Visual arts find new ways to connect with audiences

JAMES D. WATTS JR.

Tulsa World

For Tulsa’s visual arts venues — from major museums to artist-run galleries — adapting to the “new normal” of having to accommodate all the restrictions on public gatherings proved to be a challenge most were able to master.

When the coronavirus pandemic had its first outbreak and public venues were forced to close, the Philbrook Museum of Art and Gilcrease Museum were able to create and implement new virtual ways of connecting with audiences.

Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road, had years before begun to digitize a substantial portion of its extensive holdings of art and artifacts about the history of the Americas, so people could browse through images of iconic paintings and sculptures.

It also reached out to local professional and amateur artists, requesting they share work created during the lockdown as part of a regular “Artists in Quarantine” feature on Gilcrease’s social media platforms.

Gilcrease and Philbrook, 2727 S. Rockford Road, used social media to host a variety of educational events, from artists guiding viewers through hands-on art projects made with household materials to curator talks and artist interviews.

Philbrook also helped its most popular staff members — the museum’s resident cats — keep close to their fans with a “pen pal” program that drew correspondence from as far away as England.

The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st St., took advantage of the enforced downtime to complete the installation of its new permanent exhibit, the Sanditen/Kaiser Holocaust Center, a two-level, multimedia immersive look into the history of the Holocaust.

Ahha Tulsa opened the newest iteration of its immersive art show,“The Experience: Imagine,” in which six Tulsa artists were given much of the second floor of the Hardesty Arts Center, 101 E. Archer St., to craft multimedia worlds for visitors to explore.

Other galleries turned to online platforms, such as 108 Contemporary, 108 E. Archer St., which would post video “walk-

VISUAL ARTS FINDINGNEW WAYS TOCONNECT

“Art Deco Through the Looking Glass,” a photograph by Belinda Krause, is part of the “Assignment: Tulsa” exhibit at Gilcrease Museum.

COURTESY, BELINDA KRAUSE

throughs” of its current exhibits, and the Liggett Studio, which posted images from its monthly shows on its website.

Once restrictions were eased and venues could welcome the public back inside, most facilities put new guidelines into place, such as timed admissions to limit the total number of people in the facility at a given time and establishing paths through exhibits to encourage social distancing.

It’s likely these changes will continue through much of the coming year, as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. But local arts venues will still offer shows and exhibits that will uplift and challenge viewers, whether in person or virtually.

Philbrook, for example, has on display two major shows, both curated locally, that deal with the Black experience in America, presented in conjunction with the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

“From the Limitations of Now” is an exhibit that spans Ameri-

MICHAEL NOBLE JR., TULSA WORLD An art piece by Arcmanoro Niles is part of the exhibit “From The Limitations of Now” at Philbrook.

can history and fills a good portion of the Philbrook museum and grounds with works by African-American artists from throughout the 20th century and the country. “Views of Greenwood” brings together photographs by three Tulsa photographers, whose work chronicles the people and culture of this iconic Tulsa neighborhood through much of the 20th century.

Gilcrease Museum is planning to begin a major renovation project in 2021 that will require the museum to close to the public.

But until that starts, explore the museum’s world-famous collections of the art of the American West with artists such as Remington and Russell and take in “Assignment: Tulsa,” an exhibit created in partnership with the Photographers of Tulsa Group, featuring images of Tulsa taken over a six-month span.

The Sherwin Miller Museum’s Holocaust exhibit is certainly a powerful experience, but the museum, 2021 E. 71st St., also is home to one of the finest collections of Judaica in the southwest, from items used in Jewish worship services to fine art by Jewish artists from around the world.

And to get a taste of the local arts scene, join one of the city’s “Art Crawl” events in various neighborhoods, such as the Tulsa Arts District just north of downtown, the Meadow Gold District on 11th Street between Peoria and Utica avenues, and the Art Emporium 66 Market on the west side.

james.watts@tulsaworld.com

MUSIC

Books help to fill the live-concert void

JIMMIE TRAMEL

Tulsa World

Even duringa year when a pandemic caused the world to hit the pause button on live music, themusical legacy of Tulsa (and Oklahoma) still found a way to rise up and entertain people.

First, let’s state again for the record that Tulsa is blessed with acclaimed “listening rooms” of all sizes, from the BOK Center (which continues to gain recognition as one of the nation’s best concert arenas) to casino venues to the Tulsa Theater(formerlyBrady Theater) and historic Cain’s Ballroom.

It was business as usual during the first two months of 2020. Celine Dion, Miranda Lambert, Pitbull and Brantley Gilbert were among performers at BOK Center. Foreigner, Styx, Rick Springfield, Bret Michaels and Chaka Khan graced casino stages. Cain’s Ballroom hosted more than 20 music artists between Jan. 1 and the first week of March.

Then came COVID-19.

KISS, scheduled to perform March 12, 2020, with David Lee Roth, announced on the day of the show that the band’s farewell tour was beingput on hold.Other postponements andcancellationscame in waves as the music world chose to err on the side of safety. Cain’s Ballroom has resumed limited-at-

TULSA WORLD FILE Miranda Lambert was among artists who performed at the BOK Center in 2020 before COVID-19 caused the music world to hit the pause button. tendance shows, but larger venues are still silent.

The last no-precautions-required show at Cain’s Ballroom was, fittingly, a March 7, 2020, performance by Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, a band that continues in the tradition of Wills (who died in 1975) and the original Texas Playboys. From 1935 to 1942, Cain’s Ballroom was the home of Wills and the Texas Playboys. The group gaveCain’s a reputation as theCarnegie Hall of Westernswing music.

AndspeakingofCain’s Ballroom, here’s how the musical legacy of Tulsa still found a way to entertain people in music-interrupted 2020: If ever there was a year to hunker down at home with a book, 2020 was it. And, perfect timing, 2020 was a bonanza year formusic books with connections to Oklahoma. John Wooley and Brett Bingham teamed to explore the rich history of Cain’s Ballroom in “Twentieth-Century Honky Tonk.” Interestedingettinga firsthand account of the legendary Sex Pistols show at Cain’s? You’ll find it in the book. Josh Crutchmer, a print planning editor at the New York Times, wrote the definitive book on Red Dirtmusic: “Red Dirt:Roots Music BorninOklahoma,RaisedinTexas, At Home Anywhere.”

Linda Wolf was an official tour photographer when Tulsa’s Leon Russell was the band leader on Joe Cocker’s epic Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour in 1970. In celebration of the 50th anniversary, she wrote “Tribute: Cocker Power.” Said a promo for the book: “It was a two-month traveling hippie circus that left hotel managers tearing their hair out, concert promoters screaming about a dog on stage, girls dancing naked on the rooftops of a New York City hotel and 43 people, including three kids and a five-person film crew, traveling together on a private jet that had ‘Cocker Power’ painted on its side. It was pure art, and one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll tours of all time.”

Tulsa author Greg Renoff has earned a reputation as an unofficial Van Halen biographer because of his book“Van Halen Rising” and because of a 2020 follow-up, “Ted Templeman: A Producer’s Life in Music.”Templeman,a “super producer” in the music world, produced early albums by Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers.

Peter Frampton published a 2020 memoir (“Do You Feel Like I Do?”) that isn’t Tulsa-centric, but it’s a heck of a read and, for context, you should know that a 1976 Frampton concert Tulsa Fairgrounds Speedway was profitable enough that Larry Shaeffer of Little Wing Productions took the earnings and completed the terms of a deal to purchase Cain’s Ballroom. Frampton launched his farewell tour (interrupted by the pandemic) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.

One more: “Actress Misty Rowe (who considers herself an honorary Oklahoman) published her autobiography in 2020. She was a longtime cast member on the country music and comedy show “Hee Haw,” alongside Tulsans Roy Clark,Gailard Sartain and Jana Jae. Two chapters of the book are devoted to her experiences on a show where the comedy was intentionally corny and the musical guests were often the best in the country genre.

Now let’s turn another page.

As vaccinations continue to ramp up, there is hope that we can move on from COVID-19 and get back to packing venues for live music again. The “when” has yet to be determined,but Tulsa has the facilities, the music lovers and the creatives to eventually hit all the right notes again.

jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com