24 Works on Paper Catalog 2022-2024

24 WORKS ON PAPER

August 2022 – February 2024

WELCOME!

Thank you for visiting the "24 Works on Paper" exhibition!

This mini-catalog will give you valuable insight into the artwork and artists included in the show. Large-text binders are also available at each hosting location.

The exhibition travels to ten locations in Oklahoma over the course of 18 months. Admission is always free, but hours may vary by location.

For more information visit: www.ovac-ok.org/24-works-on-paper

Tell us about your visit!

Use your phone camera to scan the QR code and take a short survey.

24 WORKS ON PAPER

The biennial exhibition, "24 Works on Paper", is Oklahoma's only traveling art show featuring works by artists living and working in the state. The artworks represent artists of differing ages, methods, and backgrounds unified by a single element— paper. Now in its fifth installment, the exhibition will be on public display at ten different locations from August 2022 – February 2024.

"24 Works on Paper" is managed by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to grow and develop Oklahoma's visual arts community through education, promotion, connection, and funding.

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition 1720 N. Shartel Ave, Suite B Oklahoma City, OK 73103 405–879–2400

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EXHIBITION SCHEDULE August 1 — September 9, 2022: Art Building Gallery, Southwestern Oklahoma State University Weatherford, OK September 26 — November 2, 2022: Eleanor Hays Gallery, Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa, OK November 12 — December 20, 2022: Leslie Powell Gallery Lawton, OK January 16 — February 24, 2023: The Wigwam Gallery Altus, OK March 6 — April 21, 2023: Spider Gallery Tahlequah, OK May 8 — June 16, 2023: Gardiner Gallery of Art, Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK June 26 — August 4, 2023: Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity, Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK August 14 — September 29, 2023: The Art Gallery at Hochatown Broken Bow, OK October 16 — November 24, 2023: Centre Arts Gallery, Southeastern Oklahoma State University Durant OK December 9 — February 14, 2024: Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Gaylord-Pickens Museum Oklahoma City, OK

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FEATURED ARTISTS Curator's Choice Award Laurel Payne, Oklahoma City

Honorable Mention Award Scarlet Rock Hosseini, Yukon

Ben Ezzell, Enid Candacee White, Tulsa Carla Waugh, Norman Chase Kahwinhut Earles, Ada Danette Boswell, Edmond Emma Difani, Oklahoma City Jane Iverson, Edmond Jim Weaver, Edmond Keri Smith, Oklahoma City Leslie Waugh Dallam, Norman May Yang, Tulsa Mazen Abufadil, Tulsa Michael Loren Diaz, Edmond Molly Kaderka, Stillwater Nayelly Morales Rojo, Oklahoma City Pamela Wilks, Oklahoma City Rachel Rector, Tulsa Sage Edsall, Woodward Samantha Friday, Alva Sarah Knox, Tulsa Taylor Graham, Stillwater Virginia Sitzes, Oklahoma City

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GUEST CURATOR Michael R. Grauer Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

"I was humbled and thrilled to be asked to curate this year’s “24 Works on Paper” exhibition. I believe works on paper are the most approachable and connective of all art forms. By that I mean, everyone uses or has used paper; not everyone uses oil or watercolor paints or bronze or stone. That familiarity engenders a connection, a conduit between the artist and the viewer in a fundamental way that most art forms cannot or do not achieve."

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CURATOR'S STATEMENT I always loved to draw. Consequently, every scrap of paper I could find as a child had a drawing on it. Every schoolbook, every notebook, even assignments turned in to the teachers were often covered with “illustrations.” The old wood-pulp papers always had a specific smell and the tactile sounds of pencil on paper made a lasting impression on me. By high school, I had graduated to “real” art-making materials, when I was introduced to Conte crayon and toothed papers.

The texture of the paper suddenly took on its own life and became as much a part of the art as the marks on it. While my first BFA was in painting, my medium of choice was chalk pastel on pastel paper. I would have majored in drawing as I loved graphite sticks, smeared with an old Pink Pearl eraser and my fingers, but my undergrad school had no major for drawing. Likewise, I would have minored in printmaking had that been allowed as I spent about half my time in the printing shops. Intaglios involved grinding my own colors, applying asphaltum, using a deft hand and touch for wiping the inked plates, and selecting the right papers.

The physical act of running the aquatint sifter and the intaglio presses was incredibly compelling. Then hefting the freshly-inked lithographic stones onto the presses for a run, and grinding those limestone slabs down to remove the old images, was extraordinarily satisfying in a way that was similar to drawing.

Moreover, my work as an art historian and museum curator has intentionally focused on works on paper. The majority of the over 4,000 works of art by Frank Reaugh (1860-1945) for example, were composed with his own homemade pastels and papers specially prepared with gum Arabic and pumice.

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I wrote a biography on Mr. Reaugh after studying intensively over 600 of his pastels for some 30 years. Moreover, the printmaking renaissance in the US in the 1890s and again in the 1930s— especially in lithography—provided yet another opportunity to focus on works on paper. Finally, historic and contemporary photography in the American West is a sub-area of my curatorial work. I also believe that humor in art was largely established in the West and has a substantial place in the fine art pantheon.

I have juried many contemporary art exhibitions in my career. I look for several things, namely: originality, professionalism, and hard work.

While I believe all art-making is ultimately derivative, each artist’s voice or vision is unique. Nobody can be entirely objective and immune to art made before them. If an artist wants their work to be taken as seriously as they consider it, then that artist should take the time to prepare and present any work of art submitted to competition as cleanly and clutter free as possible, i.e. ready to hang. Finally, having facility is wonderful for an artist. But using one’s facility is easy and lazy and not art making; I want to “feel” the struggle to find a solution even if there is no visible sign of that struggle. (There have been only a few prodigies throughout the history of art who were born geniuses: Picasso, Michelangelo, and Velasquez, among them.)

Finally, gimmicks have no place in serious art. They are ultimately superficial. Furthermore, social statements are fine, but they are not, in and of themselves, art. To shock is simply another gimmick.

On the other hand, to use one’s facility and gifts and struggle to make that statement with a work on paper, is the most challenging and compelling art form of all.

Much obliged for sharing.

—Michael R. Grauer

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CURATOR'S CHOICE Laurel Payne // Oklahoma City

Marching through time endlessly waking, reaching, sleeping, dreaming, dying, 2022 Watercolor, coffee, tea $650

Often, it is difficult to begin.

"Marching through time endlessly waking, reaching, sleeping, dreaming, dying" began with an imperfect piece of paper and an accidental coffee spill. My process often begins with flawed material, random splashes of ink, unintentional marks, or blown pigment. The imperfections imbue personality. The unexpected results of free-flowing color dictate and permit the possibility of mistakes leading to beauty and individuality. Reflections of love, growth, & loss are always prevalent in my thoughts and I often contemplate purpose in a world where everything feels heavy. I see myself being reinvented year after year just as the irises cycle.

Each spring brings new blooms and changes. The same, yet different. We are all flawed material and beautiful.

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HONORABLE MENTION Scarlet Rock Hosseini // Yukon

Faith in Blue, 2022 Watercolor $650

My work revolves around those that inhabit the American West— from our more elusive wild neighbors to the connection between working man and animal. I am interested in the small moments that make up the larger picture, and the emotion behind the grandeur that we often get lost in. This portrait focuses on a quarter horse at rest instead of in action, and her calm demeanor is allowed to shine through for the viewer.

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Ben Ezzell // Enid

Wood Mosaic Print, 2022 Multi-color, hand-cut reduction print $250 This is a six-color linocut reduction print. I am a self-taught printmaker and try to do something different with each piece. A reduction print is a puzzle where you have to think backwards and plan out each layer before your first cut. I am also a woodworker.

This print is based on a wood mosaic I made for my wife.

The original wood mosaic is made of scraps of oak, alder, padauk, walnut, maple, and cherry.

I really enjoyed the challenge of capturing the texture and color of the different types of wood on paper. I carve on easy-to-cut linoleum, mix my own colors using rubberbased ink, and print on a Blick 906 Model II press in my home studio.

Candacee White // Tulsa

Tunisia, 2021 I am influenced by travel. I lived overseas for 15 years, and traveled to 87 countries. My paintings have picked up various motifs from these journeys including Azerbaijani carpet motifs, Turkish evil eyes, cacti and desert landscapes from the Frankfurt Botanical Garden and angler fish like the ones I saw washed up on the shores of Iceland. With collage, I incorporate maps as an homage to my many travel experiences. I have pored over many maps in many countries, to orient myself, explore what is around me, and see how far I can go. In these collages, I try to go beyond the utility of 2D maps, to their aesthetic and purely visual qualities.

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Mixed media $500 I attempt to deconstruct the significance of the country shapes by taking them out of their normal context and placing them in another unfamiliar space. By creating a new 'map', I hope to generate curiosity for the unexplored.

Chase Kahwinhut Earles // Ada

Batah Kuhuh: Alligator Gar Fish, 2022 Watercolor $860 As a Caddo indigenous to Oklahoma, I strive to portray and represent to the public images and ideals of our tribe’s cultural identity and by extension the characters in the natural world original to the regions which make up our homelands. I feel like it is important to try to put what a person might have seen before, or passed by, in a new light to reframe the subject with a new understanding of the connection of the local indigenous people’s ancient lives and how these animals and environments mean so much more than the mundane or what is initially caught on the surface.

The alligator gar fish represented the ancient giant of the rivers that was to be respected. The biological steamship that would leave wakes. Wise and fierce.

Carla Waugh // Norman

Nest, 2022 Paper and ink NFS

My piece has text by a famous poet with layers of magazine strips surrounding the crow. I used festive colors and curves to highlight the nest and eggs to make them stand out. To bring the piece together I used fewer colors on the black of the crow for emphasize highlighting the feathers. This piece has many layers of various colors.

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Danette Boswell // Edmond

A Different Path, 2022 Acrylic on hand-dyed pulp fiber $250 Growing up as a pastor's kid in Oklahoma, I’ve struggled with unfair external and internal expectations my whole life. Until I reached early adulthood, I didn't realize just how much the pressure and weight of perfectionism negatively affected my inner thought life. Thankfully, now I can see that the 'straight and narrow path' doesn't have to be all rectangles and squares. Ever since I made an intentional journey to circle back to fully question and understand why and what I truly believe, I've found that my present faith, thoughts and purpose are so much more authentic now. Working past the rigid lines of religion and perfectionism, I’ve gained much needed perspective and have embraced a different path towards my worth and belonging.

Emma Difani // Oklahoma City

Land and Larder, 2020 Screenprint, drypoint, and colored pencil on paper $275

"Land and Larder" acts as a journal, a map, a recipe to navigate towards a future rooted in connectivity and respect for people and planet. Appreciation of materials and experimentation guide my process from saving quilt scraps to make paper, using the leftovers from my kitchen studio to dye fabric and collecting milk cartons as printmaking matrices. Through memories based in the garden and the kitchen, this piece focuses on family, food and the cycles of nature which sustain us.

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Jane Iverson // Edmond

Weathered and Forgotten, 2021 Photography $495 Jane Iverson is known for her Asian documentary photography. In her travels, Jane has always held a fascination with seafaring life by the water. Jane loves visiting old shipyards, wooden docks, graveyards of discarded boats, and fishing villages. She records with her camera the history of fishermen making their living by the sea, cultural life in fishing villages and the many types of boats that have lured men to sea. Older boats tell a story that can be visualized with their weather-beaten wood, peeling paint, damaged rudders and worn-out hulls.

Jim Weaver // Edmond

The Coyote's Dream, 2022 Tooled leather relief print $100 Coyotes are emblematic of an environment fraught with conflict. The coyote is variously persecuted, surviving, and playing his anthropomorphic role as a sometimes mean and sneaky trickster. Here the coyote stands on cactus thorns while reaching for the sweet life. Standing on the prickly pear shows the adaptability of the coyote; a trait which has allowed them to expand across the continent from their traditional range in the Southwest.

This print is part of my continuing experimentation and development of techniques for printing from pieces of tooled leather.

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Keri Smith // Oklahoma City

Hunter's Robe, 2022 Ink, gouache, and watercolor $325 Keri Smith is an artist in Oklahoma City. She received a BA in Art History from Arizona State University and an AA in Art from Northern Oklahoma College. Her work features primarily natural and botanical subjects. "Hunter's Robe" is a visual pun based on the common name for the popular pothos houseplant. The plant's vessel is a bust of the Greek deity Artemis, goddess of the moon, vegetation, and, most famously, the hunt.

Cascading leaves replace the veil and robe she typically wears. The variegated cultivar of pothos represented here is nicknamed, Marble Queen—another playful reference to the bust below.

Leslie Dallam Waugh // Norman

Sunset Mountains, 2022 This piece represents my many summers spent in the allure of the Collegiate Peaks in Colorado. On summer days, my trips would start in the town of Buena Vista then head into the surrounding mountains. The beauty and wonder were always breath taking as I travelled through the peaks. I am not sure words can adequately describe this vision. In my watercolor, “Sunset Mountains,” I used vivid watercolors for my cloud and mountain formations. The wildflowers are whimsical with white ink emphasizing the details.

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Mixed media $350

May Yang // Tulsa

Together, 2022 Acrylic on cut Rives BFK paper $200

In a restless spell during the pandemic shutdown, I began to create quick daily sketches with colored pencil, paint pen, and marker. The sketches were small and gestural and were a huge benefit to me emotionally as I navigated the uncertainty of that time. “Together” is one of many new works that were inspired by this pandemic art making practice. My hope with this developing series is to bring some of that immediacy back into my work, which is so often diligently planned.

Mazen Abufadil // Tulsa

The Death of Marat, 2022 Photo-fresco, lime plaster, pigment, paper NFS

From work in progress– "Death, Life, and In Between" It's interesting how life always makes death so accessible. When un-life and un-death meet in the middle, or when the last electron vanishes into the aether, hardly anything changes about the machine, except that it ceases to function. I picked up the smashed card. What truths could have been hidden on it? What secrets instantly dissipated with the expelled electrons? The "Death of Marat" is an homage to one of the same title—the sublime Neoclassical painting by Jacques-Louis David.

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Michael Loren Diaz // Edmond

Ungrateful, 2021 Etching and aquatint $100

This is part of a series of copper plate etchings using recurring motifs of fathers and labor. This cycle of my work has been an exploration of the role of fathers, the meaning of work, and the acceptance of mistakes.

Molly Kaderka // Stillwater

Orpheus and Eurydice, 2/2, 2021 Monoprint, mixed media $2,000 My collective body of work as an artist stems from an earnest desire to create beauty and meaning. I find the most compelling way to do this is to use my artistic practice to search for and evoke for my viewers' elements of the sublime. To experience the sublime is to simultaneously feel and cognitively understand the serendipity and the insignificance of one’s own existence, and to submit to this experience in the face of something greater and more mysterious. This experience of both feeling and understanding how small we are is aprobably unique to humans, but it is not an everyday or universal experience and it can be profoundly transformative.

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Nayelly Morales Rojo // Oklahoma City

CHARROS, 2021 Graphite $125

“Charros” was a piece done in my drawing class at Rose State College. The assignment was a figure drawing done five times from different perspectives. For this assignment, I chose a miniature charro sombrero which is traditionally worn by charros (Mexican cowboys), who wear extravagant suits with intricate designs and typically ride horses and train them for competitions. Such hats are also worn by Mariachi singers. Both are prominent symbols of Mexican culture.

Pamela Wilks // Oklahoma City

Les vignes de julliet, 2022 Charcoal and white pastel pencil $950

As a wine enthusiast, Pam found the vines and grapes an interesting subject for the black and white values of charcoal, combined with the white pastel. The process of “realism” is meticulous, perfecting the accuracy of each value of shading throughout the drawing or painting, to give a photo-like appearance in the finished work.

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Rachel Rector // Tulsa

There She Glows, 2022 Cyanotype, 35mm digital negative, tea, watercolor paper $600 I use a wide variety of toy cameras, expired films, cameraless photography, and multimedia collage in my photographic practice. These methods are often experimental and driven by nature. Using bits of the outdoors to make images in the sun, I love exploring the roots of nature and the first concepts of photography and scientific understanding of the process.

While experimenting in the darkroom, peeling instant photos for transfer onto organic surfaces, collaging with nature, or journalling poems and sketches, it is always my aim to share a sense of nostalgia for the smallest moments, the most natural spaces, with the world.

Sage Edsall // Woodward

Brothers, 2022 White charcoal on black paper $350 Brothers is a continuation of my MFA thesis exhibition. My work comments on the fluidity of memories, and uses water as a tool to depict our brain’s distortion of memories as we age.

The subject matter for this particular drawing comes from an old family photograph, depicting two men leaning against an old Ford. You will notice that the drawing seems “off”—the figures are disproportional and it’s difficult to understand the entire composition. To create this effect, I submerge copies of my reference photos into water and rephotograph them. The new photographs then become the source material for my drawings and paintings. In each of my pieces, faces are distorted, and individuals appear or disappear, depicting the effect time has on our memories.

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Samantha Friday // Alva

Can you see me?, 2020 Charcoal $250 This charcoal was done from a live model in class my sophomore year of college, coming back from the extended summertime following the outbreak of Covid-19. The figure in the charcoal can be seen blending in with her surroundings, showing some of the emotion I had at the time in 2020. There is a feeling of fading away, but also a wanting to be a part of the whole idea. Instead of just disappearing, more of a becoming into everything. The concept of life and being whole can come in and out of this charcoal, because there is a need for everything in the picture, taking one thing out or adding another would not be able to work mirroring how life can be interpreted.

Sarah Knox // Tulsa

Ecological Awareness: who can make the smallest wiggle?, 2022 Acrylic on paper $800 This painting was inspired by the fungus, Lycoperdon pyriforme, commonly known as the Stump Puffball. The application of paint is layered and systematically guided by the brushstrokes preceding. It is escapist, indulgent, and hypnotic.

The title of this painting is in reference to a talk given by Alan Watts in 1971. In this talk he asks the listener to acknowledge our myopic attitude as reductionist of who we are and what we are capable of as human beings, noting that we are infinitely more complex than what is presented.

Transcripts of this talk can be found at alanwatts.org.

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Taylor Graham // Stillwater

Trio, 2020 Micron pen on watercolor paper $2,000 Created with micron pens and watercolor paper, "Trio" is part of a body of work dealing with trauma and abuse in childhood and the lasting effects moving into adulthood. I use intricate lines and patterns in my work as a meditation tool and a labor with which I aim to overwhelm the viewer. The patterns express the efforts of everyday life that take place behind the scenes for a person that deals with these traumas. I use masks in my work to communicate the survivor’s desire to control the image of themselves they wish to present while straining under the effort to do so.

Virginia Sitzes // Oklahoma City

somewhere over the rainbow, 2022 Screenprint $175 My work is a process of letting go. It is a visual manifestation of my inner thoughts, a reflection of my human experience, and a search to uncover the moments, memories, and layers that have been hidden—intentionally or not. I am primarily a printmaker, painter, and muralist. I play with process, abstraction, intuition, and constantly experiment. I love the risk involved in not knowing how certain elements will respond to each other, and the pleasure of witnessing new colors and shapes emerge. I am always collaborating, both with my community and fellow artists, and with my tools, making space for what each one might provide.

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SCAVENGER HUNT

As you explore the exhibition, use these activties to engage with the artwork!

How many artworks ask questions with their titles?

Can you find the two artworks inspired by maps?

How many animals do you see in the exhibition?

Which artist is from Alva, Oklahoma?

Which artworks were made using charcoal?

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Were you inspired by anything in the exhibition?

Create your own work on paper below!

Share your creations with us! Post your artwork on Instagram using the hashtag:

#24worksonpaper

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24 WORKS ON PAPER IS MADE POSSIBLE BY:

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) helps artists realize their potential through education, promotion, connection, and funding. Organized in 1988, OVAC is a non-profit organization that supports visual artists living and working in Oklahoma. OVAC promotes public interest in the arts and helps people of all ages understand the visual arts.