Art Focus Oklahoma, January/February 2007

ArtOFocus k l a h o m a

O k l ahoma Visu a l A r ts C o a l i t i o n

Vo l u m e 2 2 N o . 1

January/February 2007

Grit

&

Grace:

Oklahoma Centenarians page 12

Centenarian portraits by

MJ Alexander

7 10

contents

12

profiles 3 Edgar Heap of Birds 5 Mary Nickell

reviews/previews 6 Ten Since Statehood 7 Bean Finneran

10 William Bouguereau

features 11 On the Map 12 Oklahoma Centenarians 14 Black Arts Festival

business of art 16 The Question of Prints 18 Are you Ready for the Show? member agency

19 Ask A Creativity Coach

OVAC news 19 At a Glance 20 Round UP/Members This program is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council

21 gallery

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition P.O. Box 1946 • Oklahoma City, OK 73101 ph: 405.232.6991 • e: director@ovac-ok.org visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org Executive Director: Julia Kirt director@ovac-ok.org

8 Harold Stevenson 9 Governor’s Arts Awards

On the Cover: Oklahoma Centenarians, John and Helen Gower of Ponca City photographed by MJ Alexander

ArtOFocus kl a h o m a

guide

Editor: Kelsey Karper publications@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson anne@speccreative.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: The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports visual artists living and working in Oklahoma and promotes public interest and understanding of the arts.

OVAC welcomes article submissions related to artists and art in Oklahoma. Call or email the editor for guidelines.

OVAC welcomes your comments. Letters addressed to Art Focus Oklahoma are considered for publication unless otherwise specified. Mail or email comments to the editor at the address above. Letters may be edited for clarity or space reasons. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Please include a phone number.

Art Focus Committee: Janice McCormick, Bixby; Sue Clancy, Norman; Janice Mathews-Gordon, Michael Hoffner, Stephen Kovash, Cindy Miller, Debbie Nauser and Sue Moss Sullivan, Oklahoma City.

OVAC Board of Directors 2006-2007: Kathleen Rivers, Ada; Rick Vermillion (Treasurer), Edmond; Suzanne C.Thomas, Nicoma Park; Thomas Batista, Skip Hill, Stephen Kovash, Suzanne Mitchell, Dwayne Morris, Ira Schlezinger, John Seward (Vice President), Carl Shortt, Lila Todd (Secretary), Elia Woods, Oklahoma City; Joellen Frisillo, Pam Hodges, Phd (President), Sand Springs; Chris Ramsay, Stillwater; Jean Ann Fausser, Michaela Merryday, Tulsa; E. K. Jeong, Weatherford.

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus Oklahoma. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff.

Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the National Association of Artists’ Organization. © 2006, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.

prof ile (left) Wheel by Edgar Heap of Birds, installed at Smithsonian (middle) Edgar Heap of Birds (right) Wheel by Edgar Heap of Birds, installed at Denver Art Museum.

Profile: Edgar Heap of Birds

by Janice McCormick Internationally acclaimed Native American artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds has been chosen to participate in the 2007 Venice Biennial.

Heap of Birds is a Professor at the University of Oklahoma where he teaches Native American Studies and Fine Arts. Recently, Heap of Birds, known for his highly political, text-driven art, gave a lecture and workshop at The University of Tulsa’s School of Art, from which this profile is drawn.

Heap of Birds, who is Cheyenne/Arapaho, has been creating site-specific installations, sculpture, drawings and prints in order to draw attention to the social and political injustices that the many native tribes of America have endured and which the white culture has conveniently forgotten. For example, in 1991, he created “Mission Gifts,” for the San Jose Museum of Art’s “Claim Your Color” public art project. These “gifts” were listed on signs: “Syphilis, Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Forced Baptisms, Mission Gifts - Ending Native Lives.” As this example illustrates, Heap of Birds creates art that is deliberately confrontational and political by drawing upon the past to illuminate the present. Such art, Heap of Birds realizes, is most effective when placed in public spaces.

When one of his main exhibits would hang in a gallery or museum, an auxiliary installation would be located elsewhere so that the public could view it free of charge. Using mass media strategies, he has created signs and placed them on public benches, billboards, buses, subways and airports. His “Mission Gifts” signs, for example, were installed on the buses in Santa Clara County, CA. One possible venue for a component of his upcoming Venice Biennial project is a billboard located near Customs at the airport.

Despite the dominance of text in his art, Heap of Birds does not see himself as a conceptual artist. He describes conceptual artists “as antidrawing, anti-painting, who do not concern themselves with aesthetic principles as much as just getting the ideas out.” In contrast, he feels his text pieces reflect his aesthetic concerns: his careful choice of color, size and type of font as well as text placement and orientation.

It is these aesthetic characteristics - especially the manipulation of fonts - that separates out his art from the welter of advertising and informational signs. For example, in seeing the word “Natural” printed backwards as a

mirror image (in “Don‘t Want Indians,” 1982) the reader likely will do a double take and question just how natural is “natural.”

This ironic unnatural “natural” clearly calls into question all but the final line of the disturbing text that follows: “We Don’t Want Indians/Just Their/ Name/Mascots/ Machines/Cities/Products/ Buildings/Living People.” This last phrase abruptly brings us up short: it reminds us, after all, that Indians are living people.

Paradoxically, it is these same aesthetic characteristics, coupled with the signs’ commercial fabrication (according to his designs), that give his text pieces such a strong “official look” - a look that assures people will indeed pay attention to them. As Heap of Birds notes with a chuckle, “People still tend to believe in signs.” Once read, however, the text subverts this very authority and in its stead asserts a higher, moral authority. Furthermore, it is this air of objective authority that keeps Heap of Birds’ text pieces from either being too preachy or devolving into a hectoring rant. Indeed, in answer to a question, Heap of Birds asserted that he creates art “not to persuade as much as to lay the issues on the table for discussion.”

Regarding his Venice Biennial project, Heap of Birds explains, “This is my new, perhaps most important, challenge/honor to represent the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian at the Venice Biennial in June 2007.” Already his curatorial team has made the first visit to the site this past October. Two parks and an airport billboard near customs are possible sites.

He is tentatively considering four components to his project to be placed in different locations. One focuses on Venice’s role in the Fourth Crusade.

Two others center on the warrior chiefs who traveled with William “Buffalo Bill” Cody‘s Wild West Show to Venice. The fourth component will be the result of collaborating with a master glassblower on the island of Murano to create vase shapes decorated with his colorful, abstract motif from his reoccurring “Neuf” painting series.

Serendipitously, six months prior to being chosen to take part in the Venice Biennial, Heap of Birds had visited Venice and was struck by the treasures plundered from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade and placed in a church (the Basilica of San Marco) as an historic achievement.

continued page 4

prof ile continued from page 3 These include the famous four horses of Venice.

Thus, one part of Heap of Bird’s proposed exhibit will center on the theme of crusades.

As Heap of Birds puts it in his artist proposal, “The title, ‘Most Serene Republics’ for my 2007 Venice Biennale project … refers to an historic designate of the past known as Venice, Italy. The phrase ‘Most Serene Republics’ fosters a link to an ironic assessment of very hostile policies carried out by the church and republic during the ‘Fourth Crusade,’ years 1201-1204, in European history. These deeds of war were based primarily on religious, xenophobic and business interests that, when re-examined, reveal similar tactics relating to the current tragic war in Iraq.” Thus, as is his usual practice of using the past to illuminate the present, he plans on referring to President George W. Bush who had used the word “crusade” in the initial stages of the war on terrorism.

Going into more detail, Heap of Birds describes this part of his proposal: “In the Venetian Royal Gardens, created by Napoleon, I plan to install eight text sign panels, size 24” X 36”, which share emotions regarding religious crusades, stolen plunder, repatriation of artifacts, Venetian achievements, both artistic and nautical, along with an investigation of the Italian custom of ghetto creation which became a precursor to the confinement policies of U.S. Indian reservations.” One sign contains the line “LET FOUR HORSES RUN HOME.” An interesting side note, a phrase in his proposed text for this project already has proved to be controversial for reasons he had not anticipated. Initially, he had chosen “Viva Venezia” which turns out to be the political slogan of Venetian separatists seeking independence from Italy.

Heap of Birds’ second and third components for the Venice Biennial (to be located in two different public places) will focus on the Sioux warriors who had accompanied Buffalo Bill Cody on a tour of Europe and had stopped in Venice. In his research, he found an old photograph featuring two Sioux warriors and Buffalo Bill sitting in a gondola. They were put on display like curiosities. As he puts it, “No one asked them what they thought about Venice, the Venetians and their culture.” Now he will give these warriors a voice that they did not have. He wishes to honor one of these warriors who died in Europe.

Here is how Heap of Birds describes these two Warrior Chiefs components:

“For Native Americans, displacement and

the dissolving of their own indigenous republics has become a common suffering endured and shared throughout Indian Country. During the 1880’s our turbulent Native condition was placed on display, as a human spectacle, in William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show in Venice, Italy and across Europe. Warrior Chiefs representing the Sioux Nations participated as subjugated performers in theatre venues and played to some of the largest audiences ever assembled in Europe for entertainment purposes. Therefore, Native presence in Venice has historically articulated a double displacement of peoples having been removed from tribal homelands, in North American prairies, by war and treaty, only to be exiled again and exhibited in Europe.”

Edgar Heap of Birds focuses attention on how the Warrior Chiefs “struggled to survive the exposition and subsequent ridicule,” and how one of them ( Long Wolf of Pine Ridge) “died from illness during this exodus to Europe.” He goes on to state, “As a primary action in my project for the 2007 Venice Biennale, I wish to erect sixteen memorial text sign panels, size 24” X 36”, along the tree colonnade which connects the Biennale Pavilions and Arsenale.

These memorial messages shall be multilingual, deployed in Italian, English, Sioux and Cheyenne and dedicated to respecting the spirits of our 1880 Warrior Chiefs.

“The Venice Biennale and its vast international tourist audience can be described as a contemporary spectacle and associated with a like-minded event such as the Wild West Show in its relationship to entertainment and commerce. As another important venue for the Warrior Chief memorial messages, I would desire to present large scale billboard texts at the welcoming check point for tourists at Venice’s Marco Polo International Airport.”

“In reflecting upon possible Native American reactions to their 1880’s experience in Europe, the Warrior Chiefs were not given an opportunity to offer personal editorials about the European host histories because only Native existence was presented and scrutinized.”

The fourth component, a collaborative art glass project, represents a more personal and celebratory form of artistic expression. As he puts it, “As a very significant fourth and final component of my Biennale project, offering a balance to critical analysis, I wish to reaffirm our Native presence in Venice by a constructive

A Prototype Sign by Edgar Heap of Birds, installed in the Venetian Royal Gardens.

and celebratory artistic fabrication.

My mission shall be to realize colorful and lyrical creations in glass from the island of Murano and my Neuf (Cheyenne ceremonial number four) Painting series. This painting series has emerged from imagery in the Oklahoma post-reservation landscape and should translate well into the splendor of polychromed glass.”

“Venice does certainly hold many exemplary properties. The exquisite tradition of Venetian glass executed at the Murano studios will provide a merger of my own artistic freedom in painting and the fine qualities of Venice.

Together these two entities, along with the public art expressions, shall resolve how one negotiates a problematic past while inventing a celebration whose forward-looking prospectives speak of acceptance, tolerance, diversity and beauty.”

Underlying Heap of Birds’ artistic efforts is his belief in the importance of the past to critique the present. As he puts it, “A critique of Venetian history and society will inform the modern day public with a new and clearer lens of observation. Perhaps the Venetian republic and biennale will be understood as a deeper chronicle to include Native America, while present day global conquests and crusades may be critiqued.” As his proposed Venice Biennial project demonstrates, Edgar Heap of Birds continues to pursue the role of artist as spokesperson for those whose voices have long been silenced. ■

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(from left to right) Not Ripe, Mixed Media, 30”x36”; Copy of Bill, Mixed Media, 20”x20”; Mary Nickell painting in her studio; Wall Flower, Mixed Media, 13”x13”

Mary Nickell: Freedom, Passion, & Inspiration

by Julie Bennett-Jones

This article is part of a series of oral history interviews conducted by University of Central Oklahoma Museum Studies students in collaboration with the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Mary Nickell, a remarkably humble and sincere woman, becomes intense and passionate when discussing her art. Each piece holds special significance and a story for those who will only look and listen. Open and honest about her art, she can inspire even the least artistically inclined.

For Nickell, art becomes a form of expression. She believes her inspiration comes from inside and paints totally intuitively. Although she has enjoyed painting for about twenty-five years, she can currently be found divulging into her artistic passions at Studio Six in the Paseo District of Oklahoma City.

JBJ: Where does your inspiration for your art come from?

MN: Everything I’ve ever seen consciously or unconsciously surfaces in my paintings.

JBJ: How do you feel your career evolved from the beginning when you first started doing watercolors to now?

MN: Well, I started entering competitions and had some success and that’s affirmation that you’re accepted in some ways and I still enter a lot of competitions but I’m selective as to the judge and the juror if I respect them. I’d rather not know or be known by the juror because you get a better reflection of your strength and your weaknesses so that was one way that my, if you want to call it a career, evolved.

JBJ: So how did watercolor and the other things that you’ve used evolve into your mixed media creations that you have here?

MN: Well, first I changed from watercolor to acrylics. And I learned this about myself that watercolor is too thin it doesn’t have a stamina that I like in my paintings, so acrylic I can put it on as thick as I like and it takes on the look, properties of oil. I like oil but it takes so long to dry. And I occasionally use oil sticks, and I enjoy what I can do with the oil sticks but acrylic is probably my most used medium--that and Elmer’s glue. I use a lot of glue as you can see.

JBJ: So when did you first attempt doing your collages and how was that met with in your opinion?

MN: I don’t remember my first collage, but it’s almost a gimmick for me. And I hate to use that word. Because when I don’t know how to cross another bridge or a plateau I would say collage will do it. I can put a piece of paper or an object and it becomes a bridge from one part of the painting to the other. It’s a connector and I don’t remember when I first discovered that, but there are also some other things that you will see in my work that is not mine alone, but like the checkerboard, you can see

it repeated several times, it’s another bridge that an artist will use, or as some people use symbols or script or line. I love lines. I’ve done a few line drawings. I’m not as good at it as I’d like to be, but I’m working on it [laughing].

JBJ: What piece of artwork, in your opinion, says the most about you as an artist?

MN: Oh, wow [laughing]. They all say something about me: the Constellations, the Heavens, people…people are very important to me. The Bride--I had two daughters be married, so you know what that is, a lot of work [laughing], celebration and fun. It’s a good time. The only thing the Father of the Bride is just half there—he’s pushed out. For some reason I’m drawn to religious regalia or symbolism and I’m not a Catholic but I respect their traditions all the worship procedures that’s connected with them. This reminds me of them. I can’t really say which painting would symbolize me that much. Maybe that woman that you had seen on the website…

JBJ: The Diner?

MN: Yeah.

JBJ: Why would you say that one?

MN: I would…well, pieces of food and a plate and a circle. I use a lot of circles, a circle is a complete feeling, I don’t use a lot of hard lines and sharpness but she’s the mood when…a soulful look like she is wanting someone to come and dine with her, you know. An egg and a dish in the background--I like to cook, that’s one of my, if you say I have a hobby, it’s a necessary hobby. I like to cook. There’s a lot of creativity in preparing meals for just me or for the two of us, or there used to be six of us so it’s in your attitude about how you approach something whether you enjoy it or not, and I like to create.

JBJ: What other acclaims have you won with your artwork?

MN: Well, I’ve won several competitions, I’ve been in the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Biennial probably three times and that’s quite an honor because it speaks well. I’ve won some things in a seven-state competition several years ago. I like to think that someday my children will enjoy all these things that I have left sitting around.

JBJ: So what do you feel your legacy will be through all your painting and your work?

MN: Well, I hadn’t thought about my legacy, but I would hope that it would be she did what she felt and put her life before the world. ■

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Looking Back Looking forward: The Value of Oklahoma artists

by Julia Kirt

JRB Art at the Elms has been exploring Oklahoma’s artistic legacy long before this official “Centennial” anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood ramped up. Consistently, Dr. Joy Reed Belt has woven her curiosity about contemporary artists with her great respect for the artistic heritage in Oklahoma.

(top) Charles Banks Wilson Oklahoma Swing, Print, 11”x14”

(bottom) DJ Lafon, Yellow Flower, Oil, 24”x36”

“10 Since Statehood” is the newest exhibition in Belt’s series of Oklahoma themes, which opens on New Years Day 2007. Belt said, “The exhibition will include artists who I think represent the quality and diversity of art that comes from Oklahoma. I believe that the viewer will have a better understanding of Oklahoma when they see this show.”

Although conceived as a part of an ongoing string of exhibitions, the 2007 show has been named an official Centennial project.

Artists include: Charles Banks Wilson from Miami, OK, renowned for his large-scale painted commissions; Harold Holden of Kremlin, working in bronze; D. J. Lafon of Norman who can produce amazing work in ANY media; Cherie McGraw originally from Ponca City, who is a Prix de West artist; J. J. McVickers from Vici, the only deceased participant, who led the Art Department of the Oklahoma State University 1959-1977; Joe Andoe, Tulsa native turned New Yorkbased painter; David Crismon, a painter from Edmond; David Fitzgerald who has been published many times over for his photographs of Oklahoma; Brent Learned, a Native American painter with a rustic impressionistic style; and Mike Larsen from Perkins, who more recently was honored to produce the Oklahoma stamp for the United States Postal Service.

The heart of Belt’s desire to organize exhibitions focused, almost exclusively, around Oklahomans is her attitude that “Oklahoma artists have not gotten the national and international recognition that they deserve.”

Of course, improving respect for Oklahomans

is a multi-leveled process that needs a lot of components to create the right chemistry. Not only do we need active artists creating with a strong vision, but also we must have strong collecting institutions like the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The OKCMOA cares for a great cross section of important art by and for Oklahomans that parallels JRB Art at the Elm’s exhibitions. Similarly, the Oklahoma Arts Council has begun expanding the State Arts Collection again, adding to our recorded state legacy. Another important ingredient is a respected commercial gallery that helps appreciate the value of Oklahoma artists, both past and present.

Previous historic exhibitions organized by JRB Art at the Elms include “Early Oklahoma Artists and Master Teachers” that featured the work of ten artists who were contemporaries of Nan Sheets and Oscar Jacobson, and “Print Makers of the Prairie” that included the work of Doel Reed, Maurice Bebb, and other printmakers.

To balance these looks at noteworthy artists from Oklahoma’s past, the gallery alternates the January 1 opening with glimpses of the future in the “Oklahoma’s Collectable Young New Artists,” an exhibition begun last year and curated from an open call to artists age 21 to 34.

A strength of the program is that the gallery does not separate artists into preconceived categories: Belt combines Western-themed art with abstracts and American Indian artwork throughout the gallery. As a curator, she is more driven by her gut reaction to the art than how she expects to exhibit it. She said, “I tend to prefer work that is intelligent, strong and appropriately executed. My taste is very eclectic and the gallery reflects that.”

Introducing visitors to a new combination of styles, “10 Since Statehood” opens January 1, 2007 and continues through January 28, 2007. ■

photo: Max Finneran

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Bean Finneran

at the Gardiner Gallery

by Sheri Ishmael-Waldrop She describes her work as abstract, with simple elemental forms, rings, lines, cones, circles, which evoke real things: sea anemones, coral reefs, haystacks and wind blown grasses. The natural flow of the shapes Bean Finneran creates invites the viewer to move closer, as if they could touch the form. The natural hand rolled clay “curves” are painstakingly assembled oneby-one to produce her distinctive installations.

“The clay curve connects me to time, the earth, the elements of human culture,” she said. “The clay curves I roll are each similar but unique, connecting them to the natural world where blades of grass are almost the same but never quite the same.”

She said the arched “curves” are a strong form that interlocks as she builds the sculpture. She discovered the amazing form by chance while working with a straight coil that kept rolling off of the table. She said she was playing with the material when she pulled the corners of a section down. “I still get wrapped up exploring the forms you can construct with them,” Finneran said.

The tidal flow of the marsh land, where her home and studio are located north of San Francisco, provides a constant source of inspiration. “There is beauty in the way water rushes up the canal and then returns to the bay causing the saltwater grasses to bend over and spring up,” she said.

Her bright sculptures are “deliberately un-natural” in color. This allows them to communicate a natural feel without replicating nature. The process of building the piece one curve at a time connects her to the natural world, along with the ordered chaos that comes from organizing the thousands of elements into a form, she said.

The Oklahoma State University Gardiner Art Gallery brings Finneran to Stillwater January 31 through February 16, 2007, with an artist reception and lecture on February 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Art History Room.

Art professor, Brandon Reese said the gallery invites artists who expose students to different styles and techniques. Ceramic artist Finneran brings a different approach and way of thinking to the students. The students will assist in setting up the exhibit. Reese said Finneran will collaborate and guide the students in placing the straws. Because the site-specific installation must be taken apart and reassembled on location, the exhibit is slightly different each time.

Orange Cone, White Cone, Yellow Dome created using 350 orange curves, 10,000 white curves, 2500 yellow curves and was installed at Gail Severn Gallery, Sin Valley, Indiana, in 2003. The curves are made of low fire clay, under-glazed, glazed, and acrylic stained.

“It will be wonderful to work with students, especially ceramic students. They are so interested in the process,” Finneran said. “It’s great to get out in the world where people ask questions, and to see what they are doing.”

She began her art career as an actor, producer and custom jewelry designer. “My husband and I had an avant-garde theater company while I was part owner in the jewelry business,” Finneran said. “The visual theater group traveled to Moscow, Egypt and Italy.”

Her “curves” are shipped to location and then the process of setting up begins. Because of her experience with the theater group, she is very comfortable moving into a new space, assessing the space available to her, adapting and then assembling the sculpture.

Finneran studied at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, the University of Michigan, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Museum School and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Her sculptures are in the collections of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo, at Microsoft Inc., in Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, Calif., the San Jose Museum of Art in California, and in 2005 she exhibited at the World Ceramic Biennale, in Seoul, South Korea, where she was awarded a prize of honor and now has a sculpture in their permanent collection.

The Turquoise Cone utilizes 20,000 curves made of low fired clay and acrylic stain and was on exhibit in San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, Calif., in 2003; photo: Bean Finneran

From Stillwater Finneran’s installation will go to Baltimore Clay Works in Maryland for a March exhibit. For additional information on her extensive portfolio and samples of her work go to www.beanfinneran.com. ■

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Harold Stevenson:

The Great Society

by Kelsey Karper In the far southeast corner of Oklahoma sits the small town of Idabel. It is there that Harold Stevenson spent his childhood learning to paint.

Although he later spent a good deal of time in places like New York, Paris, London and Venice, it was Idabel that would always be his home.

While living in Paris in the mid-1960s, Stevenson was awarded a grant from the Brooks Jackson and Alexander Iolas Gallery. This grant afforded him the opportunity to paint anything, anywhere he wanted. Rather than travel to an unknown, exotic location to paint, Stevenson chose his hometown of Idabel, Oklahoma with its residents as his subjects.

“The famous art merchants who were paying for all this thought I had lost my mind,” Stevenson said. “No lucid individual would waste good money painting country folk in the middle of nowhere. I was fearless.”

The journey home to Idabel resulted in one hundred and one larger than life sized portraits, each measuring thirty inches by forty-eight inches, which Stevenson considers as one large work – The Great Society. Once completed, the portraits were displayed together for the first time in 1968 at Iris Clert’s Galerie in Paris. Recently,

after thirty years in storage, the exhibition was brought together once again at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman.

I knew them all. To me, the opportunity to paint these people was unique. This series is my history and the history of small town America.

—Harold Stevenson Displayed on all four walls of a single gallery of the museum, the one hundred and one faces of The Great Society surrounded the viewer, peering back at them. The frame of each painting was filled with the face of the subject and a quick survey of the exhibition revealed the unexpected diversity that the small town of Idabel had in the 1960s. There were small children, appearing to be no more than five years, as well as elderly, one noted to have been one hundred and nine.

The expressions on the faces were varied as well.

The solemn stares were interspersed with the wry smiles and bright eyes. Occasionally, the paintings would include part of a hand, bringing a cigarette to the lips or covering the mouth as if in a laugh.

A viewer could begin to imagine the stories of the

lives represented in these paintings through the looks on the subject’s faces and the tales they told with their eyes.

None of the portraits were marked with names, as Stevenson had the intention of keeping the subjects anonymous. While working on the project, he never even chose the models for his paintings. The residents of Idabel knew of his project and would simply appear at the doorstep of his studio. Stevenson hoped that through the anonymity of the people, it would be possible for the general masses to find something, some part of humanity, with which everyone could find similarities.

Given a great opportunity at the height of his art career, this artist chose to return to the place that began it all. Many wondered why Harold Stevenson would return to Idabel. “I painted America bigger, far bigger than life,” Stevenson said. “I wanted to make a statement that was thoroughly American and would slap Abstract Expressionism directly in the face. And I loved the local people where I was born and reared. To my way of thinking, this was an opportunity that I dare not let pass me by.” ■

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Governor’s Arts Awards 2006

by Jeanne Flanigan

The Oklahoma State Capitol Fourth Floor Rotunda was the location of the Thirty-first Annual Governor’s Arts Awards, on November 29th. Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council (OAC), 20 individuals and two organizations were honored for their contributions to the arts in Oklahoma. Awards were presented by Governor Brad Henry, with OAC Chair Jim Tolbert and Executive Director Betty Price directing the proceedings. Winners are nominated by organizations and individuals for their commitment to the arts in Oklahoma. The prestigious Governor’s Award recognizes individuals for their long-term leadership and contributions, and can only be received once in a lifetime. Three individuals were honored with the Governor’s Arts Award: Margery Mayo Bird, of Tulsa; Edward C. Joullian III, of Oklahoma City; and Lew O. Ward III, of Enid.

Margery Mayo Bird was the daughter of pioneer Tulsans. She graduated from Holland Hall High School, attended Connecticut College, and graduated from Erskine School in Boston. She has served on many boards, including the Junior League of Tulsa, the Tulsa Garden Center, the Recreation Center for the Physically Limited, the Tulsa Historical Society, Philbrook Museum of Art, and Holland Hall School. Bird is currently a board member of the Tulsa Arts and Humanities Council, Gilcrease Musem, Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Ballet, and formerly was a leader in Tulsa Little Theatre and Tulsa Town Hall. She is described as a “caring, compassionate person, and a smart businesswoman.”

Her creative problem-solving and tremendous energy brought the Tulsa Arts and Humanities Council to nominate her. Bird created four scholarships at the University of Tulsa in memory of her husband, Don R. Feagin, and their son, J. Donald Feagin, who died of Cystic Fibrosis. She has received many honors, among them the T.U. College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Service Award, and induction into the Tulsa Hall of Fame.

The late Edward C. Joullian was born in Blackwell in 1929, and graduated from high school at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. He returned to Oklahoma for college, graduating from Oklahoma State University in Mechanical Engineering. From 1964 to his death in September 2006, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors for Mustang Fuel Corp.and Subsidiaries in Oklahoma City. Throughout his lifetime, he served on many boards and received many honors. He made course-changing contributions with his expertise in fiscal management of non-profit organizations. His nomination from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum came as a result of his extraordinary investment of his resources, talents, and good will toward making the world a better place. “Mr. Joullian has given generously to causes in which he believed...the arts, education, historic preservation, and youth development. His financial contributions have been at a leadership level, and he has made the critical difference in important, historic initiatives.”

Joullian championed the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) throughout his life, serving on the local, regional, national and international levels. He was named President of the BSA in 1982. At the turn of the 21st century he was named Chairman of the World Scouting Foundation, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lew Ward is Chairman of the Board of Ward Petroleum Corp. in Enid.

He is a major donor of the YMCA and YWCA, the Enid Public School Foundation, the Enid Community Foundation, and the Enid Symphony Center. He is a supporter of Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse Children’s Museum, Gaslight Theater, and Chautauqua in the Park. Ward serves on the Board of the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy, and is a member of the American West Society of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Ward was nominated by the Enid Arts and Humanities Commission in appreciation for the constant participation and contribution to events and

(left to right) Edward C. Joullian; Lew Ward; Margery Mayo Bird

programs large and small. “The presence of Lew and Myra Ward makes a huge difference in the community. Mr. Ward uses his networking to bring national attention to the children of Enid”, they stated. Ward presently serves on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, President of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, and is a former Master’s Society member of the Philbrook Museum of Art. He was instrumental in bringing “Partners in Education” to Enid, a Kennedy Center program promoting partnerships in communities across the nation between arts organizations and local schools. Another Kennedy Center program, “Imagination Celebration” brought the Whoopi Goldberg production of “Alice” to Enid.

Winners of the Earl Sneed Memorial Business in the Arts Award are: Joy Reed Belt, Oklahoma City, owner of Human Resources Consulting and JRB Art at the Elms; James W. Bruce Jr., Oklahoma City, Chair of American Banking Systems; SemGroup, owned by Tulsans Tom and Julie Kivisto; and Stock Exchange Bank of Woodward.

The Bill Crawford Memorial Media in the Arts Award went to Gerry Bonds and William C. Thrash, both of OETA in Oklahoma City.

The Arts and Education Award was given to Jimmy Acevedo, Guymon Central Jr. High School; Dr. Kent Kidwell, Edmond, Professor Emeritus at University of Central Oklahoma; and Terry Segress, Weatherford, Chair of the Department of Music at Southwest Oklahoma State University.

Winners of the Community Service Award were Anita Arnold, Oklahoma City, Executive Director of the Black Liberated Art Center; Isidra Chavez, Lawton, Founder of the Mexican Folkloric Dancers of Lawton; John Parrish, Oklahoma City, Director of Art and Cultural OutReach at Southwestern Oklahoma State University; George Seminoff, Oklahoma City, architect and a founder of the Oklahoma City Arts Festival; and Chuck Thompson, Norman, President/CEO of Republic Bank and Trust, instrumental in the revitalization of the Sooner Theater and downtown Norman. Mayor Peggy Keenan, a founder of the Guymon Area Arts and Humanities Commission, was awarded the George Nigh Mayor’s Award. The Marilyn Douglass Memorial Award was given to Dr. Clarence Hedge, Coyle, Chair of the Department of Technology at Langston University, and former Vice Chair of OAC. A Special Recognition Award was given to Les Gilliam, Ponca City, to acknowledge his contribution to western music, the official “Oklahoma Balladeer”; Jana Jae, Grove, fiddler extraordinaire, inducted into the Western Swing Hall of Fame and the Midwest Fiddler’s Hall of Fame.

Special Recognition was given to a daughter of Oklahoma pioneers, Mary Spurgeon, of Gate, a rancher and painter, whose paintings may be seen at the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. Mrs. Spurgeon, at age 88, has depicted many images of Oklahoma from personal memories of horse breaking and house building, and of the wild places we all cherish.

Read her full biography, and those of the other award winners, at www.arts. ok.gov. These are fascinating, inspiring stories to offer hope that as individuals, we can make a difference like they have! ■

rev iew William Bouguereau, Young Girl, Oil on Canvas, 1886

In the Studios of Paris:

William Bouguereau and His American Students

A Review of Philbrook’s Latest Nationally Touring Exhibit

by Cathy Deuschle

Philbrook’s collection includes paintings by William Bouguereau and a number of the prominent artists who studied under him, Eanger Couse, Robert Henri, and Elizabeth Gardner, to name a few. Bouguereau’s ‘Little Shepherdess’ has long been part of this collection and has been a painting particularly beloved by generations of visitors. Over time it has become so strongly associated with the museum that it is now one of Philbrook’s iconic images.

James Peck, Philbrook’s curator of European and American art, conceived this exhibition and built it around key pieces from the collection; they serve as a scaffold from which the teacher/ student theme hangs. Since nine of the fifty seven works represented are from the museum, Philbrook is highlighted alongside Bouguereau.

Having completed its Tulsa engagement, the show now travels to the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Florida, and to the Frick Art and Historical Center in Pittsburgh. The last nationally touring exhibit put together

by Philbrook was 2001’s ‘Woven Worlds’.

The long stretch of time between exhibits is indicative of the huge effort mounting such a show requires.

The exhibit’s historical context was interesting and the treatment of its star artist, Bouguereau, fairly even handed considering his controversial reputation. His work was extremely well received in puritanical America, an audience he catered to. Wealthy American collectors seemed to love everything he produced but had

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a particular predilection for his version of the peasant woman-child, of which he painted many.

She was always chaste, refined, scrupulously clean, pearly skinned, placid, and by all appearances, totally unaccustomed to manual labor. Philbrook’s “Little Shepherdess” is one such example. Perhaps Bouguereau and his devotees were the‘compassionate conservatives’ of the era, preferring a tidied up view of the peasant class and then congratulating themselves for having considered it at all. Then, as now, artistic taste in this country, especially among the more provincial, ran toward sentimental, idealized imagery executed with a high degree of technical finesse. Then, as now, an escape from the world, rather than a serious meditation on it, was what the general public most sought from art.

But of course, the very attributes that brought Bouguereau fame and fortune, also brought him derisive criticism. Though some critics praised his elegant color sense, his masterful ability to manipulate paint and render form, and his sensitivity in portraying children; others felt his work to be more artifice than art, “It is an elegant lie”, wrote one critic, and both sides of the argument make sense to me. His work is often sentimental and always idealized. Some paintings are quite sugary and the idealization in others drains the life away; a checked out Virgin Mary is unsettling . But what drew me into much of Bouguereau’s work, aside from his spot on draftsmanship, was his use of color.

By employing subtle and harmonious color, his peasant women seemed to beautifully emerge from and inhabit their surroundings.

Bouguereau’s long term fiancé, student, and eventual wife, Elizabeth Gardner, who is known as his greatest imitator, also endured stinging criticism while raking in the cash for her canvases.

I found odd the prominent display of a quote attributed to her: “I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than a nobody!”

Not much to admire in that bald statement, but perhaps it’s easy to underestimate the obstacles serious women artists of the time faced.

Complicating the critical mix was the ascendency of Impressionism during Bouguereau’s career as an artist and teacher. His students received the master’s instruction at the Academy Julian, yet were also attuned to the revolutionary change occurring outside the school walls. This exhibition did an admirable job of showing how certain students reconciled their academic training with the ideas of this new movement.

The evolution of Eanger Couse, an American student of Bouguereau who founded the Taos School of Artists, was especially well documented.

Examples of his work included two phenomenal figure drawings done as a student at the Academy, a couple of pen and ink studies, large scale figurative paintings with French subject matter, and mature paintings of Southwestern Indians and landscapes. Besides his changing motifs, one could follow the growing influence of impressionism in his palette and brush work.

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This exhibit also included work by Alfred-Francoise Delobbe. His canvas titled ‘Rest in Harvest’ is another long time Philbrook favorite and until 2003 was attributed to Bouguereau. I found his other painting, ‘Italian Peasant Family’, peculiar in effect. The artist’s placement of sharply delineated and detailed figures in a very loosely constructed environment gave the painting a cut and paste quality. ‘In the Wash House’ by Anna Klumpke was another remarkable piece. Darkened figures around a steaming washtub are backlit by light streaming through a large window, giving this large scaled painting great contrast and intimacy. Another intimate paintings was ‘The Model’ by Robert Henri. A female figure, seemingly preoccupied, sits facing away from the viewer in a dark room. This piece contains the painterly expressiveness academic painting lacked. Though Henri was a student of Bouguereau, as a mature artist he consciously strove to be anti-academic.

One hallmark of a French academic education, evident in every piece displayed, was a belief in the fundamental nature of drawing. Students began their training by drawing copies of engravings, then moved to drawing from plaster casts, and finally spent considerable time drawing the nude model. Only after achieving visual literacy through drawing, coupled with a solid understanding of anatomy and perspective, could the student begin to paint. The academies believed this foundation was the fountainhead from which great art could spring, that an artist unencumbered with technical inadequacies could more easily concentrate on artistic creation. This basic premise, liberally applied, is widely evident in American art schools today. For example, the New York Studio School begins every semester with a two week ‘Drawing Marathon’.

Like the majority of the museum’s offerings, this exhibit was heavy on the eye candy.

Though many paintings contained allegorical content, as was typical of the academic style, they were mostly, like Bouguereau’s idealized women, meant to be pretty. The artists represented made little attempt to reach the psyche or question convention - two things artists famously do, and thus the paintings provide the viewer little deep nourishment or challenge. If the relationship between a painting and a viewer, like that between a poem and a reader, can be described as one heart conversing with another; then mine, at least, wasn’t engaged.

This exhibit was successful on its own terms. It was thoughtfully arranged. It explained the rigors of a French academic art education and suggested the challenges raised to it by impressionism. It was instructive in giving a historical precedent to the degradation of art through commerce - an issue many artists struggle with today. Being sufficiently broad and deep, it made clear the influence of the French academic tradition in general, and Bouguereau in particular, on some important American painters who, in turn, influenced succeeding generations of American artists. ■

(top right) Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, In the Wash House, Oil on Canvas, 1888 (top left) Lawton Parker, Laurel, Oil on Canvas, c.

1920 (bottom) Elizabeth Jane Gardner, He Careth, Oil on Canvas, 1883

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Grit

Grace

and Portraits of Oklahoma Centenarians by MJ Alexander

by Lori Oden One hundred years in the making – the great state of Oklahoma. 2007 will be a year-long celebration of our state’s desperate hours and triumphs and of the people who have contributed with their hands, minds and perspective.

A small percentage of our population, amazingly, has witnessed the first 100 years of our state.

Approximately 300 Oklahomans are over 100 years old. MJ Alexander, photographer, has taken portraits of many of these precious people. She stated, “This spring and summer, I drove more than 2,500 miles to photograph and interview one hundred Oklahoma centenarians and create a lasting record of the grit and grace of the pioneers who helped build this state.”

M.J. Alexander is a writer and photographer whose artistic vision unites her skills of a photographer and storyteller. From her home in Oklahoma, she explores the evolution of the American West. She attended a two-room schoolhouse in her hometown of 250 people in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and then earned degrees from Vassar College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

She has been a journalist with The Associated Press in New York City, a park ranger on Lake Superior, editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper, a long-distance motorcyclist in Australia, and a professor in Vermont. She is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States and has reported from five continents.

Her photographs have been published by Smithsonian Magazine, exhibited in venues ranging from Pleiades Gallery of New York City to New Mexico’s Hubbard Museum of the American West, and featured in touring exhibitions from Oklahoma to Ontario.

Alexander is a published poet who has received eight consecutive ASCAP awards for lyric writing.

She was 2004 artist-in-residence at Hedgebrook colony, Whidbey Island, Washington, and won the American Press Institute’s Ottaway Fellowship for Toronto study.

Alexander elaborated on her background and said, “I love great characters and great stories, and have always been fascinated by people and their history. I grew enmeshed in small-town life and local lore -- the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of timber cruisers and lumberjacks. My first poem, about our annual 500-mile snowmobile endurance race, was published when I was eight.”

When I asked her about this project, she stated, “I wanted to do something special for Oklahoma’s centennial. Not many places can boast residents who are as old or older than the state. My own grandparents died young and I think these elders are treasures who deserve to be honored and remembered – not only for their sake, but for ours.”

(top) Sister Mary Consolata of Edmond, photographed by MJ Alexander. (bottom) Doris Travis of Norman, the oldest surviving Ziegfeld Follies girl photographed

by MJ Alexander.

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The warm, sepia colored, stunning images are an official part of the Oklahoma centennial project.

From just the few I have seen, Alexander has brought to life each man and woman’s inner and outer beauty. Their collective spirit is a powerful experience. Alexander’s skill as an artist and writer is evident through light, pose and detail. Hands are the most telling in many of the portraits; I was particularly drawn to them because, in most cases, they are not only in the forefront, but reveal a lifetime that few of us will have the privilege to live.

The exhibition, Salt of the Red Earth, is on view through January 2007 at the Tulsa Historical Society.

Did you know there is a Centenarian Club of Oklahoma? It was invaluable to Alexander, who commented, “Mary Lou Bates in Oklahoma City and Reverend Richard Ziglar in Tulsa helped me make initial contacts and even accompanied me on some shoots. I also placed notices in local newspapers, and received dozens and dozens of phone calls from people who nominated centenarians they know. Sometimes the centenarians themselves called. Once the project gathered steam, I was swamped. As of October, I’d photographed 95 centenarians where they live, and have a list with dozens more I hope to get to early in 2007.”

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photographed by MJ Alexander: (left) Jeremiah Fields of Okmulgee (middle) Eva Boyd of Chickasha, a beloved retired music teacher. (right) Forrest Winston of Tulsa.

I asked Alexander about her personal contact with each person. She said, “I talked with them to put them at ease, learn about their background, and record a ‘signature quote’ to accompany their portrait. Some of the visits were very brief; some stretched for an hour or more. The portraits will display their name and birthday; where they live; and a quote that summarizes their philosophy of life, secret to longevity, or wry sense of humor.”

Otis Granville Clark, 103, is the oldest survivor of the Tulsa race riots.

He still actively travels the world.

She continued, “For me, these portraits of Oklahoma’s elders are not just faces.

They reflect and reveal a rich sense of place. They helped form the state and, in turn, were formed by it. They are, truly, the salt of the red earth.

Melvin Eckert from Enid experienced twisters and shoveled dirt from drifts that tried to consume their family homestead.

The centenarians I met are unassuming and direct, without conceit or selfconsciousness. The eyes that gaze back have witnessed events long consigned to history, yet suggest a vibrant inner life. Their hands – some gnarled, some startlingly soft — waved flags on Oklahoma’s first day as a state, washed clothes in streams, wiped away tears, held reins of mule teams, clutched telegrams announcing the death of sons and husbands at war.

Their faces and stories have stayed with me, and have helped me imagine the journey ahead of us all. They embody strength, courage and grace – qualities that are a tribute not only to the hundred years they have lived, but to the new century they helped make possible.”

Being a photographer myself, I was interested in Alexander’s process. She stated, “I used a 10D Canon and, when I burned through that, a 30D, and employed filters for the toning. For many of the centenarians, it was the first time they had ever seen a digital camera and had the thrill of instantly seeing their likeness on the screen. They continue to be amazed at the world, and at innovations. Their directness helped produce naturalistic portraits, suffused with a quiet intimacy and humanity. A copper wash over the images evokes the early photography of the American West — a legacy of hazy daguerreotypes, translucent photogravures, and albumen silver prints — that helped shape the world’s imagination of the people and places of the frontier.”

Some of the centenarian’s brief stories are as follows: Haddie Payne of Stratford was born in Indian Territory in 1898. She is the oldest of nineteen children and is a World War I widow. She raised her four children by herself.

Walter Dawson Gorman is Kiowa and his family walked the Trail of Tears. He witnessed the first American flag over Iwo Jima on the deck of the USS Hendry.

The official 100th anniversary celebration runs November 9 - 19, 2007 in Tulsa with concerts, exhibitions, expos, fireworks and a parade. Cities, towns and state venues will honor Oklahoma American Indians, African Americans, Latinos, Asian and European Americans with monuments, parks, fountains and more. The actual statehood day is November 16th and will be celebrated with historical reenactments in Guthrie, the state’s first capitol. Activities will include the presidential proclamation of statehood, the inauguration of the first state governor, the ceremonial wedding between the two territories, and an inaugural parade. The day will conclude with festivities at the current capitol city, Oklahoma City, and will feature live entertainment by internationally recognized Oklahoma performers.

With great pride, Oklahoma will ring in the New Year as the state leads the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2007, The Oklahoma Centennial Commemoration is being planned and implemented by the Oklahoma Capitol Complex and Centennial Commemoration Commission, a state agency. The work of the Centennial is guided by a 42-member board comprised of citizens, legislators, state agency directors and mayors. They direct the shaping of a commemoration that is geographically and ethnically inclusive, reflects Oklahoma’s history and heritage, and leaves a lasting legacy for future generations.

Lou Kerr is commission president and Lee Allan Smith is chairman of projects and events. J. Blake Wade serves as executive director.

Learn more about the events across the state during 2007 at www. oklahomacentennial.com ■

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We felt a festival of this nature would give the community a chance to see what talent our state possesses.”

—Holle Hooks

(left) Drumming performance at the Black Arts Festival. (right) The Founders of the Festival: Shealita Alford, Dacia Hooks, Brian Baker, Holle Hooks and Akilah Burleigh

Oklahoma’s First African American Arts Festival

by Nathan Lee It is always wonderful when the creative people of our state dedicate themselves to making something special. Without them many of the festivals and art galleries that we enjoy today would not exist. These people show not only a creative slant, but also a dedication that is needed to help our state expand culturally and artistically. For years Oklahoma has enjoyed such events as the Downtown Arts Festival and the Paseo Arts Festival and now we can add the Black Arts Festival of Oklahoma to the list. The festival made its first run this past September at Edwards Park on the northeast side of Oklahoma City. The people who organize these events are a rare breed and their commitment should be noted.

Dec. 7 - Jan. 26

One such person who has taken a chance is Holle Hooks, the founder of Oklahoma’s first Black Arts festival. Hooks has a background in the performing arts working with Clear As Dance School which was founded in 2002.

Holle Hook’s love of all artistic expression led her to start the festival.

Although Hooks wants the festival to emphasize the arts, she also says there is another purpose for the Black Arts Festival’s creation.

“We wanted an event with an emphasis on the arts but we also had the underlying purpose of bringing attention and education to the underserved African American community.”

Hooks explains. “Oklahoma has a wealth of African American talent. We felt a festival of this The University of Tulsa nature would give School of Art Presents the community a chance to see what talent our state possesses.”

Jenny Schmid, Printmaker

The Seven Sisters of Sleep Opening Reception - December 7, 5-7 pm Alexandre Hogue Gallery

Feb. 1 - Mar. 2 J. Donald Feagin Guest Artist

Virginia Scotchie, Ceramic Artist All Things Considered Opening Reception - February 1, 5-7 pm Alexandre Hogue Gallery Slide Lecture - February 1, 4 pm Phillips Hall 211

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Being a first time event in the African American community, Holle Hooks is aware of the cultural effect the festival stands to have. Hooks is not only creative and artistic in her own right, she also has an understanding of the artistic history that African Americans and their African Ancestors have.

“Our African Ancestors used song, music and dance to tell stories and record history.

During slavery

storytelling became a means to remember the past and a way to learn and teach lessons of the past. Song not only told stories but often held messages passed from slave to slave. Post slavery and towards the Harlem Renaissance, the arts boomed and all genres of art became an expression of who we are as a people, where we’ve been and where we are going. The arts tell our story.”

Why has it taken so long for there to be a festival of this nature?

According to Hooks, it is not because of a lack of interest. She believes the huge time commitment in addition to the financial challenges, are two reasons that contribute to the delays of big events even if the event is for a single day. She also understands that there was the added task of finding the artists to participate. Many African American artists are out of the loop and scattered across the state.

Getting the word out to these artists was no doubt a challenge unto itself.

Hooks has ambitious visions for next year’s festival. As it stands, the event is only for one day. She would like to see it spread out to a weekend long event. Hooks also wants to bring in more artists and vendors from the state and from all over the country as well. She says she would love to see African American artists in the state of Oklahoma become recognized for their work and for them to become not only household names in the African American community, but in the mainstream art community as well.

Holle Hooks also encourages Black artists to remain vigilant and focused.

“Definitely follow your passion,” she says. “As any artist knows it doesn’t happen overnight, nor are riches promised to you. But your work is what’s most important. Be true to your work and your passion and most importantly let the world see who you are.”

For more information, contact Holle Hooks at 405408-0090 or 405-410-6842. ■

ON THE

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Rob Smith:

One Man Band at the Lachenmeyer Arts Center in Cushing, Oklahoma

by Stephen Kovash

According to the Cushing Chamber of Commerce, the Lachenmeyer Arts Center (the Lachenmeyer) is a fine arts facility created by the O.H. & Hattie Mae Lachenmeyer Development Trust to promote the Fine Arts in the Cushing community and surrounding areas.

annual Festival in the Park at Cushing’s Memorial Park. This is a juried festival, usually co-sponsored by the Cushing Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Cushing Mainstreet. The most recent 18th Annual Festival also featured a 5K run, chili cook off, live entertainment and children’s activities.

Housed in the City of Cushing’s Youth and Community Center and provided free of charge, the Lachenmeyer is actually a small room (approximately 400 square feet), crammed with tables, easels, art supplies, books, magazines and a Takach press. There are a couple of utility closets for more supplies, a throwing wheel and a kiln. In the midst of this artistic hobbit hole, you can find Rob Smith, the Lachenmeyer Director and artistic one-man band.

Between classes and art shows, over 1,000 people in the Cushing area have access to the fine arts and that is largely due to the work of Rob Smith. Cushing and the State of Oklahoma are lucky to have him.

Rob studied art at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and received a BA in Art Education with emphasis in Printmaking. He began graduate studies at the University of Tulsa and later received an MFA from the University of Oklahoma. Rob works in screen printing, watercolor and color pencil.

The Lachenmeyer Arts Center is located at 700 South Little in Cushing. The hours are 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday & Friday and 6:00 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday & Thursday. For more information, contact Rob Smith at 918 225-7525. ■

In addition to his role as director, Smith is a full time artist and teaches drawing and printmaking at the University of Central Oklahoma. His paintings and screen prints featuring the “Potato Man” have been shown all over Oklahoma and some are permanently located in venues from Flip’s Wine Bar in Oklahoma City, Prudential Insurance Co. in Chicago, Illinois and The Potato Museum in Washington, D.C. The Lachenmeyer is the only place in the “greater Cushing” area where people can find fine art instruction (“greater Cushing” being defined roughly as Cushing, Stroud, Drumright, Perkins, Yale and Ripley). Classes offered include painting, pottery, screen-printing, watercolor, basket making and children’s art classes. With the exception of basket making, all of the classes are taught by Smith. The basket making class is taught by Lee Rose, a retired UCO Economics professor. The previously mentioned Takach press is the only one in the area and printmakers from as far away as Stillwater travel to Cushing to use it.

The Lachenmeyer Trust pays Smith’s salary as well as providing a small budget for supplies, magazines and other reference material. The small charge for classes helps replenish supplies.

In addition to art classes, the Lachenmeyer hosts a number of fine arts events throughout the year. In March, they host a student art show consisting of works from Cushing public schools as well as the Lachenmeyer. Every August, the Lachenmeyer sponsors a show from outside Cushing.

August 2006 featured the Tour de Quartz, 19 paintings and 18 photographs produced by students at the 2006 Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain (OSAI).

During even years, the Lachenmeyer presents an invitational show highlighting the work of artists in the “greater Cushing” area. During the odd years they feature an exhibit along the lines of a traditional gallery show. In 2007, they are planning on a 4-person show with Smith, his wife M.J. Henderson-Smith, Betty Bowen and Kent Hancock presenting images of their trip to Italy through painting, photography and other media.

On the second Saturday in October, the Lachenmeyer presents the

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bus i ness of ar t

The Question of Prints

by Sue Clancy In this digital age it is fairly easy for any artist to have prints - reproductions such as inkjets and giclee’s - made from their original paintings.

Because it CAN easily be done doesn’t mean that it SHOULD be done. There are pros and cons to every facet of creating reproductions. Ultimately each artist will need to decide whether or not to participate in any aspect of the ‘print market’.

Adding difficulty to an artist’s decision is the fact that the terms ‘print’ and ‘print market’ can be confusing.

The term ‘prints’ covers: • Original art prints i.e. woodcuts, lithographs, screenprints. Print making techniques which create multiples of a design and are hand-pulled (hand printed) by the artist.

• Offset reproductions. Posters, giclee prints, inkjet prints and other color copier technology whereby an image is reproduced using a commercial photo-chemical means.

The design may be created by the artist but the print itself is not.

The term ‘print market’ covers: • Self-publishing and distribution. An artist creates the design/art and either pulls the prints themselves or pays for offset prints to be made. Once the prints are created, the artist approaches stores, galleries, frame shops, art fairs etc. and places the prints on consignment or makes arrangements for the prints to be sold. In some settings, like art fairs, the artist handles the sales themselves. In a consignment situation the artist checks back with the vendor several times a year to collect payment for sales and/or to bring new work.

• Licensing Prints. An artist creates a design which is submitted to various licensing agents or publisher/producers. If the design is accepted the artist then sells certain rights to the image for particular purposes and applications. In this case the company produces the image as a ‘to be framed’ print. You’ve seen the poster shops in the mall, or the matted and framed ‘art’ section in Target or Michaels. These products are licensed prints.

• Publishing/Licensing Image use for everything BUT poster/prints i.e.

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calendars, books, greeting cards and other products. An artist creates a design which is submitted for publication consideration. If the design is accepted the artist sells ‘first reproduction rights’ to the image for a particular use. This use would be something like a calendar, ‘illustration’ in a book, a textile design or a line of note cards etc. The company (publisher or producer) is then responsible for creating any products/applications which use the design. They are also responsible for the distribution of the finished product.

know many artists think it is a way to generate sales - so in that sense I feel bad discouraging them from a money-making activity. On the other hand, the very fact that so many giclees are so outrageously overpriced reveals a total lack of respect for original art... I think people should not be encouraged to buy giclees over investing their money on an original piece of art. Most artists have something that people could buy that is a comparable price to that of a giclee and it is infinitely more valuable - in all ways - to the anodyne value of that fancy xerox of a giclee.”

Here is where knowing your ultimate goal for your career as an artist is helpful. If your goal is to be in galleries and museums then you’ll want to focus on original paintings - or original prints - skipping the majority of ‘the print market’ with the possible exception of allowing your work to be reproduced in certain carefully chosen magazines, books or calendars. If your goal is to put your art out in the world and/or form your own publishing company, then ‘the print market’ is something to consider.

Another argument in favor of creating reproductions is that offering reproductions allows more people to own the image, but what is it that buyers of reproductive prints own? Something that will increase in value?

No. Something from the hand of the artist?

No, not really. An image that evokes a certain feeling or thought? Possibly, but it would depend upon the image and the quality of the reproduction. When an artist is famous and the price for their originals is in the stratosphere then this argument begins to have some weight. Likewise when an artist is dead and there is no chance of another original being created then this argument begins to have merit. Reproducing an extremely popular art image, one for which the artist receives multiple requests for essentially the same painting, is a debatable issue. A reproduction may be helpful to the artist and collector in the short term but it may have the result of diminishing the originals and doing nothing for an art collection. The old saying “familiarity breeds contempt” applies.

Popularity of an image is often a selling point, but a tipping point is easily reached where the image no longer has any ‘magic’ because it is so prevalent. It may be more advantageous to the artist and collector alike to encourage the collector to buy an original that is similar to, but different than, the popular artwork image.

The major argument in favor of creating reproductions of original paintings is that it offers art at an “affordable” price. This argument assumes that not everyone can afford original art while omitting the fact that “affordability” is a relative term. What is “expensive” to one person is “affordable” to another and vice versa. Just because you, the artist, may not have $500 or $1000 (or more) to spend at one time on a piece of art does NOT mean that no one else does. Additionally, most artists offer original artworks of varying sizes so that a broad price range is available. Galleries themselves are careful to offer a range of artists, styles, prices and sizes. The “affordable art” argument also omits the fact that most galleries and artists offer payment plans or can offer commissions of a similar painting in a different size that would be in the “affordable” range. Finally, this argument doesn’t address the fact that having reproductions of artwork available in the same place as original art often has the effect of precluding sales of the originals. The uneducated art buyer typically reasons, “Why should I spend so much money on an original when this print is the same image for less money?”

Art historian and writer Elizabeth Burr Ph.D. says “The whole giclee issue is a tough one. I

Original paintings and signed, numbered, limited edition original hand-pulled prints are of the most value aesthetically and monetarily.

Thus publishers of offset reproduction prints and giclees often self-impose an edition limit in an effort to “add value” as well as to avoid the “familiarity breeds contempt” issue.

Often the public can gently be educated and come to realize the value of original art and

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why reproducing one image ad nauseum isn’t desirable for either the artist or the collector.

The ease with which reproductions can be made sometimes causes artists to jump into the print market too soon before their artistic ‘voice’ has been found. Thus in addition to deciding whether or not to participate in the print market the artist must also determine how making prints will affect their artistic life. Making quantities of originals is how an artist develops and refines what they want to say with their art.

Too many reproductions too soon in an artist’s career can have a stultifying effect upon an artist’s voice in the way that one leaf can be interesting but 1,000 of those same leaves simply indicates a yard that needs to be raked.

Already available for use are technologies specifically producing high end giclee’s that can reproduce an artist’s brushstroke and place the reproduction upon canvas so that it very closely mimics the original painting.

As technology improves, so will this ability to fool the eye. As artists, we have to ask ourselves if this reproduction ability is an

ethically honest exchange between artist and audience. Most often the viewers of our work, and the collectors who buy, are looking for the mark of the artist. They want to hear our original voice, especially if the collector is visiting a gallery preparing to spend a large amount of money. In other instances a buyer simply wants a decoration and a print will do.

Perhaps they aren’t collecting art for posterity at this time or they may be visiting a boutique or an art fair with the idea of getting a gift.

Either way it behooves the audience to know what they are getting for their money and make their choice accordingly. To make sure that happens it benefits the artist to know these market distinctions so as to make sure their artwork - whether originals or prints - is offered in the appropriate places so that their audience is better able to make an informed choice. Making a living over the long term means that an artist must treat his/her audience with respect.

To make this original art vs. reproduction distinction and the markets for them abundantly clear I think of the following

analogy: We go to a fine restaurant (gallery) to experience the freshly baked work of a good chef (artist). A frozen TV dinner - even one made by that same chef - can pale in comparison. We expect more quality from the restaurant, yet there are times a TV dinner is acceptable. Thus there are pros and cons when comparing between freshly made dinner and frozen - the key is remembering the differences and choosing appropriately for the sort of audience you’re entertaining.

It is our job, as artists, to be aware and offer art - an original or a print - in the right markets so that the collector isn’t fooled and can make an informed decision. To do this we’ve got to not be fooled ourselves nor blinded by the allure of ‘easy money’ by making prints. The decisions we make as artists regarding the print market and our original artworks affect our collectors, our local art culture and ultimately our artistic lives.

For more on the print market see: Licensing Art and Design by Caryn R. Leland Artist’s and Graphic Designer’s Market ■

17

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OVAC news

Ask a

At a Glance

Creativity Coach

by Romney Nesbitt

Dear Romney, I’ve been out of the art business for a while and I’m really anxious to get back into doing art shows and entering competitions. I also need to supplement my income. Can you give me an idea that will sell?

—In a Hurry and Broke

Dear In a Hurry,

Toys for Melancholy Kids at TAC

by Scott Hurst

Here’s the best idea I can give you: concentrate on creativity first and sales second. There’s no way to guarantee that what you create will sell, but creating work for the express purpose of making a sale may not work either. It’s natural to want to make up for lost time by trying to maximize your efforts for the highest return but focusing on sales at the expense of creating your best work is a poor use of your time and talent. Don’t derail your new career start.

Ease your way back into your local art community by showing only your best new art work.

The works on view at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition gallery October 6 - 28, collectively comprising the show “Toys for Melancholy Kids: Sculpture by Paolo Gabrielli,” were anything but dull. Ten semi-figurative, semi-abstract bronze objects (complete with hand-painted glass “eyes”), each roughly 612” in size and resting on sculpture stands of varying heights placed in an asymmetrical fashion around the interior of the gallery, seemed more like provocative sculptural questions than assertions. Meaning didn’t come out and shake hands with you here, although you did feel it was present, sometimes in spades. It seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek, which is appropriate when you find out that the artist likes to think of the objects as “toys” rather than sculptures as traditionally understood. The show was the artist’s first solo exhibition, and when you consider that he lives in Rome, Italy and has a Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Vienna (Austria), it seems a little surprising that this would have taken place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oh well, I’d say we ran into a bit of luck.

Don’t forget that the creative process is unpredictable--like a leap frog. Leap frogs jump--in straight lines, over other frogs and sometimes in a completely new direction. If creative ideas are like leap frogs, then your job as an artist is simple: let the frog jump! Don’t break the frog’s legs by asking “Will this piece sell?” Be willing to let your ideas jump and rest as they desire. Take each idea and explore it thoroughly until the idea evolves into a new idea, then let that idea jump as high and as long as it will.

The works themselves seemed simple but not simplistic, diminutive in size but not in scale or presence. Sporting titles such as “Anamorphosis of a Bad Thought”, “A Case of Utopian Fetishism”, and “Pornostar According to Brancusi: Project of Female Radiator” (I did in fact discern references that actually make sense of this title), these dark and yet brightly gleaming things, supremely pun-loving, witty, elegant, seductive and coy, persist. ■

Romney Nesbitt is a creativity coach, artist and writer living in Tulsa. She welcomes your coaching questions for future columns. Contact her at RomneyN@cox.net. ■

Since you’re beginning again as an artist, don’t be in a hurry. Allow your creative process some breathing room and time. I believe fresh ideas executed with ability and enthusiasm will bring you personal satisfaction and attract buyers whereas rushed and stale images will not. Enjoy the process!

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OVAC news

Round Up

January/February 2007

OVAC is glad to be named the charity for the Oklahoma City House Beautiful Show this January 19-21st on the State Fairgrounds in OKC. The call to artists went out in December to bring together a great small exhibition that will be seen by over 20,000 visitors. Please come! The opening reception will be January 19th, 6-8 pm. Preregister to receive free admission assistant@ovac-ok.org or 405.232.6991.

Big thank you’s go out to our Fall 2006 interns. We couldn’t have kept up the speedy momentum without them: Erin Latham, senior at the University of Oklahoma; Shikoh Shiraiwa, who just graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma, and Tommy Ball, our ongoing steady help from University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

The Upgrade! International: DIY OKC was a great partnership between OVAC, IAO Gallery, Untitled [ArtSpace], the University of Central Oklahoma, and the Universtiy of Oklahoma. Thank you to the participating artists, great volunteers, and host homes. We really brought together a global artists’ community.

Art 365: a year of innovation by Oklahoma artists prospectus are out.

The deadline is February 1, 2007. We are anxious to see proposals from artists all over the state! Call if you didn’t receive the prospectus in December. It’s also available online.

There are some great upcoming ASK Workshops planned. Sign up for any or all!

Money Money Money January 20, 1-4 pm Hardesty Library, Tulsa

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition

THE

Artist Survival Kit

Art & Technology February 24, 1-4 pm, East Central University, Ada Business of Art April 14, 1-4 pm, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee

ASK •

•

6 workshops to improve your business

Thank you to our New and Renewing Members from September & October 2006 Business of Art 101 workshop

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Drew Ackerman Mary Jane Alexander and Edward Knight Mariah and Duane Anderson Artsplace Ponca City Keith Ball and Marti Jourden Lynne Barnett Sparks Joy Reed Belt Doris J. Bewley Julie Marks Blackstone Lily Boettcher B. Queti Bondy John Brandenburg and Janet Massad Stephanie Brudzinski Joseph Buchanan Milissa Burkart Bliss Butler Keena Butler Linda Cavanaugh Sallie Cavin Heidi Centrella Dian Church Ann Clark Gael and Jeff Collar

Bob Curtis Jacqueline Zanoni and Tomas de los Santos Kay Deardorff Sean Egan Dixie Erickson Angela Evans Beverly K. Fentress Caleb Ferris Brian and Titi Fitzsimmons Ron Fleming Gus Friedrich and Erena Rae Denise D. Gleason Lisa Goldsmith John and Stephany Gooden Brenda Kennedy Grummer Katherine Hair Kirkland and Julia Hall Burt Harbison Diane Harris Jonathan Hils Pam Hodges Jennifer Holloway Kendall Howerton Lance Hunter

Sheri Ishmael-Waldorp E. K. Jeong Jon Johnson Kinley Jones Paula Jones Kelsey Karper Maegen Kissell-Nair Kate Kline Nicholas Kyle and Rose Allison John Mark Lackey Paul Lacy Patrick Laird Timothy Lange Larry Latham Julia Layman Monika Linehan Dru Marseilles Cindy Mason Janet Massad Kenny McCage Cheryl McCanlies Gregory McDonald Margaret McDonald Kathy McRuiz Rudy Miller

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Saturday, October 15, 2005 • 1-4 p.m.

Matt Moffett Lettenmaier Leslie Powell Gallery • 620 SW D Ave, Lawton Sharon J. Montgomery Karen Sharp John Mowen Dorothy Shaw Romney Oualline Nesbitt David and Heidi Shear Kim Norton Stephen Smith Cost: Erin Oldfield Brice Stephens V’Lou Oliveira Julie Strauss To register, call 405.232.6991 or Jasmine B. Ong Cindy Swanson email assistant@ovac-ok.org.

George Oswalt Glen Thomas more info and to see upcoming workshops: Bob E.For Palmer Diana Tunnell www.ovac-ok.org Sarah Iselin and Frank Parman Jessica Upson Suzanne Peck Corazon S. Watkins Derek Penix Tom Wester Phyllis Pennington Janie Wester David and Patty Phelps Cindy Williams Patty Plummer Wolf Production Ann Powell Anita and John David Wolf Eckie Prater Paula Davidson Wood Noteworthy Crafts Dean Wyatt John A. Robinson Jacque Collins Young Carolyn Rossow Tom Young Diane Salamon Audrey Schmitz Barbara S. Scott Melanie Seward and Bryan Sponsors:

galler y gu ide

&

Gallery Listings Ada

Claremore

Karen Davenport: Photography January 18- February 9 Closing reception, February 9, 4-6 Rick Maxwell: Wood Sculpture and Lisa Erich: Ceramics February 16- March 16 Closing reception, March 16, 4-6 University Gallery East Central University (580) 310-5356 ecok.edu

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

Ardmore

John White: Watercolors Through January 31 Reception, January 13, 2-4 Betty Dolman: Etchings and Lithographs Through January 31 Jack Brooks: A Black Man’s Perspective on the Settlement of Oklahoma Official Centennial Exhibition February 1- March 28 Reception, lecture and performance: February 3, 2-4 Charles B. Goddard Center 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909 godart.org

Bartlesville Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture January 12- March 4 Price Tower Arts Center 6th and Dewey (918) 336-4949 pricetower.org

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

Chickasha Centerfold Show January 14- February 9 Opening reception, January 14, 4 pm Patricia Morgan February 18-March 16 Opening reception, February 18, 4 pm University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma Gallery-Davis Hall 1806 17th Street (405) 574-1344 usao.edu/gallery/

Durant Student Faculty Art Show January 19- February 9 Great Plains Juried Art Show February 15- March 23 Southeastern OK State University 1405 N. 4th PMB 4231 sosu.edu

Durham Museum Closed Through February Metcalfe Museum Rt. 1 Box 25 (580) 655-4467 metcalfemuseum.org

Edmond A Brush with History: Vintage Hairstyles January 2-February 10 Edmond Historical Society 431 S. Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org Shadid Fine Art 19 N. Broadway (405) 341-9023 shadidfineart.com UCO Art Faculty Exhibit February 8-March 8 University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Drive (405) 974-2432 ucok.edu

Exhibition Schedule

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

Lawton Works by: Wanda Raymond, Claire Johnson, John Hitchcock January 7-February 23 Opening reception, January 7, 7-9 The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org

Norman Chocolate Show January 12- February 1 OU Ceramics Faculty February 9- March 9 Firehouse Art Center 444 South Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 410 W. Boyd Street (405) 325-3272 ou.edu/fjjma

2006 Emergent Show Through January 13 Flat File Sale January 27 Billy Reid and George Bogart February 2- March 17 Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery 122 East Main (405) 292-8095 mainsite-art.com

Oklahoma City

Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahomans Through January 6 Café City Arts Invitational January 20- February 24 Opening reception, January 26 City Arts Center 3000 Pershing Blvd.

(800) 951-0000 cityartscenter.org Ten Since Statehood January 1-27 Opening reception, January 1, 1-7 Jose Rodriguez Paintings and David Phelps Sculpture February 2-24 Opening reception, February 2, 6-9 JRB Art at The Elms 2810 North Walker (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com

El Reno Gordon Parks Winning Photography January 15- February 20 Cletus Smith Watercolors February 27- March 27 Redlands Community College (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Henryetta Henryetta Historical Society 410 West Moore (918) 652-7112 territorialmuseum.org

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galler y gu ide Beth Downing The Rocks, Black and White Photograph, 22”x30” January 5 – 27, Individual Artists of Oklahoma

Sandra Dunn and Elizabeth Downing January 5-27 Individual Artists of Oklahoma 811 N. Broadway (405) 232-6060 iaogallery.org Pure Seeing – Photographs by Ernst Haas Through February 28 International Photography Hall of Fame 2100 NE 52nd Street (405) 424-4055 iphf.org Indian Modernism: Selections from the Silberman Collection Through March 2007 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 cowboyhalloffame.org Kelsey Karper: Writing with Light Through February 4 Steven L. Brown February 12-April 15

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Diane Salamon Through January 7 America Meredith February 15- March 25 North Gallery Governor’s Gallery Oklahoma State Capital Galleries 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 state.ok.us/~arts

Opening reception, January 19, 5-8 Untitled [ArtSpace] 1 NE 3rd St. (405) 815-9995 1ne3.org

Holiday Print Show Through January 14 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com

Park Hill

Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 208-5226 okcu.edu The Fresh Show: Six Emerging OKC Area Artists January 19- March 3

University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 East Memorial Road www.oc.edu

Closed January Moundville Pottery February 1- April 22 Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S. Keeler Drive (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org

Ponca City Artsplace Ponca City 319 East Grand Ave (580) 762-1930 artsplaceponcacity.net Elaine Armstrong and Margaret Yates

Stephen Hamilton: 11 year old autistic artist January 7-28 Opening reception, January 7, 1:304:30 Member Show February 4-25 Opening reception, February 4, 1:30-4:30 Ponca City Art Center 819 East Central 580-765-9746

Shawnee Silent Storytellers: Carpets from Around the World Through January 14 The Inspired Line: Prints from Rembrandt van Rijn and Albrecht Durer February 2- March 18 Opening reception, February 2, 7-9 Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 West Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

galler y gu ide Jeff Xvala 2006 Emergent Show Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery through January 13, 2007

Stillwater Society of Ilustrators 47th Annual Traveling Exhibition January 8-24 Reception and guest speaker, January 19, 5-7 Bean Finneran January 31-February 16 Reception and guest speaker, February 16, 5-7 Navigating the Mind: Psychological themes in work from the Gardiner Art Gallery Permanent Collection February 21- March 9 Reception and lecture, March 9, 5-7 pm Gardiner Art Gallery Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett University (405) 744-6016 art.okstate.edu

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

Tulsa Laquita Hinton Through January 6 Waterworks Photography Association Member’s Show January 18- February 17 Opening reception, January 18, 6-9 Photographs by Gary Gray February 22- March 24 Opening reception, February 22, 6-9 Apertures Gallery 1936 South Harvard (918) 742-0500 aperturesphoto.com Gil Adams and Ken Hager February 1-27 Opening reception, February 1, 5-8 Brushworks Gallery 3716 S. Peoria (918) 742-1138 Jeannie Graham and Linda McIntyre January 1-31 Valentine’s Exhibition February 1-27 Color Connection Gallery 2050 Utica Square (918) 742-0515

Gilcrease Museum 1400 Gilcrease Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.org Mary Nichols January 8- February 28 Reception, January 18, 5-7:30 Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 East 81st Street (918) 481-1111 Joseph Gierek Fine Art 1512 E. 15th St (918) 592-5432 gierek.com Audrey Schmitz and Scott Kindall January 11- February 1 Dulce Pinzon and Molly Stephens February 8- March 1 Mi Corazon Ball February 10 Living Arts 308 S. Kenosha (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org The Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 South Rockford Road (918) 749-7941 Philbrook.org

Waterworks Art Studio 1710 Charles Page Blvd. cityoftulsa.org/parks/Waterworks (918) 596-2440

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

Woodward Three Women and the Hare January 1-31 Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.com

Wanda Lou Raymond Evolving Perspectives: Cityscapes to Landscapes Acrylic on Canvas, 48”x60” January 7-February 23 Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery

Janet Davie and Emily Main: East by Midwest January 5-27 Danqing Coldwell: Silence, Motion, Flight February 2-24 Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery 9 East Brady (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org Works by Doug Bauer January 4- 28 African Art February 1-25 Tulsa Performing Arts Gallery 110 East 2nd Street (918) 596-7122 Tulsa Photography Collective Gallery North Hall at OSU-Tulsa 700 North Greenwood Alexandre Hogue Gallery Phillips Hall, the University of Tulsa 600 South College Ave. (918) 631-2202

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Through the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition I enrich the lives of everyday citizens and schoolchildren.

My presence is vital to economic development. Keeping my voice strong is Central Oklahomaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s united arts fund.

To support 20 arts organizations, support Allied Arts.

Marc Barker Painter Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition

405-278-8944 â&#x20AC;˘ AlliedArtsOKC.com

PHOTO BY MICHAEL IVES

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

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

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

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