Luxiere - Oklahoma Lifestyle & Real Estate // Edition 51

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From Sea to Shining Sea

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the oldest art museum and art school in the U.S.—where better to assemble a picture of the nation’s evolving creative identity? Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art is honored to host PAFA’s awe-inspiring exhibition American Artists, American Stories

STORY BY CASSIDY PETRAZZI

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Creative Communion

Making art is often a solitary pursuit, but creativity blooms when artists support, encourage and inspire one another. That’s the goal behind Trueson and Zia Daugherty’s Salóns.

STORY BY ALICIA CHESSER

40 To Be Their Voice

Inspired by the memory of her brother Terence, who was killed by Tulsa police, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher has dedicated herself to social reform, reparations and community resilience.

STORY BY MICHAEL KINNEY

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Dining Right in Denver

Grilled achiote octopus at Carne, magnificent pasta bolognese at Point Easy, bison carpaccio at Bruto … from Michelin stars to OKC ties, the food scene in Denver is delectable.

STORY BY GREG HORTON

A Rocket Ship, Taking Off

Propulsive, focused and full of momentum—and loud—guitar hero Johnny Mullenax’s signature sound is tearing up the Tulsa music scene in the best way, and he’s ready to break big.

STORY BY MEGAN SHEPHERD

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The Doctor Is In

A finished movie needs an audience, and that generally means getting accepted into a film fest … somehow. Time to call Rebekah Louisa Smith, the Film Festival Doctor.

STORY BY ALEXANDRA BOHANNON

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51 FROM THE PUBLISHER

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the United States is in peak pre-election season. In short order, we’ll have a new president. In Oklahoma, if you ask 10 of your neighbors what they think, you’ll get 10 different opinions, probably all of them strong. But where I think Oklahoma differs from much of the rest of the country is that that’s okay with most of us, most of the time. We don’t have to think exactly alike in order to all love our state and the people in it. Sure we may have different ideas about who should or shouldn’t be elected to office, but we’re also going to be the first to help each other out. I love that about us.

We’re especially thrilled when Oklahomans do brilliant things, and those are the stories we specialize in telling at Luxiere. This edition, we bring you news of an exceptional exhibit at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art. On view through late December, “American Artists, American Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) 17761976” is a group of 100 pivotal works. The exhibition highlights paintings and sculptures that are quintessentially American, as well as those less familiar. PAFA is a leading collector of artworks produced by women, artists of color and LGBTQ+ artists from early in its history. This showcase is timely, compelling and thought-provoking.

Provocateurs are important members of society. They challenge the status quo and hep us to stretch the way we think about the world and our roles within it. You’ll meet two such agents of change in our pages: Trueson and Zia Daugherty host Saturday morning Salóns six times a year to bring poets, painters and musicians together for fellowship and to work on their art. It’s a ritual, yet also a surprise, because the mix of artists who show up is beautifully unpredictable.

Very few among us “show up” for causes important to us as deeply and completely as has Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. She’s the founder of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, named for her twin brother whose life was horrifically cut short by Betty Jo Shelby, an officer with the Tulsa Police Department, who shot and killed the unarmed young man during a traffic stop. Tiffany is now a powerful advocate for police reform,

social justice, reparations, voter registration and a host of other interrelated causes. Her story of loss, grief, resilience and action is an inspiration.

Another woman improving the lives of Oklahomans is our Woman of Influence: Kelley Barnes, the new executive director of the venerable Kirkpatrick Foundation. Its work has improved the lives of all Oklahomans — human and animal — since its inception in 1955. She is stepping into a role most previously held by her dear friend (and a friend to many of us) — the late, lovely Louisa McCune. It’s a tragic, poetic, ultimately beautiful story.

We’ll update you on OKANA, the wonderful new resort the Chickasaw Nation is building adjacent to First Americans Museum, take you to Denver for some exceptional meals and woo you with tales of all sorts of creativity — from film making to fall fashion.

Edition 51 is a collection of remarkable, deeply told stories about people of every description, each of whom is fascinating and worth knowing about. But that’s Oklahoma, isn’t it?

Until next time,

STACY D. JOHNSON Publisher, Owner

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Each issue of Luxiere represents the combined efforts of an accomplished team of creative Oklahomans. We are pleased to share their work with you, and grateful for the time and talent each has contributed to bringing this publication into being.

STACY D. JOHNSON Owner/Publisher/Editor in Chief

DESIGN nvsble.studio

ON THE COVER

Getting a close look at "The Artist in His Museum," by Charles Willson Peale (1822) at Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa Photograph by Cooper Harrison Model Monica McCafferty styled by Abersons

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Luxiere Oklahoma is published bimonthly, direct-mailed to a curated readership and distributed at select retail locations free of charge for individual use. To request copies, please contact the publisher. For more information, visit www.luxiere.co.

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Email: stacy@ luxiere.co Phone: 405.808.1332

Advertising claims and the views expressed in this magazine by writers do not necessarily represent those of Luxiere Magazine. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited materials. Originals of manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other materials should not be sent to Luxiere Magazine unless specifically requested to do so in writing. Luxiere Magazine is not responsible for the return of any manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other materials submitted. Luxiere Magazine shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. Luxiere Magazine shall have no

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PHIL CLAYTON

Since 1986, our purpose has been to find ways to better serve our community. So, in the spirit of service, we’ve adopted a new location in Enjoy Optical on Broadway to provide the same level of quality and care you’d expect from TSO Optical . From iconic design houses like Fendi and Gucci, to the leaders of innovative eyewear like Anne Et Valentin and Dita, the brands you love from the experts you trust can now be found in both Edmond locations.

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Telling Human Stories

Oklahoma filmmaker Amy Scott’s embrace of documentaries

BY MICHAEL KINNEY

When Amy Scott first met Melissa Etheridge, she didn’t know much about the rock star’s history. Despite Scott’s intense passion for music, Etheridge was still a relative unknown to her.

However, the award-winning film director was not drawn to Etheridge because of her songs; it was the story she wanted to tell that intrigued Scott.

“Melissa’s team came to us with this idea that she did not want to do a biopic. She did not want to do a ‘cover all my records’ story—which we could have done, because she has a fascinating life. She is an icon,” Scott says. “But she wanted to make a film that had a deeper meaning to it. She had recently lost her son to opioid addiction at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown. She was, I think, in the process of grieving, and she wanted to better understand the cycle of addiction.”

Filmmaker Amy Scott behind the lens while shooting the documentary Sheryl

Scott and co-director Brian Morrow transformed what could have been a basic documentary about the life of a musical star into a deep dive into the ravages of opioid addiction and the prison industrial complex when they directed and produced Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken.

The documentary, which is currently streaming on the Paramount+ service, takes viewers into a prison as Etheridge sits down and talks to women who have been imprisoned as a result of opioids.

“She wanted to go to a women’s prison in Kansas to not just play music for them, but also to talk to them about substance abuse and try to understand what the hell is going on in our country, because we are sick,” Scott says. “We were totally game. That was such an original idea and pitch. The funny thing is we then pitched it all around Hollywood—it wasn’t an initial sell, but MTV and Paramount could see the gold in there. It was just going to be one film. And they loved the idea so much that they made it a two-part episodic series.”

Not settling for the easy story has been a mainstay in the 48-yearold Scott’s career. The Oklahoma native has discovered that creating her own path has allowed her to make films that highlight her love of storytelling.

“I think my style is to tell authentic human stories,” Scott says. When Scott initially graduated from Lawton High School and accepted a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, she planned to study journalism. But, after taking a film class, she saw that documentaries merged her journalism background with an interest in cinematography and telling stories about real people.

“I loved movies, and I’d seen documentaries, but I thought filmmaking was something that happened in Hollywood on a sound stage, and I wasn’t aware that it was even an option to make documentaries,” Scott says. “So, it went from there.”

After graduation and a move to Chicago, Scott took a job with a record label while she taught herself how to actually make films instead of just studying them. She got a job at the University of Chicago as a cinematographer, even though she didn’t know how to work a camera.

After an accident on an icy sidewalk that resulted in a broken arm, Scott had to teach herself how to edit film so she could still work. That turned into a 15-year career as an editor.

“It was the best school for me to learn because I edited lots of documentaries,” says Scott. “I worked for the university, but I did a lot of PBS-type documentaries, edited them—and it teaches you how to craft a story, the three-act structure, and see what’s missing.”

During that time, Scott started working for famed author and radio host Studs Terkel. She was his last digital archivist and assistant before he died in 2008.

“That was incredible, because he’s the master of the interview. And my job was to listen to his interviews on the Studer, which is a twoinch analog reel, and then digitize that,” Scott says. “He interviewed everybody. It’s like Mahalia Jackson, Pete Seeger and everybody in early American history. So I would just listen: How did he ask them questions? How did he volley back? It was the best school. It all started to come together for me. I was just a bit of a late bloomer.”

Even though Scott had vowed she would never move to Los Angeles, she knew that’s where she needed to be in order to get into filmmaking. Then after reading a book about filmmaker Hal Ashby and seeing they had similar career inceptions, she looked for any films that had been put out about him.

Scott discovered there weren’t any. Ultimately, she decided to make one.

Filming Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken outside a women’s prison in Kansas

“I just loved his story. So that was the first film that I made, and it’s done well for me,” Scott says. “It was a passion project, because there’s no money in documentary films. You have to raise the money, which I’m not good at. I fortunately partnered up with these exceptional producers who have since become like my partners in all these film projects. We didn’t know what we were doing the first time around— nobody knew what we were doing—but it was like, ‘Your passion will drive the car.’ Hopefully not off a cliff.”

Scott’s directorial debut, Hal, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. It was named one of the 10 best documentaries of the year by Rolling Stone and was nominated for a Producers Guild Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures.

“I don’t have any secret desire to write the Great American screenplay; I just want to keep telling these human stories.”

AMY SCOTT

“Hal is a love letter to cinema,” Scott says of the film’s success. “It’s [Ashby’s] story, but the underscore is that it speaks to filmmakers. We wanted to celebrate his films, but also sort of tell this larger story about how hard it is and also how gratifying it is to make films. Now I’m like, ‘I can’t believe all the mistakes I made.’ It’s hard to watch. I’m proud of it.”

While Hal had put Scott’s name on the industry map, it would take another four years before she directed her second film, Sheryl, which is a portrait of musician Sheryl Crow. According to Scott, Netflix had changed the rules of the content game and it took independent filmmakers like herself some time to figure out their place in the streaming world. Scott, who is currently living in L.A. with her two daughters, sees a similar disruption currently taking place with Artificial Intelligence.

Yet, even as the industry changes around her, Scott said good storytelling will continue to be important for at least a few more years. She just finished up a project for Bill Simmons’ Music Box series on HBO, and is currently working on a new project about Oklahoma’s educational system.

“I’d love to keep growing and elevating my craft and innovating,” Scott says. “I don’t have any secret desire to write the Great American Screenplay; I just want to keep telling these human stories. There’s an infinite amount of inspiring stories about humans doing exceptional things. If I’m lucky, in 10 years, then I will have a lot more little film babies that I can look back on.” •

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL KINNEY

Amy Scott on set while directing the documentary Sheryl

Amy Scott

Woman of Influence Kelley Barnes

BY CHRISTINE EDDINGTON

Of course this is, first and foremost, a story about Kelley Barnes. It’s also more: a story of friendships, life and death, beginnings and endings, giving our time and attention to causes greater than ourselves. Heartbreak and joy. Dear friends and valued mentors. Visionary foresight, vast wealth used for the betterment of others and the history of Oklahoma City. As Stefon from “SNL” might say, “This story has everything.” And he’d be right. Let’s get to the heart-rending crux of it. On the day she spoke to Luxiere¸ our intrepid heroine had just finished her first week in her new position—the role of a lifetime, really, and one she’s perfect for. Barnes is the recently installed executive director of the Kirkpatrick Foundation, only the fourth in its nearly six decades. Her first days had been a flurry. “I’ve really just jumped in. I don’t even think I know how to work the telephone yet. We have some big things coming up, and the team is pulling together heroically to get them over the finish line,” Barnes says.

The exceptional woman who had helmed the foundation immediately prior to Barnes was her dear friend Louisa McCune, a sparkling force of nature felled far too soon. In August of this year, she died after a multi-year battle with cancer, which she waged with incredible grace. Perhaps you knew her; likely you knew of her. Either way, you’ve certainly benefited from her work. McCune was vibrant, witty, elegant and a tireless champion for the arts and animal welfare in Oklahoma, leading the Kirkpatrick Foundation since 2011.

Barnes and McCune first connected in 2012, when the former returned to Oklahoma from Santa Fe to lead the development and fundraising team at the Myriad Gardens Foundation, the management arm of the newly reimagined botanical gardens in downtown Oklahoma City. “One of the first recollections I have of her was standing in line at the Full Circle Bookstore,” Barnes says. The two recognized one another and, “We just got into a little conversation. I think the next time I saw her was at an opening at Joy Reed Belt’s gallery.” That’s JRB Art at the Elms, anchor of Paseo Arts District. Their camaraderie blossomed. “We just hit it off immediately.”

After Barnes left the Gardens to work for the Oklahoma City Community Foundation (OCCF) in 2015, their paths crossed more

often. OCCF and Kirkpatrick Foundation share heritage, both having been founded by the Kirkpatrick family. “We’d go to a lot of the same events, oftentimes solo, so it would be more fun to go together. We didn’t live too far apart, so I’d pick her up, or she’d pick me up, and we’d go to things together … We just had this little late-in-life friendship. We thought similarly about many, many things,” Barnes says. The pair also shared a mantra: You are exactly where you are supposed to be. It was, touchingly, one of the last things they said to one another.

As Barnes talks about her friend, grief visibly washes over her, and tears threaten to spill. The memories are still so raw. But then she remembers another story and laughs through her tears to talk about a recent Zoom meeting at which McCune appeared wearing a sequined cocktail dress. She’d worn it to work that day. When asked why, McCune’s answer was quintessentially eccentric, pragmatic and logical (though perhaps not to everyone): It was the only thing she had that was clean.

Barnes and McCune also share deep Oklahoma roots, and a love for the arts and animals. An Oklahoma City native, Barnes attended Bishop John Carroll Cathedral School, followed by Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School. She flew the coop for college, attending Franklin University in Lugano, Switzerland, where she studied art history, with a minor in business/marketing. “I spent my junior year abroad, but in reverse. I went to the University of Hartford, where I had an internship and did my capstone project working at the Joseloff Gallery on the campus.” The gallery has a well-earned reputation for mounting significant exhibitions—during Barnes’ tenure she worked with the artist Sandy Skoglund, whose photography and installations are brightly colored, meticulously assembled, surrealistic tableaux. “I worked for a really amazing curator, Zina Davis. She put a lot of trust in me to put up shows and do all these things that I hadn’t done before.”

After university, Oklahoma called her home. Perhaps it was a young man. Either way, Barnes landed her first job selling advertising for the Oklahoma Gazette, an alternative weekly that was for decades Oklahoma City’s must-read. From there, Barnes found her way into philanthropy and donor relations after a jaunt

at Glamour Shots, an Oklahoma City-based company which, in the 1990s, stormed the nation’s malls in a cloud of Final Net. “Glamour Shots gave me the fundamentals of business,” she says. “I learned about the importance of process.” The company also invested in its staff, sending Barnes to computer courses to learn, among other things, how to work a newfangled program called Excel. From there she worked at the Regional Food Bank and Allied Arts, learning the art and science of development work and adding to her coterie of lifelong mentors and friends.

Before too long, Santa Fe came calling, and our gal picked up the phone. Really it was Mandy Pons calling. She was the executive director at Allied Arts in the early 1990s and had retired to Albuquerque, where she was doing fundraising consulting for the National Dance Institute New Mexico (NDI). She was calling to recruit Barnes, who had recently fallen in love with Santa Fe. “My mother and I had gone out to Santa Fe just for fun. We got in our little SUV, and I put my bike on the back, and we went,” Barnes says. “I said, ‘Mom, I think I should live in Santa Fe.’” Precisely a year later she drove back out to the New Mexico capital. “I had my interview. They offered me the job on the spot, and I accepted.”

To no one’s surprise, Santa Fe was exactly where she was supposed to be. “It was magical. It was an amazing decade,” she says. During her tenure as NDI’s first fundraising professional, she helped raise more than $60 million for capital campaigns, special projects and NDI’s endowment. She worked with people like a very private member of the Rockefeller family, Wallace Annenberg, Laura Bush, Tommy Tune, Ann Reinking and Shirley MacLaine, and enjoyed every grueling, spectacular second.

“It had been pretty intensive,” she says. “After a decade, I needed to come up for air. My father had died, and I wanted to be closer to my mom. She and I are very close, and I wanted to be with her. I had—and have—a lot of good friends here. It was just time to come home.” To get that ball rolling, she thought for a minute and then called the one and only James Pickel, a man deeply entrenched in the arts and civic life in Oklahoma City, who had been a pivotal part of Allied Arts. “I said, ‘James, it’s Kelley Barnes, do you remember me?’ And he said, ‘You ready to come home?’” Pickel asked what she had in mind. Barnes said she’d just seen the development director position for Myriad Gardens Foundation. “He said, ‘I’ll call you back.’” Five minutes later Barnes had a meeting scheduled with then-executive director Maureen Heffernan, who immediately offered her the job. Back home in Oklahoma City, lo and behold, Barnes was exactly where she was supposed to be.

As Barnes talks about her life, her career, her stories are filled with the people she’s met along the way. Her relationships last lifetimes. All are links in a beautiful chain of unabashed do-gooders. Mentors who’ve become dear friends are a key demographic in her orbit—and they include McCune, of course, but also the magnificent Joy Reed Belt, Paseo doyenne and founder of JRB Art at the Elms, whom Barnes met at a painting class 30 years ago. There’s also Nancy Anthony, former executive director at OCCF, whose counsel and friendship continue to be invaluable and, more recently, Christian Keesee, chairman of the Kirkpatrick Foundation and president of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, whom Barnes describes as “A true visionary, very collaborative and decisive.

Always beautifully dressed. He is a natural leader, who, when discussing projects or initiatives of the Foundation always asks the question, ‘How can we encourage and support?’”

And isn’t that, really, the most important question of all?

ABOUT KIRKPATRICK FOUNDATION

John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick, prominent citizens of Oklahoma City, saw a need and felt compelled to help develop the cultural and civic structures of their hometown. On May 17, 1955, Kirkpatrick Foundation was officially established with an initial contribution of $10,000 to serve as a vehicle for personal philanthropic endeavors. In the years since, Kirkpatrick Foundation has given away more than $75 million in philanthropic funding. Its approach to giving was to keep organizational structure simple; to maintain personal involvement with the charities and cultural activities of the community; and to encourage and embrace a large number of charities, rather than supporting only a few.

Each generation of the Kirkpatrick family has contributed to and influenced the focus of the foundation’s giving. John Kirkpatrick’s stewardship, guided by a lifelong interest in science, prompted a great number of Oklahoma’s scientific and medical endeavors. Eleanor’s deep love of the arts was the reason for the establishment, encouragement and growth of many of Oklahoma City’s beloved artistic and cultural institutions. Joan Kirkpatrick, a strong advocate for animal welfare, was responsible for much of the foundation’s contribution to animal research, welfare and conservation. She also provided the impetus for many Kirkpatrick Foundation arts and education initiatives. Today, third-generation philanthropist Christian Keesee is leading the foundation back to its original principles of meeting the community where its needs are, while encouraging fresh ideas and new approaches. •

LUXIERE’s Woman of Influence is presented by First National Bank of Oklahoma

Kelley Barnes and Louisa McCune in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado

Aloha, OKANA

New horizons for enjoyment and growth in OKC

BY GREG HORTON

The OKANA Resort and Indoor Waterpark is expected to generate more than $1 billion in economic impact for the state over a 10-year period. The 404room hotel is scheduled to open close to Spring Break 2025, and reservations for April are already open. Driving the economic estimate is the development of an entire district—the newly christened Horizons District—built around the two primary attractions, OKANA and the First Americans Museum.

As Chickasaw Nation Lt. Governor Chris Anoatubby says, “We have an opportunity with the commercial development around OKANA and FAM to keep people in the district, because there is much more to offer. The plan has been for OKANA to work with the cornerstone of FAM to draw people to the district and to the museum.”

The resort’s name is inspired by the Chickasaw words oka, meaning water, and inkana, meaning friend. the name recalls the strong links between the Chickasaw people and the okhina (navigable waterways) in the Homeland, and the friends welcomed into their historic villages.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt has been a strong advocate for the project. “We’ve added so many impressive amenities to the city over the last two decades,” he says, “but OKANA is on an entirely different level. There is nothing like this in our state. This will be a regional draw and a game-changer for OKC. But what makes it really special is that it is not just a resort; it is tied to one of the best and most meaningful museums in the world, the First Americans Museum. Visitors to OKANA will have both a fun and an impactful experience.”

The two attractions combined create a massive footprint on the south side of the Oklahoma River, and more than a few people associated with the projects have mentioned that a bridge across the interstate between RIVERSPORT and OKANA would only help drive more traffic to both areas and further increase economic benefits.

The indoor and outdoor waterparks have a combined area of roughly 300,000 square feet (nearly 7 acres), and can accommodate roughly 1,500 people each.

“We think it’s the fourth largest waterpark in the country,” says waterpark GM Brian Szydloski. “We know it’s the largest in Oklahoma.”

Also included in the development will be the relocated Exhibit C, a commercial gallery featuring Native and Indigenous art that will be moved from Bricktown to the Horizons District. The new gallery will have a 10,000-square-foot home, and Lt. Governor Anoatubby noted that it will be an important addition to the complex.

“One of the best ways to learn about a people is through their art,” Anoatubby says. “We needed a larger space for the art to be displayed, appreciated and purchased. Exhibit C is part of the larger development, and we expect much more future economic development as the complex grows. The entertainment, dining and shopping will impact the entire state, and we’re excited to see the Chickasaw Nation represented in even more ways—like our art and in the interior and exterior design of the buildings and outlets.”

Projecting the economic effect of dining is difficult. Thirty Nine, the restaurant at FAM, has had some struggles, but the addition of OKANA will likely help the flow of traffic to Thirty Nine, as well as the 12 dining options that will be associated with OKANA. The dining concepts include four signature restaurants: Smokehouse Social, a barbecue joint; Chidos, a Mexican food and agave bar concept; Jack Rabbit Gastropub, which will serve breakfast and dinner; and an as yet unnamed sports bar. The waterpark will have three quick-service restaurants and an over-21 swim-up bar in the outdoor lagoon area.

The Horizons District was conceived as a family-friendly district, and OKANA has that assumption built into most of its offerings. While the lack of a casino seems odd to some locals, it’s worth noting that Remington Park is roughly 15 minutes down the road from OKANA.

“There is nothing like this in our state. This will be a regional draw and a game-changer for OKC.”

The price tag on OKANA, including the waterparks and restaurants, is estimated to be $400 million, and Anoatubby says, “We’re on budget and on time. OKANA will add 800 jobs to the local community, and the construction itself has added 1,400 short-term jobs.”

In terms of early economic numbers, the construction process has included $226 million in construction-related expenditures and $80.7 million in payroll. After opening, economic impact has been predicted to be $97.7 million when annualized, and payroll expenditure is expected to be $23.1 million annually. Those numbers are the resort itself, not any other outlets that join the Horizons District.

Tax revenue from OKANA has received less attention, but it seems to be all good news for the state, county and city. If projections are accurate, the state will realize $107 million in annual tax revenue, Oklahoma County $3.2 million and OKC $86.7 million.

Economic projections for Oklahoma City outside the Horizons District estimate that OKC will be the beneficiary of $18.5 million in impact due to the resort’s presence and ability to attract visitors from inside and outside the state.

Some of the overall benefit is expected to come from the 27,000square-foot conference center that is part of the hotel complex. The largest meeting space can accommodate up to 1,000 people, but can also be scaled down to 500. The largest ballroom is 9,000 square feet, and the complex includes four 1,000-square-foot breakout rooms. The conference center, when combined with the Oklahoma City Convention Center, positions OKC as a destination for annual conferences and conventions in numbers we could never have hosted before.

MAYOR DAVID HOLT

In terms of how physical and economic development will bind the district with the rest of the city and between the two main attractions, much will be answered after the development finally opens, and certainly after its first full year of operations.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing how the two attractions work together in sync,” Anoatubby says, “and we’re curious and excited to see what develops around them.” •

Chickasaw Nation Lt. Governor Chris Anoatubby

A Toast to Italy

New Brookside spot Mosto emphasizes the joy of vino

BY GREG HORTON PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEAMUS FEELEY

Sheamus Feeley describes the new Tulsa enoteca (wine bar-plus) Mosto as a fun, casual neighborhood spot that leans into Italy. The Brookside spot that was formerly home to Freya is a collaboration between Sheamus Feeley Hospitality and Elliot Nelson’s McNellie’s Restaurant Group. The two met when Feeley was working on Noche, which the New York Times recently named as a top 50 restaurant in the U.S.

“Sheamus consulted with us on the Bar Serra menu, and we enjoyed it, so we just said, ‘Let’s do another one,’” Nelson says. “We’re working together on the look and feel of the space, and he’s overseeing what comes out of the kitchen.”

What will be coming from the kitchen is what Feeley describes as “food I like to cook and eat at home” or alternatively as “food we all like to eat on our day off.” When Mosto opens, likely in late November, the menu will be populated with simple, flavorful Italian dishes, but not in a familiar red sauce joint kind of way.

The dishes range from a classic Caesar salad—“lovingly dressed with roasted garlic dressing”—to roasted Ora King salmon with tabbouleh and pistou, and tagliata of sirloin with arugula, rosemary potatoes, lemon and Parmesan.

“I love the little Italian spots that offer salumi for lunch,” Feeley says. “Fresh mozzarella, olives, garbanzo beans, herbed vinaigrette and Lambrusco. I want Lambrusco to be one of the first things people experience when they come in the door.”

The enoteca label is intentional, because wine will be central to what Mosto does. To help with the process, Feeley is working with McNellie’s Group VP of Wine and Spirits and managing partner Lindsey Gifford on the wine list, and with Madison Erz on cocktails. The point of an enoteca is to let guests taste wines at reasonable prices—it’s very much like a wine pub in spirit. Keeping with the Italian theme, Feeley mentioned Lambrusco, Soave and Franciacorta.

“I want people to experience how good Franciacorta is,” Feeley says. “The wine, like the food, will be designed around the same method as Noche; you can trade up or trade down. At Noche, you can get Oaxacan queso, or you can get crushed tamale queso, or you can get the tlayuda with queso. The options allow you to pick your experience.”

Feeley is a fan of queso, or as he puts it, “I’m a queso eater, and I like it all from Mom’s queso to the things we have at Noche.” That perspective will apply to the wines, too, and not just the Italian varietals. To be clear, though, everyone should try Franciacorta— Champagne’s Italian cousin—and Lambrusco is an oenological gift to people on a budget, which is to say a delicious, approachable, bubbly red wine that ranges from dry to sweet and typically runs under $20 a bottle.

“We’ll be able to offer Pinot Grigio, of course,” Feeley says, “but guests will also have access to less common wines, like a Slovenian sparkling wine, and then we’re looking at a Coravin system that allows by-the-glass pours of rare wines or wines that are typically too expensive to offer by the glass.”

Tulsa has several popular Italian spots—Il Seme, Prossimo, Dalesandro’s, etc.—and Nelson said the team is being intentional about not duplicating another local spot’s focus. “Sonny (Dalesandro) is a friend,” he says, “and he and Il Seme are probably doing closest to what we want Mosto to be, so we’re being careful not to get in someone else’s lane.”

Mosto will have 90 seats and a full bar when completed. Feeley and Nelso are collaborating on interior design decisions with help from Tulsa artist/designer Winston Peraza; Feeley said the goal is 1950s and ’60’s Amalfi, with bright, popping, vibrant colors like salmon, lemon yellow and azure.

The collaborative nature of the project and the joining of ideas has led to some good things at Bar Serra, and it looks like the partnership will continue. Both teams are deeply respectful of the other’s input, and there is a consensus that Mosto won’t be the last thing they do together.

“Elliot is the reason why the rest of us can even dream of operating in Tulsa,” Feeley says, “especially downtown. I think he often doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being very unselfish in what he brings to Tulsa, and I don’t think many people understand why he does it. He simply does it because he knows it’s what Tulsa needs and deserves, and while a lot of people say these things, it’s often rhetoric; he puts people over profits and does things for the community.” •

Fresh spaghetti with tomato, basil, garlic and Grana Padano

Tagliata

Meatballs with polenta and tomato sauce

Creative Communion

Trueson and Zia Daugherty’s art of living

BY ALICIA CHESSER

It’s a cool Saturday morning. Still a little sleepy, a couple dozen people step through the back gate of Trueson and Zia Daugherty’s midtown Tulsa home— one carrying a painting, another a guitar. Several have poems in their phones, handmade zines in their pockets. Zia greets them as they grab cups of coffee and meander into a space stuffed with cushions and chairs and decorated like a Victorian sitting room, the morning sun glowing on its mustard yellow walls, which are often hung with work by local artists like Bradford Lovett and Dan Rocky.

As the arrival bustle dies down, Trueson steps onto a wooden box beside an antique harpsichord. He calls for attention, but not just in the sense of “silence.” Attention, he says, is one of the most valuable things we have to give.

One by one, as people come up to the soapbox to share what they’re creating (three minutes at a time, measured by an hourglass), the assembled group’s gaze bathes each of them in a different sort of glow—an invigorating warmth that everyone carries with them when they walk back into the everyday world.

Trueson and Zia Daugherty commune with artists at their home for The Salón

This is The Salón, which artists Trueson and Zia host six times a year at their house (dubbed, for these occasions, The Parlour). You never know who’ll show up, and the unpredictable mix is part of the magic. For well-known Tulsa artists like Scott Bell and Skip Hill as well as people who’ve never shared their work in public at all, The Salón has become a consistent, welcoming hub for real-life community among the city’s creatives.

“As a person who’s not really into religion, I recognize the need for ceremony,” Trueson says. “I recognize the need for ritual and mythology and the beyond and mystery. I yearn for those things.”

Trueson’s own work often draws from, interrogates and remixes religious and mythic iconography. Zia, who by day restores religious art and statuary for F. C. Ziegler Co., is an award-winning illustrator and painter whose “Backyard Hues” was featured in the 2024 Mayfest Heart of Tulsa gallery. Both have associate degrees in art and were raised in the Unification Church, where they were joined in an arranged marriage. Now, no longer members of the church, these 33-year-olds are creating new sanctuaries where the vulnerability, risk and effort at the heart of making art can be normalized, lifted up and shared.

In artistic temperament and practice, they couldn’t be more different—or more admiring of each other’s uniqueness. It’s a combination of qualities that their “social sculpture” practice in The Salón reflects and encourages.

Zia’s work—whether historically informed art restoration, her own painting or even the murder mystery parties she writes for friends—is methodically planned and meticulously researched. “I’m notoriously slow. I like things to be accurate,” she says. Her expertise lies in what she calls “fine tuning”; Trueson described her as an artist for whom integrity is paramount.

He works more on instinct: sometimes it’s a “Creative Spirit” made with pom poms and googly eyes, sometimes a full-scale painting. “I’ll start painting on a canvas before I even know what I’m going to do,” he says. “If only we could combine our powers and I could have her skill and my confidence!” Zia said he excels at seeing the bigger picture—the ability to “look further into what’s next.”

Zia’s commercial art job means she doesn’t feel the pressure to make a living from her painting, though it’s her goal to have a solo show before too long. After years working in graphic and UX design, Trueson now makes art full-time. He’s branching out into performance art, public art (like his sculpture “Blazing Wings of Dreams” for Tulsa’s Phoenix District) and offerings like The Channel, an interview series with local creatives co-hosted with Prince Ferrell and produced by Pop House.

But the Daughertys have some key things in common, besides their mutual respect for each other’s work and process. Zia, who’s been painting and drawing since childhood, is the niece of Chris Rodgers, herself a retired religious-art restorer, and the granddaughter of the late Bob Bartholic, a legend in the Tulsa arts world. Art was a vital part of Trueson’s young life, too; he regularly visited museums with his family and took his first college-level art class at 16.

They’ve shown work together at places like Untitled Art in Miami, and even created paintings together. One recent joint piece “was almost like a puzzle,” Zia remembers, with each of them working on different parts at different times. It’s a stunning canvas full of bold perspectives and contrasts, in which Tulsa artist Karl Jones posed for the figure of the fire-bringer Prometheus, beset by an eagle whose political symbolism was very much intentional.

“If only we could combine our powers and I could have her skill and my confidence!”

TRUESON DAUGHERTY

As largely self-trained artists, the Daughertys have been inspired by Tulsans including Jones, Parker D. Wayne, Neil Wade and Kalup Linzy, who are shifting local arts discourse around issues such as gatekeeping through organizations like the Center for Queer Prairie Studies, Oklahoma Fashion Alliance, Black Queer Tulsa and Queen Rose Art House. (One artist who recently brought a painting to The Salón, Kiero Petross, went on to do a residency at Queen Rose.)

“As an artist, I have that same sense of [needing] community, a way to express, and a way for us to see each other,” Trueson says. “That accountability helps us encourage each other.”

With art at the heart of both their lives, the Daughertys also share a vision for the future—one that involves creating more of their own work, continuing their commitment to environmental and political justice and building more opportunities for creative Tulsans to come together.

“Artists don’t always know how to find each other in a way that’s not just a crowded art gallery,” Zia says. “Creating space for those people—artists, art buyers, appreciators—to mingle in a very natural setting: more of that would be amazing.”

“I would love to find ways to empower artists beyond just the Salón,” Trueson says. Among other ideas, he envisions a social club where membership would provide access to workshops, critique sessions, regular one-on-one dialogue with other members—and, of course, gatherings simply to enjoy each other’s company.

To conclude The Salón, Trueson often quotes Martha Graham’s famous words: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

At the end of the day, the work of art-making—sometimes lonely, competitive, intimidating, discouraging—is profoundly individual. But it thrives in community, where people can find support and experience more approaches to creative living than they might currently give themselves permission to explore. In their marriage, their art and their social practice, the Daughertys exemplify the power of being oneself—and doing it together. •

PHOTOGRAPH BY LOGAN MILLER

PHOTOGRAPH

SHEVAUN WILLIAMS

To Be Their Voice

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher on social reform and her brother’s legacy

BY MICHAEL KINNEY

It’s been eight years since Dr. Tiffany Crutcher’s life was irrevocably changed. On Sept. 15, 2016, she was running a growing clinical private practice outside Montgomery, Alabama. She had big plans for the future.

As Crutcher was leaving work the next day, she got the call that her twin brother, Terence Crutcher, had been shot by Officer Betty Jo Shelby of the Tulsa Police Department during a traffic stop. Terence, who was unarmed, would later die from his wounds.

Shelby was indicted but was found not guilty of first-degree manslaughter and was free to resume her career in law enforcement.

In that moment of anger, grief and bewilderment, Crutcher decided she wouldn’t let her despair overwhelm her. Four years after the murder of Trayvon Martin and four years before the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked outrage and protests around the country, Crutcher began her own fight for social justice.

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher honors the legacy of her brother Terence at the North Pointe shopping center in Tulsa, being revitalized by his namesake Foundation.

“I was leaving work and going to meet friends for dinner; got a call that Terence was shot and killed,” Crutcher says. “It shook my world. It totally altered my life. This was my twin brother. I had to figure out how I was going to pick myself up off the ground. I didn’t want for this to just be another Black man in America pushed under the rug, or another hashtag.”

That was the genesis of the Terence Crutcher Foundation and Dr. Crutcher’s new life as an advocate for police reform, social justice, reparations, voter registration and a litany of other causes that have seen her partner with the NBA, travel to D.C. to speak with Vice President Kamala Harris and work with the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition, among other organizations.

“I started the foundation in his name to make sure that I keep his name and legacy alive and that we thrive and that we overcome, and that we receive the respect that we deserve as a community—and the repair,” Crutcher says. “I started the Terence Crutcher Foundation with three simple pillars: strengthening communities, [honoring the legacy of our ancestors and] advancing policies to make sure that what happened to Terence doesn’t happen again.”

Born the only daughter among three brothers to the Rev. Dr. Joey Crutcher, a pastor and gospel musician, and Leanna Crutcher, an educator, Crutcher is a descendant of a 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre survivor, Rebecca Brown Crutcher. Further up her family tree, Crutcher said her two-time great-grandfather was a Creek Freedman whose family came to Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears as enslaved Africans.

Gravestone of Terence Crutcher with the inscription, “God will get the glory out of my life.”

With her pedigree stretching back more than 75 years before Oklahoma’s statehood, Crutcher began her journey toward justice by asking some hard questions about the city she loved.

“Here in Oklahoma, you invest in what you truly believe in,” Crutcher says. “Where’s the same Oklahoma Standard when it comes to policing and mass incarceration and meeting basic needs and making sure that a little Black kid on the north side of the track in North Tulsa thrives like a little white kid on the south side of the tracks? Where is that Oklahoma Standard?”

Instead of just waiting for answers from city and state politicians, Crutcher wanted the Terence Crutcher Foundation to be a “good partner” and be part of the solution as well.

That meant getting to young men and women early to put them on the right path. And for someone who has a master’s and doctorate in physical rehabilitation and physical medicine, it’s not surprising that education is the key.

“In order to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, in order to stop the racially biased policing, we got to make sure that there are initiatives in place that reach our kids early, teaching them to know their rights, launching high-dosage literacy programs,” Crutcher says. “Because if your kid can’t read by the time they’re in the third grade, there’s a prison cell waiting for them. And it starts with the negative interactions with cops policing us, the gateway to mass incarceration. We started that reading program, T.E.A.C.H., for elementary school kids because one in three Black male babies are predicted to go to prison.”

Other initiatives include partnering with the USA BMX Foundation, which focuses on STEM education. But just as important as guiding the youth toward a bright future is teaching them about their past.

“They get grounded in history,” Crutcher says. “They get a bike, they get a helmet, they get to ride and do a riding tour of Greenwood. They learn STEM education, and we continue to supplement their learning through this middle school program.”

Programs like these continue through high school where students are taken to the state Capitol and are taught to read bills and advocate for issues they care about, such as school safety, gun reform and sentencing reforms.

“Some of them have parents who are locked up,” Crutcher says. “They’ve ripped families apart in Oklahoma because they would prefer to profit off people. Oklahoma has some of the longest sentences than any other state, 80% longer for nonviolent crimes, and property crimes. And the statistics show that locking people up and throwing away the key does not rehabilitate them. It does not keep communities safe. It’s actually investing in communities [that works]. It’s actually investing in people.”

In 2022 the Terence Crutcher Foundation purchased a 65,000-squarefoot property on 5.8 acres of land that occupies the northern boundary of the historic Greenwood district. The plan is to continue to rebuild Black Wall Street, which will house doctors, insurance agencies, a Bank of America branch and other Black-owned businesses.

But while Crutcher has seen some wins, she has also had to endure even more defeats. That includes the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that had been filed by 110-year-old Viola Fletcher and 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle, the last two known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, who were seeking reparations for the destruction of their community and its aftermath.

“When you ask me, ‘Has it changed?’ ask Mother Randle who’s 109,” Crutcher says. “She says, ‘I haven’t seen a change and I’m 109.’”

“God is going to get the glory out of my life.”

TERENCE CRUTCHER

But it is the lack of reform within the Tulsa Police Department since her brother’s death that has Crutcher most exasperated.

“I’m a data-driven individual, so let’s just talk about the data,” Crutcher says. “There was an equality indicators report that the current mayor rolled out using the city’s own data. There are four areas: use of force, adult arrest, youth arrest and I think equity inside the Tulsa Police Department. Since 2018, the score has gotten worse. And it started with an F at like 38%. Now, it went down to 32%.

“According to their data, Black people are still five times more likely to be victims of the use of force. Black adults are two and a half times more likely to be arrested.”

Despite her frustrations, Crutcher isn’t ready to throw in the towel and give in to the apathetic mindset of “it is what it is” that permeates her hometown. Every tragedy and roadblock that Crutcher has had to overcome in the past eight years has taught her she is tougher than she thought she was.

“I think that I am stronger spiritually. My body gets tired. I’m exhausted physically, but I’m stronger spiritually because I had to really stand firm in my faith and commit my thoughts to a higher power,” Crutcher says. “If I didn’t work on my mind and stay grounded in my spirituality, then I would’ve given up a long time ago. My community … they’re counting on me to stay strong. They’re counting on my voice to be their voice. I don’t take that lightly. And it’s a huge responsibility and a heavy burden at the same time.”

Crutcher continues to be guided by the words she exchanged with her twin brother on their birthday, almost a month before his death.

“Terence’s last words to me, and I’m still getting emotional eight years later, but he said, ‘I’m going back to school. I’m going to make you proud.’ And the last words were, ‘God is going to get the glory out of my life.’ He wanted to make me proud, and I didn’t know what those words meant,” Crutcher said. “God is going to get the glory out of my life now. I understand that those words were prophetic, and the work that I’m doing in his name is living proof of that prophetic word. And I truly believe that he is proud.” •

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Dining Right in Denver

Meals to remember in the Mile High City

BY GREG HORTON

Denver was a food city before Kelly Whitaker earned his first Michelin star, but it’s certain the Duncan, Oklahoma, native and his wife Erika have brought additional attention and traffic to their adopted city. The Whitakers’ Id Est Hospitality Group—the new owners of Midtown Oklahoma City’s nonesuch—now have two Michelin stars, one for Bruto and one for The Wolf’s Tailor. The couple are also the 2024 James Beard Award winners for Best Restaurateur, so starting a Denver trip at an Id Est Hospitality concept is a timely and delicious way to get to know the Mile High City.

Beautiful arrangement served at one of Id Est Hospitality Group’s Michelin star restaurants, The Wolf’s Tailor

“My goal as a restaurant owner is always to prioritize sustainability,” Kelly Whitaker says. He has said elsewhere that his driving force as a chef—he’s a two-time James Beard nominee as a chef, too—is to promote zero-waste cooking and sustainability practices. “We have seen firsthand how a chef counter can elevate a city’s dining culture with our work through our chef counter and Michelin awarded restaurant Bruto,” he says. “You have an opportunity to tell a deeper story and take a guest with you on a journey with this style of restaurant.”

That style also includes in a similar way The Wolf’s Tailor, where Chef Taylor Stark oversees a kitchen that creates beautiful, thoughtful cuisine tied to changing themes in a tasting menu format. Sister concept Bruto has “Top Chef” alum and Costa Rican native Byron Gomez as executive chef. Whitaker’s cerebral approach to food shows throughout menus, layout, concepting, name, etc. Bruto’s name is related to brutalism as an architectural style, which serves as a peek into how Whitaker’s brain works: Everything is intentional.

Lest you think all of the Id Est spots are too highbrow for a raucous good time, you’ll need to check out Hey Kiddo and Ok Yeah. Located in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood, the two-for-one (sort of) concepts are in stark contrast to the tasting menu sisters: loud (in a good way), energetic, rollicking, almost a concretized ADHD of a dining experience—but the food and booze are serious without losing playfulness. Hey Kiddo isn’t fusion; it’s a celebration of diversity, so you’ll find chicken liver mousse on Texas toast alongside rotating kimchi and cioppino. The bar is stellar, as are all Id Est bars, and you don’t need a reservation for Hey Kiddo or the 16-seat Ok Yeah, a bar tucked into the back of the building with an odd but wonderfully quirky view of the neighborhood.

In terms of Denver bars, the new Call Me Pearl in the Rally Hotel in the LoDo District poured some of the best cocktails of the trip, including a Mezcal-based espresso martini that converted this Mezcal avoider into a fan. The space is stunning, beginning with the striking bell-shaped chandelier that dominates the room. Soft furniture provides a nice spot for happy hour, or you can choose banquette or bar seating for Chef Stephen Greer’s focused menu that includes raw oysters and caviar.

ABOVE: Call Me Pearl bar at the Rally Hotel in Denver’s LoDo District

OPPOSITE:

“Top Chef” alum Byron Gomez prepares a dish at the Michelin awardwinning concept Bruto

RIGHT: Oysters on the half shell served at Denver’s Call Me Pearl

PHOTOGRAPH

“My goal as a restaurant owner is always to prioritize sustainability. You have an opportunity to tell a deeper story and take a guest with you on a journey with this style of restaurant.”

KELLY WHITAKER

Chef Dana Rodriguez received a James Beard nomination for Super Mega Bien, a spot that is as fun and whimsical as the name and Brandon and Tana Anderson’s joyful interior design imply. Her second RiNo District concept is Carne, and as that name suggests, you’re going to want to go full carnivore. It has non-meat options, but you definitely want the grilled achiote octopus, Argentinian bife de chorizo, Brazilian picanha and Colorado lamb. It’s a worldwide atlas of red meat and seafood, and even the vegetables deserve some of your attention.

Another company shaping Denver’s dining scene—and like Id Est, Boulder as well—is Frasca Hospitality Group, founded by Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey along with partner Peter Hoglund. They have a metaphorical (maybe literal) trophy case the size of that one you remember near the principal’s office from high school, and it’s full of awards, including multiple James Beard Awards.

Frasca’s Sunday Vinyl in the 16th Street Mall is directly across the street from its Italian sister concept Tavernetta. Designed around the idea of a European wine bar, and inspired by the owners’ habit of playing music for each other on Sunday evenings early in Frasca’s history, Sunday Vinyl features a remarkable sound system to pair with the stellar wine list and food menu. Do not leave without ordering the Parker House rolls and salt-roasted beets. We stayed until close, at which point our server offered to place us in the middle of the dining room and crank the sound system. The word “percussive” doesn’t do justice to the audio experience. No, everyone doesn’t get that experience, but phenomenal customer service is what this place does.

PHOTOGRAPH

BY JEFF FIERBERG

One of the most pleasant surprises of the trip was Point Easy, an as yet lesser-known dining option that still managed to be packed with local diners and happy hour drinkers when we arrived. It’s a neighborhood restaurant in the best sense of the word, but the food is straightforwardly dining destination quality. That includes the best Bolognese we’d ever experienced, and what were easily the most interesting, delicious cocktails of the trip, combined with an adventurous wine list that included Valdiguie by the glass and GevryChambertin by the bottle.

One of the easiest aspects of traveling to Denver is the rail service from the airport. Regular visitors know that Denver’s airport and redeyed bronco statue feel like they’re in another part of the state entirely. However, once you land in Denver, it’s a very quick walk to the train terminal, where you can catch a ride to The Crawford Hotel for $10. It provides a nice view of different parts of the city, and if you’re staying at the hotel in Union Station, it’s the most convenient option.

Denver’s iconic Union Station—built in 1881—reopened after a massive renovation in 2014 with The Crawford as one of its new offerings. The 112 rooms, including suites, got a redesign last year, updating the look and feel of the rooms, creating a lobby space and adding other amenities to an already award-winning hotel. Snooze is located on the ground floor, so you can grab breakfast or brunch at the restaurant that helped drive the brunch craze all over the country. The convenient location of The Crawford puts myriad dining and drinking options within easy walking distance, too, and when the trip is done, you simply jump back on the train for the ride back to the airport. •

ABOVE:

Dry Aged Tartare with Crispy Potatoes served at Hey Kiddo in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood

OPPOSITE:

Pickled White Asparagus Tart, Bison Carpaccio, and Badger Beet Tartare served on driftwood at one of Id Est Hospitality Group’s Michelin star concepts, Bruto

PHOTOGRAPH

BY JEFF FIERBERG

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From Sea to Shining Sea

American artists, American stories at the Philbrook

BY CASSIDY PETRAZZI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY COOPER HARRISON

MODEL MONICA M c CAFFERTY STYLED BY ABERSONS

With the Presidential election on the horizon, Pennsylvania is on many Americans’ minds as one of the key states that could help determine the next chapter of life in the United States. In Tulsa, however, Pennsylvania is top of mind for more artistic—though no less socially and politically minded—reasons. The new exhibition on view at the Philbrook through Dec. 29, American Artists, American Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 1776-1976, presents 200 years of American art in just over 100 striking, surprising and pivotal works.

Rather than present the artworks chronologically, Dr. Anna Marley, former Curator of Historical American Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the organizing curator of the exhibition, developed five thematic sections into which each work is situated: portraiture, history painting, still life, genre or scenes of everyday life and landscape. While this exhibition is not exhaustive, it is a 200-year sampling of artworks from PAFA’s collection that prompt consideration of what it means to be an American; what American art is and was; and how our diverse perspectives can continue to write the American story.

The exhibition highlights paintings and sculptures that are quintessentially American and those less familiar, as Marley focused on curating an exhibition that centers the legacy of PAFA as a leading collector of artworks produced by women, artists of color and LGBTQ+ artists from early in its history. The exhibition presents questions throughout the galleries, intended to prompt the viewer to consider the connections among art, power, identity and representation.

Founded in 1805 by a group of Philadelphia’s leading residents, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is recognized as the first school and museum of fine arts in the United States. From its inception, its museum has worked to develop and advance the young nation’s artistic presence and future. It’s appropriate for this exhibition to come from PAFA’s collection, as its aim has consistently been to tell America’s many stories through art while expanding who gets to tell those stories.

It’s therefore unsurprising that one of the largest sections within the exhibition is portraiture, which includes works such as Gilbert Stuart’s “George Washington” (1796), James Brantley’s “Brother James” (1968), and Isamu Noguchi’s “Girl Torso” (1958). The exhibition opens with an unexpected trio of portraits by PAFA founder Charles Willson Peale, Joan Brown and Barkley L. Hendricks, immediately setting the stage for the breadth of approaches and perspectives encountered moving through the exhibition.

It seems only appropriate for Peale to invite museum visitors into the exhibition with his self-portrait, “The Artist in His Museum” (1822). It’s a fitting piece for a show about American identity, as the space in Peale’s is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the United States Constitution was drafted. Typical of the time, the museum space depicted in the painting shows natural history objects and portraits of early American heroes. This work starkly contrasts its two neighbors, Joan Brown’s 1977 “Self-Portrait” and Barkley L. Hendricks’ “J.S.B. III” (1968). Though smaller in stature, the later painting is equally arresting as Peale’s work, depicting fellow PAFA student and friend James Brantley looking sartorially cool with a highly saturated flat red background behind him. It’s similar in style to Alex Katz’s portraits of friends and family; Hendricks, however, was known for his contributions to Black postmodern portraiture, and created large-scale portraits that foreground Black fashion and masculinity.

In a complementary effort, throughout the exhibition, artwork didactics cite works on display from Philbrook’s collection that help tell a fuller story of American identity. The didactic for Hendricks’ “J.S.B. III” includes mention of Kehinde Wiley, whose work is on view in the main level gallery at the Philbrook, building on the legacy of Black masculinity and monumental portraiture. It’s a fitting link, as Wiley served as the artist chosen by Barack Obama, our nation’s first Black president, to paint his official portrait.

In the history painting section, along with works by Mary Cassatt, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Alice Neel and Horace Pippin, hangs Benjamin West’s “Penn’s Treaty with the Indians” (1771-72). The painting depicts a mythologized moment of land transfer between Quaker leader William Penn and Tamanend, Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni Lenape. Commissioned 100 years after the negotiation by Penn’s son during a challenging political period, the romanticized history painting served as a symbolic representation of peace, cooperation and colonial settlement between European Americans and Native Americans on land that would become Pennsylvania.

One only needs to look at Native American life in Oklahoma to recognize the misrepresentation depicted in Penn’s painting. Forced relocation brought the Lenape people, also known as the Delaware, to Oklahoma, where they are represented by two federally recognized tribes: the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville and the Delaware Nation in Anadarko.

“Penn’s Treaty with the Indians” reveals the gap in Native art in the exhibition. While each artist included in the exhibition was touched by PAFA’s influence, as former students, faculty or exhibitors, many voices are not represented within this show—namely those of Native, Asian American and Latinx artists. Sensitive to this omission, the Philbrook is concurrently displaying WAR CLUB: Native Art & Activism, the culminating exhibition of the multi-year project of Osage mother-son duo Anita and Yatika Fields exploring Native artwork and ephemera from historical and contemporary moments of resistance. Just beyond the history section hangs The Salon Wall, a collection of artworks hung nearly floor to ceiling in the style of 18th- and 19th-century exhibitions at the Paris Salon. The presentation at the Philbrook juxtaposes pieces not typically shown side by side, such as Daniel Garber’s “Quarry” (1917) next to Milton Avery’s “Oxcart— Blue Sea” (1943) and Thomas Eakins’ “Walt Whitman” (1887-1888). The Salon Wall allows the viewer a compacted opportunity to ponder the relationships among artworks that span various periods, perspectives and subject matter but all maintain an American identity.

A warm scene of four women huddled over a steaming washbasin draws eyes into the genre section. In her 1888 painting “In the WashHouse,” Anna Klumpke depicts a banal scene of working-class women. An American expatriate living in Paris, Klumpke was a frequent exhibitor at the Salon, receiving several awards for her portraits. Scenes like this were typical during the 19th century, with artists depicting moments of everyday life; the delicate treatment of the scene and the size of the painting prompt consideration of this mundane task. Though larger in size, the painting recalls the gentle handling of quotidian light and space seen in 17th-century Dutch works like that of Johannes Vermeer. For this piece, Klumpke was the first woman to win the Temple Gold Medal at PAFA. On view in the Philbrook is a work by Rosa Bonheur, who was Klumpke’s life partner; after her death, Klumpke dedicated her life to Bonheur’s legacy. The two initially found each other in Paris and are reunited in Tulsa.

The blood-orange walls of the final galleries enliven the exhibition’s still life and landscape sections. Dominated by women, the former section includes works by Raphaelle Peale, Margaretta Angelica Peale, Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Nevelson. Paintings of fruits, flowers and interior spaces blend into the landscape section of the exhibition, where abstracted landscapes such as Sonja Sekula’s “The Rains” (1949) contrast with the more traditional treatment of space, as seen in Thomas Moran’s “Two Women in the Woods” (1870). In this section, we return to the grandeur of American storytelling centered on expansion, natural beauty and discovery.

One of the last paintings of the exhibition depicts a heartbreaking experience of rugged and wild American perseverance personified by a fox in Winslow Homer’s “Fox Hunt” (1893). The painting presents the harsh realities of a Maine winter as a fox, desperate to escape vulturous crows, bounds through endless drifts of deep white snow. Both animals are fighting for their survival within the American landscape. Though saturated with tension and challenge, the placement of Homer’s paintings as one of the exhibition’s final works speaks to the persistence and grit of the American spirit. It’s a gripping work to end with, as the viewer identifies with the hunted fox’s perspective. If our enduring national fortitude and the tenacity of the American dream can give us any glimpse into the result of this work, I’d like to think that the fox makes it in the end. •

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A Rocket Ship, Taking Off

Musician Johnny Mullenax says this is, in fact, his first rodeo

BY MEGAN SHEPHERD PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN “FIVISH” CASS

What does it feel like listening to Johnny Mullenax, the expletivewielding, joint-puffing Eagle Scout (Troop 22) and genre-bending guitar protege bolstering the funk rock music scene in Tulsa? Stand close enough, and you might hear the sound of a rocket ship taking off, blasting forward at high speed.

He’s made a name for himself in Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas and beyond as a preeminent purveyor of bluesy, funk-drenched country, bluegrass and rock and roll, playing with bands all over the region. After a decade playing the live music scene, Mullenax seems to be turning a corner. With big break-level developments on the horizon—a new EP, appearances on the national festival circuit, a new booking contract with Crossover Touring and a 14-show tour across France currently underway—even he can’t wondering if the metaphorical rocket might finally be taking off.

OPPOSITE: Johnny Mullenax live with his band at

Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK

Peers unanimously agree that he’s in a class all his own, a one-ofa-kind talent as good as any household greats. And though his style might feel like a far cry from the French countryside, he boasts an electric live show that communicates across genre, class, now even language barriers.

Mullenax is all talent, no pretense. He’s a simple man of exceptional skill, and his music is raw, uninhibited and authentic, to say the least. It has an uncanny ability to awaken something familial and homegrown within the audience, firmly planting us in Oklahoma dirt and the warmth of community wherever we are.

Plus, absolutely nothing touches the energy of his live show. It’s this exact kind of magic that keeps hundreds of people coming back to The Mercury Lounge week after week to see the rotating cast of characters burn it down at Bluegrass Brunch. Mullenax started the residency two years ago, and it has grown into a veritable music mainstay for Green Country; as quintessentially Tulsan as it gets. More often than not, there’s a stable of all-star, powerhouse musicians playing alongside him, tracking the movements of the song as he riffs and letting it evolve in real time, and a packed house hundreds deep praising it all like gospel. Bluegrass Brunch has become its own kind of church—the jam its creed, and Tulsa music lovers its devout congregation.

At 28, he is quick to point back to that rotating roster of band members he shares stages with as the giants who lift him up: Paul Wilkes on bass, Jake Lynn on drums, Andrew Bair on keys, Nicholas Foster on drums, Michale Frost on drums another day, Michael Schembre on fiddle, Dane Arnold, Tony Spatz, Thomas Trapp ... The list goes on and on, and so do their careers—often to national tours with mainstay country artists like Jason Boland, Wyatt Flores and Paul Cauthen.

“I’ve played with so many great players,” proclaims bandmate and Dead Format Records producer Andrew Bair, “and Johnny is the most impressive guitar player I’ve ever seen in my life, in any genre, in any place. He’s in a world-class category of players.”

Behind the artist’s stoner facade is a heavy dose of hustle, and a massive heaping of the kind of career-defining, natural-born talent that simply cannot be replicated. Mullenax is an incredible guitar player, armed with an insane mastery of rhythm, timing and tone. A tune might sound deeply country one day, and pungently funky the next. Watch him closely, and you’ll start to wonder if he’s not so much playing the music, as channeling it.

“His live show is an amalgamation of traditional bluegrass licks, neo-soul gospel chords and picking patterns that frankly shouldn’t ‘work’ in a bluegrass riff,” Bair continues. “But with Johnny, they simply do. The amalgamation makes sense, and listeners get to hear the full spread of his influence, taste and ingenuity. That’s how you craft your own style: by molding your influences into your own thing.”

“He’s got the Midas touch,” explains singer-songwriter Bridget Lyons of Lyons & Co, who asked Mullenax to play guitar on her latest record. “Everything he touches turns to magic.”

Colleagues describe his style as divine and inventive, and him as a humble but fearless experimenter.

“His virtuosity is, in my opinion, unmatched by any player in the state,” Bair adds. “He’s a conduit for something different. Maybe he’s an alien? I don’t know.”

Mullenax is shy to call it a gift, pointing instead to professionalism. “I’ve done a f***ing million recording sessions for other artists, I play music full-time and have for 10 years. You kind of learn how to write a song by playing other people’s songs. There’s an efficient way to do it, and a creative way to do it. Finding the balance between being creative and being efficient is how you can be successful as an artist.

“Being a performer is definitely different than being a musician, which is different than being an artist. If you’re gonna bite the head off the bat, you have to be able to write the song and sing the song, or else you’re just a f***in’ weirdo.”

After flying under the radar for the past decade, Mullenax now has critics, agents and organizers taking note. A friend sent a video of him playing to the booking agent for Billy Strings, and Mullenax was scooped up by Crossover Touring shortly thereafter. It’s a gamechanging partnership—as he tells it, “it’s the epitome of a lucky break.”

“I think we’re about to see a meteoric rise,” Lyons predicts.

When pressed on where it all comes from, even the guitar man isn’t quite sure how to answer.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what the f** k I’m talking about. This is my first rodeo.”

JOHNNY MULLENAX

“This is what I was supposed to do,” Mullenax says. “I’ve got this God-given talent to play music really, really easily. If I didn’t do it, I think it’d be a waste of my time, and what I can offer the world. I was raised very Catholic, so maybe I have some of that Catholic guilt. But when it’s in your f***in’ soul, or your spirit or whatever, if you have that opportunity to write, or play music or paint a f***in’ picture, it’s a waste of something to not do it.”

After he returns stateside, the band has Guthrie Bluegrass Fest and Bushyhead on the calendar in October. January will bring a coveted appearance at Mile 0 Fest in Key West (fellow Tulsan Ken Pomeroy is also on the bill). Bluegrass Brunch will thrum on in the weeks in between. But Mullenax isn’t getting ahead of himself on where it all might go.

“I think this time next year, we’re gonna be busy as f**k. But who knows; I just want to be able to collaborate with a ton of artists that play at a high level. I want to build up this scene, and build up my friends who build me up. It’d be cool to play with Billy Strings one day, but I don’t wanna have any expectations. I’m going in open. Just like with France, I don’t f***in’ know what’s gonna happen. I’m really excited about it, scared, nervous.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what the f**k I’m talking about. This is my first rodeo.” •

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Twisters star Daisy Edgar-Jones strolls the city streets in full boho

In Fashion for Fall

Spotlighting this season’s must-haves

BY KATE FRANK

Head-turning textures to vibrant hues, fall is filled with fashion trends not to be missed. Sheer fabrics and lace are taking center stage, bringing a mix of elegance and edge to every outfit; bold hues are turning up the heat, making fall wardrobes feel fresh and vibrant; and boho chic is back with flowing dresses and earthy tones, while suede is making a major comeback in everything from jackets to accessories. Get ready to elevate your style and make these looks your own.

ALL ABOUT COLOR: BOLD HUES ARE BACK

This season is bursting with color, and we’re here for it. Designers are painting the town with bold, rich hues that bring a fresh yet nostalgic vibe to the Fall/Winter 2024 runways. Buttery yellow to deep cherry red, these shades are turning every outfit into a statement.

Let’s start with buttery yellow; this dreamy shade is warming up the cold months like never before. Gucci led the charge with leather trench coats and tailored matching sets, making the color pop in sophisticated ways. Meanwhile, Jacquemus showcased the color with fresh silhouettes, elegant gowns and accessories, proving that yellow can shine through the winter chill. It’s the perfect contrast to the darker tones we usually see in fall, making it a total gamechanger for your wardrobe.

Olive green is the new black—designers have shown why it’s a proven must-have neutral of the season. Burberry went all out, showcasing this shade in everything from wool coats and chunky sweaters to tailored pants, pairing it with black or khaki for that perfect utilitarian-chic vibe. At Saint Laurent, olive green got a luxe upgrade with sheer dresses and long coats that paired perfectly with gold accessories. Striking, timeless, versatile … this shade has range.

The rich, indulgent feel of chocolate brown ruled the runways, with Stella McCartney and Hermes leading the charge. Stella McCartney gave us sleek leather coats, oversized knits and leather ensembles that create a rich feeling of elegance. Hermes similarly displayed the strength of a classic leather coat, tailored leather pants and bold brown boots, proving that this color is the epitome of cozy sophistication.

A fall staple time and time again: Cherry red brought a passionate energy to the runway, eye-catching for any collection. Mugler delivered drama in the best way possible with structured leather dresses and statement outerwear, while Ferragamo got in on the action, incorporating this rich red into bold tailored jackets and intricate lace dresses. This color screams confidence, so if you’re looking to make a bold statement, cherry red is your new best friend.

Gucci

SHEER AND LACE: FEEL THE ELEGANCE

This season is all about textures that turn heads and make you feel fabulous. Designers are bringing the drama with materials that play on the senses, and sheer fabrics and lace are stealing the spotlight. Whether you’re after something delicate or daring, these fabrics are here to help you make a statement.

Take Saint Laurent, a brand that knows how to be provocative and elegant. Sheer fabrics are everywhere in blouses and dresses, and they’re giving just the right amount of peek-a-boo without going overboard. The sheer look adds a sultry vibe to the collection, catching the light in all the right places to highlight your silhouette. It’s the kind of look that’s timeless yet modern.

BY MICHAEL KINNEY

Valentino played with texture while showcasing an all-black collection. Lace overlays on dresses and blouses bring a romantic touch that’s as soft as it is striking. The designer nailed the contrast between lace’s delicacy and the stronger, heavier fabrics in the collection, showing just how versatile it can be. It’s the ultimate feminine touch, making everything feel a little more special and dreamy.

Dolce & Gabbana seemed to have fun mixing sheer fabrics together in ways that remain fresh yet timeless. The contrast between the sheer elements and the richer, more textured fabrics made the looks feel both edgy and luxurious, and the collection brought a level of opulence that’s perfect for those days when you want to feel just a little extra.

These fabrics bring texture, richness and a sense of luxury that’s hard to resist. Get ready to experiment—because this season, it’s all about feeling as good as you look.

PHOTOGRAPH

Pullbear Short Sleeve Floral Lace Shirt Ferragamo

OPPOSITE: Sydney Sweeney from “Euphoria” embracing the boho trend

RIGHT: Zara Suede Leather Jacket

BOTTOM:

The Essential Bucket Tote by Madewell

BOHO CHIC

“Boho chic” is back, and designers are about it! This timeless style, known for its effortless mix of free-spirited vibes and refined elegance, has been revamped for the Fall/Winter 2024 season with a fresh, modern twist. Designers are bringing in luxurious fabrics, intricate details and that laid-back ease so many of us crave.

Chloé really set the tone for this trend under its new creative director, Chemena Kamali. The collection is a love letter to bohemian luxury, featuring flowing maxi dresses, earthy tones and patchwork patterns that capture the spirit of boho while giving it a modern upgrade. Even celebrities like Twisters star Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sydney Sweeney from “Euphoria” are embracing the look, proving that boho chic is back in the spotlight.

Isabel Marant’s collection also nailed that carefree, eclectic vibe we love. Relaxed silhouettes, oversized knit sweaters, wide-leg trousers and knee-high boots—yes, please! Marant’s mix of textures from suede and shearling to denim gave the collection a cozy yet stylish feel, perfect for those who want to channel their inner bohemian while staying effortlessly cool.

The best part? Boho chic isn’t just for summer anymore; this trend has evolved into a year-round staple, offering the perfect balance of comfort and elegance. With its easy-going but sophisticated feel, it’s a must-have for every fashionista this season.

SUEDE, PLEASE!

The trend of the season is suede, and it’s making a bold comeback in every form. Whether in bags, jackets, pants or even footwear, designers have found innovative ways to weave this luxurious material into their Fall/Winter 2024 collections. Casual daytime looks or high-end evening wear, suede’s versatility is taking center stage. Ready to embrace the trend?

At Ralph Lauren, suede took center stage in rich, autumnal tones, bringing a sense of classic American luxury to the runway. Suede trench coats and tailored jackets were styled with sleek trousers and oversized scarves, creating a polished, relaxed look. Whether you’re braving a chilly day or heading to a chic dinner, Ralph Lauren’s suede pieces bring an air of sophistication that’s perfect for the season.

Miu Miu went for a playful twist on suede, incorporating it into quirky mini skirts, cropped jackets and adorable ankle boots. With vibrant colors and bold silhouettes, Miu Miu’s take on suede is anything but traditional. The brand paired suede with fun prints and textures, giving off a youthful, edgy vibe while still maintaining a level of elegance. It’s the ultimate way to embrace suede with a fashion-forward flair.

Even in accessories, suede is stealing the spotlight. From Ralph Lauren’s slouchy suede bags to Miu Miu’s cute crossbody options, this material is showing up everywhere. Whether you’re channeling boho chic or sleek sophistication, there’s no doubt that suede is the fabric to flaunt this season. •

and

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Romana Kryzanowska

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The Doctor Is In

‘Film

Festival Doctor’ Rebekah Louisa Smith

on what it takes to play film fests

BY ALEXANDRA BOHANNON

They’ve assembled their actors, said “Action!” and “Cut!” and gone through a potentially lengthy post-production process. For some directors, getting their film made is a substantial part of the battle; for others, it’s smooth sailing to the edit bay.

But ultimately, every director wants their film to be seen by an eager audience— and often, that can be just as challenging as getting the film made in the first place. Entering the fray of the film festival circuit can be a brutal gauntlet, and without a careful strategy and approach, there’s the potential for heartache, wasted money and missed opportunity.

So for directors needing help getting their film seen, picking up the phone and calling Rebekah

Louisa Smith, Ph.D. (a.k.a. the Film Festival Doctor) might be the best way to get their opus off the shelf. With surgical precision, Smith devises the right strategy so a director’s film is screened by the right people at the right festivals.

It’s not just about playing Sundance or Tribeca, or being Oscar-nominated, although some of her past clients can claim that; it’s about helping directors see what they created differently, yielding better results as they get their film to the perfect audience.

The “Film Festival Doctor” Rebekah Louisa Smith

A CINEMATIC CALLING

While Smith knew she would work in film and TV since she was young (her father worked in television as an engineer), she remembers the movie that changed everything for her at age 13.

Pointing over her shoulder to a poster of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction on the wall in her Dallas home, Smith says, “I thought, ‘This is the best film ever made.’”

Tarantino’s 1994 hit gave rise to Smith wanting to make a career of studying the director. Her higher education journey culminated with a Ph.D. in Film and Audience Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales. Her thesis? “Tarantino’s Audiences - Exploring Cult Fan Appreciation.”

However, after a successful thesis defense and receiving her degree, Smith wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next. She loved to research but didn’t want to lecture. Deciding she would finally break into the film business, she was asked to co-produce the Abertoir Horror Festival—Wales’ most successful horror film festival.

After a season of producing festivals, she quickly turned her attention to the filmmakers on the other side of the submissions.

“I was always asking filmmakers what they liked and disliked about film festivals,” Smith says. “Everyone was saying a similar thing, you know, ‘Great to get here, but it’s hard to get in,’ and how to figure out how to get in.”

Since Smith deeply understood how people program festivals and how films fit into a lineup, she decided to create a service that could help filmmakers get their films into festivals, and develop a plan and strategy to help them do so.

Smith at the Waco Independent Film Festival

Smith shares her strategic gift with industry peers

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

At the start of Smith’s consultancy business in 2010, there was only one prominent festival consultant in the industry. Naturally, her business experienced quick growth, taking her from Wales to London, from London to L.A., and from L.A. to where she now resides in Dallas.

During those past 14 years, the filmmaking and film distribution landscape has changed significantly, increasing the need for consultants like Smith.

There are an estimated 6,266 active U.S. film festivals and 7,915 international festivals listed on FilmFreeway, the main way that film festivals receive submissions in the digital age, but with the proliferation of digital filmmaking tools (who can’t try their hand at filmmaking now that everyone can shoot in 4K using their smartphone?), there are just more people submitting to the same number of slots.

According to Smith, Sundance receives around 10,000 short film submissions and screens around 50 to 60. She explained that even shorts-specific festivals like HollyShorts receive over 6,000 submissions, and only 400 short films are selected. However, despite these odds, a film festival is critical for a film and the filmmaker’s future career.

“Film festivals screen films for their audiences to discover, to meet new filmmakers, and for the filmmaker to make connections,” Smith says. “That could be distribution, or more people seeing the film and more opportunities for their career.”

So if an indie filmmaker has such stiff competition and tough odds, but knows they have to apply to film festivals, what are they to do?

That’s where Smith’s strategy comes in. Her first line of attack is to learn the goals of the filmmaker in question and not to use the “submit and see” or “spray and pray” approach (which is what many filmmakers applying without professional guidance do by default). She uses an approach informed by her work in programming festivals and her Ph.D. research on audience analysis.

“So it’s one of those things where you have to unpack the film and figure out who the audience is and which festivals match that,” Smith says. “So say it’s a horror film—okay, is it a horror film [that can] break out of the genre film festival circuit? Has it got a story that’s original and unique enough for a mainstream audience?”

Smith further explained that if a film can’t break out of the niche, then it could thrive in its niche and push the boundaries on the types of perspectives people see in film. She highlighted that some festivals specifically seek submissions from diverse filmmakers, including people of color and female and non-binary directors.

“Are the actors in that category as well? Because that could be a big thing too because there are types of festivals for that,” Smith says. “So really look at every single angle and figure out which festivals could accommodate your particular film.”

BORN TO DO IT

Despite this strategic approach, there will inevitably be times when a filmmaker faces rejection. While Smith strongly encourages her clients to detach emotionally from what they’ve created and consider it a “product” (a tough feat), she also urges them to get curious about the rejection.

“Say there is a pile of rejection letters on the table or [rejection] emails. The first thing I say is: What can we learn from this and turn it into positive? What are the patterns from these rejections?” Smith says. “We’re not going into every single festival, but it’s important to understand, when the rejection comes in, to accept it, assess it and then think, ‘Right, how can this help us move forward?’”

Smith’s attitude of acceptance is derived in part from her spiritual practice. As someone who uses meditation, affirmations, vision boarding and manifestation in her own work since 2013, she’s found her calling in encouraging her film clients to do the same. She recommends her clients read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, as well as meditate using resources from meditation coach and filmmaker Jessica Graham. Smith has even written a book that incorporates spirituality into business. Born to Do It: Becoming the Leader of a Business Niche Using Powerful Spiritual Techniques weaves Smith’s spiritual practices into sound business advice for those in creative and non-creative work alike.

And in her personal career, she’s found great success with these techniques. When asked what’s on her vision board for the year, she remarked that the Oscars were a major component of it—and has already seen great success. So far in 2024, she’s qualified six films for the Oscars, two features and four shorts. Plus, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asked if it could feature the transcript of a documentary feature film in its library though it was still playing the festival circuit, to which Smith wholeheartedly said yes.

Even though her vision board is coming true, Smith doesn’t do what she does for the acclaim, but for the joy and love of the craft.

“I love being the Film Festival Doctor. I love working as a festival strategist,” Smith says. “And the reason I love it is because I know where to place films, and I know how to read between the lines of festivals. I never, ever want to produce or direct; other people can do that. What I do best is getting the film seen—my unique gift that I give to filmmakers and to the industry.” •

Smith signing a copy of her book

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Finding Home

SUSAN McCALMONT

When Susan McCalmont needed a new gallery space, she came to Joy Baresel. Susan — who had opened a gallery after a 40-year nonprofit career focusing on historic preservation, education, arts and culture and creativity and whose educational background is in art history — wanted a larger space that would also serve as an educational and community gathering space for all creatives. With Joy’s help, she found a beautiful 1920s Italianate mansion near the Capitol, and opened 1515 Lincoln Gallery at NE 15th and Lincoln Boulevard. It celebrates its second anniversary in December.

“It was amazing working with Joy and sharing with her my dream of owning a space of beauty and community that featured visual art, as well as music, poetry and culinary arts,” Susan says. “We looked at several spaces before finding 1515, and she guided me through the entire process — which can be arduous — with utmost professionalism, grace and kindness.”

The gallery features exhibitions of contemporary artists rotating every six weeks (November spotlights Christie Owen, and the final 2024 exhibition focuses on Behnaz Sohrabian), as well as displays by 50+ consigned artists from around the world, plus monthly live music and poetry events and daily service at 1515 Bistro, a partnership with Buthion Fine Foods.

Joy is thrilled with the result. “I feel very thankful to have been able to meet Susan and be a part of such a beautiful business that has moved into a historic landmark, which can now be used with its best use, and one which builds the community around it in such a beautiful way,” she says. “These are the places that make me proud of being in Oklahoma.”

Susan McCalmont and Joy Baresel at 1515 Lincoln Gallery