Art Focus Oklahoma, May/June 2006

ArtOFocus kl a h o m a Oklahoma V i s u a l A r ts C o a l i t i on

Vo l u m e 2 1 N o . 3

Ruth Ann Borum celebrates space in a series of paintings (p.4)

May/June 2006

ArtOFocus kl a h o m a

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contents

13

profiles 3 Stephanie Ruggles Winter 4 Ruth Ann Borum

reviews/previews 7 Humor You Can Hang 8 Nelson Shanks

On the Cover: Ruth Ann Borum Norman I Never Knew Your Love Could Be So Bubbly Oil on Canvas 12”x16”

9 deadCENTER Film Festival 10 Amado Pena 11 N. Scott Momaday

features 13 DeLoss McGraw 14 The State of Public Art in Oklahoma 17 On The Map

business of art member agency

18 Website Time?

19 Ask A Creativity Coach

OVAC news 20 at a glance/round up/members 21 This program is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council

gallery guide

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 Executive Director: Julia Kirt director@ovac-ok.org Editor: Lori Oden publications@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson anne@speccreative.net 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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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; Janice Mathews-Gordon, Michael Hoffner, Stephen Kovash, Cindy Miller, Debbie Nauser and Sue Moss Sullivan, Oklahoma City.

OVAC Board of Directors 2005-2006: Kathleen Rivers, Ada; Elliott Schwartz, Rick Vermillion (Treasurer), Edmond; Diana Brown, Fort Sill; Suzanne Thomas, Nicoma Park; Thomas Batista, Skip Hill, J.D. Merryweather, Dwayne Morris, John Seward (Vice President), Carl Shortt (President), Lila Todd (Secretary), Oklahoma City; Pam Hodges, PhD (Vice President), Sand Springs; Chris Ramsay, Stillwater; Claudia Doyle, Jean Ann Fausser, Michaela Merryday, Teresa Valero, Tulsa.

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’ Organization. © 2006, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.

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Stephanie Ruggles Winter Oklahoma City Red Skirt Acrylic on Canvas 12”x12”

Stephanie by Numbers

Stephanie Ruggles Winter: 5 Years Supporting artists at ovac

by Julia Kirt We are happy to honor Stephanie Ruggles Winter for five great years of service to the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.

Her upbeat attitude and consistent verve continue to grace the organization.

Stephanie’s 5 years by numbers: 2,770 membership thank you letters 87% member increase since she took over renewals 5 Momentum OKC events as staff liaison 5,400 people have attended those Momentum events 2 major life events-one marriage, one new child 4,150 slides scanned for Virtual Gallery As you can see, she has been a driving force to keep OVAC in touch with its members. She’s also been able to generate ideas, involve amazing volunteers, and help guide OVAC through huge growth with her service and programs. I feel lucky to call her a co-worker and friend. Please send her a congratulations or thank you if you’ve experienced her great work at assistant@ ovac-ok.org!

“Steph is amazing, creative and energetic.

She always has an idea, and she has been great with helping to get everyone informed and involved. She has helped

support my work.” Kolbe Roper, Co-Chair of Momentum 2006 “Stephanie has been a great cheering section for OVAC’s programs and growth!” John Seward, Board Member “Stephanie keeps the energy fun and lively” Trent Lawson, Co-Chair Momentum 2004-2006 “Stephanie is a fantastic person to work with. She is very generous and considerate, not to mention a wonderful hostess and delectable cook. When we worked together on Momentum, she was always on call, available, and prepared. There were often long hours of meeting, organizing, hanging and hammering and Stephanie was always there to assist. This is stupendous because she is also a mother. I greatly admire her ability to balance her work with her family.

She never seemed stressed or overworked, just simply a pleasure to be around.” Robin Chase, Co-Chair Momentum 2005

her brush strokes bring a canvas to life.

However, her work is often conflicted with an eerie void; an elongated man or a lonely chair is thrust into a dynamic world of motion.

Portraits are also part of her diverse portfolio.

Soft, gentle lines create nostalgic, longing emotions in portraits of young children to young adults. Stephanie’s collages are more inyour-face and deal with contemporary issues such as feminism and politics.

Stephanie does not paint by anyone’s numbers, but her numbers at OVAC are impressive. Within the year I have known her she has been kind, concerned, baked great lasagna cheesecake and banana bread and made me smile.

_________________________________

by Lori Oden In addition to her work at the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Stephanie is an accomplished artist. Her media includes painting and collage. With energy and movement that is reminiscent of Van Gogh

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Ruth Ann Borum: Celebrating Space

by Lori Oden

Witty The witty woman makes remarks on the blackboard of her chest, as it heaves and hoes with frustration.

Impatient, she gathers regrets in flower pots. Grows them as sisters.

Each pot is a broken heart she sticks her finger in, before placing the seed.

A destiny.

To forgive and forget.

She can’t but keeps on trying.

by Lydia Lenore Lemons

Under the pen name of Lydia Lenore Lemons, which she only uses for her writing, Ruth Ann Borum’s words have drifted into the bristles of her brush.

The words take on color and form; their meaning is transferred to canvas. From funny, but sometimes scary, monsters to mesmerizing mermaids, delicious cupcakes and distorted female portraits, Borum’s art career is about to seep across state lines and no doubt, she will be nationally recognized. If you have not taken note of the name Ruth Ann Borum recently, you should now.

A spring 2005 graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma, Borum is renting a studio above the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery in Norman. She is talented and has an excellent sense of business and responsibility that will quickly advance her career. Borum goes to work at her studio every day, plus she works a couple of days during the week at the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery as well.

From an early age Borum was interested in writing, then realized her talent in painting when she was 17. Now Borum employs her love for words with obscure phrases as titles for her paintings.

After adding multiple layers of pigmented gesso and sanding, Borum paints small canvases that range from 2”x 2” to 11”x 14”. She often paints with the canvas in her lap.

She is a series painter, and although she may deviate from one series to start another, Borum continues her past series.

As she tries new ideas and concepts, her series evolve. However, there are tiny strands of similar meaning maintained from one to another upon closer dissection of each.

The monster series was her first, which addresses excessive and obsessive qualities in the human spirit. For Borum, “The underlying meaning of the monster’s body was, at first, negative and imposing. The monster represented the body becoming

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(opposite page, left) Ruth Ann Borum, Norman In the End They All Looked Like My Daddy Oil on Canvas 16”x20” (opposite page, right) Don’t Worry These Are Just My Decoys Oil on Canvas 16”x20” (right) Landlocked in a Lovely Place Oil on Canvas 8”x10” (below) untitled Oil on Canvas 5”x7”

more than itself and having trouble moving and accessing its spirit.” Obesity in America has become an epidemic for the young as well as the old and has medical implications that hinder a body from mobility; therefore, creating a vicious cycle of physical and spiritual unhealthiness. Her most recent monsters seem friendly and have more character with teethy smiles and painted toenails.

Another of her series is portraying the dual nature -- friend and enemy -- of sugar in the form of layered cakes and cupcakes. Borum sees layered cakes as altars that most of society worships through ceremony; sugar fills needs that somehow we are missing in our daily lives. Although the cupcake series is similar, Borum thinks the cupcake is a “Happy little thing that is a symbol of love and concentration.”

Love and concentration finds its way into all of her work. Thin, connecting lines (or “streamers” as she calls them), small hearts and skulls, and little bubbles are many of the visual aspects that appear in most of Borum’s work. If you are an art historian that specializes or appreciates symbolism, you will value the thought and provocative meaning of each of Borum’s repetitive, unusual and diverse elements. According to Borum, the streamers and other frequent threads in her work are about celebrating space.

This love and concentration is also found in Borum’s little daily calendars; about 3”x 2” inches, Borum exercises her memory by going to a coffee shop a couple of times a week to write down every detail of her days; a ritual she has been practicing since junior high. Her descriptions are short and sweet. She may write, “Woke up 11am.

Took a vitamin. Drank tea. Painted. Drove

to studio…” Personal thoughts and ideas are included in these notes as well. Borum also writes on found pieces of paper and pages ripped from spiral notebooks and pins them to her studio wall.

Her poetry, writings, thoughts, ideas and poetic phrases have recently found their way into titles for her most recent series of mermaids and “the girls.”

One day Borum drank hot tea with a little milk and a modest amount of vodka while she painted one of her mermaids. The title of that painting became, “I am a mermaid and I drink tea, milk and vodka all out of the same cup, all at once, all day.” Another example is a red-headed mermaid who stares wildly into your eyes, points her finger up and says, “My other hand is actually a flashlight, but I only use it for emergencies.”

Borum’s series, “the girls,” are dark-headed portraits of women who have big brown eyes that bring you deep into their world. Each of them has elongated, segmented necks and often come with titles such as “All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go,” “This painting reminds me of Taco Cabana, I Don’t Know Why,” or “I Like My Chocolate Dark and My Nights Long.”

into the clay. She believes strongly that art should be affordable, which explains why her prices range from $25 to $250 a piece.

Borum states, “I want people to have my paintings and ceramics. It is important to me that they find good homes.” Some artists struggle with pricing and parting with their work, but for Ruth Ann Borum continuing to paint and write to sustain her career as an artist rises above anything else.

Visit her studio on May 5 or find her work at www.monstercoop.com - fall in love and celebrate her witty world.

Her talent and business sense has been recognized with several exhibitions. She has sold over 150 paintings in her young career and hosts an open studio several times a year. Borum’s next open studio is Friday, May 5 from 7pm to 10pm. During her open studio, she also hosts a guest artist (how smart is that!). In addition to her paintings, Borum has a line of ceramics that have her monsters and phrases etched

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Humor You Can Hang

Clint Stone Oklahoma City Stone Monkey Wench Acrylic on Board

by Anne Allbright Often visitors who enter an art exhibit anticipate a serious atmosphere or at least laughter should be used cautiously. While attending the Smile Show: Are We Having Fun Yet at the Eleanor Hays Art Gallery, Northern Oklahoma College this past February, it soon became apparent laughter was a good sign - a symbol of appreciation for the artist’s work.

This exhibit focused on how artists incorporate humor in art and amply revealed the talents of Stuart Asprey, Ruth Ann Borum, Sue Clancy, Joe Slack, Rob Smith and Clint Stone. While wandering the display halls, I could not help but applaud these local artists for challenging the rigid solemnity that accompanies most art shows. I mean after all, music can be both humorous and artistic, why not paintings and sculptures as well? For instance, who does not love Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head?

Obviously, Rob Smith does, since the two “love birds” are the focus of his work in several pieces. You can find ironic twists as well. Smith reproduced well-known art such as Norwegian Edvard Munch’s Scream and Grant Wood’s American Gothic by replacing

the main character for Mr. Potato Head and emphasizing a few humorous additional traits. One piece that particularly caught my eye was a reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night with Mr. Potato Head playing the part of Van Gogh. Not surprisingly, Mr. Potato Head was missing an ear. I have had the good fortune of seeing the originals of all the aforementioned paintings and Smith’s delightful homage to these greats worked well in the way he used humor to expound on themes previously glossed over.

Smith notes, “My potato head images are central to the satire and parody represented whether it is derived from contemporary society or art history.” This allows him to successfully portray their existence as screen prints. Perhaps the work I appreciated most was The Mental Assassin where you see, next to Mr. Potato Head, a peeler and French fries. Naturally, the irony of the situation brought more than a few chuckles from this art enthusiast.

Perhaps the most well-known of these emerging local artists is Sue Clancy. She exhibits in numerous art galleries and museums in Oklahoma and abroad, and

one can easily find her work in a number of books and among other published materials.

Clancy’s work is humorous and upbeat in tone but not in the least bit marginal. With a little concentration one can see the multilayers in her art because of the exciting dynamics she employs. Clancy’s describes her particular brand of artistry by writing, “My playful images are created by hand-making paper, usually from 100% cotton rag pulp.”

She elaborates further, “Often I will handdye, hand-print or hand-marble the sheets of paper that are to be cut out into shapes and collaged together to create a painting.” This is, in my humble opinion, what makes her art so unique and popular among the general public. Clancy’s images bring humor to life and encourage a little smile here and there throughout life’s trivial moments.

Overall, I am quite pleased with my daytrip to Tonkawa’s Northern Oklahoma College.

These are artists I will look up again in the future, perhaps when I have some money at my disposal. I would love to have something humorous hanging on my wall. My family portraits are just not cutting it anymore.

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Nelson Shanks Mary McFadden Oil 48”x36”

Nelson Shanks:

In the Classic Tradition

by Elizabeth T. Burr

The recent exhibition, Nelson Shanks: In the Classic Tradition, sponsored by the University of Oklahoma’s School of Art, was held at the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art in Norman. A magnificently illustrated catalog for this exhibition, with a text by Andrew L. Phelan, is currently available through the museum’s bookstore.

The exhibition of Shanks’ work at the Fred Jones is roughly divided into three categories: portraits and portrait studies, allegorical subjects and an array of female nudes, posed in such ways as to reveal Shanks mastery of skin tones, color and draftsmanship.

Shanks is considered by leading critics to be the most eminent portraitist now living. He is esteemed for his ability to convey both visual and psychological information about his subjects. His fame rests on the glory of his portraits of public and private personages: Diana, Princess of Wales, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Luciano Pavarotti and Pope John Paul II, are a few of his many commissions. While the images we see of Princess of Wales and Pavarotti are studies or sketches, both are moving in the perfection of feeling they capture, particularly in the case of Pavarotti.

The finished portraits in the exhibition, such as the witty representation of the fashion designer Mary McFadden or the more traditional depiction of his friend, Susan Shaw, are showcases for the classical style of art that consumes Shanks, and which he has labored to pass on to art students. To achieve his goal of teaching a new generation of artists the skills necessary to paint in a classical, realist tradition, Shanks founded the Studio Incamminati, a teaching school based in Philadelphia. The artist envisions the Incamminati (roughly translated, “the progressives”), as being a form of 16th century academia, or like the strict French atelier of later centuries. Just as the Carracci in 16th

century Italy tried to resurrect the ideals of the High Renaissance from what they considered to be the decadence of the Mannerist style that had gripped Italy, so, too, does Shanks want to preserve and teach classical realism techniques in contrast to the influence of abstraction in 20th century art. His studio emphasizes the fundamental skills of drawing and color. To Shanks delight, he has found an enthusiastic audience for these lessons.

Indeed, Shanks’ draftsmanship and understanding of color were amply demonstrated throughout this exhibition. His ability to paint fabrics, reflecting objects and skin tones reminded me of nothing so much as those monumental portraits in the National Gallery of Art by Rubens and Van Dyke. Part of Shanks’ success in painting flesh is the result of his keen observation of each individual subject, and his desire to mix the tones he needs each time from his palette: he abhors the practice of artists who just pull out their generic skin tone mix to cover any subject.

Above all, Shanks wants his students to learn to see the actual shapes and colors present in each instance and their portrayal under different lighting conditions.

His proficiency with color, line and texture is encountered in the metaphorical and nude paintings throughout the exhibition, but this is where questions arise for me. Many of Shanks’ compositions, such as his Fox or Persona, while being splendid realistic paintings, convey a metaphorical subtext that seems too private or obscure for this viewer to be able to read or understand them. With this inclusion of symbolic or metaphorical content into his paintings, it would be helpful to allow the viewer to disentangle the symbols from the merely well painted objects.

I suspect this confusion with reading Shanks’ works has something to do with certain compositional problems Shanks may have with those paintings that are outside of his formal

portraits. The iconography organized in those paintings are well chosen and unmistakable in their relationship to the sitter, but in his other figurative paintings, the iconography can be lost to meaning due to a lack of being able to decode their semiotic clues. This does not mean that they are not beautiful paintings – but the privacy of their language deflects from the full power that they should possess.

This in turn leads me to another question that I think arises from Shanks’ work: if their meanings are so obscure, what then differentiates his lush figures from those that were so popular at the end of the 19th century in France or England? Part of the criticism raised by the modern artists of the 19th century was their belief that artists such as Bouguereau or Frederick Lord Leighton were producing similarly opulent nudes that were removed from either context or reality. So, artists such as Manet mixed up this tradition by taking his nudes to lunch in his Dejuner sur l’herbe, and his little picnic caught the mind of the viewer as well as their eyes, and art was changed absolutely.

Shanks has noted ruefully in the past, that “moving the abstract establishment away from the citadels of power is much like moving a rock.” To his enormous credit, the artist has staked out his part in this effort, but, in order for this task he has set not to be a Sisyphusian one, Shanks needs to answer some of the hard-won questions of modernism before they fatally bruise his heroic project.

More information about the Studio Incamminati can be found at www.studioincamminati.org. To see more of the paintings of Nelson Shanks, you can go to his website at www.nelsonshanks.com.

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deadCENTER Film Festival Thrives in Downtown OKC: The 6th Edition Unspools June 7 – 11

by Brian Hearn, Film Curator at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art As most Oklahomans are aware, we are at the crossroads of America, equidistant from either coast and smack dab in the middle of the “fly over zone.” So in 2001 when two brothers from Yukon founded a film festival in Oklahoma City they wanted a name that would speak to, and celebrate our geographical location. “The name deadCENTER seemed to sum it up best,” said co-founder Justan Floyd.

“We’re living in a time when anyone who wants to make a film can do so with high quality digital video cameras and computer editing software. The rules have changed. You don’t have to be in L.A. or New York. The tools have become very accessible and the amount of films being made is skyrocketing. We saw an opportunity to bring hundreds of these independently made films to the screen in Oklahoma City.”

From the beginning Justan and Jayson Floyd saw a relationship between independent film and other visual arts.

“Our first year took place at City Arts Center in Oklahoma City, running just two nights, mostly consisting of short films.” The response was tremendous and the next year the festival found a new home at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, which enabled the festival to nearly double the number of films screened. Despite a warm reception from the Edmond community, festival organizers began to look at the downtown Oklahoma City arts district as a strategic home for the growing festival.

In 2003 the deadCENTER Film Festival made the move downtown and established ongoing relationships with key venues at arts organizations such as Stage Center, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, IAO Gallery and Untitled [ArtSpace], which embrace independent media artists. “That was a huge leap forward for us,” explains

executive director, Cacky Poarch. “There was clearly an energy and enthusiasm about downtown that we really wanted to tap into. Besides the proximity of different venues we received tremendous feedback from visiting filmmakers who were truly amazed by the quality of life in our city.”

Along with a new identity downtown, the festival considerably expanded the number of films exhibited to well over 100 in four days. Awards are given out in several categories including: narrative and documentary feature films, short, animated, Oklahoma and student films. Festival program director Melissa Scaramucci commented, “The number and quality of submissions have increased every year. Documentaries and international films have been particularly strong.” deadCENTER also expanded its educational focus to offer several panels and workshops covering a variety Alexandre Hogue Gallery of topics relevant to producing independent media.

district and our free outdoor screening in Kerr Park,” said Melissa Scaramucci.

Last summer the festival volunteer staff took time to plan for the next five years resulting in a mission statement (to promote independent film arts) and an organizational makeover. The festival has attracted national sponsors, including IFC Films and Sundance Channel and was named one of the top regional film festivals by The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. This summer the 6th deadCENTER Film Festival opens with an outdoor screening on Wednesday, June 7. For complete information visit www.deadcenterfilm.org.

SPEAKERS @ THE UNIVERSITY OF TULSA

Mayo Visiting Artist:

“Really the best part about this festival is the people. Not only does the volunteer staff love independent film, but we love to have a good time.

Our parties during the festival are top-notch, taking advantage of our unique venues, like the rooftop terrace at the museum of art, the Bricktown entertainment

(918) 631 -2739

MFA Graduating Artists Exhibition BERLIND ROBERT Exhibition

MayNOV.3-DEC.2 4 - 26, 2006 Alexandre Hogue Gallery

Public Lecture Opening Reception:

NOV. 3

pm May Phillips4Hall ~ 5:00-7:005pm-7pm J. Donald Feagin Visiting Artist: Senior Art Show June 1 - 23, 2006 Opening Reception: COCO FUSCO June 1Chapman pm 1 ~ 5:00Hall,to7pm7:00DEC. Room 211:

4pm-5pm

Opening Reception

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(above) Tres Colchas, 1989 Etching 24”x36” (right) Los Dos Etching 24”x36”

Amado Pena

at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum in Shawnee

by Grant Lacquement I recently took an afternoon trip to Shawnee and visited the MabeeGerrer museum on the campus of St. Gregory’s College. This is one of my favorite regional museums, and a perfect excursion from Oklahoma City.

The building itself is remarkable architecturally. The entrance is stunning. A large concrete gateway with bronze-faced doors leads into a sheltered courtyard. The doors are each eight feet square and are bronze cast in a concentric, radiant pattern. The walkway has several interesting details, such as recessed lights cast into the concrete. So simple, but beautiful. The courtyard focuses on a fountain with reeds and several fish. Above the fountain is a sculpture of a young boy holding a rabbit gently in his lap. Behind him is a sheltering olive tree. It is simply amazing and a pleasant transition to the aesthetic world inside.

The Mabee-Gerrer is hosting a retrospective of Amado Pena, the overwhelmingly popular Santa Fe artist, from June 2nd through July 16th. The show is curated by the artist and is substantial. The work consists of 70 pieces, including etchings, lithographs and serigraphs from throughout his long career. The museum also has a series of six prints by Pena, entitled the Colcha Series. These prints have native figures from the southwest surrounded by decorative 10

paper embossing, and at the base of the images are embossed still life figures. They have a presence, yet are decorative at the same time.

His early work is my personal favorite, which concern political issues of migrant rights and cultural identity. Around the mid 1970s his work changed radically, and concerned, almost exclusively, family and community life. His style changed with his subjects, from figurative to abstracted symbolism. This was also the period when he moved to Santa Fe and became an artistic icon. He says the symbolist elements in his work are based on Indian artists in Mexico telling stories on bark paintings. This represents another change in his work from inspirational (in a political sense) to telling simple stories - the beauty of everyday life.

The stylized figures in his work have evolved as his work continues.

Recently, they have an angular, cubist form, whereas before the figures had large emotive eyes, and soft biomorphic forms, with abstracted, elongated limbs. All of his work is expressed with fields of bright, monochromatic color.

Amado Pena is like a rock star. I cannot think of many living artists, especially in this region, that have enriched so many lives. I think his broad appeal is because his work has a stillness, dignity, and peace that I respect, salute, and encourage.

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Scott Momaday Buffalo

N. Scott Momaday: Pulitzer Prize Winner Expresses His Visual Voice Through Art

by Anne Allbright Oklahoma has produced its share of legendary figures over the years, but perhaps few compare to that of N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa Oklahoman. He is a respected and honored author, poet, artist, historian, professor, which defines why he has made a lasting impression on Indian culture, American culture and global culture.

Born in Lawton on February 27, 1934 as an only child to Al Momaday, an artist and storyteller, and Natachee Scott, a writer and teacher, Momaday grew up among Indians. He spent the first several years of his life with his grandmother in Oklahoma and then at age five moved to Navajo, Apache and Pueblo reservations of the Southwest. “I had a Pan-Indian experience as a child, even before I knew what that term meant,” he recalls. Growing up he attentively listened to his father’s storytelling and this familiarity is incorporated into his art, poetry, and even extends to characters in his books and plays.

With the publication of his first novel, House Made of Dawn,

Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize. It was something totally unexpected for this novice author, making him the first American Indian to receive this honor. From this point on, readers and critics alike awaited with anticipation for the arrival of his successive works.

Fortunately, Momaday has since published thirteen such works.

In addition, to his extensive publications, Momaday holds twelve honorary degrees (including one from Yale University), serves as a professional lecturer and is quite active in Native American cultural affairs. Patrons of the arts should be pleased to find out he will be sharing with Oklahoma residents his passion for creating visual art.

The Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman is hosting an exhibition in Momaday’s honor titled The Visual Voice of Kiowa Author N. Scott Momaday from April 30th through July 30th. The Jacobson House promotes Indian artists, in particular Oklahoma artists, as a tribute to Oscar Jacobson. Jacobson, a Swede, made efforts that contributed substantially to earning Indian artists the respect and attention they deserved. According to Russ Tallcheif, the Jacobson continued to page 12

11

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continued from page 11 House’s executive director, this exhibit is, “Exploring the natural connections between Momaday’s visual and literary voices, the exhibition showcases powerful personal pieces, many of which are published in his books, such as Momaday’s bear paintings featured in his book In the Bear’s House.”

“Bear and I are one, in one and the same story,” Momaday writes.

“My Indian name is Tsoai-talee, which in Kiowa means Rock-tree boy. Tsoai, Rock tree, is Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. That is where, long ago, a Kiowa boy turned into a bear and where his sisters were borne into the sky and became the stars of the Big Dipper.”

Some of Momaday’s bear paintings are in the exhibition along with other meaningful characters often found in his literature and Indian life. Also on display at the exhibit will be the art of Momaday’s parents, accomplished artists in their own right. His father, Al Momaday, illustrated Momaday’s book The Way to Rainy Mountain, published in 1969, and original pieces are on loan from Judge Robert H. Henry, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Oklahoma City, who serves as “Advisory Curator” for the exhibition. Henry is also loaning two of Momday’s bear paintings. Momaday’s mother, Natachee Scott, is a well known

children’s author and artist, especially for her creation of Owl in the Cedar Tree, whose paintings will also be on exhibit. The cumulative collection of these works seem appropriate as it stresses the importance of community and also demonstrates clearly that nothing is accomplished without the assistance or motivation of someone else. Through his art, Momaday will keep Kiowa folklore alive, and will continue to encourage other Indians to contribute something meaningful and long lasting.

Momaday will discuss his art, as well as his parents’ works, during a gallery talk on Sunday, May 7, at 2 pm, during the second day of Jacobson House’s annual outdoor Art Market. Momaday himself has said, “If I do not speak with care my words are wasted. If I do not listen with care, words are lost.” Let us openly embrace this tribute to Indian culture so that we too are careful not to lose the wisdom of one of America’s most treasured artists.

1 NE 3rd Oklahoma City, OK 73104 www.1ne3.org

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T: 405.815.9995 E: untitledartspace@1ne3.org

prev iew

Recent Paintings by DeLoss McGraw Focus on the Famous Play Our Town

by Grant Lacquement Painter and sculptor, DeLoss McGraw is one of the preeminent artists in our state. His work is collected throughout the world and exhibits frequently in New York, Los Angeles, and many places in between.

Constantly working, he maintains homes in Okemah and L.A., and travels almost continuously among commission projects. “It takes the whole country for me to make a living,” he said. Besides these commissions he also illustrates books, the most recent being his exceptional edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Thankfully you do not have to travel to see his work because he has an upcoming show in Tulsa at the M.A. Doran Galley, which will feature paintings that are visual adaptations of Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town. This play is possibly the most preformed play in America, which I find very surprising. In many ways it is a very bleak play, the characters in it being pulled along by convention and the cycles of life, never caring or appreciating the gifts they have. The only subtle hope the play offers is the continuity of the stars; the rest is just cycles, playing themselves out.

I believe McGraw’s visual adaptation of Our Town is founded in the process of recreation - to better become aware of the cycles in his own life. It has taken his life, up to this point, to produce this work. McGraw has reached an age where he has seen several of life’s cycles repeat: cycles of birth, marriage, death and war.

Last year McGraw traveled to Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, which is the original site of the fictional play. He visited the cemetery and found the names on the tombstones used in the play. While there McGraw collected photos and other material from the plays historical period, making a conscience decision to look at similar materials that Wilder used originally.

This exhibit will display more than a dozen paintings and other supporting work. The paintings are gouache on paper; most are quite large. As McGraw says, “This play is about the bigness of small things.”

The supporting materials are the vintage period pieces McGraw found in New Hampshire, along with text from the play.

The paintings have an undercoating, followed by layers of color, with brush and atomizer. Colors flood the canvas, then are wiped or scrubbed away. “In the Renaissance they would under paint then glaze – same thing. The still lifes, especially in areas where there is text, are complex.

I inscribe the print with three, four and five layers of paint and you see all of layers - it brings a lyrical quality to it,” describes McGraw. His dedication to technique is obvious because of the remarkable spontaneity and naivety his work projects.

The exhibition opens May 11th and runs through June 10th at the M.A. Doran Gallery, 3509 South Peoria, in Tulsa. An artists reception is Thursday, May 11th from 5 pm until 8 pm. You can contact the gallery at (918) 748-8700 for more information.

(top) DeLoss McGraw From the Our Town Series gouache on paper (bottom) DeLoss McGraw From the Our Town Series gouache on paper

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Krista Jones, DDS Edmond Shamanfull

The State of Public Art

in Oklahoma

by Lori Oden “Oklahoma is a cultural wasteland.” I am sure you have heard that phrase before, and it would have been correct until about a decade ago. However, today, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and other communities such as Edmond, Ponca City, Cordell, Guymon, Lawton and more have scrutinized economics and city officials and communities have universally incorporated art as a new economic draw; especially public art.

I recently had the chance to research and/ or meet with several volunteer and paid officials that are connected with public art in Edmond, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

The Art in Public Places ordinance was passed October 2001 in the City of Edmond. It was originated by Council person Steve Knox and former Mayor Randel Shadid. A Visual Arts Commission oversees the Edmond public art program; they are appointed by the Mayor and all volunteers. Krista M. Jones, DDS in Edmond has been a dedicated volunteer since 2001. She and I recently sat down for lunch and her enthusiasm for the program cannot be contained. Over the past four years, the Commission has funded 57 works of art in Edmond. Types of art includes sculpture, painting, pen and ink, murals and mixed media pieces from Oklahoma artists as well as nationally known artists.

One of the unique aspects about the 14

Edmond public art program is that an individual or company must approach the Commission with a dollar-for-dollar match for the art. The public partner chooses the art. If the individual or company does not have a specific idea of what kind of art, the Commission has a list of artists with examples or gives the partner a list of resources to choose an artist and a work. Once the art is commissioned and made, however, it is owned by the city and must be in a public space. The money for the commission match comes from a one percent tax that is retained with any type new or renovation project that is constructed by the city of Edmond for the public. Edmond Electric now has a box to check for those who choose to pay extra to help Edmond maintain and promote their public art program.

Oklahoma passed its state 1.5 percent tax of capital projects (new or renovations over $250,000) to support public art in 2004.

It went into effect less than a year ago on July 1, 2005. The Executive Director of the Oklahoma Art in Public Places program is Debby Williams. Williams’ office is in the new History Center at the Capital complex. She works with the directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Chancellor of Higher Education. She also coordinates meetings with architects, artists and the communities

who are involved with the construction and will decide the final art work. Williams is also responsible for the call for artists, which is listed with 17 websites that reach thousands of artists internationally.

Currently, 32 states have public art programs and the Oklahoma Art in Public Places is modeled after research into the successes of these programs.

One of the most recent approved projects is the embellishment of a state bridge that is being renovated over the Turner Turnpike.

The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha is the first educational institution to take advantage of the public art program. USAO recently brought the three finalists to Chickasha for presentations. Archie Held was the chosen artist who is internationally known for his public sculpture. Inspired by the scissor-tail bird, American Indian traditional ware and the university atmosphere, Held created an abstract form to resemble the scissor-tail taking off for flight at the end of a long, grassy runway outside the library.

Although fairly new, the Oklahoma Art in Public Spaces has received local, national and international response from artists and has the potential to make Oklahoma a destination for visitors across the globe.

we have an actual art plan being developed for our new BOK Events Center and Convention Center that will showcase local and national artists.

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art in Tulsa is at a really “ Public exciting point. For the first time ever,

Also, thanks to Vision 2025, a number of projects have public monies that will provide additional art for our city.

Over the years, our 1% for Public Art monies have really allowed Tulsa to embrace creativity.

—Ken Busby

”

Michaela Merryday, PhD at the University of Tulsa is an expert on the history of public art; it was the topic of her dissertation. She stated, Traditionally, public art has been associated with the monument and the memorial.

Its function was either the glorification of those in power or the commemoration of civic sacrifice. As such, monuments and memorials have played a significant role in representing the values of society, constructing official history, and thereby reinforcing the state’s authority.

By the 1960s, traditional public art had fallen out of favor. Memorial sculpture was replaced by living memorials, in place of monuments abstract sculpture appeared in city plazas and at street corners. The renewed interest in public art can be traced back to the establishment of the General Service Administration’s Artin-Architecture Program (1963) and the National Endowment for the Arts‘ Works of Art in Public Places Program (1967) and similar programs in European countries.

These programs signaled the government’s renewed commitment to the arts and significantly contributed to the revival of public art.

Arlene Raven opened her book on public art – Art in the Public Interest - with the assertion that today “public art isn’t a hero on a horse

anymore.” Indeed, what is called public art today can take many forms – in can consists of posters and billboards, murals, bus shelters, parks, skateboard rinks, whimsical objects blown up to gigantic size, parades, temporary installations, and even cyberspace projects. Public art has emerged as one of the most exciting areas in recent art.

and the City of Tulsa Vision 2025 Project Oversight Committee. The art selected will be integrated into all of the designs of the proposed facilities and will be deserving of world-class acclaim. You can visit www. vision2025.info for more information on all continued to page 16

Tulsa instigated its public art program in 1969. One percent of public construction costs were designated for public art. It has funded major projects such as the The NatureWorks sculptures on Riverside Drive; the Tulsa Performing Arts Center beautiful permanent collection; Tulsa native, Rosalind Cook’s commission for a public sculpture on the front grounds of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa; murals, paintings, and more. The City of Tulsa Arts Commission was created in 1970 by the City of Tulsa officials and community leaders to oversee public art projects and managing the budget.

On September 9, 2003 voters of Tulsa County approved a one penny 13-year increase in the Tulsa County Sales Tax for regional economic development and capital improvements. The project is called Vision 2025: Foresight 4 Greater Tulsa.

The Tulsa Arts Commission will carefully coordinate this public art program with the Events Center Design Committee

David Pearson Edmond Morning Mist Bronze 5’x11”

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Rosalind Cook, Tulsa Celebrating the Arts Bronze Sculpture Tulsa Public Art on the grounds of the Harweldon Mansion, home of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa

continued from page 15 the great projects.

To be considered for future public art

No one can really say we are a cultural wasteland anymore and if they do ,they obviously have not been here. Great job Oklahoma!

projects in Tulsa, please contact Kay Goss, recording secretary for the Arts Commission of the City of Tulsa at 918.584.3333, x16 or kgoss@ahct.org.

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ON THE On the Map Goes InternationalSculpture by the Sea: Tom Pershall Visits the Land Down Under

by Tara Aveilhe Tom Pershall, Tulsa Urban ????

Installation, Mixed Media

As one of only three U.S. sculptors invited to participate, Tulsa-native Tom Pershall won $10,000 and was honored with the Sydney Water Environmental Sculpture Award. For Pershall, the experience has reinforced his focus on large-scale, site specific sculptures, many of which utilize industrial or recycled materials.

“I had this dream to realize installations all over the United States,” says Pershall. “But I guess I was dreaming to small.”

Influenced by minimalist artists such as Donald Judd and Christo and JeanneClaude, Pershall’s site-specific multi-media works have been exhibited extensively in museums, galleries and universities throughout Oklahoma and Texas. His work is part of the permanent collection of

the Department of Parks and Recreation in Tulsa. In addition to his temporary sitespecific sculptures, Pershall has permanent sculptures at the Youth Services of Tulsa and on Boulder Street in Tulsa. He served as the past President and Gallery Director of the Tulsa Artists Coalition for several years. Pershall has also competed in national and international art shows, including the World Trade Center Memorial. He has entered his designs for the Bricktown Canal and the Oklahoma City Memorial.

November 2005 that they invited him back to participate in a second exhibit in March along Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Australia.

Sculpture by the Sea is Australia’s largest annual outdoor free-to-the-public exhibition of contemporary sculpture. The exhibition attracts over 400,000 visitors and exhibits over 100 works by artists from Australia and overseas. For more information on Sculpture by the Sea, visit sculpturebythesea.com

Pershall’s installation for Sculpture by the Sea was a “Backbone to the sea,” as he describes it, made up of 1x3 meter aluminum can “bales” that were lined up toward the ocean.

Pershall believes that “the world turns to the arts to express what it cannot imagine” is aptly demonstrated by the colorful, colossal sculpture bales, each weighing a half ton and comprised of 830,000 aluminum cans.

Assisted by a grant from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Pershall’s participation ‘down under” has brought him to the forefront of the international arts scene. Sculpture by the Sea curators were so impressed by his installation in Tom Pershall, Tulsa Pershall with Sydney Water Environmental Sculpture Award

Photo by Lori Oden

Showcasing public art at its biggest and breathtaking best, the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibit held in Sydney, Australia each November features some of the world’s best international sculptors. Participating sculptors are chosen from a number of submissions and their work is displayed in various locales along the coast, such as on rocky outcrops, in flat parklands, on sandy beaches or floating on waves.

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Website Time?

by Sue Clancy

To be on the Web or not to be on the Web? That is the question.

In the mid 1990s I thought I knew the answer to that question. My resounding answer was “to be on the web!” During that time very few fine artists had websites - or even used computers. I was quite excited about the possibilities the Internet offered.

So excited I even gave a number of lectures on the topic of computers, websites and their potential value to artists. But now, in the past few years, I have given most of it up.

I began to notice that the time I spent updating my website, communicating via email newsletter, hosting an artist chat room and bulletin board and pursuing search engine placement was no longer an efficient use of my time. I realize now that I thought of the Internet as some magic pill; the missing link to my art career. I believed that once I got online I could attract more attention to my art. Unfortunately, the demands of my website soon dictated how I spent my time. I focused on making sure my website was listed in search engines, linked with other artists and organizations so I could drive traffic to my site. Well, I did indeed get traffic, perhaps too much traffic. At one point I was getting over 600 emails a day related to my website, not to mention a ton of hits on my website itself.

I soon had to ask myself, is this the kind of attention I anticipated or even wanted?

At first I thought so, but I quickly realized that website maintenance did not fulfill my initial vision. Gallery owners, art buyers and museum curators were not the people looking at my work online. Most of the emails were comments and questions pertaining to website creation, places where they could take art classes, requests for art donations, offers from galleries to represent me for hundreds of dollars per month and the occasional inquiry about 18

trading website links. In over ten years I only had three concrete opportunities from my website. By concrete I mean networking contacts, people who came to my exhibits, or art sales. All that time spent for little return made me think that

Computer monitor quality varies so widely that the viewer cannot really trust color accuracy on any given image. the internet was not a very efficient way to enhance my career.

All that wasted energy updating my website made me question the whole concept. So I revisited what I thought about websites and soon I realized I was in love with the idea, but did not have to be married to it. I believed it would be a quick fix for all the hard work of submitting art and slowly gaining the attention of galleries. I realized there are not any quick fixes and I began to focus my time, attention and money upon the tried and true methods. I spent more time and money on creating my art, constructing quality portfolios, brochures, postcards, in-person gallery visits and, of course, postage to send my portfolio and publicity materials to my target audience.

Within a year of focused attention on things other than the Web, my return on investment ratio shot through the roof! Attendance at my exhibits tripled, I gained several gallery representations and I continue to be more successful with my art sales.

I began getting the kind of attention I initially wanted, but did not receive when I focused heavily on all things Internet.

Whether you, as an individual artist, develop a website or blog, ultimately depends upon who you want as your target audience. I wanted to be in galleries and museums and I realized that I needed to speak their language and work with them in the time-honored fashion; it has paid off handsomely for me. Other artists, such as a video artist or an animator with a different audience in mind, may find time spent constructing and maintaining a dynamic website or blog more cost and time efficient. In this day and age when websites are the assumed norm it can be helpful to the painter, for appearances sake, to have static website so that the societal expectation is met, but the website itself should require little or no on-going maintenance. There are various software packages available such as Adobe GoLive to name an early easy website-builder software package that can help you fairly easily. If you must blog, you can set up for free at http://www.blogger.com. Currently some 70,000 or more new blogs are born each day. You should ask yourself what would make yours unique and is the time spent trying to get your blog noticed worth it?

Think about the kind of audience you want and whether a website or blog would really help you get or keep that audience.

Individual artist’s websites that require daily maintenance, in my opinion, are not very helpful to the painter or sculptor’s career. Remember 2-D and 3-D art is something the viewer has to see in person to really appreciate the piece. Computer monitor quality varies so widely that the viewer cannot really trust color accuracy on any given image. The way information is displayed (or not) usually differs between artist websites and there is not a dependable way for a curator to select artists based on websites. Galleries and museums do not go trolling the Web for new artists because they

Ask a

Creativity Coach

by Romney Nesbitt

One method of being efficiently online, as a visual artist, is to participate in organizations with websites that have been created as a virtual gallery or as artist registries. Art buyers and curators are more likely to visit the websites of brick-and-mortar galleries, museums and non-profit organizations whose reputations are already proven and who have gained community trust. These sites will have a reliability more aligned with the current portfolio quality standards. Artists also use these websites as an efficient way to research galleries and art competitions before submitting their work. Viewers of websites that have artist registries or virtual galleries and reallife locations know that if they see something online that they like they can visit the gallery in person or call the director for more information.

Art Focus Oklahoma will feature Ask a Creativity Coach each issue. Many artists are unable to attend workshops, retreats and conferences or have the financial resources to seek professional advice. This column is just for you! Please email or call Romney Nesbitt to ask her question that will help you as well as other artists in the state.

Artists Space http://www.afonline.artistsspace.org is one example of a registry where an artist can submit images and basically plug their art images and information into a website form. Artists Space maintains the site, deals with the maintenance and pursues search engine placement and site publicity for all of their member artists. Membership is free.

ADDArtist

Another profitable way of being on the Web is to be a content provider. You can create the artwork, the cartoon, illustration or write an article and then send it via email to someone else who puts it on their website, deals with the site maintenance and who often pays you for your efforts. That works for me!

Basically the trick is to plan how you will use time to your best advantage. Artists must focus on an economy of means and constantly reevaluate our efforts so we do not stay stuck in things that are not beneficial to us. Every effort we make should help us make more art, not less. If we have not made any art, and we are not in the market we seek, then it does not matter if we have a world-wide audience. Technologies, materials, methods and techniques, no matter what they are, or how hot and new, must truly help us help ourselves become better artists. We must use them and not allow ourselves to be used by them.

bus i ness of ar t

know all of this. However, in the print/slide industry there are quality standards so curators and jurors are better able to trust what they see. Portfolio format standards give curators a way to have a reliable source of information about each artist.

Dear Romney, I have a problem staying focused on one project at a time. As soon as I start working a parade of new thoughts and ideas clog my brain. I stop to make a note in my sketchbook, remember a phone call I should make or I decide I’m thirsty. Before long my available work time is gone and I haven’t accomplished anything! I don’t have a “creative block” in the traditional sense of not being able to think of an idea, but I must have some sort of block or I would be getting more done. Do you have any suggestions?

Dear ADDArtist, One of the blessings of the creative mind is the ability to generate new ideas, but too many ideas can keep you from meeting your goals. To increase your productivity you must decrease distractions.

I recommend the 20/5 game. Buy yourself a pocket-sized digital kitchen timer that counts backwards to zero and beeps. Set the timer for twenty minutes and press start. Work on one project until the timer beeps (if an idea surfaces make a quick note to attend to it later.) When the timer beeps, reset it for five minutes, press start and put the timer in your pocket. Leave your work space. You are now “on break.” Do a quick chore, walk outside or make a phone call. When the timer beeps, stop whatever you were doing and go back to your work space. Reset the timer for another 20 minutes of work time and repeat. The 20/5 game helps you to focus and value your work time. You may be surprised at how much you can accomplish in 20 minutes with regular five minutes breaks.

P.S. I also advocate TV-free and clock-free work zones to limit visual and mental distractions.

Romney Nesbitt is a creativity coach, artist and writer living in Tulsa. For more information about her creativity coaching practice or have a question you would like answered through this column contact her at RomneyN@cox.net or call her office 918-813-6962.

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OVAC news

At a Glance

by Julia Kirt Brent Goddard’s Signals installation at the Untitled [ArtSpace], March 10-April 22, was one of the most ambitious works I have seen created in Oklahoma. About to graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Brent used fiber optic cable, lights and a sound track to transform the small gallery into another world. The lights pulse through the cables, which are suspended to look like they growing and reaching upward. The pod-like shapes and volume add to the dynamism. Brent also won two awards at Momentum OKC for different works. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Living Arts of Tulsa’s New Genre was held in March this year, which was a move from their traditional fall dates. The two weekends of exhibitions and performance were varied and excellent. I only caught Joseph Daun’s installation at the University of Tulsa and Meredith Monk’s performance at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, although I hear I missed some other great work. Daun’s installation was a combination of works I had seen in his Untitled [ArtSpace] exhibition and some new ones as well. The new piece that blew my mind is a large blue neon cross (probably 10’ x 8’) that rides on wheels on an angle. There is a saddle atop it and Daun displayed video of driving the cross around Edmond. I bet that turned some heads. Monk’s performance was fascinating, with varied vocal explorations and unusual harmonies. The most amazing thing to me was that she has been making her living as an artist for over thirty years exploring her creative passions!

Round Up Big thanks go to OVAC’s great interns this spring! Tommy Ball, a senior at the University of Science and Art of Oklahoma, has helped with the Resource Guide, Momentum and more. Sarah McElroy helped orchestrate the Creative Capital Professional Development Retreat. She is an artist who is interested in a career in arts administration. She took over for our capable intern Kelsey Gillen who took a full time position at Oklahoma State University. Anne Allbright, a graduate student in history at the University of Central Oklahoma, has served as an assistant editor for Art Focus Oklahoma. Continued thanks go to our great volunteer Melanie Seward who has now helped us weekly for a year and a half, mastering the membership packets, mailings, virtual gallery, the OVAC dreaded database and much more!

Save the date: 12x12 will be held Saturday, September 30, 2006! New artists invited to participate this year have been chosen from the Virtual Gallery. Watch for a preview gallery and more this summer on our website: www.ovac-ok.org.

OVAC was pleased to grant funds to six artists in January. Kristin Bennett, Norman, received an Education Assistance Grant to attend the Society for Photographic Education Conference. Steve Cluck, Tulsa, will use his Professional Basics Grant to frame original prints to exhibit at Artifacts Gallery. Mary Lou Gresham, Arcadia, received a Professional Basics Grant to visually document her artwork. Mark Lewis, Tulsa, was granted funds for the shipping of a group traveling exhibitions called Facets of Perception. Brent Greenwood, Edmond, was awarded a Community Partnership Grant for a mural project in collaboration with the Ponca Tribal headquarters. Skip Largent, Oklahoma City, was given a grant for Creative Projects in order to facilitate the participation of his group Ziusudra in the New Genre Festival. OVAC grant deadlines are quarterly, with the next deadline on July 15. Please see the forms and guidelines online at www.ovac-ok.org/artinfogrants.html.

Thanks to the great service of OVAC’s board of directors. Carl Shortt is just finishing up two years of leading the board as President. Thanks to Carl for his great strategic thinking and active leadership. New board members will be announced in the upcoming issues after the Annual Members meeting.

Thank you to our New and Renewing Members from January & February 2005 Jo Ann Adams Alexandra Alaupovic Shea Alexander Kristy Lewis Andrew Brian Baker William L. Beasley Ellen Berney Meloyde Blancett-Scott Bryan Boone Carol Bormann Sharon Burchett Chris Cameris Jean Artman Campbell Steve Childers Karen L. Collier Angela Davison Mariela Dorries James Eakins Sam Echols

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Cheryl Ehmann Carmen Farnbach Carolyn Faseler Randy Floyd & Michael Smith Adrian Foster Jim Franklin Robert A. French Rick Fry James Gallagher Gary & Judy Gardner Joseph Gierek Patricia Gobbel Shan Goshorn Jeannie Graham Brent & Kennetha Greenwood Tony Grigsby Stephanie Grubbs Ruth Harris Heidi Helmers

Dana Helms Patricia Herrera Kelly Hobart Michael Hoffner David Holland Cecelia Hussein Gwen Ingram Jane Iverson Sam Joyner Jean Keil Howard C. Koerth Karoll Kyle Vincent B. Leitch P. Keith Lenington Jason Lockhart Joan Matzdorf Josh McCormick J.D. & Erin Merryweather Francis Moran

Chad Mount Deborah Nauser Joe Neal Judith Prise Vince Quevedo Chris Ramsay Denise Rinkovsky Scott and Jean Roberts June Roys Patricia Lee Russell Eric Saak Katy Scales Mark A. Seibold Beth Shearon Silver Melinda Carol Smith Lovett’s Inc. Frame & Gallery Shannon Sunderland Shirley Sutterfield

Doris Swanson Andrea Taylor Kristen Vails Charlene Weidell Michael J. Wilson Ashley Nicole Winkle Betty Wood Elia Woods

Exhibition Schedule

Ada

Durham

Idabel

University Gallery East Central University (580) 310-5356 ecok.edu

Metcalfe Museum Rt. 1 Box 25 (580) 655-4467 metcalfemuseum.org

Permanent Collection Through May 25 37th Annual Exhibit June 6-23 Charles B. Goddard Center 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909 godart.org

Edmond

Lifewell Gallery Museum of the Red River 812 East Lincoln Road (580) 286-3616 museumoftheredriver.org

Ardmore

Bartlesville

Edmond Historical Society 431 S. Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org Shadid Fine Art 19 N. Broadway (405) 341-9023 shadidfineart.com

Karim Rashid Through September 17 Price Tower Arts Center 6th and Dewey (918) 336-4949 pricetower.org

Chambers Library Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Drive (405) 974-5931 ucok.edu

Broken Bow

Redlands Community College Student Art Show Through May 12 Redlands Community College (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Forest Heritage Center Beaverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497 beaversbend.com

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

Claremore Foundations Gallery-Baird Hall Rogers State University (918) 343-7740

El Reno

Henryetta Joseph W. Hardin Photography Exhibit Through December 31, 2006 Henryetta Historical Society 410 West Moore (918) 652-7112 territorialmuseum.org Â

Lawton B.C. Gilbert and Catherine Prose, Sandra Pokomy, Linda Nowell Opening reception May 13; 7-9 pm The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org Our Passion: Aura Dez and Raya Through May 5 Pride Gallery Southwestern Medical Center 5602 S. W. Lee Boulevard (580) 531-4740

Norman

The Visual Voice of Kiowa Author N. Scott Momaday Through July 30 Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com

Galler y G u ide

&

Gallery Listings

Fred Writers: Photographs by Nancy Crampton Through May 28 Leon Polk Smith June 24- September 24 Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 410 W. Boyd Street (405) 325-3272 ou.edu/fjjma/ George Hughes and Jen Taylor May 5- July 8 Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery 122 East Main (405) 292-8095 mainsite-art.com

Joanna Underwood & Amy Baldwin Through May 13 Firehouse Art Center Student Show May 19- June 17; opening reception May 19, 7-9 Photo and Dog House Show June 23- August 5; opening reception, June 23, 7-9 Firehouse Art Center 444 South Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com

Durant Southeastern OK State University 1405 N. 4th PMB 4231 sosu.edu/

Tulsa Artists Coalition opens their annual 5x5 fundraiser on May 5 at 5:55 pm. Cost is $5 per person.

21

Galler y G u ide

Oklahoma City Seeking Shelter University of Central Oklahoma Graduating Student Design Show May 4-20; Opening reception May 4, 5:307:30 Hands on: Excellent Art Adventure June 9-August 19 City Arts Center 3000 Pershing Blvd.

(800) 951-0000 cityartscenter.org Tom Stotz and Jeff Hamilton May 5-21; Opening reception May 5, 6-9 Jennifer Cocoma Hustis May 26; opening reception May 26, 6-9 Paseo Arts Festival May 27-29 Brooks Tower June 2- July 2; Opening reception June 2, 6-9 JRB at the Elms 2810 North Walker in The Paseo Arts District (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Albert Riddle, Nicole Moan, Jason Moan and Deborah Eilers May 5-27; Opening reception May 5, 6-8 pm Fiberworks June 2; reception June 2, 6-8 pm Individual Artists of Oklahoma 811 N. Broadway (405) 232-6060. iaogallery.org International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum 2100 NE 52nd Street (405) 424-4055 iphf.org

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Music and Dance in American Indian Paintings Through May 7 Bob Kuhn Art Exhibition (Working Title) Through July 30 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 cowboyhalloffame.org

May 5- June 24 William T. Wiley: 60 Prints for 60 Years Untitled [ArtSpace] 1 NE 3rd St. (405) 815-9995 1NE3.com

Oklahoma State Capital Galleries 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 state.ok.us/~arts

Park Hill Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S. Keeler Drive (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org

Tempests and Romantic Visionaries: Images of Storms in European and American Art Through August 13 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com Graduating Seniors Exhibition Through May 12 Juried Art Teachers Exhibition May 21- June 16 Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 521-5226

University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 East Memorial Road (800) 877-5010

Ponca City Back to Osage: New Works by Kreg Kallenberger and Grant McClintock Through May 12 Messages: Recent works by Sue Moss Sullivan May 19-June 30 Artsplace Ponca City 319 East Grand Ave (580) 762-1930 artsplaceponcacity.net Ponca City Art Center 819 East Central

580-765-9746

Shawnee Pena the Printmaker: A Graphic Retrospective June 2- July 16; Opening reception, June 2, 7 pm Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 West Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

Stillwater Gardiner Art Gallery Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett University art.okstate.edu/gallery

Tonkawa Eleanor Hays Gallery Performing Arts Center Northern Oklahoma College 1220 East Grand (580) 628-6670

Galler y G u ide

(above) Kreg Kallenberger View at Pigeon Lake Glass sculpture (left) Grant McClintock White Man on a Pink Horse Photograph On exhibit at Artsplace Ponca City April 7 through May 12: Back to the Osage: New work by Kreg Kallenberger and Grant McClintock

Tulsa Apertures Gallery 1936 South Harvard (918) 742-0500 aperturesphoto.com Color Connection Gallery 2050 Utica Square (918) 742-0515 Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.org Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 East 81st Street (918) 481-1111 Joseph Gierek Fine Art 1512 E. 15th St (918) 592-5432 gierek.com Unearthed Memories: Brigitta Gabban May 4-24, opening reception 5-8 Art Prom Benefit Masquerade May 13, 8:30-11:00 Living Arts 308 Kenosha (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org Floating World Gallery 3714 S. Peoria Avenue (918) 706-1825

Bookworks: Exploring the Book as Art Through May 14 Waking Dreams Art of the Pre-Raphaelites from the Delaware Art Museum Through July 2 The Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 South Rockford Road (918) 749-7941 Philbrook.org 5x5 Annual Fundraiser May 5-20; opening reception and sale 5:55 pm Meditations by Wolfe Brack June 2-24 Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery 9 East Brady (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org Art Studio Tulsa Through May 6 Tulsa Performing Arts Gallery 110 East 2nd Street (918) 596-7122 Tulsa Photography Collective Gallery North Hall at OSU-Tulsa 700 North Greenwood

MFA/MA Graduating Artists’ Exhibition May 4-26; Opening reception May 4, 5-7 pm Senior Show June 1-23; Opening reception June 1, 5-7 pm Alexandre Hogue Gallery Phillips Hall, the University of Tulsa 600 South College Ave. (918) 631-2202 cas.utulsa.edu/art/ Waterworks Art Studio 1710 Charles Page Blvd. cityoftulsa.org/parks/Waterworks

Wilburton The Gallery at Wilburton 108 W. Main St (918) 465-9669

Woodward Fine Arts Competition May 5- June 31 Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.com

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ArtOFocus kl a h o m a Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma are free with membership to the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.

Membership forms and benefits can be found at www.ovac-ok.org or by phone (405) 232-6991.

Student Membership: $15 Individual Membership: $30 Family/Household Membership: $50 Patron Membership: $100 Sustaining Membership: $250

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