Art Focus Oklahoma Jul/Aug 2015 by Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition

Art Focus

O k l a ho m a V i s ual A r ts C oal i t i on

Ok l a h o m a Vo l u m e 3 0 N o . 4

July/August 2015

Art Focus

Ok l a h o m a

from the editor From the moment I first moved to Oklahoma two months ago, I’ve been abundantly aware that I am now a part of something truly special. I am not only delighted by the kind and welcoming reception I have received, but I’m humbled by the talent and work ethic of both my coworkers, and the artistic community we serve. This is a place where art and culture flourish. I am honored to join the team at the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition – the conduit that helps springboard and sustain professional artistic practices and appreciation. In this, my inaugural issue of Art Focus Oklahoma, the spirit of this dynamic and stalwart state is captured perfectly. Writer Louise Siddons unearths a treasure trove of indigenous prints; Kirsten Olds highlights the personal artistic journey of a Vietnamese emigrant; and Libby Williams introduces us to a photographer that would make S.E. Hinton’s head turn. The other exciting component to this issue is that we are officially unveiling our Collector Level Membership and Community Supported Art program. This is a new way to connect art buyers with local artists. Joining at the Collector Level is a great way to directly support OVAC, as well as the careers of local artists. It is the perfect complement to our mission and with payment plan options – the perfect way to build on your current collection. See the ad and the updated Membership section in the back of this copy for more information. So – this is a Letter from the Editor, but it’s also my first love letter to a place I now proudly call my home. I’m very much looking forward to carrying on the legacy that Art Focus Oklahoma has already built, and contributing to an Oklahoma where art and artists thrive. Sincerely,

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition 730 W. Wilshire Blvd., Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 ph: 405.879.2400 • e: director@ovac-ok.org visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org Executive Director: Holly Moye director@ovac-ok.org Editor: Lauren Scarpelo publications@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson speccreative@gmail.com

Art Focus Oklahoma is a bimonthly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the visual arts in Oklahoma. Mission: Supporting Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities. OVAC welcomes article submissions related to artists and art in Oklahoma. Call or email the editor for guidelines. OVAC welcomes your comments. Letters addressed to Art Focus Oklahoma are considered for publication unless otherwise specified. Mail or email comments to the editor at the address above. Letters may be edited for clarity or space reasons. Anonymous letters will not be published. Please include a phone number. OVAC Board of Directors July 2015-June 2016: Margo Shultes von Schlageter, MD, Christian Trimble, Edmond; Jon Fisher, Moore; Bob Curtis, Gina Ellis (Treasurer), Hillary Farrell, TiTi Fitzsimmons, Michael Hoffner (Secretary), Stephen Kovash, Travis Mason, Suzanne Mitchell, Renée Porter (President), Douglas Sorocco, Oklahoma City; Dean Wyatt, Owasso; Joey Frisillo, Sand Springs; Jean Ann Fausser, Susan Green (Vice President), Janet Shipley Hawks, Ariana Jakub, Tulsa. The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus Oklahoma. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff.

Lauren Scarpello publications@ovac-ok.org

Support from:

On the cover Cover: Rudolf Carl “R.C.” Gorman, U.S., Navajo, 1932-2005, Spider Woman, Lithograph, 14 1/2” x 11 1/2”, 2015. See page 14.

contents

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Anh-Thuy Nguyen: Songs of Rice and Rivers With a heightened attention to detail, Nguyen explores identity and loss through a unique interaction with landscape.

Breaking Boundaries: Krystle Brewer Brewer’s work is at once deeply personal, and yet universally relatable.

Coming of Age: Dan Farnum Farnum’s Tulsa portraits offer an authentic and endearing sense of place.

10 A Quarantine of Color: Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Drawings Oklahoma native son takes his place in the Contemporary Art cannon with a prolific mythological narrative.

p re v i e w s 12 The Elegant Curio A new exhibition in Tulsa pairs together the works of Amanda Bradway and Lindsay Ketterer Gates.

14 Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art highlights an incomparable aesthetic with almost 100 prints by Native American and First Nations artists.

17 History and Memory: Leaves on the Family Tree Linda Lou Warren’s paintings take us to the place where memories from the past and present experiences coexist.

19 Abstract Embodiment: Larry Hefner Hefner’s signature style of painting demonstrates a history of excellence – and inspires a future of promise.

f e a t u re s 21 On the Map: Mainline This Tulsa hot spot is a burgeoning destination for art lovers, and connoisseurs of great cocktails and good conversation.

24 Ekphrasis: Art & Poetry Inspired by Ellen Moershel’s painting, poet John Selvidge beckons us to Party Mansion.

business of art 23 Ask a Creativity Coach: Words Matter Why titling your work can make all the difference.

OVAC news 26 OVAC News 27 New and Renewing Members 28 g a l l e r y

(p.8) Farnum pictured with his piece RWBY, archival inkjet print, 2015. (p.10) Trenton Doyle Hancock, Vegans Do Nasty Stuff, graphite on paper, 8 x 11 3/4”. (p.12) Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Year of the Snake, (detail) stainless mesh, coated copper wire, 2014.

guide

Thuy and Rice, Tulsa, performance installation at Living Arts. Image copyright Phoenix Moore, 2015.

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ANH-THUY NGUYEN: Songs of Rice and Rivers by Kirsten Fleur Olds

Crouching on the concrete ground at Living Arts, Tulsa, Anh-Thuy Nguyen lines individual grains of white rice along faults in the floor. Methodically, and largely silently, she works for several hours, as First Friday revelers mingle. Dry rivers of rice nestle in cracks and snake through the gallery, creating a hybrid topography. In contrast with the serviceable floor, these rice drawings seem so small, so delicate, so strange. They are at once mundane and visually arresting, individual but suggest the collective. Nguyen navigates around two large piles— one of rice grains, the other of papery rice husks—as she works. A projector mounted onto the ceiling casts video imagery onto a bed of rice on the gallery floor. Fingers knead and mold the grains in the video, simulating movement in the actual pile. This simulation invites viewers to touch the rice, and some do, sifting it through their hands. The action is playful but the tone is sedate, even reverential, conveying a sense of ritual distanced from both the patchwork rice paddies of Vietnam and the sounds of the dinner table. Vietnamese-born Nguyen, an assistant professor of Fine Arts at Rogers State University in Claremore, explores notions of cultural assimilation, translation, and individual identity in her multi-media practice, which includes photography, video, installation and performance. Thuy & Rice, her performance at Living Arts this past March and April, built on a previous work of the same name at the Tucson Museum of Art in 2011. There the installation consisted of a small monitor and a stool—viewers needed to sit down and push a button to engage with the video, creating an intimate interaction. In related programming, she conducted a workshop where participants made rice balls; at the end, the balls became a form of cathartic release—participants smashed, crumbled, and even smeared their handiwork, engaging in a process of creation and destruction. In these performances, rice carries multiple meanings. A ready signifier of Asia and an important commodity, rice is a staple food and the backbone of Vietnam’s agricultural

economy; it is one of the country’s primary exports. “I can get better rice here in the U.S. than I can in Vietnam,” Nguyen laughs. “They always export the best product.” It also holds personal associations, with savored childhood snacks, memories of family, and desire for sustenance and wealth. In Thuy’s hands rice becomes not just content, but also form to be manipulated. Nguyen came to the U.S. in 2006, initially to visit her older sister, who had fled Vietnam as a very young teenager, alone, taking refuge at first in the Philippines, and later in Arizona. A sound piece from 2011, titled Chi Mi—the Vietnamese word for “sister” combined with her sister’s nickname— conveys Nguyen’s response to her sister’s life. Collaged sounds of splashing water, breaking waves, and a hissing kettle, among voices and other noises, conjure thoughts of Nguyen’s coastal hometown of Nha Trang and her sister’s desperate boat ride for a new future. The work is not narrative, and yet like much of her photographic work, it compels the listener to invent a story to link its dissonant parts. The themes of loss, personal identity, and the landscape as a touchstone recur in Nguyen’s ongoing photographic series Boat Journey. Begun during a residency at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Wyoming in 2012, Nguyen shot in untrammeled spaces, first in Wyoming, and later in New York, Nebraska, Missouri, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Captured by coasts and prairies, a female figure dressed in traditional Vietnamese tunic and pants, áo dai, holds onto a small makeshift leather boat—what escape does she seek? Cropped so that her head is not visible, we could be her, this anonymous figure whose situation is unknown but whose pathos we feel. In other works, Nguyen stages more direct confrontations with herself and the viewer. In Encroaching Space, from 2013, the artist quite literally intruded on visitors’ space, pressing up against their bodies in an uncomfortable pas-de-deux as gallery goers sought to pass from one part of the building to another through a narrow enclosure built by the artist. Recalling 1960s and ‘70s performance artists’ transgression

Performance installation detail at Living Arts, Tulsa. Image copyright Peter Hay, 2015.

of personal boundaries, from Vito Acconci’s Following Piece to Valie Export’s Tapp- und Tastkino, Nguyen’s performance adds a cultural dimension to this tradition: Americans are generally more guarded about their personal space, the artist observes, than Vietnamese are. The discomfort Nguyen produces in her interactions can prompt visitors to consider how their cultural and social practices go unexamined until they are faced with someone who does not share those same values or experiences. Hair=Tóc also probes the limits of the self. During a performance in 2011 at the Doolin Gallery at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Nguyen turned herself into the art object, allowing viewers to approach her, one at a time, and cut off pieces of her hair. In the vein of Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece from the mid 1960s, where the Japanese artist invited visitors to cut the clothes she was wearing, Nguyen’s performance created an intimate experience that tested her own endurance and viewers’ (continued to page 6)

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ethics—how much will she and they both allow to happen? At the conclusion of the performance, Philip Van Keuren, Professor of Art at SMU, shaved her head with a razor and brush. This final act marked a cleansing of sorts, letting go of her hair as a signifier for her identity. With this gesture Nguyen also embraced a ritual of release performed traditionally by other female members of her family—the shaved head became a symbol of new beginnings. The title of the work, with the Vietnamese and English words for “hair” bridged by the equals sign, indicates Nguyen’s current situation: she is caught in a process of cultural translation, working across two languages, two traditions, two signification systems. The equals sign functions here like her use of rice or the imagery of the boat; it suggests a transformation from one thing to another, one place to another. But it also conveys an equivalence, that as different as they may appear, the two sides share a sameness. This sameness, Nguyen’s work suggests, lies in the quest for self-understanding, which is as universal as it is resolutely individual. n Kirsten Fleur Olds is a writer, curator, and Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.

(top) Untitled 7 from Boat Journey Series, archival inkjet print. Image copyright Anh-Thuy Nguyen, 2012. (bottom) Untitled 11 from Boat Journey Series, archival inkjet print. Image copyright Anh-Thuy Nguyen, 2012.

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BREAKING BOUNDARIES: Krystle Brewer by Karen Paul

(left) Krystle Brewer, Untitled (Sweet Pea), ceramic and thread, 2015. (right) He Was a Shitty Roommate, a Good Husband, and My Best Friend, ceramic and fiber, 2012.

With fragile pieces that are breaking personal and artistic boundaries, Tulsa curator, writer and artist Krystle Brewer is rapidly gaining recognition for her highly influential ceramic pieces. Brewer’s current work, in which she examines ordinary household items, is deeply influenced by her personal experiences, emotions, and expectations. The creative process is often a challenging one as she works through intensely emotional experiences with her viewers. “I wish I could make art that wasn’t so influenced by my life,” she said. “However, it’s the only way that I know how to create my work.” As she processes personal experiences and breaks down barriers within her art, Brewer often comes back to similar themes related to loss, utility, and perpetual pain that may heal – but will never end. These themes are reflected in The Price of a Divorce series. After she divorced, Brewer found herself reflecting on her idealized notion of what life was supposed to be – how she was supposed to live happily ever after, be a mom, be a wife – and how that idea contrasted with the changes she was facing in life. The end result is an ironic series in which she created three sets of tea pots and tea cups wrapped in knitted yarn, and given cheeky titles. The fiber element takes away the utilitarian form of the tea vessel. It symbolizes femininity and expected roles,

providing a seemingly comforting barrier – superficially so, because they can only be viewed and not touched. “It was a nurturing act for me to create the fiber exteriors. It was a process that I imagine to be similar to the quiet contemplative moments of crocheting a blanket for an unborn child,” she said. “Once the work was complete, they became these material objects and symbolic representations of the life I wanted for myself, that were to be put safely on a shelf and looked at from afar.” Brewer’s most current series, I’m Sorry, takes a similar approach with handkerchiefs, another seemingly feminine item. In this series, she incorporates cross-stitched iconography and symbols of flowers to symbolize loss, grief, and saying goodbye to a loved one. Brewer’s current series also illustrates a high level of technical mastery inherent throughout the physical creation of her work. “In my process, I spend a lot of time thinking and sketching before I start making a piece. I like to have a finished plan before I even start,” Brewer said. “When I’m starting a new technique, I don’t always know if it is going to work, but I kind of like that suspense and blind optimism of starting something new that doesn’t have a guarantee of success.” In the I’m Sorry series, Brewer drew flowers on graph paper to create her final cross stitch pattern. After rolling the clay out and cutting an edge from a pattern she created in Photoshop, Brewer manipulated and folded

the piece to make her handkerchief form. She used her drawings on graph paper to drill the holes needed to create the final cross stitched pattern. After the piece was fired, Brewer began to create her flowers and imagery. In the end, Brewer’s finished pieces were so narrow that she had to cut her needle down to a fraction of its original size and then guide it through the holes with needle nose pliers. Brewer takes this methodical approach to everything she does in the art world. She credits her experiences as a curator, writer, and a gallery manager as being beneficial to her process. She also regularly participates in artist talks both as an artist and as an attendee, and finds out about other artists’ methods by continuing to take classes and participating in local arts networks. “I don’t know if there is something specific that I can put my finger on and say that it directly influenced it, but on a personal level, I know that all of these experiences are integrated in my work,” Brewer said. “I gain a lot from the intimate conversations that I have with artists when writing about their work and curating exhibitions.” “There are not a lot of boundaries within my personal and professional art work,” Brewer said. “I think it’s better that way for me.” n A graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Karen Paul is a freelance writer specializing in arts-based subjects. You can contact her at karenpaulok@gmail.com.

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Dan Farnum, Tulsa, Ask Me About..., archival inkjet print, 2015.

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COMING OF AGE: Dan Farnum by Libby Williams

When S.E. Hinton published The Outsiders in 1967 she offered a timeless glimpse into the challenges faced by a group of teenagers coming of age in a rough neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today, photographer Dan Farnum uses the lens of his camera to tell related stories of the impact that location, circumstance, and money can play on the lives of teenagers as they struggle to establish their own identity – often with cards stacked against them. Farnum moved to Tulsa in 2013 after accepting the position of Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Tulsa. “It was like coming to a place I already knew,” said Farnum – who has harbored a lifelong connection to the photographs of Larry Clark, the writings of S.E. Hinton, and their film adaptations. Farnum grew up in the blue-collar town of Saginaw, Michigan – an auto town like Detroit that has seen an increase in violence as a result of a declining economy. Photography worked its way into Farnum’s life as he began shooting photos of the time he spent at skate parks, on road trips, and at music festivals with his friends in between high school and college. His interest in place was also inspired by Sunday afternoon drives that he took with his father through urban spaces to see baseball games and the anecdotal stories his father shared about the buildings and their inhabitants. His father passed away when he was 20, and documenting the types of locations they visited as he grew up remains an important way for him to stay connected to the experiences he shared with his father.

document life in urban spaces is his use of a 4x5 field camera. Field cameras were initially created to allow photographers to document battle scenes during the Civil War. This camera creates larger negatives that allow for a heightened level of detail and sharper definition in the photographs. While his model is much lighter than previous versions of this camera, the process of setting up the device on site takes time and its antiquated appearance often draws Farnum’s subjects directly to him. The ubiquity of digital cameras often leads teenagers to associate them with the press and strangers whom they would generally avoid. However, when they see Farnum setting up his tripod and putting his head under the hood to adjust the focus they become curious and do not see him as a threat. The results are authentic portraits of young adults who are often overlooked in cities rapidly working to improve their image. Farnum’s move to Tulsa gave him the opportunity to bring his process to a city with which he had always felt a connection through the accessibility of Hinton’s writing. Farnum has found many similarities between neighborhoods in Tulsa and Saginaw, yet describes Tulsa as possessing its own unique flair and set of nuances. He says Tulsa possesses a more nostalgic identity through the presence of Art Deco, Route 66, and its connection to The Outsiders. “It’s like shooting in the past and present at the same time,” said Farnum.

The timing of the loss of his father as Farnum transitioned from adolescence to adulthood has always played a significant role in his work and contributes to his interest in documenting that same stage of life of strangers. Before moving to Tulsa, Farnum developed a body of work called Young Blood in which he returned to Saginaw from his teaching position at the University of Missouri at Columbia to document the process of growing up and the ways in which place affects the experiences, recreation, clothes, disposition, and economic situation of young adults.

With the help of a Creative Projects Grant from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, and the Kendall-Whittier Faculty Stipend from the University of Tulsa, Farnum showed his first body of work depicting the lives of young adults in Tulsa at the Zarrow Center April 3-26, 2015. The show’s title, Rumblefish, borrowed from one of Hinton’s novels, acknowledges the message of her writing yet explores Farnum’s own agenda and artistic sensibilities. The photos travel through neighborhoods such as Kendall-Whittier and the Pearl District – capturing the ways in which teenagers act and express themselves as a result of their environment.

One element that distinguishes Farnum’s portraits from other photographers who

In addition to re-booting the photography department at the University of Tulsa,

Mother and Daughters, archival inkjet print, 2015

Farnum has also started the TU Photo Club. Through the support of True Blue Neighbors, he and his students teach children at Kendall Whittier Elementary School how to use digital cameras as a tool of creative expression. The volunteer project will culminate in the fall with an exhibition of photographs at Circle Cinema. Half of the photographs will be taken by Kendall Whittier students and half will be portraits of the students taken by Farnum. More information can be found at www.danielfarnum.com. n Libby Williams is a painter and arts educator. She has an MFA in painting from the University of Tulsa.

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A QUARANTINE OF COLOR: Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Drawings Tiffany Barber

Trenton Doyle Hancock, installation view in The Studio Museum in Harlem. Photo: Adam Reich

Drawing is the foundation of Trenton Doyle Hancock’s artistic practice, which also includes painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. Born in Oklahoma City in 1974, he spent his formative years in Paris, Texas. He received a BFA from Texas A&M University and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia under the tutelage of abstract painter Stanley Whitney. Whitney’s largescale square grid paintings are saturated with rhythm and color, contrary to Hancock’s mostly black-and-white graphite, ink, and acrylic works on paper, “a quarantine of color” in the artist’s words. Hancock’s drawings certainly have a rhythm of their own, departing from his mentor’s approach to painting in another significant way. Whereas Whitney rejects the storytelling function of painting and drawing in favor of pure abstraction, Hancock leans into this

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function, merging it with abstraction, turning the expectations that come with both on their heads. He creates an alternate universe based on epic mythology of his own making – representing this inversion. The environs he creates are littered with strange creatures that straddle the line between human and alien. Giant half-human, half-plant Mounds are pitted against the Vegans, who, rather than a more humane, caring world, promote a type of racial purity that demands the Mounds’ eradication. Torpedo Boy, the artist’s alter ego fashioned in the graphic style of a comic book superhero, is the Mounds’ protector. Mythological creatures and alternate worlds aren’t the only things unique to Hancock’s practice. Unlike many of his contemporaries who maintain studios in New York, Hancock resides in Houston, Texas – a city with a

world-class art scene often overshadowed by metropolises such as New York, Los Angeles, or Paris. But institutions like the Menil Collection and the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, where curator Valerie Cassel Oliver recently organized a survey of Hancock’s drawings, cast off the shadows. Hancock’s influence is not limited regionally. An exhibition of Hancock’s drawing practice is currently on view at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawings is the first indepth examination of Hancock’s extensive body of drawings, collages, and works on paper. Chronicling the foundation and evolution of Hancock’s prolific career, the exhibition brings together more than 200 works of art, including graphite on notebook paper, paper affixed to canvas, the artist’s first digital animation, site-specific wall drawings, and wallpaper.

(left) Studio Floor, Encounter with Prostitute #1, graphite and acrylic on paper, 24 1/2” × 24 1/2 “, (right) Moundmeat Shower Unit, mixed media on paper, 10” × 6 1/4” Photos courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York

Influenced by a wide range of sources, including comics, graphic novels, cartoons, music, and film, his drawings recall pulp fiction – inexpensive American magazines printed on low quality “pulp” paper popular in the first half of the twentieth century. These magazines featured fantastic, escapist fiction for the general entertainment of mass audiences – the influence which can be seen in the hardboiled detective and science fiction genres that also appeared at the time. Despite the low quality pages inside the magazines, lurid, lusciously rendered portraits of the damsel-in-distress and femme fatale archetypes along with the “tough guys” attempting to rescue them were common in pulp fiction cover art. The low price of pulp magazines, coupled with a spike in literacy rates just before television changed the media landscape, all contributed to the success of the medium. With pulp, readers could experience previously inaccessible or

unknown people, places, and plots. Hancock’s drawings, specifically the serial studies of Torpedo Boy, seem to follow the pulp narrative formula, with a striking difference. In Studio Floor: Encounter with Prostitute 1 – 5 (2002), for example, the text and images that comprise the drawings upend the romantic, heteronormative narratives of pulp. An offensively brash anti-hero replaces the genre’s bigger-than-life heroes, and instead of a pretty, morally desirable damsel, a prostitute is the paradigm. His Mound-Vegan drawings also defy generic expectations of pulp and affirmative narrative structures that typically end in closure; the struggle for resources and moral superiority embodied in the play between characters is not easily resolved. Inhabited by simply drawn characters with grotesque features, rotund piles resembling fecal matter and emaciated flesh respectively – Hancock’s

‘other world’ and its occupants undermine the epic conflict they stage. Who causes more damage – the corpulent Mounds who appear to over-consume, or the Vegans who abstain from such consumption in order to sustain the earth for the greater good yet seek to destroy the Mound creatures? And what of Torpedo Boy, who often fails to save the Mounds from their Vegan-inflicted deaths because he is off stirring up trouble of his own? This schema leaves little room for redemption. As a result, Hancock’s work encourages us to rethink what have long been considered the universal underpinnings of human social relations, and the ethics of such. n Tiffany E. Barber is a scholar, curator, and writer of twentieth and twenty-first century visual art and performance with a focus on artists of the African Diaspora living and working in the United States.

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The Elegant Curio by Mary Kathryn Moeller

(left) Amanda Bradway, Ducks vs. Swans, metallic paper, aluminum, quartz, epoxy, copper plated duck and tin covered goose skulls, 2015. (right) Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Year of the Snake, stainless mesh, coated copper wire, 2014.

With its roots in the 16th century, the Curiosity Cabinet was a personal collection of curious objects drawn from natural history, art, and science. These “Wonder Rooms,” whose popularity peaked in the Victorian Era, could fill anywhere from a small cabinet to a large room and were often personal status symbols of vast knowledge and wealth. The objects assembled related stories or focused on themes such as the temporality of life. They were near to a theatrical presentation of the natural world, exploring the peculiar, wonderful, and even the most grotesque of materials.

found objects. Their use in art has, over the course of art history, signified various meanings – but often comes from an interest in creating work out of the material of life. Overlap, which opened at 108 Contemporary on June 5, is an exhibition which pairs Lindsay Ketterer Gates with Amanda Bradway to explore the intersection between found objects and meticulous craftsmanship in fiber, metal, and paper. Their works invite a sense of curiosity and wonder which allows viewers to make these highly personal objects their own.

In the terminology of contemporary artistic practice, such materials are now labeled as

Ketterer Gates is a Pennsylvania-based artist who uses traditional textile methods to

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transform metal into intricate patterns and objects such as Kylix in Blue. She states, “I come at ‘metals’ from a background in fiber arts. I create my work much in the same way that you would create a garment in the sense that I use stitching as my main mode of ‘connection’. I do a lot of ‘wire embroidery’ and the main technique of knotless netting or looping is a traditional fiber stitch. The difference is that in my case I’m using wire instead of thread or yarn. And metal screening instead of fabric.” Always interested in finding beauty in the most mundane of materials, Ketterer Gates has created a series of works using pistachio

Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Kylix in Blue, stainless mesh, paint, coated copper wire, 2014.

shells. She states, “What I find intriguing is the patterns that are created when multiplying small objects. By using them in abundance and in a new context, the viewer looks at them differently.”

She posits them to encourage viewers to consider their material beauty in a deeply personal way. She states, “I really want people to leave this series feeling empowered to do the deep inner work that results in the healing of the mind/body/spirit. I want them to know that the thriving that we deserve is right there on the other side of our trauma, fear and insecurities.” For Ketterer Gates, the exhibition is a chance for viewers to appreciate the complex beauty of both artists’ work, and to draw inspiration as well. “There is nothing better,” she states, “than leaving an exhibition and feeling inspired.”

It is this profusion of materials and the layers created therein which visually unites the work of Ketterer Gates and Bradway, allowing for an exploration of personality and personal history. Ketterer Gates states, “I am always exploring personal narratives in my work. However, these are private narratives that are not made super clear to the viewer and I don’t wish them to be. They are the starting point of my creative process and I aim for the finished pieces to be intriguing enough for the viewer to want to spend time looking deeper into the work and assign their own meaning [and] draw their own conclusions.”

incorporating elements from all of the other works shown. For this series, Bradway draws a great deal of inspiration from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s book Women Who Run with Deer and seeks to create visual manifestations of the author’s call for women to move past the identity of trauma survivor into true healing. To do so, Bradway continually utilizes a variety of materials which she combines to form wings, such as can be seen in her work Ducks vs. Swans. Bradway states, “The key elements I tried to stick with in each piece were the crystals, bones, and wings which represent life, death, and rebirth. Every fall I go digging for quartz in Arkansas and enjoy the idea of incorporating pieces from nature travels into my work. Paper has also been one of my primary mediums for the past few years and I enjoy the textures and symmetry it creates.”

Overlap is on view from June 5-July 26. 108 Contemporary is located at 108 E. Brady in Tulsa. For more information, call 918-895-6302 or visit www.108contemporary.org. n

For Overlap, Oklahoma native Amanda Bradway shows a body of work from her series entitled Rites of Passage, which focuses on six different cycles of birth and death. She also includes an installation piece

A self-described obsessive collector of crystals, skulls, and bones, Bradway’s works are abundant in textures and repetitive patterns. Like Ketterer Gates, Bradway seeks an intimate relationship with her materials.

Mary Kathryn Moeller is an arts writer, curator, and educator. She is currently an Adjunct Lecturer of Art History at Oklahoma State University. She is available via e-mail at mkmoeller77@gmail.com.

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ENTER THE MATRIX: Indigenous Printmakers by Louise Siddons

(left) Dennis Belindo, (U.S., Kiowa/Navajo) 1938-2009, Kiowa Blackleggins, 1990, Serigraph, 14 3/4” x 11”, Image courtesy of Artist’s Estate (c) 2015. (right) Melanie Yazzie (U.S., Navajo; b. 1966) & Nick Tupara (New Zealand, Maori; b. 1962), Caring, 2011. Mixed-media monotype, 22 1/2” x 13 1/4” . Image courtesy of artists (c) 2015.

Printmaking might not be the first thing you think of when you hear “Native American art”—but it has played a key role in recent indigenous history, both as an expressive medium and as an economic resource. In Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers, curator heather ahtone brings together almost 100 prints by Native American and First Nations artists, as well as indigenous artists from other parts of the world. Drawn from the university’s permanent collection, including the James T. Bialac Native American Art Collection, as well as loans from individual artists and organizations such as Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, the exhibition offers a provocative look at how printmaking has been a part of indigenous art making over the past century. The earliest prints in the exhibition are also the most closely tied to the University of Oklahoma’s own role in the history of Native American art. Pochoir (stencil) prints based on watercolor paintings by Kiowa artists Lois Smokey and Stephen Mopope were part of a portfolio coordinated by OU

professor Oscar Jacobson in 1929. That portfolio, Kiowa Indian Art, brought together a group of figurative images documenting Kiowa traditions rendered in the flat style long associated with Plains Indian art. The pochoir process, in which stencils are used to lay down areas of solid color, enhances the flatness of the original watercolor paintings. As the portfolio traveled around the world in the early twentieth century, it made the Kiowa Six artists famous, along with their iconic style. Their influence was long-lasting and cross-cultural—contemporary Navajo artist Dennis Belindo cites Mopope as an important influence on his own depictions of dancers and other figures. Throughout printmaking’s long history, artists have used it to spread their work further and more widely than would be possible with paintings or sculpture. New audiences mean new markets, and for many artists, printmaking has proved to be a tool for economic survival. Since the late 1950s, artists working in Cape Dorset and surrounding communities in

Nunavut, Canada, have adapted existing carving traditions to relief printing, creating diverse images based on their lives that are marketed to collectors in southern Canada and around the world. The West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative has been publishing prints for generations, and artists featured in Enter the Matrix such as Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook are recognized for images that express the raw complexities of contemporary Arctic life. Although the Kiowa Six were students at the University of Oklahoma, Jacobson kept them segregated from the rest of the art program. He was trying to preserve what he saw as their culturally distinctive aesthetic—in much the same way that collectors of Inuit art in the second half of the century admired the unique drawing style and imagery of artists in the Arctic. In the early 1960s, the Institute for American Indian Arts opened in Santa Fe, with the express desire to generate an innovative, new approach to Indian (continued to page 16)

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(continued from page 15) arts education. With formal instruction in both traditional and new media, the IAIA quickly became a cultural touchstone for contemporary artists. Enter the Matrix features several artists associated with the IAIA: Fritz Scholder and his student, T.C. Cannon, as well as Benjamin Harjo, Jr. and others, are well represented in this show. Enter the Matrix is a fantastic survey of contemporary Native art in any medium—and its scope allows it to include some surprises alongside familiar names. For this visitor, one of the most provocative elements of the show is a portfolio of prints made collaboratively by San artists in Botswana and five Native artists from four North American tribes. To create the portfolio, the fine-art press Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, located on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, worked with the Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print

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and Paper in New Jersey to bring these ten artists’ work together. Each print illustrates the theme of creation, and the resulting portfolio, Myth of Creation, is exhibited here in full. Connecting ideas of global indigeneity with the universal theme of origins, the portfolio represents the extent to which printmaking has become a vital medium for contemporary indigenous exchange. In a similarly crosscultural project also featured in the show, artist Melanie Yazzie has created a series of prints in direct collaboration with artists from around the world, including, for example, Nick Tupara of New Zealand. It was ahtone’s friendship with Yazzie, in part, that inspired this exhibition. “i have loved printmaking since the early 1990s,” she explains. “i got to know several artists, and over the course of my friendship with Melanie Yazzie i’ve enjoyed seeing the medium gain momentum as an important vehicle for

expressing Native culture.” In part, it’s the diversity of the genre—and the lack of traditional expectations and constraints— that allows for that expression. “That liberty to create meaningful and personal and, sometimes, political images really speaks to the contemporary Indigenous experience,” concludes ahtone. “It is also what made this exhibition a good fit for the iTunesU short course, which is a new endeavor for our museum.” More information about Enter the Matrix and the iTunesU short course can be found on the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art website, www.ou.edu/content/fjjma.html. n Louise Siddons is Assistant Professor of Modern, American, and Native American Art History at Oklahoma State University. She is currently writing a book about Oklahoma modernist J. Jay McVicker.

HISTORY AND MEMORY: Leaves on the Family Tree byMichelle Rinard

(left) Linda Lou Warren, Faith Hope Charity, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”. (right) Indian Couple, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24”.

For Linda Lou Warren, art embodies history and memory. She recognizes that art in the present time connects us to the past. A contemporary artist working in Oklahoma City, Warren provides a framework of history and memory of her own life and invites the viewer in as a participatory agent through her work. The viewer shares in the authorship of the stories present in Warren’s paintings, drawings, and clay sculptures. Through her vibrant and alluring work, Warren brings past history and memory into the extant, leaving a mark of personal thought and experience. Leaves on the Family Tree: Influences and Exchanges, presents Linda Lou Warren’s series of paintings, drawings, and clay sculptures that as a whole tell the story of her lineage and family history. Offered in an untraditional manner, Warren creates

an enveloping installation environment. Displayed as a growing and breathing tree, with leaves and branches affixed to the walls, the work that embodies stories of the past comes to life. “I am interested in my background—those who came before me. I am searching to find out where I came from. These pictures and clay pieces all come from the map of my past. This is my family album.” History and memory emerge from the work through imagined spaces and dreams. Warren’s paintings, called her “imagined still lifes,” exhibit artifacts from her imagination, blurring the line between dreams and reality. The doll face that is present in many of her still lifes is both representative as a portrait of Warren’s grandmother and a self-portrait. The doll face represents a treasure her grandmother gave her, which still resides

in Warren’s home as a cherished piece of inspiration. Taking on many different identities, the doll figure is a central piece of the composition. In works like Faith Hope Charity, Warren creates an imagined still life using artifacts from her past and present. Her rich colors and imperfect brush strokes create a dreamlike scene of playfulness. Three figurines that sit atop a cake in the center of the composition represent items from Warren’s history, each with a special and personal meaning. A horse, a stone, and a Virgin Mary statuette reflect different parts and regions of her history and lineage, from her Irish, English, and Spanish roots. The cakes that are present throughout many of Warren’s works hold a special and significant (continued to page 18)

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(continued from page 17)

meaning. “They portray former birthday cakes, the $14.75 wedding cake I had, as well as the future. Cake icing is similar to the shiny wet paint I use to depict my memories and dreams.” The central figure of the doll head looks out at the viewer with haunting and experienced eyes. In comparison, Indian Couple shows that the doll has now taken on a different persona and identity. With leaves in her hair and rosy red cheeks, the face is also slightly changed. Warren does not strive for perfection, but gives each of her paintings individual character in the varying ways she presents her figures. Her paintings are not a representation of what is present in the world, but rather imagined spaces that come from dreams.

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The themes of Warren’s art connect to her own experiences and life. Integral to her work are the connections she shares with her close-knit family and long heritage. Warren’s family sustains her work and life, inspiring every aspect of her creation. Her husband, Cleve Warren, is also an artist who works in Oklahoma City as a musician. Their journey together has influenced both of their careers, creating an artistic atmosphere that has allowed them both to flourish in their careers for over 60 years. During summer months, the Malinda Berry Fischer Gallery in the OSU Museum of Art presents exhibitions featuring regional and local artists. Leaves on the Family Tree: Influences and Exchanges at the Malinda Berry Fischer Gallery in the OSU Museum of Art is on view from May 11th through

August 1st with an opening reception and artist talk on July 16th from 5-7 p.m. The talk begins at 6 p.m. OSU Museum of Art, 720 S. Husband Street, Stillwater, OK, 74074-4619. Admission is free n. Michelle Rinard recently graduated in May 2015 with a Master of Arts from Oklahoma State University. She is currently an independent curator and arts writer, and can be contacted at mrinard@okstate.edu.

Footnotes: 1 Warren, Linda Lou. Personal correspondence. April 2015. 2 Warren, Linda Lou, Cakes, www.Lindalouwarren.com. Accessed April 2015.

ABSTRACT EMBODIMENT: Larry Hefner by Olivia Biddick

Larry Hefner, Yellow Slides/Negative Z, detail, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 60”, 2015

From July to September, the East Gallery of the Oklahoma Capitol is home to the colorful paintings of Larry Hefner. The title of his exhibition is Abstruse Deception, a play on the style Abstract Illusionism, according to Hefner. Typical characteristics showcased within this style, made popular in the 1970s, are light, color, space, and texture. Hefner’s paintings work with a combination of those

elements – primarily space and texture. What does that all mean? His paintings are vivid, complex, powerful arrays of shapes and colors that take no prisoners. Looking at one sample of a completed canvas can be misleading. Upon close examination, the abundant tiny details add up to create a captivating 3-D effect – but these details may often go overlooked with just a

mere glance. Hefner cites influence from Eugene Bavinger – a personal mentor who taught at the University of Oklahoma during Hefner’s MFA studies. Over the years, Hefner’s work has changed from image-based to non-image based, but always maintains a signature Abstract (continued to page 20)

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(continued from page 19) Illusionism style. Hefner spent many years as a designer, and is the owner of The Hefner Group, a design agency that was in active operation for 15 years. To describe the relationship between his skills as a designer and a painter Larry says: “Shortly before I graduated with my MFA, another one of my mentors and friend, George Bogart, mentioned in casual conversation that painting was now my profession and I would do this for the rest of my life, regardless of my job title or what I did to make a living. At that moment it finally clicked – it was a commitment; it was who I was. Over the years, my professional design career and painting career have run parallel with little interference from each other. There was definitely influence in both directions, mostly positive.” The beginnings of the Capitol exhibit happened during his 44-year retrospective show. The show was titled Route 44 – Journey honoring the 44 years of his work and the highway connection between the Southwestern and central parts of Oklahoma. It was held at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Melton Gallery in the Fall 2013. Hefner has been teaching design at the university for 25 years. There, one room contained work he created over decades of artistic discipline – fine art, design, and even experimental projects. Capitol Galleries Curator (and former student of Hefner’s) Alyson Atchison said, “When I saw Larry’s exhibit at the Melton, I immediately started picturing the works in the East Gallery. The colors, sizes, and proportions just seemed like a perfect fit for the East Gallery.” Larry’s dedication to teaching is remarkable. He was instrumental in the development of UCO’s design program, growing into its own accredited department. During his 25 years as a professor, he has taught nearly every aspect of the program, always keeping up to date with the most recent technologies and software. He has a blog full of useful design tips and strategies: lhefnerucodesign.wordpress. com. It also serves as a platform for his students’ work. For posts that feature student work, he gives a brief rundown of an imaginative design prompt, such as “produce a logo, promotional, advertisement and packaging for a zoo compost—‘Zoop!’” The beautiful results and marveling originality of the completed assignments are testaments to the solid educational foundation the students receive. When asked about the unique assignments, Hefner says, “My philosophy has always been to push a

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Yellow Slides/Negative Z, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 60”, 2015.

creative-driven design solution with the highest attention to craft and execution. Absolutely, that is the same approach I take to my paintings.” Abstruse Deception opens on July 6 and runs through September 6, 2015 in the Oklahoma Capitol building East Gallery. n

Olivia Biddick is the Office/Production Coordinator at CVWmedia in Norman. She has a BA in Journalism with an emphasis on Broadcasting and Electronic Media, from the University of Oklahoma. Contact her at Olivia.biddick@gmail.com.

ON THE MAP: Mainline

ON THE

by Libby Williams

Katy Eagleston and Kelly Knowlton in Mainline Gallery and Bar. Photo: Libby Williams

A visit to Mainline Gallery and Bar in Tulsa can be likened to spending the evening at a close friend’s house. A friend who keeps a fully stocked bar at all times, collects charming mid-century modern furniture, and takes advantage of any opportunity to show off their eclectic art collection. The bar ranges from inventive cocktails to cans of PBR, and you can arrive wearing anything from a suit and tie to a t-shirt and flip flops. Wednesday nights are spent playing Pictionary, Sundays for singing Karaoke, and Thursdays are for dancing to live music. Mainline is the unique yet ambitious offering of Kelly Knowlton and Katy Eagleston to provide artists with a home base to share ideas, a place for creative professionals to hold meetings and an environment for all Tulsans to engage with art in an informal and unintimidating way. “It’s time for people to stop being afraid of art,” said Eagleston, “you don’t have to know a lot about it to appreciate it!” Eagleston puts her experience as a bar manager and art history degree to good use over seeing the daily operations of Mainline’s bar and gallery. The gallery hosts two concurrent exhibitions a month and

features work by a contemporary Oklahoma artist as well as a selection of work from Knowlton’s own extensive art collection. Knowlton’s particular interest as a collector focuses on the work of art professors from across the state of Oklahoma, past and present. “An instructor is a launching pad for so much creativity,” said Knowlton, who loves to see the visual influence one artist can have on another. With his passion firmly established, Knowlton envisions Mainline as the perfect meeting place to nurture collaboration between Oklahoma artists. “Most artists get inspired by each other,” said Knowlton. The tables and bookshelves are always stocked with sketchbooks, colored pencils, and art books that conveniently instigate creative thinking and collaboration. Therefore, it seems appropriate that when Mainline celebrated its one-year anniversary in June 2015 both gallery spaces featured the work of ETA, an artist collective in Tulsa whose seven members, Tahlia and Tommy Ball, Grace Grothaus Grimm, Jason Lockhart, Josephine Morrison Lans, May Yang, (and myself), often met at Mainline to discuss their identity as an artist collective and develop collaborative projects.

Knowlton and Eagleston agree that in its first year of operation the bar has been paying the bills and moving the business along. As they look towards the future they want to see Mainline transition to functioning primarily as an art gallery that also happens to have a bar. “It’s important to have a community that supports and buys art from their artists,” said Knowlton. “I believe the artists in Oklahoma are as good as they are anywhere in the country.” Unlike many galleries that often book shows fifteen months in advance Mainline tends to schedule its artists a couple of months at a time. This offers Oklahoma artists the unique opportunity to create work and show it in a more immediate time frame. Exhibiting artists are also expected to share their working process with the public at a scheduled artist talk during the month of their exhibition. The result has established Mainline as a desirable gallery for emerging and established artists alike. Tom Conrad will show his work in July, and August will feature Tammy Brummell. In addition to solidifying Mainline’s identity as a premier gallery that showcases the art (continued to page 22)

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(continued from page 21) of Oklahoma artists, Knowlton and Eagleston want to offer a diverse array of art events to the community each month. Planned activities will include a book club that focuses on artist biographies and a lecture series called, “The Art Of…” in which artists lecture on topics such as origami, comic books, and textiles and provide attendees with a hands-on activity. “Art’s not once a month!” said Eagleston, who wants to provide Tulsans with many opportunities to experience art throughout the month, not only during the First Friday Arts Crawl. With big goals and limitless ideas in store, Mainline is sure to see exciting changes as it enters is second year of operation. In the meantime when groups of artists and say “We’re at the bar,” one can assume they mean Mainline. More information can be found at mainlineartok.com. n Libby Williams is a painter and arts educator. She has an MFA in painting from the University of Tulsa.

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Mainline Gallery and Bar, photo: Libby Williams

ASK A CREATIVITY COACH: Got Talent? Motivation Matters More by Romney Nesbitt

ASK A CREATIVITY COACH:

WORDS MATTER

by Romney Nesbitt

Dear Romney, I paint non-representational pieces and usually title my work something like “Untitled” or “Composition #1”. My gallery owner wants me to retitle my pieces? Why? —Man of few words Dear Man, Words really do matter. More descriptive titles could build emotional connections with potential buyers. Let’s say you have a series of abstract paintings for an upcoming show. Instead of choosing a neutral title, consider how a title with a “story” might speak to your viewers and possibly lead to a sale. For example, a horizontal abstract piece titled “Sante Fe Summer” could convince a buyer with a love for the Southwest to take your painting home. Abstract images can also convey universal themes. Imagine a

School of Art

Beyond the Window, a gallery exhibit,

will be available for viewing by the public beginning August 27 through September 24, 2015. Beyond the Window is an exhibition by Zeuxis artists (an association of still life painters) that explores the ways paintings use interior scenes to frame outdoor vistas. From at least the time of ancient Pompeii, artists have used the device of a window view to contrast inner and outer worlds. The division of spaces —between worlds of direct sunlight and shadowy interior— heighten an entire set of contrasts: the intimate and the expansive; the domestic and the untamed; the controlled and the out of control. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M. – 4:30 P.M.

series of paintings with titles such as Truth, Serenity, Challenge or Courage. Austin Kleon, author of Show Your Work (Workman Publishing, 2014) said “Artists love to trot out the tired line, “My work speaks for itself,” but the truth is, our work doesn’t speak for itself. Human beings want to know where things come from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about your work…affects how they value it.” To add more value to your work, create a title that is authentic and engaging. What inspired you to paint those colors or those shapes? A place you visited, a feeling, a memory? Are the colors reminiscent of a particular part of the country, a time in your life or a season? Every painting tells a story (in image and title). Remember collectors are not just looking for something to hang in their living room; they want an emotional connection with the painting and the artist. Use your artist’s statement as an introduction. Add a pleasant photo of yourself working in your studio. Share your credentials and interesting details about your creative process such as the name of a pet that is your muse, music you listen to while you’re working, new ideas you’re exploring etc. Interesting details tell the bigger story about your life as an artist and invite new people to be a part of your inner circle. Words really do matter. n Romney Nesbitt is a Creativity Coach and author of SECRETS FROM A CREATIVITY COACH. She welcomes your comments and questions at romneynesbitt@gmail.com. Book her to speak to your group through OVAC’s ARTiculate Speakers Bureau.

Margaret McCann, Gazing Globe, 2014

For more information, visit www.cas.utulsa.edu/art/ or call 918.631.2739

TU is an EEO/AA institution

business of art

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EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetry

Musing on Ellen

INVITATION TO PARTY MANSION

Moershel’s painting, John Selvidge takes us into a disjointed

they say that about them broken mirror

wholeness reminiscent

do we. glass,

waking life. Ekphrasis is

laughter

among us.

the ball room mirror, an

back,

go, circulate

new

friends.

wrecks as departure

party. We’re Come

you here

but

& circle

j oin us,

our

RSVP

in the

please. Attire

come

as the dream

as you too

waking life,

stamping its

rather than

return.

always open. Come again?

& go, come

Come

come &

ate language only,

formally casual

remember

encouraged so

the

safely

range

Our hallways loop

make priv-

to vista

whole

but

are because we want

will

heart’s

vectoring

conversational def-

enough

bleed along

as you

music,

that

the

entry

chakra

I think

collar

should

sex.

for

though only briefly

This time

and/or

re-

before

world,

sleight of

a place

understand each

slowly

a doubled

rattling in the

are windows.

innuendo

mirrored wall

Cocktails

your fur-lined

early exit?

lection

You

you here

says no & neither

there’s

Our joints

we’ve seen

understanding of a visual work of art.

& get some.

on the

never

& spines erect,

has a color?

to express their

John Selvidge’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in BlazeVOX, Otoliths, Nerve Lantern, Gauss PDF, Creative Thresholds, Moria, and An Atlanta Poets Group Anthology: The Lattice Inside (University of New Orleans Press, 2012), a collection he co-edited. He lives in Oklahoma City where he writes and co-directs the Ralph Ellison Foundation.

The dream

come

you here

a place for poets

Ellen Moershel is a Norman, Oklahoma native. She attended the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a BFA in Painting and Sculpture in May 2010. Currently, she works in her studio in Norman primarily in abstract painting. She is represented by JRB Art at the Elms in the Paseo Arts District of Oklahoma City and Visual Voice Fine Art in Truro, Nova Scotia.

So,

reassembling

a good seven years

level of the psyche.

of parties, dreams, and

imaginative

takes

because

holy to threshold

So, come &

get it. again.

(left) Ellen Moershel, Party Mansion, oil on canvas, 33” X 24”, 2014

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OVAC NEWS

JULY | AUGUST 2015

OVAC is proud to announce the 2015 recipients of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Fellowships and Student Awards of Excellence, selected by curator Emily Stamey. Congratulations go to Fellowship winners Stuart Asprey and Jason Cytacki, and Student Award winners Ashley Farrier and Kim Rice. Watch for profiles of each artist in the September/October issue of Art Focus Oklahoma. In the meantime, Stamey’s complete curatorial statement can be viewed on our blog at http://ovac-ok.org/ovac-blog. The Oklahoma Art Writing & Curatorial Fellowship continues on through the summer with the fellows taking regional study trips to Kansas City, MO, Omaha, NE, and St. Louis, MO. The program will reconvene on September 26 with a free public panel about art criticism & publishing. Attendees will hear from three visiting experts: James McAnally, executive editor and co-founder of Temporary Art Review and founder, Co-Director, and Curator of The Luminary in St. Louis, MO; Barbara Pollack, art critic, curator, and Professor at the School of Visual Arts, NY; and Buzz Spector, artist, art critic, co-founder of WhiteWalls magazine, and Professor at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. The panel will be held Saturday, September 26, 1-3 pm at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Visit www.write-curate-art.org for more information. OVAC’s 2015 Annual Members’ Meeting will be held on July 11 in Oklahoma City at SixTwelve – please be on the lookout for your invitation in the mail. We are also excited to unveil our new Collector Level Membership + Community Supported Art (CSA) Program, which is a new way to connect art buyers with local artists. Through the CSA Program, collectors will receive 2 original pieces of art by Oklahoma artists and enjoy all of the additional benefits at the Patron Member level. See our ad in the back of this issue for more information, or visit http://ovac-ok.org/get-involved.

ovac news

Momentum Tulsa is an interactive, multidisciplinary art event presented at Living Arts in Tulsa, opening October 2. The call for entries deadline is August 1. Residents of Oklahoma 30 years of age or younger may submit up to 3 artworks in any media including installation, performance, film/video, 2D, and 3D art. There will be over $1,000 in prizes selected by curator America Meredith and the emerging curator in mentorship. Additionally, there is a $100 Viewer’s Choice Award selected by the audience. For more information on the event, or to submit your entry, visit www.MomentumOklahoma.org. Save the date for this year’s annual 12X12 Art Fundraiser taking place on Friday, September 11. This event raises funds for all of OVAC’s programs, making Oklahoma a place where visual artists thrive and contribute fully to their communities. We are also excited to announce that this year the number of artists represented will increase to 175 (previously 150). Each artist creates a work that conforms to the dimensions of twelve-by-twelve inches. The artwork is sold in a surprising silent and blind auction, meaning bidders will not know what others have bid. Bids for each piece begin at $175. Collectors who fear losing a piece of art in the auction may “Buy It Now” to trump the auction. The 12X12 Art Fundraiser pairs Oklahoma’s finest artists with local restaurants and live music to create a memorable one-nightonly event! For more information, visit http://ovac-ok.org/programs/12x12. The next quarterly OVAC Grants deadline is July 15. Please visit www.ovac-ok.org/ programs/grants for a complete list of the available opportunities.

Cayla Lewis serving as Momentum OKC Committee Co-chair, March 2015

OVAC will accept applications for fall internships through July 31. Working alongside OVAC staff, interns are exposed to the daily management of an artist service organization and gain access to the people, events, and resources of the state’s arts community. Submit resume and cover letter to Mandy Messina at office@ovac-ok.org. Art People

Congratulations to long-time OVAC volunteer and artist Cayla Lewis, who was recently named Executive Director of the Plaza District Association in Oklahoma City. Lewis holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in Art with concentration in Printmaking and Contemporary Sculpture from the University of Oklahoma and also holds a certification from Canadian Valley Technology Center in Graphic Design. Maya Hering recently joined the Oklahoma Arts Council as Grants Director. Hering earned a Master of Business Administration from American University in Washington, D.C. and a Bachelor of Science from Humboldt State University in Interdisciplinary Studies. n

Kirsten Olds, Amanda McDonald Crowley, and Chad Alligood at the Oklahoma Arts Writing and Curatorial Fellowship panel discussion on May 8, 2015. Photo: Kelsey Karper

Thank you to our new and renewing members from March and April 2015 Jeudi Hamilton John and Carla Hammer Aaron Hauck Chris Hayes Michael Hoffner Don House Kaylee Huerta Lance Hunter Jacqueline Iskander Heidi James J. Jann Jeffrey F. Bradley Jessop Jessica Johnson Rusty Johnson Micheal W. Jones Ruthe Blalock Jones Michelle Junkin Deborah Kaspari

Bob Kenworthy Howard and Roz Koerth Sharyl and Paul Landis Brian Landreth Kelly Langley Vincent B. Leitch Susan Lester Cayla Lewis Tracey Logan Bruce and Ellen Macella Tatjana Marley Holly McHughes Cindy Miller Elsa Moseley Don C. Narcomey and Vicki VanStavern Don Neal Thomas Nesthus

Galen Nichols Lori Oden Christie Fleuridas Owen Soni Parsons Preston Pettigrew David Phelps Patty S. Porter Terra Rhoads Kim Rice Laura Rice and Ray Diehl Patrick Riley Tori Roberts George Rooks Nancy Roper Verletta Russell Barbara Ryan Gartin Terri Sadler

Ernesto and Lin Sanchez Villarreal Lynda Savage Randy Seitsinger Mark Sisson Lisa Sorrell Todd Sparks Eric Spiegel Jim Stewart Cheryl Swanson Julia Swearingen Skip Thompson Jill Tovar Thomas Tucker Debra Van Swearingen Antoinette Vogt Kelley Walker Carla Waugh

Jim Weaver Stephen Webber Jim Rau and Shanley Wells-Rau Nancy Werneke Becca West, Wishbone Gallery and Supply Angela AK Westerman Rebecca Wheeler Virginia Kay White Holly Wilson Mark Wittig Mark Wyatt Susan York

ovac news

Gallery Listings & Exhibition Schedule Ada

Davis

Guthrie

Faculty and Alumni Invitational Exhibition May 25 – August 28 Blake Morgan Exhibit August 25 – September 25 The Pogue Gallery East Central University 900 Centennial Plaza (580) 559-5353 ecok.edu

Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center 35 N Colbert Rd (580) 369-4222 chickasawcountry.com/explore/view/ Chickasaw-nation-welcome-center

Hancock Creative Shop 116 S 2nd St (405) 471-1951 hancockcreativeshop.wordpress.com

Alva Photography Exhibition - Mike Klemme and Michael Louthan July 3 - August 8 Retrospective Exhibition - Grace Wisdom and Sharon White August 8 - September 4 Graceful Arts Gallery and Studios 523 Barnes St (580) 327-ARTS gracefulartscenter.org

Ardmore

The Goddard Center 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909 goddardcenter.org

Bartlesville Price Tower Arts Center 510 Dewey Ave (918) 336-4949 pricetower.org

Broken Bow Forest Heritage Center Beaver’s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497 beaversbend.com

Chickasha Nesbitt Gallery University of Science and Arts Oklahoma 1806 17th St (405) 574-1344 usao.edu/gallery/schedule

Claremore Rogers State University 1701 W Will Rogers Blvd (918) 343-7740 rsu.edu Wolf Productions: A Gallery of the Arts 510 W Will Rogers Blvd (918) 342-4210 wolfproductionsagallery.com

gallery guide

Duncan Grand Ol’ Opry June 16 - August 11 Christen Walden - Woodland Hymn August 31 - October 31 Chisholm Trail Heritage Center 1000 Chisholm Trail Pkwy (580) 252-6692 onthechisholmtrail.com

Owens Arts Place Museum 1202 E Harrison (405) 260-0204 owensmuseum.com

Guymon All Fired Up Art Gallery 421 N Main (580) 338-4278 artistincubation.com

Durant

Idabel

Southeastern OK State University 1405 N 4th PMB 4231

40/40 (III): 40 years, 40 objects July 1 - September 13 Museum of the Red River 812 E Lincoln Rd (580) 286-3616 museumoftheredriver.org

Durham Metcalfe Museum 8647 N 1745 Rd (580) 655-4467 metcalfemuseum.org

Edmond

Lawton

Donna Nigh Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Dr (405) 974-2432 uco.edu/cfad

Marilyn Rumsey and Stacey Miller July 11 - August 28 The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org

Edmond Historical Society & Museum 431 S Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org

Museum of the Great Plains 601 NW Ferris Ave (580) 581-3460 discovermpg.org

Fine Arts Institute of Edmond 27 E Edwards St (405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com Melton Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Dr (405) 974-2432 uco.edu/cfad University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 E Memorial Rd oc.edu

El Reno Redlands Community College 1300 S Country Club Rd (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Norman The Crucible Gallery 110 E Tonhawa (405) 579-2700 thecruciblellc.com Dope Chapel 115 S Crawford (580) 917-3695 Downtown Art and Frame 115 S Santa Fe (405) 329-0309 Dreamer Concepts 428 E Main (405) 701-0048 dreamerconcepts.org

FAC Faculty Show 2015 June 5 - July 25 Children’s Summer Art Show 2015 August 7 - August 22 Firehouse Art Center 444 S Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com The Nature of Man: Paintings and Drawings by Harold Stevenson Through August 30 A World Unconquered: The Art of Oscar Brousse Jacobson Through Sep 6 Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers June 5 - January 17 Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave (405) 325-4938 ou.edu/fjjma Lightwell Gallery University of Oklahoma 520 Parrington Oval (405) 325-2691 art.ou.edu MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery 122 E Main (405) 360-1162 normanarts.org Summertime In The Victorian Era May - July Moore-Lindsey House Historical Museum 508 N Peters (405) 321-0156 normanhistorichouse.org The Depot Gallery 200 S Jones (405) 307-9320 pasnorman.org

Oklahoma City

Acosta Strong Fine Art 6420 N Western Ave (405) 453-1825 johnbstrong.com Rebecca Twilley & Brandi Twilley July Art Gone Wild August aka gallery 3001 Paseo (405) 606-2522 aka-gallery.com

[ArtSpace] at Untitled 1 NE 3rd St (405) 815-9995 artspaceatuntitled.org FIRST SUNDAY ft. Keegan Hulsey July 5 Brass Bell Studios 2500 NW 33rd Contemporary Art Gallery 2928 Paseo (405) 601-7474 contemporaryartgalleryokc.com Ruth Borum Loveland July 10 - August 13 Kalee Jones W. August 14 - September 10 DNA Galleries 1705 B NW 16th St (405) 371-2460 dnagalleries.com Cale Chadwick July 1 - October 31 Exhibit C 1 E Sheridan Ave Ste 100 (405) 767-8900 chickasawcountry.com

America’sRoad: The Journey of Route 66 Through August 29 Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum 1400 Classen Dr (405) 235-4458 oklahomaheritage.com Grapevine Gallery 1933 NW 39th (405) 528-3739 grapevinegalleryokc.com Howell Gallery 6432 N Western Ave (405) 840-4437 howellgallery.com Jerron Johnston, Acrylic Painting July 3 - August 6 Sue Hale w/Family, Acrylic Painting August 7 - September 3 In Your Eye Studio and Gallery 3005A Paseo (405) 525-2161 inyoureyegallery.com Individual Artists of Oklahoma 706 W Sheridan Ave (405) 232-6060 iaogallery.org Istvan Gallery at Urban Art 1218 N Western Ave (405) 831-2874 istvangallery.com

Beth Hammack & Catherine Adams July 1 – 31 Jim Keffer & Michael Hatcher August 4 – 29 JRB Art at the Elms 2810 N Walker Ave (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Vitrum Novus: Modern Glass Concepts Through July 5 Kasum Contemporary Fine Art 1706 NW 16th St (405) 604-6602 kasumcontemporary.com Prix de West June – August 2 Remembering Chris LeDoux July 25 October 18 Navajo Weavings from the Pam Parrish Collection August 28 – May 8 End of the Trail: A Centennial Celebration August 14 – October 25 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 nationalcowboymuseum.org Nault Gallery 816 N Walker Ave www.naultfineart.com Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 208-5226 okcu.edu Oklahoma City Community College Gallery 7777 S May Ave (405) 682-7576 occc.edu Warhol: The Athletes April 16-July 12 Fabergé:Jeweler to the Tsars June 20-September 27 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Dr (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com Holly Wilson: A Foot in Two Worlds June 18 - August 21 Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd (405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org

Jenny Perry: Sticks and Stones and Glass and Bones May 4 - July 5 Oklahoma State Capitol Galleries 2300 N Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 arts.ok.gov Paseo Art Space 3022 Paseo (405) 525-2688 thepaseo.com

Shawnee

Sulphur

Oklahoma Modern: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection July 18 - August 30 Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 W Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

Chickasaw Visitor Center 901 W 1st St (580) 622-8050 chickasawcountry.com/ explore/view/Chickasaw-visitor-center

Stillwater

Kachina Martin July 3-31 AK Westerman August 7-29 The Project Box 3003 Paseo (405) 609-3969 theprojectboxokc.com

Gardiner Gallery Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts (405) 744-4143 museum.okstate.edu

Red Earth 6 Santa Fe Plaza (405) 427-5228 redearth.org

Movers and Shapers: Combines, Tractors, and Swathers Through August 29 An Ode to Hands: Selections from the Permanent Collection August 17 - October 24 Print Beyond Pop: American Lithography After 1960 August 17 - October 24 Postal Plaza Gallery Oklahoma State University Museum of Art 720 S Husband St (405) 744-2780 museum.okstate.edu

Satellite Galleries Science Museum Oklahoma 2100 NE 52nd St (405) 602-6664 sciencemuseumok.org Summer Wine Art Gallery 2928 B Paseo (405) 831-3279 summerwinegallery.com Tall Hill Creative 3421 N Villa

California Impressionism: Selections from The Irvine Museum Through September 6 Rendezvous Artists’ Retrospective and Art Sale Through July 12 On 52nd Street: The Jazz Photography of William P. Gottlieb July 26 – October 11 Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.utulsa.edu

Tonkawa Eleanor Hays Gallery Northern Oklahoma College 1220 E Grand (580) 628-6670 north-ok.edu

Greenbelt Meridian July 18 September 6 Intertwined, Stories of Splintered Pasts Through July 5 Tulsa Underwater Dream Project Through July 19 Hardesty Arts Center 101 E Archer St (918) 584-3333 ahhatulsa.org

Tulsa Susan Taber Avila: Matters of DisEase August 7 - September 20 Overlap: Lindsay Ketterer Gates and Amanda Bradway Through July 26 108 Contemporary 108 E MB Brady St (918) 895-6302 108contemporary.org

(continued to page 30)

Bill Claps Through July 8 Aaron Whisner July 9 - August 12 Morgan Robinson August 13 September 9 aberson Exhibits 3624 S Peoria (918) 740-1054 abersonexhibits.com

The Womb 25 NW 9th St wombgallery.com

Park Hill Miss Cherokee Exhibit Through August 23 Cherokee Apprentice Art - Atrium Art Showcase Through August 31 Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S Keeler Dr (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org

Piedmont Red Dirt Gallery & Artists 13100 Colony Pointe Blvd #113 (405) 206-2438 reddirtartists.com

Ponca City Ponca City Art Center 819 E Central (580) 765-9746 poncacityartcenter.com

Experience the Historic Paseo! Shopping, Dining & Learning! 20 Galleries, 75 Artists, Restaurants, Boutiques, Art and Education For more information about Educational Programs contact:

ARTS DISTRICT

405.525.2688 www.thepaseo.com #FirstFridayPaseo

First Friday Gallery Walks every month Friday 6-10 pm

gallery guide

(continued from page 29) Oklahoma Impressionism July 3 – August 2 The Art of Charles Addams August 7 – September 27 Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education 124 E MB Brady St (918) 631-4400 gilcrease.utulsa.edu/Explore/ Zarrow

Joseph Gierek Fine Art 1342 E 11th St (918) 592-5432 gierek.com

Alexandre Hogue Gallery University of Tulsa 2930 E 5th St. (918) 631-2739 utulsa.edu/art

Mainline 111 N Main Ste C (918) 629-0342 mainlineartok.com

Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 E 81st Street (918) 481-1111 hollandhall.org

Fiberworks 2015 Through July 10 Fragile Armor Through July 10 Oh, Tulsa! Biennale August 7 - 28 Living Arts 307 E MB Brady St (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org

New Mixed Media Paintings by Sara Matson Westover Through July 3 New Abstract Paintings Shelly Lewis Stanfield Through July 3 M.A. Doran Gallery 3509 S Peoria (918) 748-8700 madorangallery.com

The Lollipop Guild Through July 20 Lovetts Gallery 6528 E 51st St (918) 664-4732 lovettsgallery.com Nir Evron: Projected Claims Through October 18 The Art of Ceremony: Hopi Katsinam Through September 6 Philbrook Downtown 116 E MB Brady St (918) 749-7941 philbrook.org The Figure Examined Through September 13 Bookworks IV Through July 5 Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 S Rockford Rd (918) 749-7941 philbrook.org

Become a member of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. Join today to begin enjoying the benefits of membership, including a subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma. Collector Level + Community Supported Art (CSA) Program $1,000 ($85 a month option) · · · · ·

2 original and quality pieces of art by Oklahoma artists 2 tickets to CSA Launch Events twice a year 2 tickets to 12x12 Art Fundraiser $400 of this membership is tax deductible All of below

PATRON $250 · · · · ·

Listing of self or business on signage at events Invitation for 2 people to private reception with visiting curator 2 tickets each to Momentum OKC & Momentum Tulsa $200 of this membership is tax deductible. All of below

FELLOW $150 · · · · ·

Acknowledgement in Resource Guide and Art Focus Oklahoma Copy of each OVAC exhibition catalog 2 tickets to Tulsa Art Studio Tour $100 of this membership is tax deductible. All of below

FAMILY $75

· Same benefits as Individual, for 2 people in household

INDIVIDUAL $45 · · · · ·

Subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma magazine Monthly e-newsletter of Oklahoma art events & artist opportunities Receive all OVAC mailings Listing in and copy of annual Resource Guide & Member Directory Invitation to Annual Members’ Meeting

Plus, artists receive: · Inclusion in online Artist Gallery, www.ovacgallery.com · Artist entry fees waived for OVAC exhibitions · Up to 50% discount on Artist Survival Kit workshops · Affiliate benefits with Fractured Atlas, Artist INC Online, Artwork Archive, and the National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture.

STUDENT $25

· Same benefits as Individual level. All Student members are automatically enrolled in Green Membership program (receive all benefits digitally).

Pierson Gallery 1307-1311 E 15th St (918) 584-2440 piersongallery.com

Wilburton

Licking My Wounds: ElQuan Delanoe July 3-25 Timothy Varnell August 7-29 Tulsa Artists’ Coalition 9 E MB Brady St (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org

Woodward

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

Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.info

Tulsa Performing Arts Center Gallery 110 E 2nd St (918) 596-2368 tulsapac.com Waterworks Art Studio 1710 Charles Page Blvd (918) 596-2440 cityoftulsa.org

MEMBER FORM ¨ Collector Level + Community Supported Art Program ¨ Patron ¨ Fellow ¨ Family ¨ Individual ¨ Student ¨ Optional: Make my membership green! Email only. No printed materials will be mailed. Name Street Address City, State, Zip Email Website

Phone

Credit card #

Exp. Date

Are you an artist? Y N Medium?________________________ Would you like to be included in the Membership Directory? Y N

Would you like us to share your information for other arts-related events?

Detach and mail form along with payment to: OVAC, 730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Ste 104, Oklahoma City, OK 73116 Or join online at www.ovac-ok.org

Art Focus

Ok l a h o m a

Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma are free with OVAC membership.

July 15:

OVAC Quarterly Grants for

Artists Deadline

July 31:

OVAC Fall Internships

Application Deadline

August 1: Momentum Tulsa Survey

Artist Application Deadline

Sept 11: 12X12 Art Fundraiser (OKC) Sept 26: Public Panel: Art Criticism,

Critique and Publishing (OKC)

Oct 2-23: Momentum Tulsa

View the full Oklahoma visual arts calendar at ovac-ok.org/calendar.

730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports Oklahomaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities. Visit www.ovac-ok.org to learn more.

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