IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Emily Chase, Cecilia Otero, & Anna Thomas by Jessica Borusky
Anna Thomas, Melancholia, Steel Rod, 2013, Acrylic Paint, Plaster, 20” x 18” x 10”
The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) will celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Momentum exhibition and Spotlight Artist program March 22-23, 2019 at the iconic Flamming Lips’ Womb Gallery, in partnership with Factory Obscura. This year, OVAC has extended itself into Colorado in order to reconsider and broaden the scope of regional connectivity and dialogue through the invitation of guest curator, Zoe Larkins from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. While Larkins serves as a Mentor for the OVAC Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship for 2018-2019, she has partnered with OVAC once again to select the Emerging Curator for Momentum, Samantha Rhodes, to co-curate the exhibition. Rhodes is a recent graduate from American University’s Art History Department, with an MA in Italian Renaissance Artwork. Rhodes will work with Larkins and the selected Spotlight artists, Emily Chase, Cecilia Otero, and
Anna Thomas, Relics in the Prairie, 2018, Digital Collage, 11” x 8.5”
Anna Thomas, to curate a group exhibition that engenders personal and professional growth through exhibition development and community engagement. While Momentum operates as a pop-up exhibition- only showcasing work for two days- the Spotlight artists will get opportunities to also connect with partner organizations, such as the 21c Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City and Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, where their artwork will be installed for a month. This collaboration between OVAC and a pop-contemporary site such as 21c as well as within an academic framework such as a partner university, allows for a multimethod dialogue between guest curators, artists, organizations, and different viewing communities. Thus, permitting contemporary and emergent work and artists to percolate within Oklahoma’s arts ecology. Furthermore, the program engenders learning opportunities
for selected artists as Momentum may be the first large-scale projects the Spotlight artists have embarked upon or the first exhibition for the general survey artists. Through selecting an emerging curator, Momentum and its Spotlight Artist program provide an “alumni” network, of sorts, between the various creative projects. While the Spotlight artists will showcase a preview at 21c Museum Hotel on February 13th of their previous work in order to develop context and engage multiple viewing platforms, their more complex projects will be fully realized during the Momentum exhibition, from March 22nd to 23rd. From there, the works move to Southwestern Oklahoma State University on March 24th, with the exhibition closing April 26th. The Momentum curators will also select approximately 100 works from a submission process for the Momentum exhibition, as well. (continued to page 10)
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