Art Focus | Summer 2023

S SUPMRM EG R 2023 IN 2

SPRING 2022

A PUBLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA VISUAL ARTS COALITION

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CONTENTS // Volume 38 No. 3 // Summer 2023

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JOHN SELVIDGE

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IN THE STUDIO // Exploring Collective Wisdom with Billy Hensley

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

KRISTIN GENTRY

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REVIEW Vital Restorations // New Art from the Capitol Collection KRISTEN GRACE

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FEATURE Errant Spirits // ArtNow: The Soul is a Wanderer at Oklahoma Contemporary BENJAMIN MURPHY

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PREVIEW Iconic Alchemy // Taylor Young’s Ornata Sacramentum at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition ARIANA JAKUB BRANDES

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REGIONAL Abstraction Unbound // Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence at the Kemper OLIVIA DAILEY

ON THE COVER // Exhibition view of ArtNow: The Soul Is a Wanderer including Joseph Rushmore’s No Known Place, Elspeth Schulze’s The Sparing Ones, and Moira RedCorn’s Ma^zha^ tseka Ma^thi^ (Moving to a New Country) | Lexi Hoebing, page 14; MIDDLE // Billy Hensley and Lokosh (Joshua D. Hinson, Chickasaw), Abikoppolo, 2022, acrylic paint, 24”x36”, page 6; BOTTOM // Taylor Young, Tulipa, 2021, watercolor, charcoal, and acrylic, 10”x 10”, page 18 Support from:

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INTERMEDIA Video Art and Music // Princess’s One-Minute Social Reign

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OVAC NEWS // NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERS

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition PHONE: 405.879.2400 1720 N Shartel Ave, Ste B, Oklahoma City, OK 73103.

Web // ovac-ok.org Executive Director // Rebecca Kinslow, rebecca@ovac-ok.org Editor // John Selvidge, johnmselvidge@outlook.com Art Director // Anne Richardson, speccreative@gmail.com Art Focus is a quarterly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the visual arts in Oklahoma. Mission: Growing and developing Oklahoma’s visual arts through education, promotion, connection, and funding. OVAC welcomes article submissions related to artists and art in Oklahoma. Call or email the editor for guidelines. OVAC welcomes comments. Letters addressed to Art Focus are considered for publication unless otherwise specified. Mail or email comments to the editor at the address above.

Letters may be edited for clarity or space reasons. Anonymous letters won’t be published. Please include a phone number.

2022-2023 BOARD OF DIRECTORS // Douglas Sorocco, President, OKC; Jon Fisher, Vice President, OKC; Diane Salamon, Treasurer, Tulsa; Matthew Anderson, Secretary, Tahlequah; Jacquelyn Knapp, Parliamentarian, Chickasha; John Marshall, Past President, OKC; Marjorie Atwood, Tulsa; Barbara Gabel, OKC; Farooq Karim, OKC; Kathryn Kenney, Tulsa; Heather Lunsford, OKC; Kirsten Olds, Tulsa; Russ Teubner, Stillwater; Chris Winland, OKC The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff. Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the Americans for the Arts. © 2023, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved. View the online archive at ArtFocusOklahoma.org.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Summer is just too much. As I write this, not long before the 4th of July holiday weekend, tomorrow’s high temperature is projected to be 104 degrees. Tempers are running high, and a lot of us have not been exactly at our best: denial runs rampant, even after audiotape surfaced of an ex-president serving up classified war documents like canapés to party guests, and the soulless howl of laughter from online cynics, rejoicing at several people killed by an imploded submarine, has only recently died down.

And that was just this past week. There will surely be more inspiring moments to come. Luckily, summer is a lot of everything: so much light, long days, and for many of us, it’s festival season, a time of parties, excitement, excess, plenitude. That’s true of our art season as well. With so many Oklahoma artists working today, emphasizing group shows made sense for this issue of Art Focus.

Oklahoma Contemporary’s ArtNow (p. 14), the touring show Collective Wisdom at Red Earth (p. 6), even the state Capitol’s expanded art displays (p. 10) mark the season’s high tide in bringing so many undersung legacies into the light. From a different angle, the symbol-rich, spiritual density of Taylor Young’s mythic,

ROBIN CHASE

sensual figures at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition (p. 18) celebrates summer’s apogee, as does the exuberance of Virginia Jaramillo’s abstract experimentalism (p. 22) in its expressive joy.

In that spirit, I’m excited to unveil a new section of Art Focus, one that picks up from Liz Blood’s stellar “Ekphrasis” feature that ran for almost nine (!) years, that explores other interdisciplinary hot zones. Since art and poetry vibe so interestingly together, why not expand this wider sense of poesis to realms of art-making that straddle visual art and other media? With a nod to one of my heroes, Dick Higgins, I hope that “Intermedia” offers a welcome engagement with hybrid forms that overrun their generic boundaries.

Also, please reach out to me about the upcoming art happenings you’re excited about near where you live. We want to support artmakers, art spaces, and art enthusiasts all over the state, and we’ll need your help to do that, so I hope you’ll join the party.

—John Selvidge

JOHN SELVIDGE is an award-winning screenwriter who works for a humanitarian nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City while maintaining freelance and creative projects on the side. He was selected for OVAC’s Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship in 2018.

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L E T T E R F RO M T H E E D I TO R

The Soul Is a Wanderer

2023

On view through Jan. 15, 2024

okcontemp.org | 11 NW 11th St., Oklahoma City Detail of Moira Redcorn’s Ma^zha^ tseka Ma^thi^ (Moving to a New Country), 2022. Photo: Ann Sherman.

feature

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IN THE STUDIO // EXPLORING COLLECTIVE WISDOM WITH BILLY HENSLEY

by Kristin Gentry (Choctaw Nation)

Highly textured mixed media works hang on the walls of

a good addition to my work, and it replicates the same

any exhibition that includes the work of Billy Hensley. Both

textures I paint with my lines. I am inspired by Marcus

a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a Choctaw Nation

Amerman’s (Choctaw Nation) style of beadwork, so I made

descendant, Hensley begins his pieces by layering various

sure he was included in Collective Wisdom.

types of media before often adding imagery relevant to both his ancestral and contemporary-traditional southeastern tribal cultures. The southeastern tribes, also known as the Five Tribes—those forcibly removed from the southeastern part of the U.S. to what was then “Indian Territory” beginning in the 1830s, today the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Muscogee Creek Nations of Oklahoma—share deep symbology, cosmologies, oral histories and lifeways important to the artist. To complement the influence of tribal weaving that

Why do you often focus on the garfish and the crayfish for the subjects of your works?

The crayfish I don’t use as much as the garfish, but it’s part of our [Chickasaw] creation story of building the earth up from the ocean floor. The garfish is more aligned with Chickasaw utilitarian traditions, like using the scales for arrow tips. The garfish jaw bones and teeth were used for traditional tattooing and have been revitalized for that use again today. One of our original Chickasaw dances is

can be seen in the linework of his paintings, Hensley has

called the “hard fish dance” in honor of the crayfish.

begun adding beadwork atop the mixed media textures of

Who are the mentors who have been significant to your

his most current pieces.

career as an artist?

In addition to his own art, Hensley has curated the

Growing up, my mom and grandma were artists, and my

traveling group exhibition entitled Collective Wisdom,

grandma was an oil painter. We always drew together.

which showcases more than 20 First American artists and

When I went to high school, I met Paul Walsh as my art

will be visible at the Red Earth Art Center in Oklahoma

teacher. He inspired me to become a professional artist

City from July 5 through September 1. Each piece in the

and still supports me today. I have my career because of

exhibition is a unique collaboration between two or more

him. I also spend a lot of time learning from my community

artists. By incorporating their own media and interweaving

mentors: painter Brenda Kingery (Chickasaw Nation) and

their various cultures, experiences, and relationships,

weaver Margaret Roach Wheeler (Chickasaw/Choctaw).

these artists have developed a representative show that reveals unique facets of the contemporary First American art world.

How have you and the artists included in Collective Wisdom created this unique collaboration between artists?

I always thought it would be cool to mix other artists’ work

What prompted the use of beadwork on your art?

and have maybe ten artists collaborate on one piece. Many

I think I’ve always admired beadwork I’ve seen, and I’ve

times, my friends in our artist community would come

enjoyed watching people make it. I thought it would be

over to my home for us to have a meal and create work CONTINUED

OPPOSITE // Billy Hensley, Brenda Kingery, and Margaret Roach Wheeler.

Tochina, 2022, mixed media, 3’x5’ | Courtesy of the Chickasaw Nation IN THE STUDIO

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ABOVE // Works from Collective Wisdom as exhibited in 2022 at the Chokma’si Gallery in Ada; RIGHT // Billy Hensley in his studio | Kristin Gentry

collaboratively, but I wanted to push the idea to become a little more formal to give us all the chance to create even stronger works.

Although the exhibition pieces involve only two to four artists per work, Hensley’s idea has been successfully executed within Collective Wisdom. Many pieces began with only one artist painting the background or foregrounds onto canvas and then passing the work to a second artist to complete. When viewing the exhibition, the concept may not seem complex, but interesting challenges arose for the artists during creation. In an artist talk at The ARTesian Art Gallery in Sulphur, Dustin Mater (Chickasaw Nation) and other panelists discussed how the process caused some emotional reactions and even fear about painting, printing, or beading on top of another person’s art, an experience that many of the artists included in the show shared. The artists had to learn how to mix their styles with those of other artists while still trying to make sure each person’s work remained present in some form. Another challenge they noted was creating works in media different from those each artist normally worked in. A positive and

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A selection of works from Collective Wisdom will be traveling from Red Earth Gallery in Oklahoma City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the next iteration for the Sovereign Santa Fe Expo, inside the historic La Fonda Hotel, which coincides with the Santa Fe Indian Market. Collective Wisdom’s path will then include stops at the University of North Texas, the Museum of the Southeastern Indian in North Carolina, and then later end back in Oklahoma with a showing at the Jacobson House in Norman in the spring of 2024.

surprising result came about when printmaker Marwin

I am also happy to announce here that Hensley is slated

Begaye (Navajo Nation) noted that he wouldn’t have seen

as the 2023 Mahota Textiles featured artist for his blanket,

some of the details in Margaret Roach Wheeler’s work if he

based on his painting Ascension. Additionally, Hensley will

hadn’t had the opportunity to collaborate directly with her

be exhibiting work later this summer at the Rainmaker

hand-woven textiles for their piece Cultural Algorithms.

Gallery in Bristol, UK.

IN THE STUDIO

ABOVE // Marcus Amerman and Billy Hensley, Oklahoma Flyover, 2022, watercolor and beadwork, 18”x24”; RIGHT // Billy Hensley, Ascension, 2023, blanket woven with Mahota Textiles, 30”60”, modeled by the artist’s daughter Holly Hensley | Courtesy of Mahota Textiles.

Collective Wisdom can be seen from July 5 through September 1 at the Red Earth Art Center in Oklahoma City.

It will also be visible at the Jacobson House in Norman in the spring of 2024, dates TBA. You can learn more about Hensley’s work at billyhensley.com.

KRISTIN GENTRY is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. They are an award-winning multidisciplinary visual artist, arts writer, curator, educator and the Director of Community Engagement and Outreach for Native Realities, LLC. They were born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and live with their daughter, Jewell Shooting Star, in Oklahoma City. You can view their artwork at kreativenative.com.

IN THE STUDIO

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Interior of the Oklahoma State Capitol | Kristen Grace

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VITAL RESTORATIONS // NEW WORKS FROM THE CAPITOL ART COLLECTION

by Kristen Grace

Unknown to many Oklahomans, the historic Capitol building

Outside the Supreme Court chamber on the second floor,

has become the largest free art museum in the state, its

guests will find the new Hall of Heroes, which pays tribute

marble halls open to the public most days of the year.

to the state’s military history and includes a new work by

Ten years ago, it was a different story. Mold, leaks, and even falling marble caused Preservation Oklahoma to put the Capitol on a list of the state’s most endangered places in 2013. Just one year later, the Oklahoma State Capitol Restoration Project began, funded by more than $245

Choctaw artist Dylan Cavin titled Anumpa Luma Anumpuli— Choctaw for “code talkers.” The painting takes inspiration from a rare photo of the Choctaw code talkers who served in WWI. Cavin’s painting captures the sharp clarity of the men’s dark green uniforms and dignified facial expressions,

million in bonds approved by the legislature. Oklahoma law

while in the background, the air is full of debris, reminiscent

requires certain capital improvement projects undertaken by

of the cloud of confusion the men were able to maintain

the state to dedicate 1.5 percent of their budgets to on-site

around the enemy. The Choctaw code talkers, like the later

public art, a stipulation that provided an opportunity for the

Navajo code talkers of WWII, used their native language in

Capitol to enhance its art collection with new commissions.

the service of the U.S. military to stay one step ahead of

The Oklahoma Art Commission assessed the art displayed

the enemy. Native Americans serving in the first world war

at the Capitol and decided to seek commissions to address

were not considered U.S. citizens at the time of their service.

aspects of Oklahoma’s history that had been previously left

Citizenship would not be granted to them until 1924.

out.

Installed in February of this year, Making Her Mark by Sara

While giving a recent tour of the newly remodeled Capitol

Scribner is a mural of four Oklahoma women: astronaut

and introducing the new art, Jarica Walsh, Director of the

Shannon Lucid; Opaline Deveraux Wadkins, a nurse,

Art in Public Places Program for the Oklahoma Arts Council,

activist for desegregation and the first Black woman to

reflected on the OAC’s motivation. “This is the people’s

earn a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma;

house,” she said. “We want all of Oklahoma’s people to be

Chief Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to serve as chief

reflected here.”

of a major Native American tribe; and Maxine Horner,

To date, the Oklahoma Arts Council has brought in 21 new

one of the first Black women elected to the Oklahoma

works to the Capitol building. Artwork throughout the

Senate. This mural is located, fittingly, overlooking the

ground floor now focuses on Oklahoma’s pre-statehood

Hall of Governors, a collection of the bronzed busts of

and Native American history. This new Indigenous emphasis

every governor in Oklahoma’s history. The placement of

begins in the Capitol’s entrance where visitors are greeted

the mural, as well as the women standing together in

by a video incorporating Native languages produced

shades of regal blue, feels purposeful. Looking down from

by Buffalo Nickel Creative with the help of Sterlin Harjo

an imposing height, the women in the painting might be

(Seminole, Muscogee), co-creator of the made-in-Oklahoma

understood as gathering inspiration from some of the

hit series “Reservation Dogs.” But the focus on Native

best of Oklahoma’s past leadership and standing on the

American artwork does not stop there.

threshold of a hopeful future.

CONTINUED

REVIEW

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Dylan Cavin, Anumpa Luma Anumpuli, 2022, acrylic on linen, 36”x 48” | All images of artwork by the Oklahoma Legislative Service Bureau, courtesy of the Oklahoma Arts Council

A portrait of Chief Wilma Mankiller by artist Starr Hardridge

“Hopefully in the next five years, we’ll be ready to get

(Muscogee) has been added on the fifth floor in the Hall of

every student across the state to the Capitol to see the

Heroes. In his portraiture, Hardridge is influenced by classical

renovated building in their lifetime,” says Oklahoma Arts

art, but in his work on Mankiller he uses an assemblage of

Council Executive Director Amber Sharples. “We want to

pointillism and a southeastern woodland beadwork aesthetic.

leverage the artwork as an educational tool, which it’s

His bold use of color and geometry works to highlight and

always been.”

even give glamour to the Cherokee Chief. Hardridge’s portrait also showcases the Cherokee seven-pointed star as well as the Cherokee syllabary above Mankiller’s head.

Not surprisingly, the Capitol honors such pride-of-Oklahoma stalwarts as Woody Guthrie, Will Rogers, and Wiley Post, but also Chickasaw storyteller Te Ata and civil rights leader Clara

This place is more than just a house of state, more than a museum. It’s the people’s house.

The Oklahoma State Capitol is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends. For guided tours and more information, please see arts.ok.gov/tours.

Luper, who is represented with a newly fashioned bust by Oklahoma artist LaQuincey Reed. A new mural depicting the Katz Drug Store sit-in of 1958 is coming soon, as is a mural celebrating Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, whose legacy lives on despite the tragic destruction of the district in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Through art, these stories will be displayed on the walls of our state Capitol for our students and citizens.

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KRISTEN GRACE is a journalist for 405 Magazine and 405 Business Magazine, a freelance copyeditor for Callisto Media, and a graduate of Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth MFA program. She has authored a picture book for

Walking through the marble halls of the Oklahoma State

children, The Stepmother Who Believed in Feathers, as well

Capitol, one can see that this place has become a visible record

as Wings, a collection of feminist fairy tales, both available

of our state’s past, both glorious and sorrowful. Its thoughtful

from Literati Press. She has recently published poems

artworks have in many cases has become vessels for history

in Focus Magazine, Mid/South, Freezeray, Behind the Rain

lessons that were hidden from many of us in school.

Anthology and other literary journals.

REVIEW

TOP LEFT // Sara Scribner’s Making Her Mark (2023, oil on linen, 9’x 22’) being installed in February, 2023; TOP RIGHT // LaQuincey Reed, Clara Luper, 2022, bronze, 21”x17”x10”; RIGHT // Starr Hardridge, Chief Wilma Mankiller, 2022, acrylic paint and venetian plaster on linen, 36”x 30”; ABOVE // Jessica Moore Harjo, PhD (Otoe-Missouria/Osage Nation/Pawnee/Sac & Fox), Detail of People of the Great Sky, Constellations of the Land, 2023, laser-cut brass on ceiling, 63’x12’

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ERRANT SPIRITS // ARTNOW: THE SOUL IS A WANDERER AT OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY

by Benjamin Murphy

Oklahoma is a complex place, rich with stories that

On a documentary field trip, Young encountered a tribal

represent a wild variety of experiences. With Oklahoma

elder who told this version of the Mayflower story—a

Contemporary’s most recent iteration of its biennial

jarring and compelling response to negative collective

exhibition ArtNow, thirteen artists who work in the state

memory. Within the frame of an old-school video art

plunge into their investigations of the past, today’s

aesthetic, the video features Young’s cousin Warren

complicated truths, and what we might read as possibly

Realrider (Pawnee/Crow) recounting the story through the

liberated futures. Presented by Tulsa-based guest curator

“picture writing” of Plains Indian Sign Language—itself

Lindsay Aveilhé, the exhibition takes its title The Soul

the basis for American Sign Language—whose short

is a Wanderer from former United States Poet Laureate

phrases are subtitled. Young’s approach can be traced back

Joy Harjo (b. 1951, Tulsa; Muscogee Nation). As her poem

to his sound and music studies at Bard College, where he

from 2000 “A Map to the Next World” tells us “The soul is

began to understand that silence is a part of sound and

a wanderer with many hands and feet.” It also counsels

the world lacks true silence. The work pulls its audience

us that “Crucial to finding the way is this: There is no

into an insurgent reaction to America’s original myth

beginning or end./ You must make your own map.”

to experience an ambivalence born of tension between

Among the thirteen artists who endeavor to find their way

authenticity and invention.

through our shifting cultural landscape, I chose to take a

Ashanti Chaplin: Earth Elegy

close look at three who have created an exciting range of artworks utilizing language, video, earth, sculpture, performance, sound, and extended painting techniques.

Nathan Young: Plains Indian Sign Language II

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Inspired by Walter De Maria’s Earth Room, Ashanti Chaplin (b.

1981, Tulsa) uses sculpture, video, sound, and performance to connect with memory and place in a reflection on the 13 historically Black towns in Oklahoma: Boley, Brooksville,

“Heavy” and “surreal” is how Nathan Young (b. 1975,

Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville,

Tahlequah; Delaware Tribe of Lenape Indians) describes

Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, and Vernon. Acting as a

his video installation Plains Indian Sign Language II. Don’t

landscape, but not in a traditional sense, the work’s video

be fooled by the innocuous-sounding title, the story it tells

projection depicts earth and soil up close, presenting us

is as heavy as it gets. Calling the mythologized story of the

with an abstracted landscape. Accompanying the video is an

Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving “lies in history books,”

obelisk standing 13 feet high. This reverential monument is

Young’s telling asserts a darkness in these religious pilgrims.

constructed from ground clay collected from each of the 13

When the settlers arrive, Native Americans provide life-

towns and mixed with polymer. Its exterior resembles adobe

saving assistance during the colonists’ first winter only to

building materials but with an ombré effect achieved by

be later rewarded with death. Told using only hand gestures,

the different colors of clay, whose mixed colors move from

silence becomes a salient character in this tale of undeserved

dark to light in hues ranging from deep red and purple to

aggression, one whose quiet delivery chillingly subverts the

pale ochre. Shifting musical compositions, inspired by the

naïve version of America’s colonial origin story to make it

landscapes associated with each town, play in the exhibition

emblematic of the attempt to silence Native Americans.

space. On ArtNow’s opening night, Chaplin gave a ritualized

Young’s visually plain and silent video packs a punch.

performance to invoke a spiritual connection with the earth.

F E AT U R E

CONTINUED

Ashanti Chaplin, Earth Elegy, 2023. Obelisk sculpture: Fired clay soil on wood armature, 13-minute (looped) video, and score composed by Gabriel Royal with Ashanti Chaplin | Lexi Hoebing

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Video stills from Nathan Young’s Plains Indian Sign Language II, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.

Chaplin’s material and process are equally important to the

Molly Kaderka: Ferrous Form/Unform

experience as the piece’s visual and auditory components.

Through a reimagined approach to landscape painting,

Learning about Greenwood as a young person inspired a

Molly Kaderka (b. 1989, Austin, TX) can be thought to

pride of place in Chaplin, and she felt a sense of wonder that

respond to the circular journey central to Harjo’s text. By

compelled her to visit each one of these fabled all-Black

removing the linear or horizontal paradigm associated

towns.The process of collecting clay from each location began in August of 2022 with visits to Taft and Tallahassee. Soon, driving as far as Lima, Chaplin was awestruck by the beauty of the landscape connecting these towns. Accompanied by cellist and composer Gabriel Royal, her act of driving inspired the compositions that fill the gallery with sound. In Boley and Grayson, Mayors Dr. Francis Shelton and Leon Anderson greeted Chaplin with shovels. Looking for clay they explored creeks, ponds, and cemeteries so that history could become

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with traditional landscape imagery, with Ferrous Form/ Unform Kaderka constructs a spherical model that positions an earthly rock formation around a celestial center. The viewer encounters two immersive, large-scale paintings, presented as a diptych, each with a diameter of 15 feet. While modifying the notion of landscape, Kaderka also confronts our traditional understanding of painting by utilizing paper marbling, painting, and drawing and laminating her materials to the wall. The texture of the marbled paper is used to depict circular rock formations

literally embedded in Chaplin’s materials for the project and

whose brick-red coloring, thanks to the marbling process,

bind the places from which it was excavated to its viewers’

references Oklahoma’s iron-rich, ferrous soil. The scale of

consciousness. Earth Elegy ultimately offers a mediation on

these swirling landscapes and seemingly infinite vistas

earth, placemaking, and the opportunities land provides to

tend to evoke an overwhelming sense of wonderment and

build new futures.

contemplation in their viewers.

F E AT U R E

TOP // Molly Kaderka, Ferrous Form/Unform, 2023, hand-marbled paper and mixed media | Lexi Hoebing; ABOVE // Ashanti Chaplain, Earth Elegy, clay samples | Courtesy of the artist; RIGHT // Molly Kaderka, Ferrous Unform | Studio image courtesy of the artist;

Kaderka examines the theme of transformation through contrast. While Ferrous Form remains a stable image that perhaps symbolizes our present state of being, its counterpart Ferrous Unform enacts a more visually kinetic circular landscape fractured in a centrifugal array of earthly fragments that seem to be flung away from the work’s dislocated center. Viewed together, they speak to

ArtNow: The Soul is a Wanderer can be seen from June 22 through January 15, 2024, at Oklahoma Contemporary in Oklahoma City.

our tenuous control over our surroundings, since nature is in a constant state of change, by exploring the relationship of ground to sky, circular composition, and states of coherence and coming apart. Kaderka has created a visual narrative that

BENJAMIN MURPHY is a Canadian-born artist who sees

echoes Harjo’s statement that “there is no beginning or end.”

the language of art as an expanding one and utilizes

Just as we are made from stars, there is no ending, only an

digital fabrication. His work examines our evolving

infinite unfolding of transformation. With ArtNow, Oklahoma

understanding of the physical world, technology, and the

Contemporary and curator Aveilhé put forward a diverse

anthropogenic impacts of climate change. Murphy is the

range of artists who testify to this poetic truth, showing

Assistant Professor of Studio Art at OSU and holds an

us along the way a glimpse of Oklahoma’s soul so that we

MFA in Painting from the University of Oklahoma. You can

might consider our past, present, and future together.

learn more about his work at benjaminmurphy.art.

the mediums of painting, drawing, printmaking, and

F E AT U R E

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ICONIC ALCHEMY // TAYLOR YOUNG’S ORNATA SACRAMENTUM AT TULSA ARTISTS’ COALITION

by Ariana Jakub Brandes

In the corner of my grandfather’s house, his icons watched

for balanced compositions, unified color palettes, and

over us. Housed in golden frames, they stacked to the

harmonic placement of objects, his training in printmaking

ceiling, moving a bit in the flickering of the candlelight.

is on full display. Golden vertical lines from the sun curtain

Saints, I presume, though we were never introduced. They

around our falling subject, connecting the young man to

served as symbols of the spirit that allowed him to escape

the source of his glowing demise.

a gulag, surviving for days on an appetite of faith. Those golden saints have made their way to my house, though diluted with works I’ve collected and ephemera of my lived experience.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the long, narrative poem in Latin within which the story of Icarus is written, has remained a stalwart source of artistic inspiration—from the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and even memorably

It is from this memory that I begin my conversation with

rendered in collage by Matisse. Such illustrations

OKC-based artist Taylor Young, who describes his works as

emphasize the longevity and lure of this story throughout

iconographic images in a divine light. “These works are an

time, making it a natural subject for an artist interested

amalgamation of my experiences, stories I am told, stories

in iconography and folklore. Young’s work carries on this

I tell myself and the natural world.” But these bright, white,

artistic tradition using a distinctively modern style.

unframed images look far from the traditional golden men peppered throughout my walls.

His mixed-media paintings, all painted on white watercolor paper, contain base layers of watercolor and gouache.

Adustus lures me in with a large golden circle painted

Details are added with charcoals and chalk pastels as well

at the top, in front of which falls a man headfirst. He

as colored pencil. Gold acrylic paint appears in almost all

gracefully braces for a meeting with what may be below.

of his paintings, a representation of the divine light of the

The downward movement is rendered so gracefully that

spiritual world common to much iconography. His spare,

the visual works any direction you rotate the work. Several

modern symboling of flora and fauna recalls English

feathers on either side of the man’s feet create white

illustrator Aubrey Beardsley: confident, sensual, enticing

silhouettes in front of the gold circle. A translation of the

and attractive.

title from Latin suggests the sun has dislodged the man from the sky and suddenly we are in the theater of Greek mythology.

A smaller painting only slightly larger than an actual heart, Sacrum, feels ripe with the spirit of Young’s recent trips to Mexico. Placed atop a purple rose, the four

As in Breugel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, we are

chambers of the heart are distinguished in muted primary

the only witness to this man’s descent, his misfortune

colors. In the center is a black pupil floating inside an eye

becoming a moment of beauty. Just as Breugel organizes

shape radiating golden lines, a motif appearing in several

the viewer’s path through his painting, through his

other works. The images in Young’s paintings are created

placement of figures, Young is skilled at leading the eye

intuitively from stored visuals of his travels and all that

around his works using design elements. With a penchant

“stuff around us” that can end up as subconscious sources CONTINUED

18

PREVIEW

Taylor Young, Nox Fae Floribus, 2023, watercolor, charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, gouache, and acrylic, 16”x12” | All images courtesy of the artist F E AT U R E

19

of inspiration. “I am able to look back at a time and place and see what I was truly working through in my own life and the world around me,” says Young when reflecting on his work.

Tribus Alis Serpentibus Aurora’s circular composition is like looking through a telescope to discover a hidden figure in the sky, or a portal into the mind of the artist. Echoes of halos and heavenly imagery are organized around a bare-chested, triplewinged man. Striking a couture pose, the hairless, faceless figure stands within the coiled bodies of two red cobras—perhaps they are one animal.

The juxtaposition of a winged man with snakes, common Christian symbols of heaven and evil, is unusual and fierce, challenging their traditional Christian meanings. This angel is rendered even more strange by a single eye that appears vertically across the man’s entire face, resembling an Egyptian scarab: a symbol of rebirth, immortality and protection. Gold, associated with traditional icons and seen in most of Young’s work, is largely absent from this scene.

Like Nox Fae Floribus, Young’s more recent works, many of which will be visible in his upcoming show Ornata Sacramentum at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Gallery, feel more experimental and complex. The hanging configurations of his artworks in his home have generated new, larger narratives based in “nature, self-created folklore, and my own personal experiences.” The white negative space feels less sharp in these more populated compositions.

The difficulty of titling artworks is tempered through Young’s use of Latin. Used for scientific classifications and a blueprint for many other languages, his Latin titles imbue works with a scholarly sophistication.

Young enjoys listening to what others see in his work, reducing any restrictions a title might have

LEFT // Taylor Young, Adustus, 2019, watercolor, charcoal, and acrylic, 48”x24”

20

PREVIEW

in crafting a viewer’s own interpretation. Similarly, the absence of frames—works are only suspended in bolted glass—allows the viewer to consider these artworks as part of something larger, perhaps connecting to one another across the walls.

Looking back around the room where I wrote this piece, there’s a painting of Don Quixote’s horse staring at one of my grandfather’s saints on the opposite wall. He’s gesturing a blessing to the equine, a correspondence I’ve never made until now.

Ornata Sacramentum will be shown at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Gallery from July 7 through July 29.

You can also see Taylor Young’s work on Instagram at @tcryoungart.

ARIANA JAKUB BRANDES is an artist, educator, and writer who lives in Tulsa. She teaches art at Cascia Hall.

TOP RIGHT // Taylor Young, Sacrum, 2022, watercolor, gouache, charcoal, and acrylic, 10”x8”; BOTTOM RIGHT // Taylor Young, Tribus Alis Serpentibus Aurora, 2022, watercolor, charcoal, acrylic, gouache, pastel, and colored pencil, 24”x24” ; BELOW // Taylor Young, Calvaria III, 2023, watercolor and charcoal, 10”x10”

P R E V I E W 21

22

ABSTRACTION UNBOUND // VIRGINIA JARAMILLO: PRINCIPLE OF EQUIVALENCE AT THE KEMPER

by Olivia Dailey

The

groundbreaking

career

retrospective,

Virginia

that the works at this point in time exist within their own

Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence, shows at the Kemper

reality and are a testament to the time of their creation,”

Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, from

she says.

June 2 through August 27. Virginia Jaramillo is an abstract Mexican American painter whose career began over sixty years ago. The exhibition contains seventy-three paintings and handmade paper works, two of which are in Kemper’s permanent collection: Principle of Equivalence (1975) and Anonymous Site #1-603 (1990). Her work explores themes of physics, science fiction, the cosmos, and place.

The Kemper’s Director of Curatorial Affairs, Erin Dziedzic, saw a New York show featuring Jaramillo’s new paintings in 2018 and was immediately taken with her artistry.

“The level of depth and the attention to color and the way that space relates to it just became something else.”

Even as Dziedzic noticed Jaramillo’s work resurface in the art world, a mystery still surrounded the artist. “[There

Born in Texas, growing up in Los Angeles, then living in Paris

were] gorgeous examples of her works in the shows

for a year before settling in New York, Virginia Jaramillo

and two sentences about her in the books…she’s so well

has always been a part of the art community, consistently

represented in these shows, with really big paintings,

making thoughtful work. However, she did not receive her

but there’s nothing written about her.” Her curiosity

deserved recognition until only a few years ago. Her first

and research revealed that Jaramillo had a longtime

solo museum exhibition was in 2020 in honor of the 50th

relationship with Kansas City that began in 1975 when

anniversary of The DeLuxe Show in Houston, considered

the Douglas Drake Gallery first represented her. Dziedzic’s

one of the first racially integrated art exhibitions in the

research led to a friendship with Jaramillo and, ultimately,

United States. Jaramillo was the only female and only

to Principle of Equivalence.

Latina to participate in the show. She exhibited Green Dawn (1970), which is included in Principle of Equivalence.

A large-scale, vivid green canvas, Green Dawn is a part of her significant Curvilinear Paintings series. A thin yellow line, resembling thread, drapes over the upper right corner of the painting. Like a bright dandelion in a sea of lush grass, Green Dawn uses boldly contrasting colors and draws upon the Japanese aesthetic concept of ma, the harmony between lines and space.

The show also includes recent Jaramillo works like Site No.3: 51.1789° N, 1.8262° W (2018), whose name comes from

Stonehenge’s

geographical

coordinates.

The

true purpose of Stonehenge is unknown—it could be astrological, spiritual, or even extraterrestrial—and all these theories are very on-brand for Jaramillo’s interests.

Site No.3’s black and white color palette harkens back to Jaramillo’s first painting series, The Black Paintings, which focus on the Earth’s more fractured landscapes and muted

With Jaramillo’s first comprehensive career retrospective,

color tones. In fact, there’s even a painting from The Black

there is a Jaramillo-ssance underway. Not unlike Taylor

Paintings series titled Stonehenge (1964). Since Jaramillo

Swift in her “Eras” phase, Jaramillo travels through time,

visited Charles and Ray Eames’ studio for lectures in

in a sense, by revisiting her full body of work. “I’m amazed

design when she attended the distinguished Manual Arts

OPPOSITE // Virginia Jaramillo, Green Dawn, 1970, from the Curvilinear series, acrylic on canvas, 83⅞” x 72⅛”. The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection. Image courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery and Pace Gallery | Phoebe d’Heurle

CONTINUED

REGIONAL PREVIEW

23

Virginia Jaramillo, Quantum Entanglement, 2019-2020, acrylic on canvas, 72”x144.” Image courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery and Pace Gallery. | JSP Art Photography

High School—whose alumni also include Jackson Pollock

work. When abstract art is not collectively appreciated, that

and Philip Guston—Site’s overlapping white lines on a

reaction is understandable. We do not know how to digest

black surface, resembling an overhead view of a blacktop

“weird” art that doesn’t seem to mimic reality, but the best

basketball court, might be considered a nod to Eames’

abstract art is not derivative. Unlike art produced by AI, a

art film, Blacktop, which features 11 minutes of soap and

human created it with skill, purpose, and attention.

water swirling around a black-topped schoolyard that Jaramillo says made an impact on her.

24

To glance at abstract art and immediately dismiss the process that produced it misses the point entirely. You have

Art is not always accessible. Often, museums like the

to engage with it since it relies on a dialogue between the

Kemper are free, and the internet has done a lot to make

individual and the work. Fortunately, there are no wrong

art of all kinds more accessible, but abstract art still faces

answers! The disarming beauty of it is that, whatever you

a bit of a hang-up. We likely all know about the prank

experience, it is valid. We live in a visually rich world and see

where someone plants amateur art in a modern museum

more images each day (advertisements, more specifically)

as a gag, or have heard someone say incredulously (and

than ever before, but just because we may have a greater

mistakenly), “I can make that!” when looking at an abstract

volume to our visual literacy does not mean that we see

REGIONAL PREVIEW

Virginia Jaramillo, Site No.3: 51.1789° N, 1.8262° W, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 72”x72”. Image courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery and Pace Gallery | JSP Art Photography

better or can view our visuals through a critical lens. After all,

Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence can be seen

ads tell you how to feel, while art asks you how you might.

from June 2 through August 27 at the Kemper Museum of

Jaramillo maintains that she and her late husband, abstract

Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

painter Daniel LaRue Johnson, decided early on to always maintain their freedom as artists. That vow must not have always been easy, but they stuck with it. Jaramillo has excellent advice for anyone wanting to make it as an artist

OLIVIA DAILEY has a BA in Journalism from the University

(or follow any dream, really): “Be true to yourself. You must be

of Oklahoma. She works as a media production

the hero of your own story and be willing to pay the price.” It

coordinator in Norman and is a frequent contributor to

has certainly paid off for Jaramillo.

Art Focus.

R E G I O N A L R E V I E W 25

INTERMEDIA - VIDEO ART AND MUSIC // PRINCESS’S ONE-MINUTE SOCIAL REIGN

This past May, interdisciplinary performing arts duo Princess

levels, whether the visuals and audio contrast or are in

stopped by Oklahoma City’s 21c Museum Hotel to perform

accord, and deepen the impact of the work.

their conceptual video opera @1minworld (One Minute World) during their cross-country tour of 21c locations and other experimentally-friendly art spaces. Once they were home, I caught up with Alexis Gideon and Michael O’Neill, creative partners in Princess since 2009, for a Q&A session to unpack some of their thoughts about the project.

It could be easy to think of Princess as simply a band that performs songs with a cool live show. But how central are the

26

Tell me more about the one-minute animated films for @1minworld?

We used the process of stop animation—relying heavily on loops—­­to create a surreal repetitive universe. The use of Lichtenstein-esque Ben-Day dots reference both the pixels of the digital realm as well as the fakeness and mass-produced nature of social media experience.

visual and video elements to your work?

What inspired the @1minworld project? How did it come

The visual element is paramount to the work. We want to

about and how did it evolve into its finished form?

create narrative immersive experiences for the audience. The

Our last piece Out There is a sci-fi feminist rock opera that

visual element allows for meaning to operate on different

clocks in at an hour. While promoting the piece, we were

INTERMEDIA

It definitely was a conscious choice. We strive to create work that is critical without ever being pedantic. We like to get into big issues, but always through a self-reflective and humorous lens. In order to keep the work personal and resonant for us, we have to look at how we are accountable and what behaviors we’d like to change in ourselves.

Why is keeping Princess within an explicitly queer frame of reference important to the band’s work?

OPPOSITE // Princess performing @1minworld live at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh | Sean Carrol; TOP LEFT // Video still from @1minworld (WAKING); ABOVE // Princess’s Michael O’Neill and Alexis Gideon | Sammy Tunis; TOP RIGHT // Video still from @1minworld (WASTING)

To us, queerness represents much more than sexuality. We want to push the boundaries of “normal” with our use of genre and medium in order to exemplify our ethos of fluidity.

Once society embraces the full gradient of identity, the richer, healthier, and more beautiful the world will be.

lamenting over how people’s attention spans had gotten so short. We jokingly came up with the idea of releasing video songs specifically for Instagram, as that’s where most people were digesting content. But then we quickly thought doing that would actually be really cool and that the one-minute time limit could inform the work in a very pointed way. As

What’s a question you’d like to get asked about your work but never is?

We haven’t had much opportunity to talk about the piece we’re planning to do next. Loosely called Bubbles, it will be another futuristic dystopian video opera in which people are all living in individual bubbles, interpersonal human

we started developing the one-minute video songs, we

connection has completely ceased, and information is fed

realized that social media and phone usage had to be the

through a personalized algorithmic lens. (Wait, is this the

content as well as form.

future or is this now?!) We know the Flaming Lips are big

One thing I found refreshing about the show is that you’re not critical of social media from on high, but you implicate

fans of bubbles…perhaps a collaboration’s on the horizon?

Wayne Coyne, are you out there?? Give us a ring…

yourselves. You don’t pretend like you’re exempt from the

You can learn more about Princess at bandofprincess.com

collective hallucination, or problem, or whatever it is. Did

and experience selections from @1minworld on Instagram at

that happen naturally, or was it a conscious choice?

@1minworld.

INTERMEDIA

27

The annual 12×12 Art Fundraiser fuses 175 of Oklahoma’s finest artists with local food and live entertainment to create a memorable one-night-only art event.

September 29th, 2023

7:00–10:00 PM

Lively Beerworks

OVAC N E W S July holds a significant milestone for OVAC as we celebrate our 35th anniversary as a nonprofit committed to serving the visual arts community. This occasion calls for collective celebration, as we reflect on the remarkable journey we have had together.

Since founding in 1988, OVAC has been driven by a powerful mission: to grow and develop Oklahoma’s visual arts community.

Born out of the visionary minds of artists themselves, OVAC has consistently made a profound impact on the artistic landscape of our state. Our unwavering dedication has enabled us to extend support to artists and communities across all 77 of Oklahoma’s counties.

Over the years, we have invested over $2.5 million in artists’ grants, awards, commissions, and honoraria, helping artists pursue their creative endeavors and contribute to the cultural fabric of our communities. Additionally, we have organized more than 60 innovative exhibitions that have showcased the extraordinary talent and diversity within our visual arts community. We also take pride in having equipped over 1,000 artists with invaluable tools, knowledge, and skills essential for their sustained success.

Looking ahead, OVAC is focused on a promising future. We are currently engaged in strategic planning aimed at expanding our services of promotion, education, connection, and funding with the goal of better supporting artists and amplifying the benefits they bring to our communities, both culturally and economically.

MEMBERS

Mazen Abufadil Susan Agee Craig Alleman Kayla Andrus Kathleen Arrieta Alyson Atchison Sarah Atlee Margaret Aycock Natalie Baca Paul Bagley Randall Barnes Barbara Benton Eric Bloemers Christine Bonilla Danette Boswell Autumn Brown Deborah Burian Michelle Canning

Stan Carroll Claudia Carroll-Phelps MaryAnn Ceballos Amanda Cole Patrick Collins Dale Coons Cinda Covell Gayle Curry Ann Boos Davis Rachel Dazey Christian Dixon Anke Dodson Michael Downes Callan Dullea Tony Dyke Sage Edsall Michael Eggar Ben Ezzell

As OVAC prepares for expansion, we are thrilled to announce Fernando Calvillo’s promotion to the role of Community Relations Director. In this new leadership position, he will apply his many talents to increasing OVAC’s visibility, enhancing brand awareness, and driving development efforts. Additionally, we are delighted to welcome Karis Chambers to our team as the Membership and Marketing Manager.

With their expertise, they will manage various aspects of our community relations, including the website, social media, communications, and member relations.

To celebrate our successes and learn more about how we plan to bring even greater value to our members in the coming year and beyond, join us for our annual members’ meeting at Ponyboy in OKC on Saturday, July 29, from 2 p.m .to 4 p.m. Among other exciting developments, we will share our new membership platform, set to launch in late 2023 as an online community hub that will offer opportunities for networking, building relationships, and accessing a wide variety of resources.

Additionally, we are thrilled to announce the reintroduction of our Oklahoma Curatorial Fellowship. Redesigned since its most recent iteration in 2018-29 as the Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship, this program will offer the next generation of curators a unique opportunity to cultivate their skills and advance their careers under the mentorship of esteemed local, regional, and national curators. We believe this initiative not only provides valuable learning

experiences for our fellows, but also enriches the larger community Rebecca Kinslow, through Executive Director engaging artistic programs and exhibitions. Stay connected with us as we unveil further details about this program throughout 2023-24.

Mark your calendars for September 29, 2023, as we host the 2023 12x12 Art Fundraiser at Lively Beerworks in OKC from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Join us for an evening of live entertainment, local food and drink, and the opportunity to shop and bid on unique pieces created by talented local artists. All proceeds from ticket sales and donations will go toward fulfilling OVAC’s mission.

In the weeks and months to come, we have many exciting announcements in store.

Keep an eye on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates on upcoming Thrive artist awards, grant deadlines for artists, educational opportunities, and more!

Thank you for being a champion of OVAC. Your support and dedication are the driving forces behind our success, and we are truly grateful to have you as part of our vibrant community.

Best wishes, Rebecca Kinslow Executive Director

NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERS M A R C H T H R O U G H M AY 2023 Kris Fairchild Daniel Farnum Lauren Florence Ellen Frank Janet Funk Barbara Garcia Andrea Gardner Irmgard Geul Alexa Goetzinger John Gooden Susan Green Susan Hamilton Patricia Harper Susan Hayes Shelly Henry Larry Hill Katie Hoffmeier Kaylee Huerta

Cecelia Hussein Jane Iverson-Ross Patrick Jalbert Amy Jenkins Micheal Jones Karis Jones Kelsey Karper Jean Keil Joel Kelley Larry Landers Erin Latham Darci Lenker Cing Lian Trace Logan Lana Lopez Naima Lowe Rebecca Lucht Wesley Luster

Leslie Martin Casey McCall Jessica McGhee Richard McKown Paul Medina Sara Michael Molly Murphy-Adams Paige Nguyen David Palmer Caroline Patton David Phelps Patty S. Porter Betty Refour Elizabeth Richards G. Patrick Riley Cheryl Roach Jim Rode Liz Roth

Rita Rowe Amy Sanders Todd Scaramucci Barbara S. Scott Carl and Beth Shortt Mark Sisson Denae Smith Cheryl Smith Ann Solinski Agnes Stadler Jezz Strutt Cindy Swanson Lisa Taylor Jim Terrell VC Torneden Matt Travis Carla Treadway Cindy Van Kley

Jason Wallace Jim Weaver Kathryn Webster Kathy White Jason White Dean Wilhite Jessica Willis Megan Wimberley Adam Winegarten Emma Winters-Difani John Wolfe Jenny Woodruff Adrienne Wright Janice Yeary Candie Yount

O V A C N E W S 29

PASEO ARTS & CREATIVITY CENTER Two Art Galleries | Gift Shop | Photography Studio 10 Artists’ Studios | Art Workshops 3024 Paseo, Oklahoma City, OK 73103 30

Tues-Fri 11am-5pm Sat Noon-5pm

thepaaok.org 405.525.2688

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UPCOMING EVENTS //

6/26-8/4

24 Works on Paper, Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity in Tulsa

7/15

Oklahoma Curatorial Fellowship Application Deadline

7/22

2022 Thrive Awardee Presentations

7/29

OVAC Members’ Meeting & Mixer, Ponyboy, OKC

8/13-9/14

24 Works on Paper, Gardiner Gallery of Art in Stillwater

8/18-9/15

12x12 Preview Exhibition at Art Hall, OKC

9/29

12x12 Art Fundraiser at Lively Beerworks, OKC

1720 N Shartel Ave, Suite B Oklahoma City, OK 73103 Visit ovac-ok.org to learn more.

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