Art Focus Oklahoma, September/October 2005

ArtOFocus k l a h o m a Oklahoma Vi su al A rts Co al i t io n

Vo l u m e 2 0 N o . 5 S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 0 5

TRACKED

ELIZABETH DOWNING Observations of the Collective Unconsciousness and the Artwork of Elizabeth Downing p.7

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contents

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profiles 3 Jonathan Hils 4 Jennifer Barron

reviews/previews 5 2005 Painting and Drawing Biennial 6 Momentum Tulsa 2005 7 Elizabeth Downing: With(in) With(out)

9 Paintings by Guido Buson 9 12x12

features 10 Carlisle Food Service 13 Robert Bubp and Ponca City: Geo Logic

business 14 Organized Artist On the Cover: Elizabeth Downing, Tulsa, Tracked, Photograph

OVAC news 16 Round Up/At a Glance 17

gallery guide

ArtOFocus k l a h o m a Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition P.O. Box 1946 • Oklahoma City, OK 73101 ph: 405.232.6991 • e: director@ovac-ok.org visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org 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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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, Debbie Nauser, Roger Runge and Sue Moss Sullivan, Oklahoma City; and Teresa Valero, Tulsa.

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.

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member agency

This program is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council

© 2005, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.

prof i le Jonathan Hils, Norman Bloat Marine Epoxy and Mesh Jonathan Hils Sieve Wood, Steel, Wire and Mesh

Jonathan Hils

by Lori Oden Jonathan Hils was the 2005 recipient of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s Fellowship. As the selected artist he received $5000 for his artistic career development. A national curator was chosen to view the slides, resumes and biographies from all types of Oklahoma artists. The curator was Mark Pascale, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings from the Art Institute of Chicago. Pascale selected Hils out of 60 artist submissions.

Jonathan Hils came to Oklahoma with a BFA from Georgia State University in Atlanta (1997) and an MFA from Tulane University, New Orleans (1999). He has been Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Oklahoma since 2002.

With steel, wire, wood and mesh, Jonathan Hils creates intricately designed sculpture.

Hils gives traditional shapes such as funnels, spheres and ovals new web-like definition. Stretched and stacked, carefully manipulated for just the perfect shape, Hils’ sculptures have a surprisingly personal and warm connection. Perhaps it is because it appears he spent months creating them, or maybe it is because he gives each

sculpture a title from which one could draw conclusions.

“Deviate” is an elongated steel funnel shape that is suspended from the ceiling. The design is already a deviation from the traditional funnel form, plus the bottom seems to be growing legs.

A playful, but sad story can be found in “We.” From the title, it could be assumed that the shapes want to be together. As the story plays out in my mind, the two shapes begin to dance in circles trying to make the ultimate connection, but the long, arching arm between the two shapes keep them, sadly, apart. The dreamy illusion of togetherness is often shattered by reality or other obstacles.

The structures grow and change in relation to the title and carefully planned elements from the artist. I allow my mind to wander with the clues that Hils suggests. The interaction between me and sculpture is an awakening experience about life and the world. Hils states that his “objects examine the nature of abstraction, light, craft and obsessive repetitive tendencies that stem from the aesthetic fusion of organic biology

and industrial/post-industrial sensibilities.”

His artistic thrust, which seems to focus on process and the technical, also has the ability to translate to the personal.

Hils has exhibited his sculptures in solo exhibitions at the University Art Gallery at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas; the Tulsa Artists Coalition in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Spiers Gallery, Brevard College, North Carolina; and the City Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. The group exhibitions he has participated in are numerous and span the United States. Hils has traveled to lecture about his work at many of the galleries and museums where he has exhibited. He is represented by Studio Aiello in Denver, Colorado.

Hils’ next exhibition will be at the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery in Norman from September 2-October 15. He spent the summer in Wisconsin with the Kohler Arts/Industry Resident Artist Program.

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Jennifer Barron, OKC Medici Window Acrylic on Panel

Jennifer Barron Painting New Perspectives

by Lori Oden It takes a minute….and maybe you will have to adjust your head or step back just a little and think, but that is the most enjoyable aspect about Jennifer Barron’s work. She gives viewers an unusual perspective that isn’t often seen in painting and makes you pause and reflect. Evident brush strokes, colors slightly skewed from reality and the point of view are the successful driving forces behind her work.

Her preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. Some of the shows she has been invited to or juried in are: 12x12 Art Sale and Exhibition (2003-2005), Electric Summer Party (2003), Momentum OKC (2003, 2004) and the Oklahoma Painting and Biennial (2005), as well as a spring show at the Centre for Design Arts.

In addition to her painting, Jennifer also enjoys drawing with pen and ink and crafting, especially sewing, crochet and knitting.

Painting since before she can remember, Barron’s mentors as a young artist were her aunt Jeanne Yargicoglu and great-uncle Marvin Smith. They were both artists and interested in her artistic progress. Barron has been in Oklahoma since she was 12 years old.

Barron has worked for the Arts Council of Oklahoma City for almost two years. As the Community Arts Program Director, Barron is responsible for organizing artists in the community through programs such as the Arts After School.

Barron began working at the Arts Council through the AmeriCorps program. She has volunteered for many groups and organizations extensively. Barron believes that volunteering and working for the community is a very valuable experience for her personal and professional growth.

Family support for her talent led to Barron’s recent completion of a BFA in Painting from the University of Oklahoma. She graduated in 2003 with a BA in French as well, and received the “Outstanding Senior in the School of Art” award.

During college she studied abroad in ClermontFerrand, France, a manufacturing town in an agricultural region where OU has a sister school, the Université Blaise Pascal.

Barron believes that much of the inspiration for her recent work comes from her time in France.

“The cities in Europe were designed before cars, so everyone walks more and that simple fact physically affects the way people live. That really made me think about our surroundings.

Whether ancient architecture or McDonalds, we are influenced by what is around us. It made me examine my own surroundings in more detail and the details are what I started painting.”

Barron usually starts by taking a photograph and making a rough sketch of it on canvas, but soon after the sketch she begins to move away from the photograph and gives the painting its own life. Although her major influences have come from her environment, she admires the work of Jenny Saville, Philip Guston, Ana Mendieta, Claes Oldenburg and Edward Hopper. She comments that their work is “striking and I find myself going back to their work and researching their careers more and more often.”

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Jennifer Barron, OKC Range Acrylic on Canvas

reviewed and reinterpreted

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The 2005 Painting and Drawing Biennial

by Susan Grossman Jennifer was a size zero, Wrangler-wearing, bleached blonde from Chickasha. Born in New York and raised in this college town 30 minutes southwest of the metro, her southern drawl was slower than a rain-starved creek in August. She knew what she was doing. She drove the boys wild. Although a University of Oklahoma freshman majoring in pre-med, Jennifer spent most of her time working at Dillard’s and hanging out with her truck driver boyfriend. Her choices quickly landed her on academic probation.

I have no idea where she is today but I thought about my long ago college roommate as I headed to the Oklahoma Painting and Drawing Biennial VIII one hot June morning.

My only real experience with the home of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma was on occasional weekend trips there with Jennifer, cruising the main street and meeting other skinny girls in tight jeans, as well as members of the truck driver’s club.

On some level I was expecting the same as I got off the turnpike and headed into town.

What a pleasant surprise that awaited me.

As one of only a handful of public liberal arts colleges in the country, USAO and the Art Gallery in Davis Hall was a perfect setting for the Biennial – an impressive collection of 59 paintings and drawings displaying the work of more than 40 Oklahoma artists.

“Whether abstract, representational, or somewhere in between, the works that comprised the 2005 Oklahoma Painting and Drawing Biennial reflect the diversity of vision of the state’s many talented artists,” said Elizabeth Dunbar, guest curator. “Their works challenge, delight, inform, and inspire us – and reveal how we are all intimately connected in this big, wide world.” Dunbar, curator for the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, accurately captured the essence of the show with her observation. There was a little something for everyone in this exhibit.

She correctly observed that many of the artists included here “seem to be responding to postmillennial angst or trepidation.” When you

think about it, what thinking person in our culture is not feeling at least some measure of anxiety as it relates to the past four years?

I had the gallery to myself so I did not feel self-conscious about my regular gallery routine.

well as the strong visage of the subject – a gray-haired, cigar-smoking older man looking rather sternly from the canvas.

John Cox, Guthrie, Welcome to America, Oil

I was particularly drawn to a piece by Chris Weldon, from Oklahoma City and spent some time in front of Passage, an intriguing black and white acrylic. Nothing terribly complex, the piece featured two doorways, one in the foreground with the door half open, through which you see a partial doorway. While there was no color, there was an ethereal glow around the door and frame.

“I rarely try to say anything about my art; instead, I prefer that the work speak for itself,” Weldon said in the exhibit catalogue.

“My greatest pleasure is for the viewers to bring their own experience to the work.

Viewer participation leads to individual interpretations and this fascinates me and enriches my work.”

Bingo! I wondered about the many meanings of doors, of opening, closing, going out, coming in, beginnings, endings and possibilities. Doors are powerful. You can slam them. You can lock, pound and kick them.

You can keep people out or let people in.

The black and white drawings of Norman’s Stuart Asprey featured elongated heads and torsos that were bizarre, a tad chaotic and reflected what he called “the sociological amusement park we call life.”

Skin Dive, by Aaron Anderson of Miami, with its gas mask-like heads, suggested disquiet, or in his words, “resentment and alienation.”

Rick McQueen of Oklahoma City floated skulls in his still life of fruit and china, Vanity II. Is it absurd that we hold on to pretty things when death is all around us? You decide.

Several striking portraits were included such as Big Daddy by Sam Nichols of Oklahoma City. Placing this piece at the end of a hallway served to accent its vibrant green tones, as

Lastly, I searched for the award winners. Many times I am surprised by the choices, but also understand the criteria used for judging far outweigh my amateur spectator status. Take Welcome to America, the “Best in Show” by John Cox of Guthrie. With a more Sixties than Millennial flair, a quad-engine propeller plane sits on a tarmac, stairs attached, with a figure resembling a flight attendant in the foreground, pointing off the canvas. Not sure what elevated this piece above the others…it reminded me of an airline advertisement.

We have all seen the expressions and disrespect displayed in the figures of his Debate, as each side of a political issue is intolerant and does not listen to the views of the other. Said Cox, “My paintings reflect my concern for what may result from the increasing complexity and uncertainty of life today. Intolerance, mistrust, violence and everyone pushing their own agendas at the expense of everyone else.”

His statement speaks to the beauty of an undertaking such as Biennial. Aside from showcasing the many talented artists living in what many consider the “flyover” part of the country, there is no agenda. This exhibit captures the mission of any arts installation – you may not like everything that you see, but it affects you on some level nonetheless.

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Momentum Tulsa 2005 Celebrated New and Emerging Oklahoma Artists

by Rhonda Davis

The title Momentum was a fitting choice for an annual exhibit organized by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. The event provided an exciting venue to spotlight the current movement of emerging Oklahoma artists age 30 and younger. This year’s event lived up to its name as it kicked off June 18th with an entertaining evening of performance and interactive art amidst the two- and threedimensional visual art framework. A former Luby’s Cafeteria near downtown Tulsa was impressively transformed into a gallery space and stage showcasing a multitude of media from video, sculpture, painting, drawing and photography to live music and dance.

Interestingly, the majority of the work chosen for this juried exhibit held tightly to traditional roots of image making – drawing, painting, photography and sculpture. Subject matter was, by and large, curiously traditional, too – figurative, landscape and still life. Psychological and political themes prevailed, and work revealing strong influences of artists and artistic movements tied themselves respectfully and intelligently to the history of art.

Libby Russell’s three-dimensional The Problem with Thinking consisted of two identical female figures emerging from a shell, viewing her own image face-to-face, stuck and dazed in a form of mental gridlock. Akin to this examination of self was a mixed media three-piece ensemble entitled, Inspection, Inspecting, Inspected, by AnnMaree Walker, illuminated to reveal the female contour, skeleton and a suggestion of the circulatory system, respectively. Introspection became emotionally charged in Dylan Bradway’s Keep in Mind, a watercolor, pen and ink study of a man in the foreground and a suggestively tortured figure in the background. This glimpse into the human psyche as subject matter was a recurring theme throughout the exhibit.

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Andrew Storie’s steel structure, Call to Arms, was a powerful piece alluding to war, knighthood and destruction. More blatantly addressing political events was Kevin Hale’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, a large acrylic painting depicting George Bush driving a Vespa with Tony Blair affectionately close in the side car, wearing only their smiles as they enjoy a ride through oil fields.

Many works in the exhibit suggested respectful influence by important figures from 20th century and early contemporary art. Amanda Seiders’ Torben #2 revealed a reverence for the physicality of paint and how it relates to figurative mass and form, suggesting the works of Lucian Freud. Carolyn Deuschle’s Untitled stained glass structure was reminiscent of Piet Mondrian with its geometric grid and use of primary colors, but she used the line and pushed and pulled it like taffy, resulting in an arrangement of playful and organic shapes.

Katy Folks’ Untitled Scratch and Untitled Fabric – both oil paintings – had influences by the abstract works of Richard Diebenkorn, with their harmonious palettes and use of strong compositions emphasizing two-dimensional space. It was on these where my eyes came to rest the longest, as I found myself lost in the palimpsest of built-up and taken-away layers of paint, scratched to reveal a history of markings, not unlike the process art takes, when it’s most aware that it’s hardly original, and that we’re all part of an endless chain of influence and making our mark. I turned to look at them one more time and thought she finally found just the right image, and left just the right evidence behind.

In a sense, it is a healthy place to be at age 30 and younger - examining the traditional subjects of self, society and the history of art, as well as working with traditional media in conventional ways. With this more inwardly focused and reflective show, the momentum might not have suggested flash or excitement, but the work itself revealed the makings for greater artistic longevity.

This year’s show was co-chaired by Steve Cluck and Jeff Snodgrass. Curators for the event were Bryce Brimer, Assistant Professor of Rogers State University’s Communication and Fine Arts department, and Sarah Williams, Director of Programs at Untitled [ArtSpace] in Oklahoma City. Warren Corlett and Carrie Fudickar won “Curator’s Choice;” Trent Lawson and Libby Russell won “Award of Merit;” and Joe Neal won the “Audience Choice” award. The next Momentum in OKC will be January 14, 2006.

The next Momentum Tulsa will be June 17, 2006. It’s worth marking your calendars.

Warren Corlett, Tulsa, Winner of one of the “Curator’s Choice,” awards, with curator Sarah Williams

Observations of the Collective Unconsciousness and the Artwork of Elizabeth Downing

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Elizabeth Downing, Tulsa, Crooked, Photograph

By Sarah Williams

With(in) With(out) an exhibition of photographs by Elizabeth Downing at Apertures Gallery in Tulsa was August 4th through September 1st I am constantly amazed at the threads of similarities that exist between artists across the globe with no knowledge or physical connection to one another. The same ideas seem to filter through the human experience, yet the way information is absorbed and expressed is dependant on each artist’s parameters of perception, knowledge base and unique personal experience. As a result, multitudes of artworks serendipitously appear weaving together loose blanket concepts, reminiscent of a universal language. This inexplicable connection seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon throughout art history and in terms of photography this can be traced back to the invention of the medium itself.

In England in 1835, William Henry Fox Talbot was experimenting with the negative positive system and developed what we now know as paper negatives. He did not, however, feel the process was perfected so he chose not to publicize his work in the Royal Academy of Science. Simultaneously, in France, a man by the name of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre was experimenting with another photographic process called the Daguerreotype. By 1839 Daguerre had announced his discovery to the French press, which came as a shock to Talbot. Talbot immediately rushed to publish his findings through the Royal Institution in London. Although neither man can be credited with the actual invention of photography, their coincident findings across continents changed the course of history and furthered experimentation with the medium of photography.

I recently received an announcement for a photography exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico titled Absence / Presence featuring ephemeral photograms by artist Nancy Sutor that represent calendar days of a year. The illusionary images within this body of work counter our expectations just as the photograms reverse negative and positive, figure and ground. Each image represented a day that has passed, time that has already gone by.

Coincidently, I was asked to write this article for Art Focus to review the recent exhibition at Apertures Gallery in Tulsa featuring Elizabeth Downing’s photography titled With(in) With(out). Upon reading Elizabeth’s artist statement, and viewing this body of work, I was overcome with a feeling of ubiquity. As Elizabeth stated, “This body of work explores the significance of both presence and absence, and examines both their relationships and their differences.” This presented a wonderful example of unique artistic expressions through a blanket concept currently being addressed by many artists.

Downing’s images were beautifully desolate, lacking the presence of life, yet they offered the viewer traces of humanity within the frame of the image. In the photograph “Moved,” a bicycle was reflected in an empty storefront, juxtaposed with the image of an old payphone with a dangling phonebook pointing to an empty cup at the bottom of the frame, which suggested that the place had not long been abandoned. The feeling of loneliness and mystery exuded from the photograph and inspired the viewer to concoct

a narrative of what might have happened to the space presented.

The exhibition was comprised of images that also appeared to focus more on the formal elements of composition such as “Crossed” - an abstract image of electrical wires broken into thirds. This was coupled with images that seem to address feelings of isolation and desolation such as “Crooked,” which featured a kinked chain on an empty swing set. In this body of work, Elizabeth chose to print the photographs in black and white. The lack of color within the images effectively resonate the subjects as memories and romanticized the emptiness of the spaces. The photographs appeared to document the passage of time within a stagnant frame, a wonderful paradox possible through the medium of photography.

Downing’s photographs represented a strong, cohesive body of work that effectively conveyed archives of human experience through empty urban spaces. Her work was well done and well presented. I would, however, like to offer one small token of criticism; the titles of the images leave more to be desired. They seemed to overgeneralize the depth of what was happening in each image, which took from the many subtle parallels and visual clues that existed within the individual photographs. I would argue that Downing’s images speak for themselves effectively, weaving together the loose concepts of absence and presence, positive and negative space, and communicate the universal language of artistic expression through her unique vision.

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Frank Moran, Weatherford Bronze

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s Annual Fundraiser: 12x12 Art Sale and Exhibition The highly-anticipated annual 12 x12 Art Sale and Exhibition organized by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is scheduled for 7pm Saturday, September 24 on the first floor of the Sonic Building on the Bricktown Canal, 300 Johnny Bench Drive. In its 15th year, this event has grown immensely, and OVAC estimates the event will raise $45,000 to support artists across the state. More than 130 artists are participating.

Funds generated by 12x12 go directly back to individual artists through grants, awards and other resources, such as workshops, publications and exhibitions. OVAC provides more than $24,000 in direct artist grants and more than $150,000 in artist services each year.

Artists were selected from the OVAC Virtual Gallery and invited to submit art that is 12 by 12 inches or smaller. A variety of media will be represented, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, graphite, mixed media and more—there is something for every art lover. Art is sold by blind and silent auction (no one can see what another bids), and the minimum bid is $144. Artists receive a percentage of the sale, as OVAC believes in creating opportunities for artists and their work. However, many artists donate their commission back to OVAC to support the organization.

Throughout the evening, guests will enjoy amazing food, drink and live music – all made possible through gracious community sponsors. Bank of Oklahoma and Chesapeake Energy Corporation are the premier sponsors for the event. LaVeryl Lower and Stephen Kovash are the 12 by 12 committee chairs. Food will be donated by many notable restaurants, such as the Cheever’s, Metro Wine Bar and Bistro, Deep Fork Grill and more.

Last year’s event proved wildly popular and successful, with more than 600 people who attended and more than $35,000 raised through the auction. This year is slated to be even bigger and better.

Tickets are on sale in advance for $24 online at www.ovac-ok.org, by phone 405.232.6991 or at Full Circle Bookstore or Shoe Gypsy or $30 at the door. For more information visit www.ovac-ok.org or call 405.232.6991.

Guido Buson, Clowns, Oil Part of “The Colors of Sicily: Paintings by Guido Buson” at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Gallery.

The Colors of Sicily: Paintings by Guido Buson

by Janice McCormick The Tulsa Artists’ Coalition goes international with The Colors of Sicily: Paintings by Guido Buson, September 8 - 28, 2005. Buson is an artist born in Villa San Giovanni, Italy in 1935 and now lives in Palermo on the island of Sicily. His daughter Daniela Buson, head ballerina of the Tulsa Ballet, was instrumental in bringing her father’s art to the attention of the TAC Selections Committee. The public will have the opportunity to meet Mr. Guido Buson at the opening on September 8, 6-9 p.m. during the annual Gallery Hop. Guido Buson’s paintings are shown permanently in his own gallery in Palermo. He has had solo exhibits in Palermo, Trapani and Modena and has participated in group shows during the 1960s through the 1980s in the Palermo, Catania, Agrigento and Bagheria.

An art critic, G. Virgadamo, has described his paintings as “a kind of poetry anchored in every day reality.” Another, G. Servello, writes, “Solitude, the weight of a suffering that gives way to a glimpse of happiness, are the faces of a south of Italy still attached to the gloomy days of misery. Those are the memories from which Mr. Buson draws his characters, which he then blends in a background of Sicilian landscapes with a nostalgic touch of hope.” A. Forti describes Buson’s painting style as follows: “Mr. Buson has given his paintings a new emotional dimension through the strength and passion of his colours.

You may try to tie him down to Impressionism or Realism but it is his descriptive power that places him in the upper circle of contemporary art. It is his elaboration on canvas of human reality that is the dominant element of his art.”

The Tulsa Artists’ Coalition gallery, located at 9 East Brady, is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The Colors of Sicily: Paintings by Guido Buson is free and open to the public. For more information, call the TAC gallery at (918) 592-0041; or, visit the website at www.tacgallery.org.

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Entrance to Carlisle Main Offices

Tammy Regan Lawton, Poetree Oil on Canvas

Setting New Standards: Internationally Known Carlisle Food Service in OKC is Using Oklahoma Artists for Product Design

by Sharon Astrin

Walking into the Carlisle Food Service Products building at I-35 and Hefner Road is a surprise. It is remarkably similar to a Frank Lloyd Wright retreat on a mountain far away from Oklahoma City -- stacked stone soaring two stories, natural light pouring in, and an array of natural textures, from inviting brown leather sofas to vivid orange handblown glass lighting. Just as surprising is the innovative collaboration taking place there between Oklahoma artists and the creative team of the Carlisle Home Products division.

Carlisle Food Service Products is the parent company of Carlisle Home Products. Carlisle, now headed by CEO Dave Shannon, has a fascinating history. In 1955 Continental Plastics, a small custom molding shop in Oklahoma, ventured into the field of food service supplies. A few years later, the first commercial-grade plastic Beverage Pitcher (now affectionately referred to as the “Beer Pitcher”) had its debut. This original design, down to the little nubs on the bottom, is an international standard.

Carlisle eventually acquired several companies and Carlisle became the largest commercial-grade Melamine dinnerware maker based in America.

Building on its history, Carlisle is already a formidable presence on the home products scene. Name any retail chain that comes to mind 10

-- from Saks, Dillard’s, Neiman Marcus, and Williams Sonoma to Bed, Bath & Beynd, Costco and Walmart, and Crate and Barrel in between — Carlisle products have been there. The product line is comprised of tabletop, barware, bathware, and recently, a move into the pool and patio arena. The giant wine glass on the cover of Wine Enthusiast last month is a Carlisle product.

So where exactly do Oklahoma artists fit into this picture? Arguably, it all started when Shannon convinced Chicagoan Rick Allen to relocate to Oklahoma City and head the design team for Carlisle Home Products. Allen, who was one of the founding artists of Recyled Paper Greetings, the third largest greeting card company in the U.S., and the first “alternative” card venture, brought his entrepreneurial spirit and out-of-the-box thinking to bear upon the product development process. He aschews “heavy dependence on trending” and “derivative” products -- knockoffs of knockoffs -- flood the marketplace. Allen had found that the traditional method of working with designers did not foster the kind of originality that he wanted.

So he went local.

Leaving no stone unturned, Allen and Jeri Wensel went on a yearlong talent search for artists who were, as Allen put it, “flexible

Sitting area with Fireplace

- able to move their creativity from one place to another.” Wensel, former Executive Director of the Paseo Artist’s Associaton, serves as Carlisle’s liaison to the arts community. In their quest for artists, Allen and Wensel used regional ads, attended art openings, relied on word-of-mouth, and slowly but surely began to form crucial relationships with artists right in their backyard. The payoff?

Immediacy and a collegial collaborative process that just cannot be achieved from a distance, Allen claims. The artists come into the Carlisle site, which is designed specifically to foster collaboration and interaction. The team hangs out in front of the stone fireplace, overlooking the leafy courtyard, brainstorming and playing “what if”. Further inspiration comes from being surrounded by original Oklahoma art by such well-known local figures as Michi Susan and Randy Marks.

Marks is actually one of the key artists that Carlisle collaborates with on their contemporary product lines, including the plexiglass

Grainware line. Allen muses, “One day Jeri and I were talking about the great art by Randy Marks and saying that we really need to use someone like him. Then it occurrs to us that if we want someone like Randy Marks, maybe we should just call Randy Marks!” So they did. “Randy just gets it,” explains Allen. “His forms and shapes are so clean and interesting.”

In addition to the plexiglass products, they also create Sky Ranch vintage stoneware. This collection is a continuation of the original vintage product design by Will Ardy, now highly collectible. The tabletop wares have a Gene Autry-Hollywood, wild Western feel.

Carlisle found that the artist who can interpret this look perfectly is Reggie Jaime. An illustrator and graphic artist, Jaime’s machine-age styling and affinity for art deco make him a natural to carry on the Sky Ranch tradition.

Chuck Keeler, head of the ceramics department at Oklahoma City University, uses ethnographic themes for another product group continued page 12

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Break Room with Michi Susan and Randy Marks art

continued from page 11 loosely entitled Day of the Dead. The indigenous artistic traditions are strictly observed by Allen and Keeler. Keeler does extensive research on these traditions, and Allen travels to Mexico to visit the Oaxaco Women’s Cooperative to observe techniques and traditional use of colors and materials.

Other Oklahoma City artists include Trent Lawson and Nick Backes.

Backes, a commercial artist, worked in Italy for Versace and is now developing other 1940s looks to expand Carlisle’s vintage tabletop offerings. Normanite Christine Coleman contributes to Zazu, a fun and quirky barware line, and Doug Swindell of Eaton Quade Plastics lends his expertise in plexiglass. Allen notes that Swindell and Marks recently collaborated on a mixed media piece that won “Best of Show” at the IAO EdgeArt Now exhibition. “This speaks to the quality of talent that we’re attracting here,” comments Wensel.

Not only is Carlisle benefitting from its collaboration with these local artists, the artists experience something remarkable as well.

Coming from different backgrounds, and working in different media, these artists rarely cross paths and rarely collaborate. That is changing. Wensel notes that in the past she would talk with artists 12

and the main topic would be an upcoming exhibition. “Now, it’s just as likely to be about a piece they’re working on for us, or an idea we’ve been kicking around.” Again, Allen notes that the artists he’s working with here are open to this new collaboration - more “relaxed and experimental.” Wensel sums it up, “there is truly a new community building right here underneath Carlisle.”

For more information about Carlisle, visit carlislehomeproducts.com, skyranch.net, and grainware.com.

Robert Bubp and Ponca City Make Geo Logic

by Lori Oden In our fast-paced society we see change happen so quickly it almost seems out of control. We demolish an old building for a new one and erase history in a matter of seconds. Or, we vacate a building that is too small and build one bigger, leaving the other one to deteriorate and become an eye-sore. Robert Bubp directs his artistic talents to render the physical outcome and social impact of so-called progress.

Geo Logic: An Installation by Robert Bubp was featured in Ponca City at Artsplace (APC) from June 3-July 2. Founder John McNeese opened Artsplace 18 months ago. McNeese, a major advocate for contemporary art, also founded the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, and he recently returned home to Ponca City.

Robert Bubp is a member of the art faculty at Wichita State University and participates in many solo and group exhibitions, internationally. His installations study and scrutinize city growth and rural neglect.

Artistically recreating maps of specific sites, he demonstrates the decay of the land. He researches the chosen sites thoroughly by studying census maps, historic maps and photographs. His preparations also include recording video of the sites. Bubp’s research methods are then incorporated physically and artistically into his art and installations.

Evidence of his research lie in the detailed highways and city roads that Bubp maps onto galvanized steel. The steel represents the permanence of our mark on the land. He uses acrylic, acid etching, pencil and image transfers to create a compromised surface of where the waste sites are located. Bupb comments, “Sitespecific processes allow continual investigation into situations at the local level, suggesting future investigation into other types of spaces— both urban and non-urban locales. With each new environment, I hope to shed some light upon the forces that organize the world around us.” In addition to the reinterpreted maps, Bubp shows video (without sound) and small

(bottom) Robert Bupb, Wichita, KS, B7. Hardage/Criner, Criner, OK. Waste disposal plant in rural area identified in 1980; clean-up ongoing, damage assessment challenged by potentially responsible parties. Most recent assessment in 2002.

Site contaminants include arsenic, solvents, pesticides, PCBs, oils, paint sludge, heavy metals. Site toxicity rating second in OK behind Tar Creek. Acrylic, Tar, Acid Etch, Rust, Pencil, Transfers on Galvanized Steel

plots of grass taken from the sites. The grass is placed in the installation and allowed to die during the exhibit, symbolizing the death of the land.

Pitted and gritty and rusted, the manipulated galvanized steel maps have an overwhelming emotional effect. Otherwise boring aerial maps are turned into a new stream of consciousness about land that has been misused and forgotten. Some of the census map records are transferred onto the surface, giving an air of the official. In contrast to the deteriorated sites, Bubp also researches and records land that has been largely untouched by city growth and industry. Light blues and pinks prevail in these maps and have very little rust. They are a visual oasis after viewing the turbulent, wasted sites.

determine our social and physical ‘place’ within that environment. This is not limited to city-space, as the rural landscape is also heavily politicized: new economics based in retail and construction drive deforestation; battles are waged over public versus private land management; use of the grid system attempts to organize nature and space itself.”

This unique investigation into how industrialization has effected our planet and society has the potential to make a major impact on our awareness of “progress” and its mark on the planet.

Robert Bubp writes extensively and passionately about his projects. He states, “‘Place’ is created through built and natural environments in conjunction with history and traditions. Social mores are in part created out of these conditions; in turn they 13

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Part II: The Organized Artist:

Creating a System

by Sue Clancy A system needs to be devised for: Art Production: Art Creation and Art Ideas; Submission Strategies; and Time and Money Strategies (for work as well as inspiration, renewal and life).

Remember you are your own boss. Your system of working will need to work FOR you and not against you. Your system should ideally help you meet your goal in ways that easily fit into your artistic lifestyle. In other words you devise a system that is tailor made for you. Think broadly about your goal and think of the various things you need to do in order to meet the goal. Think about your current work, your likes and dislikes, how you work best and begin building a system into which you can “plug in” any future artwork.

Remember the system can be adjusted as you figure out what does and doesn’t work for you, your particular medium and your life style.

The best way I can talk about how to devise a system of working is to share with you my own system.

Art Production My Main Goal is: To be known for my ideas and collected for my whimsical thoughtful art: handmade paper, collages, books, cartoons and writing.

My #1 goal that stems from my Main Goal is Art Creation. My secondary goals for Art Creation are to: “read, write and Draw Daily” and “make a finished work every two weeks.” I create my artwork first and then I worry about finding a home for it, i.e. where to exhibit it. I plot on my calendar when I’m going to make art. When that time comes I sit my butt down at my work table/easel and I just do it whether I feel like it or not. This has helped me form a “habit of creativity.”

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After I’ve made the art I photograph it and enter it into my inventory/portfolio notebook.

From that notebook I’ll select a body of work and form a portfolio that reflects a coherent series. I’ll also create slides, postcards, digital images, brochures and promos--all the things I need to help me find a home for my art. After I’ve created the art, prepared the slides and other materials I can submit my work for targeted exhibits that are in keeping with my goal.

Part of Art Creation is keeping track of Art Ideas. I keep an idea file or sketchbook or journal from which I develop my finished works. Keeping inspiration alive is an essential part of my job also - that’s why keeping journals and sketchbooks are so important.

Submissions My secondary goal is to submit to something once a week. There are two kinds of Submissions: Other Exhibit Submissions and My Ideas for Proposals & Submissions.

Other Exhibit Submissions This is when I receive a prospectus or “call for entries” in the mail or read about an opportunity that an organization is setting up.

I read about the event and if it seems like my work might be a good fit for the exhibit AND if the exhibit is a good fit for my goals, then I’ll act. First, I write in pencil on my calendar the dates when the submission needs to be mailed and any other tentative dates such as, when the work, if accepted, would need to be delivered, the opening reception, pick up, etc.

I make the submission and if I’m rejected I’ll simply erase the dates. If I’m accepted I put the event on my calendar in ink. Then, I make “a job folder” that will contain the prospectus, the invitation, a list of what I’ll take to the exhibit and any other information I will need.

I plot the time on my calendar as to when I’ll do the work, deliver the work, etc.

My Idea Proposals & Submissions This is when I have an idea for an exhibit, a commission, an article or a cartoon. I have an

idea and then I go about making the proposal for whoever I hope will host the exhibit, commission my work or publish the article or cartoon. It’s my idea and I’m finding the funding and place and ultimately ‘a home’ for it.

Other People Suggest/Request Projects After you’ve had a few successes other people will begin to approach you for their exhibit, or to do some work for them. When this happens I evaluate on a case-by-case basis as to if the project will fit with my goal. This helps me keep on track with my goal. It can be very easy to get distracted and get involved in a project that, while it may be fun or make money, it does nothing to help a career.

Time and Money Strategies Get out of debt! The more you owe the more you’ll have to go to work for someone else and the less time you’ll have to make your art (and be in business for yourself). Save money for taxes, art supplies and the sudden opportunity! This doesn’t mean you have to live like Scrooge - just THINK before you spend money. Would an expensive night out at a pub be worth it? Or could you and your friends have the same beer & pizza festivities at your studio (a case of beer from the liquor store is often more beer for less money) - and in addition you could show everyone what you’re working on!

Even if you’re independently wealthy and have other sources of income - run your art business as a business - be your own boss! If you borrow money from yourself pay yourself back. It’s all part of taking yourself seriously as an artist.

This is a broad view of my system of working.

Into this system I plug any new artwork that I create. This system gives me a guideline for what sort of exhibits I want to be a part of, what projects I want to do, etc. All of it is set

feat u re up to help me meet my central main goal. I have also developed philosophies or strategies for all parts of my system.

The Business of Art: A three-part series by Sue Clancy – watch for the final segment in the next Art Focus issue.

This helps me know why I’m doing what I’m doing as well as a way to know what works and what doesn’t.

The final part in this series, Part III: Planning for Success, will be in the next issue of Art Focus Oklahoma.

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Round Up OVAC is excited about the great new Board members who joined this June. Kathleen Rivers is an Assistant Professor of art at East Central University in Ada. She received her MFA in Printmaking from the University of South Carolina and BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design. Dwayne Morris, Oklahoma City, serves as assistant Senior Counsel for KerrMcGee Corporation and has a long history of volunteerism in the arts in Oklahoma as well as his former hometown of Chicago. Skip Hill, Oklahoma City, a painter who produces his work under the Swahili name Hodari, has been exhibited and collected internationally. He is represented locally by JRB Art at the Elms and is also active with Inclusion in Art. Dr. Michaela Merryday is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Tulsa. She focuses on modern and comptermpoary art, especially public art practices, and received her Ph.D from Florida State University. Jean Ann Fausser, Tulsa, is a fiber artist who has exhibited nationwide. She received a BA from the University of Tulsa and owned and operated a children’s bookstore for many years before focusing on her artistic pursuits.

The OVAC Board of Directors, Executive Committee for 2005-2006 are: Carl Shortt, Jr, President; John Seward, Vice-President; Pam Hodges, Vice President; Lila Todd, Secretary; and Rick Vermillion, Treasurer.

Julia Kirt, OVAC Executive Director, recently attended the national conference for the Americans for the Arts. She was overwhelmed by the resources available for advocacy in the arts.

For tool kits, national information, and more, visit www.artsusa.org.

AT A GLANCE

By Julia Kirt Reviving the American Art and Design series with Mid Century USA, 1940-1960, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art aired some of its permanent collection worth examining.

The exhibition was held June 30-August 21, 2005. It featured hundreds of artifacts and was a fun combination of traditional fine art with remarkable household objects; it was curated by OKCMOA’s own Alison Amick. Items such as amazing dishware accentuated the modern works like Ilya Bolotowsky’s Perpendiculars and Diagonals.

The juxtaposition reminded us that important modern artists such as Piet Mondrian designed entire homes as well. The only thing I would have enjoyed more is if the artifacts and artwork were intertwined in the space— seeing the artworks right next to the artifacts could have further underscored the concepts.

I cannot wait until the 1980-2000 installment of this series—when my favorite industrial design of my childhood is immortalized in a well-designed museum setting.

By Lori Oden

By Elizabeth Downing A vending machine that doesn’t work, Monopoly money on the floor or suspended in the air, and screenprints in jail….Steve Cluck’s “Cluckville” was a town of dramatic color, expression, and the unexpected.

Gallery 107 in Sand Springs was transformed into a village with emphasis on the interactive. A “museum” (with the feel of a jail) of Cluck’s screeprints showed colorful, but more restrained works, while oversized paintings lent a decidedly dramatic atmosphere to the show. A post-it note tacked to the front of Cluck’s Barbie-pink vending machine proclaimed “this doesn’t work,” which couldn’t have be farther from the truth about this unique, playful show.

Tonkawa and Ponca City. I don’t know how

A recent trip to Ponca City led me through Tonkawa first; the two towns are just 15 minutes a part. Tonakawa is home to a branch of Northern Oklahoma College, which is an impressive 2-year college.

Audrey Schmitz gave me the grand tour of their Art Department. Nestled in northern Oklahoma, it is a gem. With only 2,000 students and excellent facilities, if you are thinking about heading to school next year, you should definitely consider this college.

The college supports Oklahoma artists through

exhibitions

and

purchases.

Amazingly, Schmitz teaches Art History, Sculpture, Clay, Art Appreciation and schedules the exhibitions and openings for the school gallery. Oh, and did I mention that she is co-owner and helps run a local frame shop? Oh, and how could I forget that she also produces her own art and does an annual collectible series of ornaments for she had time for me, but luckily she did.

Just a few minutes away I had lunch at the Daily Grind with Ponca City artists Maxine, Guy and Alison Warren. John McNeese also joined us and he gave me a tour of the Ponca City Arts Center, the local library, which has an amazing collection of ancient Chinese scrolls, and of course, his beloved Artsplace. Maxine and Guy guided me through the local bank that is exhibiting Maxine’s paintings. I wasn’t ready to go home at the end of day…I wanted to stay.

The company and the art were exhilirating.

Thank you to our New and Renewing Members from May and June 2005

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Duff Bassett Doug Bauer Johanna Blanchard Tammy Brummell Sue Clancy Janice W Cobb Chris Corbett Christine & Tom Crowe Patrick Cunningham Anke Dodson Kellie Eastham Don Emrick Katherine Frame

Joellen Frisillo Mena Ganesan Promise Guidry Jeff Gullett Harper Hair Winnie Hawkins Megan Henry Teresa Herndon Gary Hickerson Sherry Hicks Holland Hall William Hood Amy Houghtaling

Carla Houston Travis Hummingbird Jay Hylton Judith F. Ide Don Jackson Cynthia Janssen Shannon & Chris Jilge Kathy M. Jones Scott Jones Allison Keim Joseph Kirk Julia J. Kirt Kate Kline

Trent Lawson Nathan & Heather Lee Heather Lee Mark Lewis Jan Maddox Marsha Mahan Cindi Mathis Kathy McKemn & Gary Betow James & Ruby McNeese Melton Art Reference Library

Lance Miller Jason & Nicole Moan Regina Murphy Genni Nance Dana Niblett Hitomi Okumura Juanita Pahdopony Cacky Poarch Marc Rains Maxine Richard Tom & Babs Richardson Sarah Rothschild

Libby Russell Audrey Schmitz Matt Shroff Tamara Sigler Michelle Stephens William R. Struby Michi Susan Shad Thetford Charles Thomas Shelley Thompson Ginger Tomshany Pat Travis Robert D. Trawick

Erin Turner Terri Wagner Alison Warren Guy & Maxine Warren Jack J. Wells George Whitlatch Matthew Wiens Peter Winslow Robert Wood Shelby Woods Pam Woolbright May Yang Alison Zarrow

Ada University Gallery East Central University (580) 310-5356 www.ecok.edu Ardmore Ardmore Art Guild’s 19th Annual Exhibit August 27- September Oklahoma Arts InstituteQuartz Mountain October 2005 Charles B. Goddard Center 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909, www.godart.org Bartlesville Structures of Our Times: 31 Buildings That Changed Modern Life Through October 2 The Drunken Boat: Paintings by Bruce Goff Through October 2 Prairie Skyscraper: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower October 14 Price Tower Arts Center 6th and Dewey (918) 336-4949 www.pricetower.org Broken Bow Forest Heritage Center Beaver’s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497, www.beaversbend.com Chickasha Jaymes Dudding September 11-October 12 Reception September 11 at 4 pm Seven-State Biennial Exhibition October 23-December 12 Reception October 23 at 4 pm University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma Gallery-

&

Exhibition Schedule

Davis Hall 1806 17th Street (405) 574-1344, www.usao.edu/ gallery/ Claremore Annual Faculty Show: Kren Bennett, Bryce Brimer, Dave Carman, Don Emrick, Gary Moeller and Mary Jane Porter Through September 16 Foundations Gallery-Baird Hall Rogers State University (918) 343-7740 Durant Senior Exhibition: Lee Ann Brummett and Carol Ertman September Southeastern OK State University 1405 N. 4th PMB 4231 http://www.sosu.edu/ department/art/gallery.htm

www.edmondhistory.org Shadid Fine Art 19 N. Broadway (405) 341-9023 http://www.shadidfineart.com/ Chambers Library Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Drive (405) 974-5931, http://www.ucok.edu/ El Reno Cheyenne Visions II Through September Redlands Community College (405) 262-2552, www.redlandscc.edu Idabel Prehistoric to Contemporary Native

galler y gu ide

Gallery Listings

American Art Long term Lifewell Gallery Museum of the Red River 812 East Lincoln Road (580) 286-3616 www.museumoftheredriver.org Lawton Marilyn Jolly: Mixed Media; Paul Medina: Mixed Media; Jean Roberts:Jewelry September 10-October 28 The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 ww.lpgallery.org

Durham Full Frontal Nature: Three Centuries of Landscape Art September 6- November 30 Reception September 11 Metcalfe Museum Rt. 1 Box 25 (580) 655-446, www.metcalfemuseum.org Edmond First Schoolhouse in Edmond: Setting a Standard for Public Education Through September 24 Edmond Historical Society 431 S. Boulevard (405) 340-0078,

Joey Frisillo, Sand Springs, Sunlit Red Door, from the Travels with the Artist exhibition at the Color Connection Gallery in Tulsa

continued page 18

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John Seward untitled 16x24 in camera double exposure, Iris print showing at the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery October 21-November 26

(405) 528-6336 www.jrbartgallery.com Kenneth Bandaruk: Paintings Chris Corbett: Photography September 9-October 1 Reception September 9, 6-8 pm Timothy Sullivan: Ceramic and Glasswork Jean Ann Fausser: Mixed Media Fetishes October 7-31 Reception October 7, 6-8 pm Individual Artists of Oklahoma 811 N. Broadway (405) 232-6060 www.iaogallery.org

Norman Clotide Espinosa Through September 10 Derek Glaskin September 16-November 5 Firehouse Art Center 444 South Flood (405) 329-4523 www.normanfirehouse.com Comanche Art and Culture September 6-October 16 Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 http://www.jacobsonhouse.com Selections from the Permanent Collection Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 410 W. Boyd Street (405) 325-3272 www.ou.edu/fjjma/

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Jonathan Hils September 2-October 15 Photographic Visions of the Flesh Works by Jerry Uelsmann, Greg Gorman, Melanie Seward, Bill Perry and John Seward October 21-November 26

Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery 122 East Main (405) 292-8095 www.mainsite-art.com Oklahoma City Kay Smith Reception Friday, September 9, 6-8:30 pm 50 Penn Place Art Gallery50 Penn Place Mall, SE corner of NW Expressway & Penn City Arts Center 3000 Pershing Blvd.

(800) 951-0000 www.cityartscenter.org Urban Photographers Through September 12 Michi Susan September 23-October 29 Reception September 23, 6-9 pm Function as Art October 21-November 19 Reception October 21, 6-9 pm JRB at the Elms 2810 North Walker- The Paseo Arts District

Arnold Newman: Portraiture Exhibition James Walden: An Itinerant Eye Through December 31 International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum 2100 NE 52nd Street (405) 424-4055, www.iphf.org Fred Beaver and Acee Blue Eagle: Oklahoma Indian Artists Through October 23 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 www.nationalcowboymuseum.org

Christina Bushe Through September 16 North Gallery William Bennett Barry Through September 9 East Gallery Oklahoma State Capital Galleries 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 www.state.ok.us/~arts Artist as Narrator: Nineteenth Century Narrative Art in England and France September 8-November 27 Oklahoma Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive (405) 236-3100, www.okcmoa.com Brunel Faris Through September 16 Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 521-5226 Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945 Main Gallery Gay Block and Rabbi Malka Drucker: Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust September 17-October 23

Vanessa Jennings Powwow dress, ca. 2000, Leather, glass beads, cowrie shells, and pigment, Museum of the Red River

Reception September 17 Untitled [Art Space] 1 NE 3rd St. (405) 815-9995, www.1ne3.org University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 East Memorial Road (800) 877-5010 Ponca City Digital Photography: The Manipulated Image Through October 1 Ponca City Collects October 7-November 12 Artsplace Ponca City 319 East Grand Ave (580) 762-1930 Ponca City Art Center 819 East Central 580-765-9746 Shawnee A Mosaic of Beliefs: Sacred Objects Through December 4 Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 West Macarthur (405) 878-5300, www.mgmoa.org

Stillwater Gardiner Art Gallery Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett University art.okstate.edu/gallery.htm Tonkawa Eleanor Hays Gallery Performing Arts Center Northern Oklahoma College 1220 East Grand (580) 628-6670 Tulsa Apertures Gallery 1936 South Harvard (918) 742-0500, www.aperturesphoto.com Travels with the Artist September-October Color Connection Gallery 2050 Utica Square (918) 742-0515 www.colorconnectiongallery.com Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700, www.gilcrease.org Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 East 81st Street (918) 481-1111 Zebanda: Indian Textiles and Artwork Exhibit by Beth Field Through September 4 Sue Peterson: Harmony in Order Installation September 8-29 Lo-Vid Exhibit and Performance: Hinkis and Lapidus October 6-27

From A Mosaic of Beliefs: Sacred Objects at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, through December 4

Day of the Dead Festival November 1, 1-10 Living ArtSpace 308 Kenosha (918) 585-1234, www.livingarts.org Floating World Gallery 3714 S. Peoria Avenue (918) 706-1825 James McNeill Whistler Through October 30 The Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 South Rockford Road (918) 749-7941, www.Philbrook.org The Colors of Sicily: Paintings by Guido Buson September 8-28 Found in Abstraction: Photography Don Emrick October 7-28 Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery 9 East Brady (918) 592-0041, www.tacgallery.org Tulsa Performing Arts Gallery 110 East 2nd Street (918) 596-7122 Tulsa Photography Collective Gallery North Hall at OSU-Tulsa 700 North Greenwood Alexandre Hogue Gallery Phillips Hall, the University of Tulsa 600 South College Ave. (918) 631-2202 www.cas.utulsa.edu/art/ Waterworks Art Studio 1710 Charles Page Blvd. www.cityoftulsa.org/parks/Waterworks.htm Woodward Annual Photo Competition September 6-October 29 Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 www.pipm1.com

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Don’t Miss It The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s Annual Fundraiser: 12x12 Art Sale and Exhibition The annual 12 x12 Art Sale scheduled for 12x12 Preview Julie Marks, Ceramics

7pm Saturday, September 24 on the first floor of the Sonic Building on the Bricktown Canal, 300 Johnny Bench Drive.

Visit www.ovac-ok.org

12x12 Preview Sue Clancy, CatFishing

to learn more about artists in Oklahoma.

ArtOFocus k l a h o m a Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma

PO Box 1946 Oklahoma City, OK 73101

are free with membership to the

Return Service Requested

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

Non Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Oklahoma City, OK Permit No. 113