina, Kansas. Lori said “I read about your classes in the Tulsa Community College course catalog. We have a number of creative artists in Salina, I think a creativity coach sounds like something that would be valuable for our community.”

Lori and I designed a four day residency which included two classes, “Conquering the Challenges of the Creative Life” and “SelfPromotion for the Creative Person,” three brown-bag lunches and time for private coaching. Thirty-five musicians, writers, visual artists, graphic designers, photographers and several entrepreneurs from Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado enrolled. In three days I met with twenty artists for individual coaching time. Here are three case studies from Salina and a few coaching tips.

“Maybe. People have told me that my music makes them feel peaceful.”

A writer was struggling to find material for a novel. As a way of introducing himself he told me he had been the sole caretaker of a family member with an unusual mental disorder. I stopped him before he moved on to another topic, “Did you just tell me that you can’t think of anything to write about?” He nodded yes. “What about your experience of living that close to mental illness?”

“What do you do for fun?” She pulled out some postcard size abstract paintings using the same technique on paper that she used on wood. “I like to paint abstracts” she quietly confided, almost like she was telling me a secret.

“Would anyone be interested in that story?”

I nodded. We spent the rest of our time exploring fiction and non-fiction markets and outlining the chapters of a new book.

Coaching tip number one: don’t underestimate your life experiences.

“Oh no,” she shook her head side to side. “I’ve never considered myself a real artist.”

A musician was ready to take her career to the next level. She had spent several years doing local concerts and selling CD’s of her original compositions. “Tell me what you think your music does for people,” I asked.

She said she had been told her music had a healing effect. She had even performed her original compositions for hospice patients. “Is it possible that your music could help people without serious illnesses center themselves so they could better deal with the normal anxieties of life?”

“Could you use the music you’ve already recorded and rearrange the pieces in a sequence designed to lift someone’s spirits from feeling low to feeling hopeful?”

“Yes, that would be easy to do!” Coaching tip number two: use what you already have.

An artist showed me photos of her handpainted doors. She explained her secret technique to manipulate the paint on the wooden surfaces. “I want to know how to make more money per piece. This takes a lot of time.”

“Why do you paint doors?” I asked her.

“Because I sell every piece I make,” she said.

I waited. After a moment she said “But I’m getting bored.”

“Have you ever thought about painting one of these about 6’ x 8’? I think large abstracts like these would sell to corporations.”

“But you are an artist.” She smiled. Coaching tip number three: don’t be afraid to think big.

Spending a little time with a coach who’s trained to ask the next right question could move your career along. Perhaps you would like to follow Salina’s lead and offer something innovative for your community or maybe you would like to invest an hour in your future.

Coaching tip number four: Don’t discount the value of a professional coach.

Romney Nesbitt is a creativity coach, artist and writer living in Tulsa. She welcomes your coaching questions for future “Ask A Creativity Coach” columns in this magazine.

Contact her at RomneyN@cox.net. n

OVAC news

Expose yourself to..

Apertures Photo Oklahoma’s finest photographic services Apertures Photo Lab Professional in-house lab and store with digital and film services. We produce up to 40”x60” prints. Come shop here for cameras, equipment, accessories and more.

Apertures Gallery Highlighting photography in Oklahoma. New exhibits each month.

Apertures School of Photography Evening classes in a variety of photography topics.

Apertures Framing Custom frame shop for all your framing needs.

Check our web site for monthly specials!

www.aperturesphoto.com

1936 S. Harvard Tulsa, OK 74112 | 918-742-0500

Thank you to our New and Renewing Members from March and April 2007 Alexandra Alaupovic Denise Alexander Shea Alexander Sharon Allred Kristy Lewis Andrew Narciso Arguelles Dash Austin Vicki Ayres-McCune Marc Barker Jennifer Barron Joy Beller Ellen Berney Gary Betow and Kathy McKeown Bill Boettcher Barbara Boland Barbara Branstetter Diana Brown Kelie Myers Brown Anji Bryner The Burbridge Foundation Sharon Burchett Jan Eckardt Butler

Bill and Alice Byrd Jean Artman Campbell Autumn L. Casey Jerry L. Cathey Sue Clancy and Judy Sullens Bryan Dahlvang Mireille Damicone Genni Davis Robert Dohrmann Elizabeth Dunbar Marge Duncan James Eakins Margaret Fensterer Susan Ford Jim Franklin Claire Frichette Joseph Gierek Virginia Ginsberg Shan Goshorn Margareta Grill Lacy Brown Gustafson Sue Hale

Ruth Harris Kim and Suzette Hatfield Jack L. Hill Mary Hines Michael Hoffner David Holland William Hood Cecelia Hussein David Irwin Jacqueline Iskander Nikki Janzen Shalla Javid Jackie Jones Stacie Jordan Sam and Elizabeth Joyner Jean Keil Brooke Knight Sean Lee Jim McCue Melton Art Reference Library Cindy Miller Suzanne Mitchell

Kay Moore Kate Arnott Morgan Glenda Cook Mullins Kim Pagonis Patricia A. Pearson Andrew Phelan Gerald Piper Jim Pourtorkan Judith Prise Danielle Raimo Denise Rinkovsky Rachel Rumple Tom and Velma Sanders Bert D. Seabourn Houshang and Monireh Seradge Ann Shaw Beth Shearon Shikoh Shiraiwa Carl and Beth Shortt Silver Frank and Pat Simons Bud and Carole Sloan

Rob Smith-Phenix Brenda Spencer Shirley Sutterfield Suzanne C. Thomas Eileen Thomas Laurie Thompson Don Thompson and Barbara Eikner Alvin O. Turner UCO College of Arts, Media and Design Kristen Vails Teresa Valero Elizabeth Walker Charleen Weidell Chris L. Weldon Jeri Wensel Matthew Wiens Norma Williams Lee Williams Rachael Wimpey Lea Zrenda

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OVAC news

At a Glance

Oklahoma Annual Artists’ Exhibition

by Julia Kirt Mining the history of contemporary art in Oklahoma, Eleanor Davy Carmack curated a fascinating exhibition for the education gallery of the Philbrook Museum of Art in February and April. Amazingly the Philbrook organized the Oklahoma Annual Artists’ Exhibition from 1940 until 1976 (quite a run!). Carmack notes that, like any contemporary exhibition, controversies did arise about abstract in opposition to representational artwork. According to her research in Tom Young’s extensive Philbrook library, entries flourished to the point that the exhibition outgrew the facility.

Drawing from the hundreds of artists who participated in the past, Carmack

(top) Don Kelley, New Richmond, OH, Timeline, Lithograph & Watercolor (bottom) Layman Jones, Interrupted Square, Fiberglass and Automobile Paint

invited 25 artists to exhibit. She said she chose them “because of their continuing professionalism in the field of visual arts.” All the artists entered current works from their still-active careers. Carmack herself was in the Annual in 1956, 58-61, 63, 68 and 71. What an important history she has highlighted.

Round Up

July/August 2007

Thanks to Artsplace Ponca City for hosting the OVAC Annual Members’ meeting in June. What a great gallery and area.

OVAC Student Awards of Excellence were awarded through several universities this year, including Brad Hill at the University of Oklahoma, Jason Jorski at the University for Tulsa, and Jordan Vineyard at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Congratulations to these students for their hard work.

By filling out our on-line survey, you

Save the date: the 12x12 Art Sale and Exhibition is September 29, 2007.

Watch for more information and the preview gallery online at www.ovac-ok.org.

visit www.ovac-ok.org.

Thanks to Living Arts and Liggett Studios for hosting Momentum Tulsa this June. A great committee planned the event, led by chair Beth Downing. Thanks to all the participating artists, sponsors, and performers. Watch for images from the event at www.myspace.com/momentumtulsa.

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What do you think?

can contribute to the future of Art Focus Oklahoma! To participate,

The survey will only be available through the month of July.

galler y gu ide

&

Gallery Listings

Exhibition Schedule

Bartlesville

Lawton

Out of Oklahoma: Contemporary Artists from Ruscha to Andoe Through September 16 Price Tower Arts Center 6th and Dewey (918) 336-4949 pricetower.org

Heart and Soul of the Great Plains Through August The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org

Chickasha

Coral McCallister: Ceramic & Painting August 3 – September 7 Firehouse Art Center 444 South Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com

Selections from the Permanent Collection Through August University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Gallery-Davis Hall 1806 17th Street (405) 574-1344 usao.edu/gallery/

Durham Temporal Works by Kay Moore Fine Folks: Fine Art and Folk Craft of the Corson and Metcalfe Families Oodahekrwee – Pipes by Jerald Calvert Through August 30 Metcalfe Museum Rt. 1 Box 25 (580) 655-4467 metcalfemuseum.org

Norman

Oklahoma (RedLand): Choctaw Art and Culture July 28 – September 29 Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com

Oklahoma Moderne: The Art and Design of Olinka Hrdy The Molly and David Boren Collection Through September 9 Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave. (405) 325-4938 ou.edu/fjjma International Visions Through July 13 Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery 122 East Main (405) 292-8095 mainsite-art.com

Oklahoma City

Hands On: smART Travels Through August 17 City Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd.

(405) 951-0000 cityartscenter.org Kay Moore, Pieces of Time, at the Metcalfe Museum in Durham

Edmond The Purse & The Person: A Century of Women’s Purses July 22 – September 30 Opening Reception, July 22, 1-4 Edmond Historical Society 431 S. Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org Kenny McKenna Opening Reception, July 19, 5-7 Shadid Fine Art 19 N. Broadway (405) 341-9023 shadidfineart.com

El Reno Second Annual Fine Arts Faculty Show Through August 1 Centennial Portraits by Lou Hale August 7 – September 14 Redlands Community College (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Enid Mike Klemme: Oklahoma Centennial Photographs Through July

Scribner’s Gallery & Studio 124 S. Independence (580) 234-2544 scribnersgallery.com

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galler y gu ide

Thomas Batista Opening Reception, July 6, 6-10 pm Debby Kaspari & Stan Carroll Opening Reception, August 3, 6-10 pm JRB Art at the Elms 2810 North Walker (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Kyle Callard Opening Reception, July 13, 7 pm Aaron McGraw Opening Reception, August 10, 7 pm Friskee Gallery 2412 ½ N. Shartel myspace.com/friskeeproductions 24 Works on Paper Through July Individual Artists of Oklahoma 811 N. Broadway (405) 232-6060 iaogallery.org

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Centenarians: Salt of the Red Earth Through July 9 International Photography Hall of Fame 2100 NE 52nd Street (405) 424-4055 iphf.org Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition Through September 9 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 cowboyhalloffame.org The Urban Landscape Through July 6 Invited Artist Gallery Oklahoma City Underground Beneath Robinson & Robert S. Kerr Ave. (405) 235-3500 downtownokc.com

Breaking the Mold: Selections from the Washington Gallery of Modern Art Shining Spirit: Westheimer Family Collection Through August 19 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com On a Roll Opening Reception, July 6, 6-10 Gary Bates Opening Reception, August 3, 6-10 Paseo Art Space 3022 Paseo (405) 525-2688 thepaseo.com Dan Mayo July 13 – August 25 Untitled [ArtSpace] 1 NE 3rd St. (405) 815-9995 1ne3.org

Park Hill The Ancient Village: 40 Years of Living History Through August 19 12th Annual Homecoming Show August 25 – October 28 Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S. Keeler Drive (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org

Ponca City Oklahoma Suite II (Oklahoma printmakers) July 6 – August 10 Artsplace Ponca City 319 East Grand Ave (580) 762-1930 artsplaceponcacity.net Oils/Watercolors by Cletus Smith July 8 – 29 Paintings/Pastels by Dale Martin August 3 – 26 Ponca City Art Center 819 East Central 580-765-9746 poncacity.com

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Shawnee Bert Seabourn: An American Expressionist Through July 8 Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 West Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

Tulsa Artworks in Clay Through July Baskets by Elizabeth Smathers Opening August 25 Color Connection Gallery 2050 Utica Square (918) 742-0515 colorconnectiongallery.com Oklahoma Sites: Vinson Lackey’s Paintings Through September 30 Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.org 960 Snapshots July 5 - 26 Liggett Studio 314 S. Kenosha (918) 694-5719 liggettstudio.com

Site Unseen July 5 – 26 Fluency vs. Skill August 2 - 23 Living Arts 308 S. Kenosha (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org Untamed: The Art of AntoineLouis Barye Through September 2 The Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 South Rockford Road (918) 749-7941 Philbrook.org Members Show July 6 – 28 Intimate Spaces: Paintings by Nathan Opp August 3 – 25 Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery 9 East Brady (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org

Facets of Perception August 23 – September 28 Alexandre Hogue Gallery Phillips Hall, The University of Tulsa 2930 E. 5th St. (918) 631-2739 cas.utulsa.edu/art

Woodward Centennial Exhibit July 3 – August 18 Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.org Contact editor for information about submitting listings at publications@ovac-ok.org.

For a more complete list of Oklahoma galleries, visit www.ovac-ok.org/ovaclinks.html.

Paintings by Jeannie Graham July 2 – 31 The Best of Gussman August 2 – 31 Tulsa Performing Arts Gallery 110 East 2nd Street (918) 596-7122 tulsapac.com

(top) Robert Indiana (American, b. 1928) Coenties Slip, 1962 Oil on canvas, 60” x 48” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (bottom) Ellsworth Kelly (American, b. 1923) Red Blue, 1963 Oil on canvas, 90” x 69 ½” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art

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