ArtOFocus k l a h o m a
O k l a ho ma V i s ual A r ts C oal i t i on
Vo l u m e 2 8 N o . 5
November/December 2013
Art OFocus k l a h o m a from the director We’ve been reflecting much about the milestone of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 25th Anniversary this year. Does this anniversary mean anything? What impact has OVAC made over the past 25 years?
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: Julia Kirt director@ovac-ok.org
Photo by Rex Barrett
Over the years, we have conducted a myriad of programs, and in whatever form much of the work comes down to validation for artists. Looking back at the early OVAC publications, this was the same—validating artists through documentation, recognition, and camaraderie. OVAC began with artists coming together to assert the importance of artists. The network and 25-year existence of OVAC has instilled pride and confidence among artists themselves. OVAC helps artists make simple, yet weighty affirmations.
• I am an artist. • Artists are professionals. • Artists’ endeavors are worthwhile. • Artists can and do improve our communities.
For artists who at the time, and probably still today, felt ignored and underappreciated this selfconfidence restores them. It is easier to criticize the market, collectors, venues, etc., than to keep creating art and proactively building an artistic practice. As the confidence transforms from an individual’s own artistic practice to a whole community of active artists, we multiply the effect. So as simple as this may seem, we refine our methods to connect and encourage artists. Expectantly, OVAC also helps the general public and community leaders realize the same improved valuation of artists. As we have broadened our marketing reach, we anticipate wide prominence for artists in Oklahoma. OVAC envisions a time when the public has appreciation and understanding of Oklahoma art and artists. Beyond this foundation, OVAC endeavors for artists not just to keep making art, but to keep making their best possible artwork. Likewise, we know that artists can positively affect the community, improving things like neighborhoods, education and health with their artwork. Holding true to these original values, we continue to build the support for artists proactively with your help. Working closely with local and national partners, we have to continue to grow, change and start programs for artists’ advancement. We have to keep mindfully growing the network of artists in Oklahoma for artists to have vital, fulfilling careers, artistic practices in Oklahoma. We are seeking more donors to help fulfill that mission through a 25th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign, see www.ovac-ok.org to find out more. Thanks to our supporters and participating artists making this a worthwhile organization for 25 years. Here’s to 25 more! All best,
Editor: Kelsey Karper 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 2013 - June 2014: Margo Shultes von Schlageter, MD (Treasurer), Christian Trimble, Edmond; Eric Wright, El Reno; Suzanne Mitchell, Renée Porter (Vice President), Norman; Jennifer Barron, Susan Beaty (Secretary), Bob Curtis, Gina Ellis, Hillary Farrell, Titi Nguyen Fitzsimmons, MD, Michael Hoffner, Kristin Huffaker, Stephen Kovash, Carl Shortt, Oklahoma City; Dean Wyatt, Owasso; Joey Frisillo, Sand Springs; Jean Ann Fausser (President), Susan Green, Janet Shipley Hawks, Sandy Sober, Tulsa The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus Oklahoma. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board or OVAC staff. Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the Americans for the Arts. © 2013, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved. View the online archive at www.ArtFocusOklahoma.org.
Support from:
Julia Kirt Executive Director Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition
On the cover Denise Duong, Oklahoma City, The Long Way, Mixed media, 36” x 36”. See page 6.
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Art 365: Eyakem Gulilat Eyakem Gulilat, selected as one of five artists for OVAC’s Art 365 exhibition, takes to the skies to observe how Oklahoma’s places of worship can impact their surrounding communities.
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Denise Duong: Hide ‘n Seek, and That Feeling of Running to Home Base In her mixed media works, artist Denise Duong shares tales of her life full of adventure, travel and imagination.
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Harrison Zahn: Emerging Photorealism A young Oklahoma City artist creates haunting photorealistic images, conveying skill and emotion.
p re v i e w s 10 Jennifer Cocoma Hustis: Untamed at the Science Museum Oklahoma Drawing on a lifetime love of horses, Hustis has created an interactive exhibition designed to help people
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of all ages understand the plight of the wild mustang.
12 Spirituality and Community in the Garden: Ana Maria Hernando at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center
Argentinian artist Hernando finds inspiration in the collaborative work of women and the beauty of flowers for her Oklahoma City exhibition.
14 Paleolithic Paean: An Exhibition of Four Elements An exhibition at Living Arts of Tulsa highlights ancient media still in use by contemporary artists: clay, wood, metal and fiber.
16 Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective
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In honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Oklahoma museums present a series of exhibitions celebrating the artistic legacy of Allan Houser.
f e a t u re s 18 From Bust to Boom Twenty-five years after the founding of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, we take a look back at the context and circumstances that inspired a group of artists and art supporters to organize for a better future for Oklahoma artists.
OVAC news 22 New and Renewing Members 25 OVAC News
business of art
(p. 4) Eyakem Gulilat, Norman, Untitled (From the Memory Series), Archival pigment ink print, 16” x 20”
26 Helen Howerton: Business Savvy in the Wild Wildlife painter Helen Howerton shares her experience in building her artistic brand.
28 Ask a Creativity Coach: Make Your Life Work for You Procrastination and perfectionism can lead to the “but first, then” syndrome, eating into your creative time.
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(p. 10) Jennifer Cocoma Hustis, Edmond, Gathering, Mixed media on canvas, 92” x 48” (pg. 26) Helen F. Howerton, Tulsa, A Place to Rest, Acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”
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Art 365: Eyakem Gulilat by Kirsten Olds
Eyakem Gulilat, Norman, Untitled (From the Collaborative Self Series), Archival pigment ink print, 24” x 50”
This is the third in a series of articles profiling artists selected for Art 365 2014, an Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) program that supports five artists’ innovative projects over the course of a year. Projects are nurtured in consultation with guest curator Raechell Smith, Director of the H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, and culminate in the Art 365 exhibition, which opens February 28, 2014 at [Artspace] at Untitled in Oklahoma City and then travels to the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa’s Hardesty Arts Center in Tulsa in May 2014. For more about the exhibition, visit www.Art365.org. “At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation,” Martin Luther King, Jr., observed to students and faculty at Western Michigan University in 1963. This idea, of how churches can structure and picture American society, captivated Norman-based artist Eyakem Gulilat, and it inspired his project for Art 365. What do our churches, and their environs, look like on Sunday morning, the traditional day of Christian worship? What can they tell us about ourselves, our patterns, and relationships? To explore these questions Gulilat has taken to the skies on Sunday mornings, capturing aerial views of free-standing churches of different denominations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa (and he hopes to shoot other locations throughout the state, maybe one day documenting more than four thousand). These are no mere Google Earth satellite images, though. Carefully composed, with full attention to formal qualities,
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the photographs belie their origins in an aircraft—helicopter and small airplane— moving between 50 and 80 mph. The bird’s-eye view, a common landscape perspective in centuries past, connotes the all-seeing eye of God, a fitting association for a project exploring religion and society. At the same time the overhead position conveys the seeming objectivity of science, as well as hints of Big Brother surveillance. These different associations shape our understanding of the resulting pictures: we notice spatial relationships that are less evident from the ground. In one image an undeveloped, grassy terrain vague segregates the church building from a subdivision of perfectly planned homes. Another reveals additions to the church over time, the building itself growing with its congregation. Such a vantage point offers us a position on the outside, the ability to examine a larger whole we are not privy to in our daily experience with these spaces. As the artist explains, “Unless we back away and look at ourselves, we’ll be blind to look inside.”
It is the signs of people that most interest Gulilat. Folks gussied up in their finest heading into services; the flash of someone’s t-shirt on a playground; a driver of a humble pick-up truck idling on the road—these are the details that help clue us in to the nature of these communities. Some reveal signs of thriving neighborhoods with churches at the center; in others, the church itself becomes a campus, a neighborhood unto itself, almost. Yet how we interpret these observations is up to us, the viewers. The photos and their details are explorations; if we attend to the various dynamics of site and social cues, they give us much to consider about individual and communal expressions of worship. A self-described non-denominational Christian and the son of a retired pastor, Gulilat has explored notions of religion and ritual in other photographic series. In his ongoing Memories series, the artist re-enacts moments from his boyhood in Ethiopia. Undertaking his grandfather’s morning prayer, or bent over the bed in the humblest
supplication, the artist re-presents these family memories and spiritual practices, using photography and self-portraiture to examine his own place relative to them. As a teen he immigrated to Austin, Texas, with his family, and the dynamics of cultural transition and translation have since captured his interest. He received his MFA in Media Art and Photography from the University of Oklahoma with an ethnographic thesis project focused on Ethiopian-American identity. This summer, with a residency at the Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon, he reconsidered the western landscape, choosing, for example, a site where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had stopped along their famed expedition. There Gulilat photographed himself wearing traditional white Ethiopian garb, a practice that raises complicated questions with respect to colonialism in Africa and in the U.S. Unlike most of the other countries on the continent that were colonized during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, Ethiopia remained a predominantly independent state. Thus Gulilat’s ceremonial clothes call to mind complex histories, of Ethiopia’s own self-definition and independence, as well as the United States’ involvement in subjugating practices at home. The resulting pictures ask who is the visitor here? Who is the explorer? What histories do we trace in the landscape, and how do we see ourselves in the narratives we have created around it? In Site-Unseen, the exhibition this past spring that launched the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa’s Hardesty Arts Center’s new residency program, Gulilat got to know north Tulsa, walking its streets, talking to its residents, and photographing its sites. Through his pictures and the accompanying stories from the community, we came to know it as well, as both a landscape scarred by the 1921 riots and one of great resilience. As its title suggests, Site-Unseen invited us to probe visible and hidden histories, and it is in this spirit that the artist undertakes his project for Art 365. “How do I engage with my communities?” he asks, a question that has undergirded his photographic practice for the past few years. Gulilat’s Art 365 exhibition is still taking shape. He has yet to decide whether other images, such as interior views of the churches or scenes from the ground, will accompany the aerial shots, or how the photographs will be installed. “Maybe on the ceiling,” he laughs. “Using art to create a purposeful conversation” is a goal he strives for and he hopes that his work will bring a wide array of people into the gallery who will engage in dialogue about our communities, spirituality, and our shared and divergent experiences. View more of his work at www.eyakem.com. n
(top) Eyakem Gulilat, Norman, Untitled (From the Memory Series), Archival pigment ink print, 16” x 20” (bottom) Eyakem Gulilat, Norman, Untitled (From the Memory Series), Archival pigment ink print, 16” x 20”
Kirsten Olds is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Tulsa, where she teaches courses on modern and contemporary art, including the history of photography and video. She had been the juror for exhibitions of contemporary Oklahoma art, and is currently working on a show of Dennis Oppenheim’s architectural models.
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Denise Duong, Oklahoma City, Everywhere, Mixed media, 40” x 30”
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Denise Duong: Hide ‘n Seek, and That Feeling of Running to Home Base by Lucie Smoker
Elevating your pulse, sidestepping expectation, then racing breathless through unknown terrain, the art of Denise Duong shares the adrenaline of a life unsettled, yet connected. At dual exhibits in Oklahoma City, she reminds us that anything’s possible when you introduce chaos to adventure. One ... two ... three ... four, five-six-seveneightnine, TEN! Duong practices art while touring all over the US with husband Matt Seikel. Fresh ideas from ever-changing cities or wilderness inspire a constant stream of art from Duong, music and pottery from Seikel. Layers of curve-ball life experience juxtapose with retreats back to Oklahoma, to family.
Ollie, ollie in come free! In three massive scrolls inspired by a hitchhiking trip across the United States, Duong seems to tag every single person she met along the road. The drawings encompass danger, pain and excitement, but the overall feeling is connection. These characters whisper secrets, do each other’s hair, and share mouthfuls of tea between bicycle rides, grocery shopping and pointing a rifle at a driver, drinking. If you’ve never crossed this country, here’s its geography in personalities. Through much of Duong’s work, birds and bicycles convey motion or themes. Trees pause the action for hanging out or fishing. She finds the very real challenges of backwood treks enhance her senses. The way she experiences each moment is more ... “well just more.”
She calls it “to pioneer.” More than travelers, the Duong-Seikels Denise Duong, Oklahoma City, YooHoo, Mixed media, 36” x 36” truly collaborate with place. The repeating cycle of adventure-return-adventure children chasing each other in a game. Each Duong brings an enhanced sense of has become an addiction. As soon as her routine texture is like rounding a corner, ready to adventure to all of her art. Oxymoron will open settles down, Duong finds herself ready to try a pounce on a movement or flash of color that with an artist reception on November 1 at new place, to pioneer the next unknown. brings out a stream of thought. Find one, chase JRB Art at the Elms, 2810 N. Walker in The it and grab on. Paseo Arts District of Oklahoma City. To Ready or not... Pioneer continues through January 4 at the Her acrylic and paper paintings for JRB Art Now Duong is “it.” Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, at the Elms layer texture-on-texture, sharing In To Pioneer at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma 1400 Classen Drive in Oklahoma City. vagabond experiences in each one. Some Heritage Museum, Duong seeks out her placid or whimsical, others quite jolting, Vietnamese roots as a first generation American, See them to experience the unexpected, hiding. they create a sense of movement with deep, and her work embodies the free spirit and sense Smile at their daring, but don’t be afraid to internal opposition. of anything’s possible. Through collage, mixed make that in-the-moment dash to safety, to media paintings, plus twelve-foot pen and Denise Duong’s home base. See more of her In Twice, a smoky, mysterious glance draws your ink scrolls, her work displays Asian influence work at www.deniseduongart.com. n attention from white flowers, a black pistol--and in color combinations, facial expressions, and disconnect. In Everywhere, a pale face with red fabric, but is much more chaotic. eyelids wears flowers of blood-scarlet in her hair A suspense author, Smoker’s first artist mystery, while a black crow with an all-seeing eye of gold Her paintings may evoke architecture of the Distortion, drew on the reverse perspectives of perches on top. Orient but they live in another place, the Patrick Hughes. Its sequel, Paradox, is being unexpected. The colors are rich yet at times inspired by the works of Banksy, ROA, Jeremy Themes are life-death, good-bad but they pastel. The people are alive, blowing bubbles Geddes, plus the artists she meets while writing focus not on the horrible of this world but with sketchy memories of family and friends. for Art Focus Oklahoma. More information at on beauty with an attitude that is light, After a visit with relatives in Hanoi, she painted luciesmoker.wordpress.com. yet startling. Duong describes the richly a family on a boat--her own family of “boat colored work as “oxymoron.” people.” Their harrowing, iconic experience is part of her base now: a personal prehistory of The effect is hide ‘n seek where you are “it” daring escape. chasing after ideas in her paintings, like
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Harrison Zahn: Emerging Photorealism by Emily Payne
Harrison Zahn, Oklahoma City, (left) Key(s) to the Future, Oil on board, 9” x 12” (right) True Colors, Oil on board, 8” x 10”
Harrison Zahn, a young and emerging Oklahoma City artist, creates oil paintings that are so amazingly photorealistic, you’ll swear they are photographs upon first glance. His portraits are arresting; Zahn’s capacity to capture every physical detail of the subject’s countenance and convey the emotional intensity of the sitter will literally stop you in your tracks. His still-life works are equally compelling. Often featuring skulls and trompe l’oeil effects, these images are gripping in their haunted simplicity. In order to learn more about his process and inspiration, I interviewed Zahn as he prepared for his first solo show, which opened in October at the IVC Gallery in the Plaza District in Oklahoma City. What is your painting technique? Once I come up with an idea, I photograph the model or still life, print it, transfer a pencil outline to the board, and start
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painting. With any portrait I ask myself, “Is the angle interesting? Does the lighting add the right amount of contrast? Is there good focus and blur to give the image depth?” If I take into account a few technical aspects when photographing my model, I think it naturally leads to the portrait portraying an emotion or story, which viewers can interpret as they like. How do you manage to make your paintings look so photo-realistic? I would have to say a delicate touch and patience. My greatest obstacle is trying not to put in too much detail too fast. You definitely have to know when to simplify things to avoid overworking the painting. I generally spend 25-50 hours of painting time on each work, depending on its size. If I can make someone think they are looking at a photograph, then I did my job.
Tell me about your inspiration. My greatest goal is to be an accomplished artist. I want to be as good as or better than the artists that I really admire. While I do enjoy painting, for me it isn’t so much about having fun, as it is about producing a great painting. I’ve always appreciated things that are simple but executed exceptionally well. I like the impact of black and white art, so I prefer to work in grey-scale, and add minimal color for emphasis. Your pieces remind me of vanitas, 16th and 17th century Northern European still life works that caution about the transience of life. Are these images an inspiration for you? I don’t think about it directly when deciding on a subject for a painting, but I do really like vanitas works. I especially like working with the skull because of its various characteristics.
It can be smooth and rough, simple or detailed, and it provides nice contrast and shadow. Apart from all of that, it comes down to me using what I have laying around! What are you trying to express with the missing tooth and the line of blood in your piece True Colors? True Colors shows the current direction of my work. My goal was to add a bit of surrealism by giving the impression that the blood is running out of the photo and onto the background. The tooth enhances that effect by leading the viewer’s eye from the background to the foreground. In Key(s) to the Future the tape, nail, keys, and torn edges are all done in a trompe l’oeil style. Have you studied other artists who work with this technique? Most of the artists I really respect, including Anthony Waichulis, Joel Carson Jones, and Joshua Carlton, do a lot of trompe l’oeil work. Is the title Key(s) to the Future making a statement about the cycles of human life? I have some fascination with life and death; the idea that from one moment to the next, something living can cease to function. I don’t think about the title of a piece until after it’s finished, and I don’t like to put too much emphasis on a title. But in this case, the title was a way to link the skull and the keys together. Where do you see your work headed in the future? I want to do more full color work. I am also very interested in murals and watercolor, but I plan to focus largely on oil painting. There are some incredible oil artists out there and to reach their level of skill you have to devote yourself to your particular craft. Harrison Zahn can be reached at www.harrisonzahn.com or harrison.zahn@gmail.com. He always welcomes requests, whether for human or animal portraiture, or any other subject matter. You can also visit facebook.com/artworkhz for the most recent information on Zahn’s new paintings and upcoming events. n
La Diosa de Tenerife, Oil on board, 11” x 14”
Emily Payne is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma. She is studying Native American Art History. She can be reached at emilybeepayne@ou.edu.
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Jennifer Cocoma Hustis: Untamed at the Science Museum Oklahoma by Natalie Deuschle
Installation view of Jennifer Cocoma Hustis’ Untamed exhibition at Science Museum Oklahoma.
At Science Museum Oklahoma, two little girls sit together on a hanging saddle in a metal gate enclosure while a middle-aged woman sketches her imagination into the landscape of the mustang’s body on a black chalkboard wall. Thanks to Jennifer Cocoma Hustis’ exhibition Untamed: The Mustang’s Plight and Behavior Through Art, people of all ages are experiencing life from a wild mustang’s perspective. The mustang has long served as a symbol of America’s heritage and freedom. Unfortunately, its population increases by twenty percent each year, causing it to become too large for the government to manage and protect. Hustis, who has had a lifetime love for horses, created this exhibition to offer the horse, the mustang in particular, a voice. She believes that by educating the public about equine behavior, people will be more inclined to support the wild mustangs rather than fear them. Hustis, who earned her MFA in painting and sculpture from the Pratt Institute in New York City, was awarded a grant from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition to create the exhibition, which she first thought about three years ago while creating hands-on art
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exhibits for City Arts Center in Oklahoma City. The exhibit, which Hustis says contains over 10,000 words of research on natural equine behavior, brings together Hustis’ love of art and horses. This combination was a perfect fit for Science Museum Oklahoma’s Satellite Galleries, which seek to coalesce art and science. The exhibit spans across three different rooms, each showcasing different aspects of mustang behavior and its journey from living in the wild to adoption through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In the first gallery, the viewer learns about the mustang in its natural wild habitat, including horse brain behavior and herd dynamics, through large-scale acrylic paintings, drawings, and sculpture. The second gallery depicts the process of the wild mustangs being herded in the wild by the BLM’s technique of using a helicopter. On one wall of this room are the outlines of galloping mustang’s sketched in chalk. Hustis explains that these outlines are meant to encourage the viewer “to make a dusty trail for the horses.” She elaborates on the activity: “This hands on activity has taken on a life of its own since the opening of the exhibit.
This chalkboard herd of mustangs has been an interesting part of the Untamed exhibit. I have continually had to find the horses under what the people have decided to draw or write over the original herd mural. Only a few people took the time to compliment the horse outline and work with what was there. Conceptually, it is interesting as it parallels my work with people and horses. Many times when a person works with the horse their ideas take over and the horse gets lost in the process. My goal is to help people find the horse again.” When the viewer leaves the second gallery, she finds herself in a holding corral, just as a mustang does after being separated from its herd. In the metal-gated corral is a hanging leather saddle suspended by chains. Close to the saddle is information explaining the process of gentling a horse. Horse whispering, which Hustis herself has practiced for the past ten years, is also explained in this text. After leaving the corral, viewers are educated about the adoption process of wild mustangs. In this same room plays Wild Horse, Wild Ride, a film that was created to promote wild mustang adoptions. Hustis comments on the film:
“The beauty of the documentary is that it shows all ages and all walks of life working with mustangs. Some are successful and some are not effective at all but the wonderful thing is that the mustang teaches all of these people something about themselves during their journey with the horse, from wild to tame.” Next to the film reads: “If you want to get close to the horse, you have to get close to yourself. Then the horse can come to you.” –Carol Nichols, Sprit Horse The goal of Untamed, Hustis says, is “to speak to all ages on an educational level as well as an aesthetic level.” It is clear that the exhibit, which attracts an audience ranging from young to old and is expected to reach around 250,000 people overall, has achieved exactly that. Ultimately, she would like the exhibit to travel to the ten states that have BLM mustang holding facilities. The Untamed exhibit will remain on display at Science Museum Oklahoma until March 1, 2014. To learn more about the artist and horsewoman Jennifer Cocoma Hustis, please visit her website https://sites.google.com/site/jenhustis/. n
(top) Jennifer Cocoma Hustis, Edmond, Birds of a Feather, Mixed media mobile, 96” x 84” (middle) Friendship, Digital photography (bottom) Fight or Flight, Acrylic on canvas, 84” x 60”
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Spirituality and Community in the Garden: Ana Maria Hernando at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center by Mary Kathryn Moeller
The collaborative work of women and the beauty of flowers serve as twin inspirations for the work of Ana Maria Hernando, currently being shown at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in an exhibition entitled The Illuminated Garden (El Jardin Iluminado). A native of Argentina, Hernando is drawn to the traditional handicrafts made by women such as the tablecloths embroidered by her grandmother. Such objects are transparent acts of love, according to Hernando, which form the backbone of life. Inevitably the tablecloth becomes stained and soiled from daily use. “The hours of loving work become the background,” says Hernando, for the everyday happenings of family. “Women have been in the world forever making things for life to happen in an invisible way.” Though not overtly political, Hernando’s use of embroidery comments on the social position of women and undervaluing of traditional crafts by the art world. It is the quiet beauty of these pieces to which she draws attention as well as the collaborative spirit in which they were often made. The synergetic character of the embroidery work utilized in several of Hernando’s installation pieces comes from a partnership with the Cloistered Carmelites of the Monastery of Santa Teresa in Buenos Aires. In Pongco IV (Circle of Power), the embroidery pieces created by the nuns are arranged like flower petals and suspended in dewdrops of resin. The polymer spheres are installed as one large bloom representing the feminine force of these women for whom there is no division between work and prayer. Every act is rooted in a spiritual connection to one another and their community. Ana Maria Hernando, Boulder, CO, Mar de Jazmines (Sea of Jasmine), 2010, Collaged left-over prints (from 2005), vellum, glue, acrylic and ink on paper, 30” x 22” x 1” La Montaña (The Mountain), at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, 2009, 130 petticoats, wool, beads, resin, video, sound, projectors, 192” x 168” x 132”
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Hernando finds the spiritual connection in her annual trips to Mollomarca, a town of weavers in the mountains of Peru. During her first visit in 2005, Hernando observed the scalloped edges of the women’s’ brightly-colored petticoats as they danced for their visitors. She was immediately taken with these vibrant fabrics which hide under modest black skirts and are
made of heavy wool to keep the women warm in the high altitude of the Andes. Hernando obtained 130 of the petticoats and has installed them as La Montaña (The Mountain) in homage to the women whose word for weaving means “to give light.” Though each petticoat represents an individual woman, Hernando’s installation focuses on “their presence as a collective,” she says. “They move in little groups but you cannot distinguish their relationships. They help each other [and] together they make the mountain.” Another portrait of this community flows across the floor in El Rio (The River). The installation is comprised of 500 pairs of repurposed tire sandals worn by all members of the town. Paired with a silent video of the women singing, this work demonstrates Hernando’s commitment to collaboration. She purchased all of the shoes as a way to help the community raise money and also brought new shoes for every person. She explains that it is very important to contribute to the community as well as honor their respect for the earth which she hopes is also reflected in her work. “Everything has a purpose and is transformed one way or another – that’s their view of the earth, they are the utmost recyclers.” Hernando’s commitment to this community has grown with the formation of an organization called Salka Star. Partnering with her friend Kenneth Robinson, Hernando leads groups to Peru and the Caribbean to connect with mystics Don Américo and Gayle Yábar and shamans. As spiritual retreats, the participants engage in the beauty of their surroundings and allow themselves, as Hernando says, “to get rid of the things that are not useful and become clearer and lighter.” These trips have led Hernando and Robinson, who initially bonded over their love for writing poetry, to collaborate on the Salka Poetry Project. They plan to publish 60 of their poems in Spanish and English in the next year. They are also working on a limited-edition set of 30 hand-made books as an art print with two poems.
In addition to her installations and poetry, Hernando creates a wide range of other art forms including paintings, prints, and three dimensional works on paper. In these works, she explores the patterns of flowers and in the spirit of repurposing, often uses her artwork to make new work. Mar de Jazmines (Sea of Jasmine), for example, is collaged from leftover prints. In her painted and printed works such as The Illuminated Garden, Hernando contrasts the vibrancy of the blooms with a dark background. In each of her pieces, Hernando finds ways “to give light” to the interconnectedness of beauty, spirituality, and community. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center is located at 3000 General Pershing Boulevard in Oklahoma City and can be reached at 405-951-0000 and oklahomacontemporary.org. For more information about Ana Maria Hernando, please visit www.anamariahernando.com. Details about Salka Star are available at www.salkastar.com. n Mary Kathryn Moeller is currently pursuing her Master’s in art history at Oklahoma State University where she works as a Graduate Research Assistant for the OSU Museum of Art. She is available via e-mail at mkmoeller77@gmail.com.
Ana Maria Hernando, Boulder, CO, El Rio (The River), 2010, Tire sandals and video, 3” x 200” x 40”
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Paleolithic Paean: An Exhibition of Four Elements by Krystle Brewer
(from left to right) Frank Campbell and Barbara Buell, Tulsa, Untitled Vessels, Ceramic. Milissa Burkart, Tulsa, False Idylls, Mixed media.
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Inspired by work such as Luristan clay vessels and Egyptian bronze statues of the ancient world, the exhibition Four Elements brings to the forefront the mediums of the ancient world still being used today: clay, wood, metal and fiber. Craft predates our modern concept of fine art by thousands of years and through the continued practice serves as a connection to our oldest ancestors. Each artist, or group of artists, has a body of work that represents one of these areas of material.
and function and Buell designs and carves the surface decoration. Their works are an attempt to carry on the ideals and tradition of the British Arts and Crafts Movement in the second half of the 19th century. The movement was born in the wake of the Industrial Revolution’s impact on the demise of the aesthetic in the favor of massproduced unity. Their style is an emulation of great craftsmen such as Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew who embraced the unique in a time of unification.
Clay: Frank Campbell and Barbara Buell The collaborative team of Frank Campbell and Barbara Buell produces pottery that is functional, but with an emphasis on the aesthetic beauty in their craftsmanship. The art they construct is created in tandem as Campbell conceives of the vessel’s body
Wood: Milissa Burkart Led by a fascination with the natural world, Milissa Burkart creates microcosms out of altered books, elements from the natural world, and constructed objects. These “constructions” focus on the interconnectivity of living objects and their environments. “My art is a combination
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of three passions: creative expression, fascination with the life forms and processes in the natural world, and the desire to share what I have learned about them,” said Burkart. This combination results in intimate environments focused on the relationship of living organisms and their habitat in a dialectical narrative. Because of the scale, form, and intricacies at play, the work encourages curiosity and interaction from the viewer to fully explore each piece. Metal: Peggy Upham Creating original works of art with silver and natural stones, Peggy Upham’s jewelry aims not only to be distinct but also “comfortable and quiet.” When designing the pieces she focuses on the materiality and limits of the medium to guide her end product. Her method of beginning with silver sheets and wire are still evident in
Peggy Upham, Tulsa, Untitled, Silver and natural stone. Teresa Wilber, Tulsa, Tres Signa (Three Signs) detail, Mixed media
her pieces, highlighting her process. The organic lines and contours of the works are complemented by the curvature of the stones with their shapes and marks mimicked throughout the design. Fiber: Teresa J. Wilber Trained as a professional calligrapher, Teresa J. Wilber takes the traditional form of aesthetic writing further by removing the legibility of the symbols leaving only their visual forms. This refocuses the viewer from the meaning inherent in the written word to the line quality of the marks. “I attempt to present an alternative format that encourages the viewer to appreciate the marks in their juxtaposition of one to another, with contrasts in space, textures and color, without feeling the need to try to read the mark,� said Wilber on her approach. Serving as the surface for
the calligraphic script, her hand-made books capture the tactile and textual qualities that are becoming less frequent with the digitalization of many texts. The combination of the repurposing of books to take away the content of text leaves the objects as a fully sensory experience without the effort of discerning the calligraphy. In the current moment of a shift from mass-produced disposable goods to those of quality and individuality, this show is timely as it showcases a group of artists who embrace traditional mediums in a plastic world. The idea for Four Elements was conceptualized by the Artistic Director of Living Arts Steve Liggett, who also serves as curator for the exhibition. This show is an annual display of nationally recognized artists working in different mediums that contrast
in texture while also keeping in dialogue with one another. The opening reception for Four Elements will take place Friday, December 6th from 6-9 pm at Living Arts in Tulsa. The exhibition will remain on view through December 21st. Living Arts is located at 307 East Brady Street in Tulsa. For more, visit www.livingarts.org. n Krystle Brewer is an artist, curator, and writer who currently works at the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art as a Graduate Research Assistant. She can be found at www.krystlekaye.com.
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Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective by Erin Schalk
For Oklahomans, the name Allan Houser conjures up a multitude of images. Born in 1914, Houser was a Chiricahua Apache, Oklahoma native, and a teacher who educated innumerable students in his unique vision of American Indian art. In addition, Houser was one of America’s master artists of the twentieth century. He was prolific in a wide range of media and exceptionally skillful in sculpture, painting and drawing. During the span of his sixtyyear-long career, his work underwent copious stylistic changes. Regardless of medium or technique, in his eighty-year lifetime Houser imbued his artwork with the spirit of, and pride for, Native American cultural identity. Houser’s oeuvre includes bronze figures that range in scale from intimate to monumental, often with resolute expressions that exude quiet strength and unwavering purpose. Houser was also accomplished in abstraction. In both two and three dimensions, he often edited his human representations down to the most expressive features. However, Houser did not restrict himself solely to figurative work. He drew and sculpted both geometric and fluid non-representational forms, powerful in subtle and symbolic allusions to Native American heritage. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Allan Houser’s birth, a first-ever, statewide collaboration of Oklahoma museums and cultural institutions, in
conjunction with the Oklahoma Museums Association, is honoring his memory, works and legacy with a combined series of exhibitions entitled Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective. Special exhibitions, events, and educational opportunities are available throughout the state through December 2014. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum began the commemorative series in late August of this year. The exhibition, which will remain open until May 2014, examines Houser’s dual roles as both a teacher and a mentor. In addition to Houser’s artwork some of his noteworthy students will also be shown, including Bob Haozous, Kevin Red Star and Pop Chalee. The Gilcrease Museum will display Houser’s proficiency in both three-dimensional and twodimensional art. Houser frequently created meticulous charcoal conceptual drawings that served as a starting point for his stone sculptures. This exhibition will establish the intimate connection between Houser’s drawings and sculptures, as well as allow viewers glimpses into Houser’s conceptual sketchbooks. Houser’s Sacred Rain Arrow bronze sculpture will also be available for viewing. The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art (FJJMA) will focus on two-dimensional media and feature one hundred of Houser’s drawings loaned from the estate of the artist. Most of these works have never been available for the public to view. The subject matter of this collection is diverse, including landscapes, portraits, Native American genre scenes and performers such as Apache Gans Dancer. In addition, viewers will be encouraged to compare these small-scale works with Houser’s bronze sculpture Dance of the Mountain Spirits, part of FJJMA’s permanent collection.
Photo by Belinda Trujillo.
For more information on Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective, visit okhouser.org or contact Brenda Granger, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Museums Association, at bgranger@okmuseums.org. For more information on Houser himself, including an extensive gallery of artwork and a list of upcoming exhibitions, visit www.indianart.us. n
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Erin Schalk is a painting graduate student and freelance art writer living in Dallas, Texas. She may be reached through e-mail at elschalk@gmail.com. Allan Houser (1914-1994), Sacred Rain Arrow, Bronze (Edition of 8), 1988, 95” x 59” x 32” Gilcrease Museum.
Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective Exhibitions & Events National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City Allan Houser and His Students August 30, 2013 - May 11, 2014 Oklahoma Arts Council, Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City Allan Houser at the Capitol: A Legacy in Bronze January - December 2014 Reception: March 12, 2014 Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Form and Line: Allan Houser’s Sculpture and Drawings February 23 – June 29, 2014 Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman Allan Houser Drawings: The Centennial Exhibition March 8 –May 18, 2014 Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City Born to Freedom: Allan Houser Centennial March 13 - December 31, 2014 Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City Allan Houser: On the Roof May 1 – July 27, 2014 Philbrook Downtown, Tulsa Allan Houser: A Celebration May 18 – November 2, 2014 Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, Duncan Allan Houser: Legend Born Free June 1 – August 15, 2014 Southern Plains Indian Museum, Anadarko Allan Houser Mural Conservation and Exhibition Mid-September 2014 Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater Allan Houser Sculpture: Sounds of the Night Dates TBD
FESTIVAL DATES:
March 20-22, 2014
CALL FOR ENTRIES: Oct. 1, 2013 to Jan. 31, 2014 ENTRY FEE: $25 ( Early Bird Fee of $10 ends Dec. 16, 2013) Sponsored by the Poncan Theatre, Ponca City, OK
funded in part by
sponsored in part by
ELIGIBILITY: Open to filmmakers currently enrolled in accredited colleges, universities and trade schools within a 125-mile radius of Ponca City, Oklahoma. All genres of films will be accepted to the competition. There will not be separate categories for awards.
Three Awards of Excellence: $1,000 ea. For festival rules and entry forms visit: poncantheatre.org
BisonBison Film Festival
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From Bust to Boom Support for the artistic community a quarter century ago was as flat as the Oklahoma landscape. A single idea and a group of determined individuals forged a path for the benefit of artists then and now. by Susan Grossman
(left) Guy and Maxine Warren and Sue Clancy, OVAC volunteers who helped begin the Artist Survival Kit program providing business skills to artists. (right) John McNeese, Laura Warriner and Julia Kirt at the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition: A Decade of Excellence exhibition at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, 2000.
When the cover story of a local magazine features a variety of creative, forward thinkers, when art walks and gallery talks take place on any given Friday night around the state, and when the inbox is full of invitations to shows, exhibitions, and calls for artistic proposals, it’s hard to imagine the climate a mere 25 years ago for Oklahoma’s visual art community. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was under fire, the Contemporary Arts Foundation in Oklahoma City was closed, and juried museum shows were pretty much a thing of the past. Resources for artists, both financial and social, were few and far between. Individual Artists of Oklahoma had been around for a few years as an alternative arts organization. Three art museums served the central part of the state: the Oklahoma Museum of Art in the toney Nichols Hills neighborhood, the Oklahoma Art Center housed on the fairgrounds of State Fair Park (these two museums later merged to become the Oklahoma City Art Museum), and the Fred Jones Jr. Memorial Art Center in Norman (later designated as the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art). In Oklahoma City, the best “artsy experience” in 1988, according to Oklahoma Gazette readers, was the Festival of the Arts and John Kirkpatrick, founder of the Kirkpatrick Foundation, was voted best arts patron. Ron Norick was mayor when
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then-City Councilman I.G. Purser declared, “Downtown is dead, and we helped kill it.” The oil boom had busted going on five years and the landscape was as blank as an unpainted canvas. NBA superstar Kevin Durant was a newborn, the Oklahoma River was a dirty ditch and the intersection of Interstates 35 and 40 was truly to facilitate travelers passing through. There was not even a whiff of the revitalization that was to come. It was in this environment that John McNeese owned and operated the John Porter Gallery in Oklahoma City where he enjoyed working with the artists he represented. Yet he was bothered by a nagging little problem – they had very little outside financial support to pursue their work. “The gallery, which was called the John Porter Gallery, is the way I got attached to the artists in the area and started talking with them,” he said from his home in Ponca City. “I learned there was very little NEA money coming to Oklahoma primarily because we were in the same region as Texas and they were getting all the money. So I came up with the idea for our own fellowship awards. And it gradually went from there.” “It” is Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC), the brainchild of McNeese and
Laura Warriner, the founder of [Artspace] at Untitled in Oklahoma City. He served as secretary/treasurer of the newly formed OVAC and Warriner was vice president. “When OVAC started it was about the time that U.S. Senator Jesse Helms led his attack on the NEA,” McNeese said. “In Oklahoma City there was a lot of art being pulled because it offended somebody. That was the environment at the time. We did a lot of advocacy on behalf of artists, held a symposium on censorship and advocated for artists fees, which were not being paid at the time.” McNeese closed his gallery after three years but by 1989 OVAC had become a 501(c)3 organization and he as its first executive director was actively raising money with plans to begin making financial awards to help support artists. The first, an artist excellence award, was $1,000 and given that same year to visual artist James Seitz of Seminole. Soon OVAC was invited by the Oklahoma Arts Council to assume responsibility for the VisionMakers exhibition in 1990 and McNeese said the organization really took off from there. He stayed with OVAC for eight and a half years before deciding that OVAC was as far as it was going to go under his leadership. “I am a good idea person and once I get
something going, it is not like I want to do it forever,” McNeese said. “I would say I am more entrepreneurial. When we started OVAC, it was my intention to create a statewide organization by connecting people and artists. I never envisioned that it would become a nationally recognized organization like it is today.” After many years in Oklahoma City, McNeese returned to his hometown of Ponca City where he serves on the Ponca City Art Center board of directors and is creating a film festival for young emerging filmmakers in that area of the state. The Ponca Theater Bison Bison Film Festival is slated for next March. Warriner, a lifelong Oklahoma resident, is an artist, mentor, donor, volunteer and organizer for the arts. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and is part of many collections, including the Smithsonian Institution. In 1995 she began to transform a dilapidated warehouse in the Deep Deuce area of Oklahoma City, [Artspace] at Untitled which now serves as a community-based contemporary art center. She was instrumental in getting OVAC off the ground. “When OVAC started it was to serve as a resource and connect people in the visual arts community,” Warrnier said. “Now it is not only a resource, OVAC gives artists more venues and challenges them to set and meet their goals.” She points to Art 365, the OVAC program that supports five artists for one year with $12,000 each as an example. Their projects, which will be overseen by a guest curator, will be shown at an exhibition opening in February 2014 (see the article on page 4 for more details). “To give out $60,000 to artists so they can take a year and create an exhibition is unheard of,” Warriner said. “Outside of Oklahoma people will say there is not an organization like this where they live.”
Betty Price, Megan Clement, Dr. John Robinson and Debby Williams at the Decade of Excellence exhibition in 2000.
Warriner also has seen an increase in the number of visual artists in the state since 1988. “I think there are more artists out there now then there were 25 years ago. We recently had the Art 365 artists make 30-minute presentations about their concepts and three of the five were not from Oklahoma originally. But they live here now after moving to Oklahoma from someplace else. There are more artists moving in to the area, going to school here and staying here. Some do graduate work elsewhere and come back. That says a lot about how far we have come.” Case in point. Printmaker Ed Gruber is an Oklahoma native who moved to Long Island, New York after graduating from the University of Oklahoma. After six years working there, producing etchings, lithographs and serigraphs at Universal Limited Art Editions, he returned to Oklahoma and serves as master printer at [Artspace]. Gruber’s print work can be seen in museums across the country including the Museum of Modern Art and the Chicago Museum of Art.
Longtime arts administrator Debby Williams, currently serving as director of [Artspace] at Untitled, has a resume as long and varied as OVAC itself. The notion of “starving artist” has never appealed to her and she appreciates the business savvy for artists that OVAC brings to the table. In the beginning that just wasn’t so. “Back when I was a fine arts major in school, no one talked about money or marketing,” she said. “Somehow it seemed that being a starving artist in a garret was right and proper but that is just ridiculous. I would have loved to have had marketing and learned to make my living with art but many years ago that just was not an option.” Instead of working as an artist Williams became an arts administrator and spent time as the visual arts administrator for Oklahoma Arts Council, then as director and chief curator of Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, and then as director of Art in Public Places. But even in administration, and with a master’s degree in art history, the going could be tough.
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“To give out $60,000 to artists so they can take a year and create an exhibition is unheard of. Outside of Oklahoma people will say there is not an organization like this where they live.” — Laura Warriner f e a t u re
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At the time when OVAC first formed, Valero said it was difficult for artists to connect with each other and share information. OVAC helped artists form relationships and become business-minded. “When OVAC started and began helping artists with expenses and business that was a big draw for me. Universities did not have capstone classes nor did they teach you how to make a portfolio, write an artist statement and ask for fees. To support Oklahoma artists through grants and help them continue to work is so important and we need to impact as many as possible so they can continue to do their art.” For Williams, Oklahoma has always had a creative and artistic environment but it has not traditionally been nurtured. OVAC was born into an environment that lacked advocacy and the ability to educate decision makers outside the artistic realm, which, she said, is equally as important as supporting those who are creating. “There is much more awareness about the vitality that an active arts community brings to any environment,” she said. “I think people place a lot more value on the visual arts now than they did 25 years ago but we must continue to support as many artistic souls as we can.”
Up the Kilpatrick Turnpike Tulsa has had its own share of challenges for the visual arts, although it has long been home to the Gilcrease Museum and the Philbrook Museum of Art. Teresa Valero, professor of art at the University of Tulsa, recalls driving to Oklahoma City for OVAC meetings as a member of the board of directors many years ago. She is surprised how quickly the time has gone by since she first joined the organization and credits OVAC for adding to the education and growth of visual artists. “It was so important to have OVAC at that time when it started,” Valero said. “We needed to raise the level of professionalism of artists in the state.”
One just has to look at the full slate of artistic endeavors to appreciate the richness that has developed in the state, said Dr. Susan Caldwell, University of Oklahoma (OU) professor emeritus and David Ross Boyd professor of art history. Since joining the OU faculty in 1976 Caldwell has educated many of the professionals who now work in museums, galleries and arts organizations as educators, curators, administrators, including Williams.
Valero is co-founder and creative director of Third Floor Design, a student-run design studio providing design services for nonprofit agencies in Tulsa. In addition to teaching she is an award-winning documentary photographer and graphic designer. At the time when OVAC first formed, she said it was difficult for artists to connect with each other and share information. OVAC helped artists form relationships and become business-minded.
“My colleague Victor Youritzen and I sometimes joke that we educated the art structure in this state,” she said. “Interestingly, art historians get jobs in the arts and a lot of them now get Ph.Ds. We had a very small graduate program when I came, which is still not large, but the art history program has been very useful for the arts as a whole.”
“Back then, it was hard to meet other artists and promote each other, especially being in Tulsa, but now it is easy for us to form and keep connections,” she said, “especially now electronically.”
Caldwell said the career field for her students is wide open and that museums, even locally, have expanded and become much for sophisticated, as have their patrons and artists themselves. “It is really exciting to see all of the different kinds of artists here in Oklahoma, the musicians who play in Norman at Summer Breeze concerts on Sunday evenings, and the art walks statewide where galleries are
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open and artists exhibit, and even our foods have become more diverse,” she said. “You can certainly judge an arts environment by its audience. I think we are becoming more open as a culture. The more diverse the state becomes, the better it is for the arts.”
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OVAC programming has evolved and Valero credits OVAC leadership with improved mentoring of young, emerging artists and teaching the business of art. “Artists can be very insecure and I think it is important for them to learn not to give their work away. With the programming OVAC offers now, they are beginning to understand they don’t have to work for free.” What OVAC has done from its inception, and continues to do, is important to all visual artists in the state, said Steve Liggett, and he encourages
anyone associated with the arts to become members. As director of Living Arts in Tulsa, Liggett has witnessed firsthand the evolution of a once disjointed visual arts community into a vibrant and well-oiled machine. “OVAC truly has become a statewide organization and has given perspective to the arts in Oklahoma,” he said. “Many organizations have not been able to do that but OVAC has made in-roads into Kansas City, Dallas and New York, as well as with the NEA.” Liggett cites the awards of grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as some of the most significant parts of OVAC’s narrative. Beginning in 2004, Warhol Foundation funds have supported OVAC’s curated exhibitions and Oklahoma Art Writing & Curatorial Fellowship through three multi-year grants. Living Arts hosted OVAC’s Momentum in Tulsa which gave both emerging artists and curators the opportunity to organize an exhibition in collaboration with a more experienced curator. “What these grants did was raise the visibility of what we are doing in Oklahoma and gave people in other states a glimpse of the creativity that is here,” he said. “I now take several calls a day from artists asking how they can get in to exhibit here. That has not always been the case.” Living Arts, formed in 1969, is the longest continuously run nonprofit contemporary arts organization in the state. It was the first Oklahoma arts organization to receive a Warhol Foundation grant, in 2004. Liggett recalls that the original mission of OVAC, to fund and financially support artists, remains true today and serves to encourage all artists, including performance artists. “Performance art is a spin-off of visual art and OVAC really understands that,” he said. “OVAC understands the importance of giving opportunities to performance artists as well as visual artists.” Longtime Philbrook Museum of Art archivist and librarian Tom Young appreciates how much easier it is for him to gather information about the state’s artists than it was a quarter century ago. The virtual catalogue and gallery
(left) A group of artists and supporters at the 1988 VisionMakers exhibition at the Kirkpatrick Galleries in OKC. (right) Betty Price and Kreg Kallenberger at the 1989 VisionMakers exhibition at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
of registered artists OVAC maintains makes his job a lot easier. “I have been an OVAC member for a long time and the preservation of information and documenting the rising visibility of the arts is nothing like what it was,” he said. “OVAC has brought a greater awareness to what is going on as far as exhibits and exhibition-related things like catalogues. It is all easily accessible.” The evolution and success of OVAC is no small feat in a state long known for its dust bowl heritage. Warriner, as have many others, gives that credit to Executive Director Julia Kirt. Since 1999 she has led the organization, at first by herself, and now with a stable and dedicated staff. “Julia has understood that when you do something successful, it leads to something else,” Warriner said. “OVAC takes on projects to tackle issues which have led to new projects. Julia has done a great job and she now has a staff to help her, which enables OVAC to do more. Every young artist in this state owes her everything. She has focused on being a mentor for young artists and I don’t know of any other place that has cultivated that kind of support for emerging artists.” Kirt confirmed, “We are incredibly rewarded by the young artists and volunteers who have become involved in our community because of our Momentum exhibitions and other programs. Since we founded Momentum in 2002, we see those artists establish their creative businesses in Oklahoma, continue
making art, and become leaders civically.” Warriner continued, “Any time you start something you have a mission, that mission is going to change and get better and develop. Whether it is a group of people or a piece of art, when you do something that is successful it leads you into something else, or it presents a problem you were not aware of and when you solve that problem, that can lead you to something else. That is what the current leadership of OVAC has done, tackled issues that have led to new projects.” OVAC is fortunate to have Kirt at the helm, adds McNeese. “I feel pleased to have started OVAC and I am glad I got out of the way,” he said. “Julia, with the help of her board and staff, has come up with a slate of new programs and I am pleased with what she has done. She really carries through with new ideas.” Kirt said, “We hear from artists all the time that we are improving their lives and helping them connect with the public. We hear from audiences about how inspired and proud they feel about their state when they experience new artwork. Tracking OVAC’s hard impact may be challenging, but we see the positive results of the programs and network.” McNeese hopes that in the future, artists will use their public platforms to become more involved in social justice issues. He sees artists participating and leading to affect changes in causes they believe in, whether it is war, peace or immigration issues.
“I think it is important to bring artists in at the beginning of planning something in a community, whether it is a park or a new building,” he said. “Rather than coming in at the end to put in a piece of art or sculpture, I would like to see artists leading the way, to turn their talent outward to work on social change.” Kirt added, “We believe strongly that individual artists contribute to vibrant community lives, spur positive changes in neighborhoods, enliven public spaces, and add to education and quality of life. Expectantly, we hope the general public and community leaders recognize the important valuation of artists as well, allowing them to contribute fully to our state.” Certainly, there is more work to be done. n Editor’s Note: In celebration of the 25th anniversary of OVAC’s founding, funds are being raised to sustain and grow these programs for artists. Supported by McNeese, a new grant for Oklahoma artists has just been announced and will help fund study trips and professional development for artists interested in a socially-engaged practice. To donate or apply, visit www.ovac-ok.org. Susan Grossman is a lifelong journalist and public relations specialist who currently works as a development officer. Her hobby job is freelance writing for a variety of local, regional and national publications covering everything from art and architecture to sports. Reach her at susangrossman@cox.net.
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Thank you to our new and renewing members from July and August 2013
DUNCAN, OKLAHOMA NOVEMBER 21-23, 2013 DREAMERCONCEPTS.ORG
INQUIRIES: 405.701.0048 popup@dreamerconcepts.org
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ovac news
Randy Alvarado Kolby Anderson Joel Archer Jeremy Arnold Kale Atterberry Sally Bachman Kelly Barber Rogers Betsy Barnum Gary and Donna Bennett Lisan Blair Cynthia Boatright Steven L. Brown Sydney Brown Marvin Burks Josh Buss and Sherry Ray Ellen Bussard Annalisa and Bruce Campbell Gayle Canada Erin Carson Luke Catron Karin Cermak Heathyr Chenoweth Bryan Cook Sara Cowan, Deluxe Oklahoma City Mireille Damicone Mikel Davison Alicia Diehl Jade Dittus Sam Douglas Sara Downard Erin Dvorett Carol Erwin Janene Evard Jo Beth Force Jim Franklin James and Yiren Gallagher Melinda Glasgow Martha Green Leanne Gross Curtis R. Gruel Sheri Guyse Christie and Jim Hackler David Harmon Lara Harwell Scott Henderson Charlotte Hickman Geoffrey Hicks Steve Hicks Don Holladay Jan Holzbauer Paula Howell Eric Humphries Sandy Ingram Robert James Dan and Renee Jones Mary Ketch City of OKC Office of Arts &
Cultural Affairs Eric Kimberlin Priscilla Kinnick Jacquelyn Knapp Alexandra Knox Kym Koch, Koch Communications Traci Layton Marvin Lee and DaOnne Olson Julia Lillard Harolyn Long Martin Lopez Paxton Maddox John McNulty John Mesa Zachary Miller Vicki, R.C. and JP Morrison Chad Mount Mary Nickell Paula Nickl Ann Barker Ong and Jasmine Ong Bob E. Palmer Suzanne Peck Harold Porterfield Saumo Puapuaga Marissa Raglin Harold and Audrey Ripper Allison Robertson Brooke Rowlands Katy Seals Matt Seikel and Denise Duong Amanda Christine Shelton Diana J. Smith Patricia Smith Neil A. Smith Anne Solomon Anne Spoon Verna Stonecipher Fuller Courtney Struttmann Craig Swan Key Taylor Glen Thomas Jim and Beth Tolbert Steve Tomlin Kristal Zwayer Tomshany Thomas Tucker Todd Ward Becky Way Kay West B. J. White Paula S. White Braden Whitmarsh David Whitmarsh George Wilson Betty Wood Reginna Zhidov
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OVAC NEWS
NOVEmber | DECEMber 2013
The 12x12 Art Fundraiser Committee welcomed a big, happy audience of arts supporters. As the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s only fundraiser, we count on the event to raise vital funds for artist awards and services throughout the year. Art sales were brisk and the new VIP area was popular for the top donors. Thanks much to committee cochairs Gina Ellis & John Marshall, honorary chairs Dave & Lana Lopez, and all the volunteer leaders. Special thanks to the participating artists, Premier Sponsors Ackerman McQueen, and the Headline Sponsors Chesapeake Energy & Kirkpatrick Bank. Look for pictures and more information at www.12x12okc.org. A celebratory Annual Member Meeting honored past volunteer leaders and welcomed new ones. At the meeting, OVAC elected the following new officers: Jean Ann Fausser, President; Reneé Porter, Vice President; Margo Shultes von Schlageter, MD, Treasurer; and Susan Beaty, Secretary. OVAC members thanked several outgoing board members for their service: Traci Layton, RC Morrison, and Kathy McRuiz. OVAC welcomed two new board members: TiTi Fitzsimmons and Dean Wyatt. TiTi Fitzsimmons, MD was born in Saigon and immigrated in 1975. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Fitzsimmons has worked in family medicine with Oklahoma City’s St. Anthony’s since 2007. After three years at Shawnee Potawatomi Indian Clinic, she said when joining her downtown practice she sought to be more involved in her community, particularly the arts, and the shorter commute allowed her to do that. She serves on the board of Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma and is a past board member of Individual Artists of Oklahoma. Dean Wyatt from Owasso is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and is the Director of Ethics and Compliance at NORDAM in Tulsa. A lifelong artist, Dean creates abstract paintings inspired by the landscapes he grew up with in southwest Oklahoma. His works have been displayed in the Oklahoma State Capitol and in two OVAC Biennial exhibitions. He recently served on the board of directors of the Tulsa Ballet and is the current president of the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition. The 24 Works on Paper exhibition continues to tour the state. 24 Works is OVAC’s partnership with Individual Artists of Oklahoma featuring
Oklahoma artists’ work that will be presented at 11 venues over the course of 18 months. The exhibition remains on display at the Goddard Center in Ardmore through November 25, and then continues to the Ponca City Art Center through January 4, 2014. Local schools may tour for free and an educational curriculum is available on the website www.24works.org. Many thanks to our exhibition sponsors: the Oklahoma Arts Council, Allied Arts, Red River Photo Services, Toothbrusher’s Dental and Pirate’s Alley. Art People National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum President Chuck Schroeder announced that he has accepted a new position with the University of Nebraska as the Founding Director of the Rural Futures Institute as of December. Schroeder served as president of the NCWHM since 2002. Thanks for your service Chuck and best of luck with your next endeavor. Debby Williams has been named Executive Director of the [Artspace] at Untitled in Oklahoma City. A long supporter of Oklahoma art and artists, Williams was the founding director of the Oklahoma Art in Public Places Office. Previously she served as Visual Arts Director for the Oklahoma Arts Council, director of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee and director of Artsplace in OKC. Congratulations Debby and we look forward to working with you in this new role. Congratulations to the 2013 Governor’s Arts Awards winners. A special congratulations to OVAC volunteers and past board members Debby Williams, M. Teresa Valero, and Marjorie Bontemps and supporters Mary Blankenship Pointer, Jeannette Sias, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation.
Photos from the 12x12 Art Fundraiser, held September 20, 2013. Photos by Laura Heller, Lisa Lee and Anna Rutherford. (from top) Liz Eickman, BJ & John White Honorary Co-Chair Dave Lopez Participating Artists Ronna Pernell and Bert Seabourn, Debby Williams, Megan Clement & Stacie Campbell Julie Hall, Cathy and Jim Couch Ebony Dallas, Kasi Cooper, and Lisa Jean Allswede.
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Helen Howerton: Business Savvy in the Wild by Sasha Spielman
Helen F. Howerton, Tulsa, Curly, Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 16”
Painter Helen Howerton, a native of Tulsa, has managed to find the right balance between being an artist and creating a successful brand. The business-savvy artist who has acquired numerous prestigious awards throughout her career shares her tips for success. “Each year when I prepare my taxes, I review the past year and create a report for myself. Kind of a report card, but without a grade,” said Howerton. “The report reviews the big picture suggesting which show venues to repeat and where my advertising dollars were best spent. I also include a list of the paintings created and sold, including commissioned artwork.”
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business of art
Based on the report card Howerton outlines a general plan for the next year. She says having long term goals that stretch five to ten years into the future can be beneficial. Setting the bar high, for example, applying to more prestigious exhibitions along with more solo showings, keeps her focused throughout the year.
“In my own experience as an artist, I’ve found that the most difficult decisions to make are those that usually result in more opportunities and growth.”
“These [goals] are subject to change,” she said, “but at least act as a general direction for my art career.”
By entering competitions and shows, artists build and expand their resumes. Howerton says that by embracing social media she is able to grow her business. However, despite the excitement of growing demand, keeping everything up to date can be difficult.
Success often comes from having to make difficult decisions. Howerton admits that as an artist when struggling with a decision it’s hard to take “that leap of faith.”
“Of course, the ideal is to be able to entrust these technical aspects to someone else,” Howerton said. “Either you attempt to do everything yourself or hire someone
qualified. Keeping up with a website, Facebook, Twitter, and other venues is yet another learning curve.” Howerton’s business-oriented mind helped her build her business, but it’s her paintings that continue to captivate. At an early age she discovered her love for art. She was only 8 years old, recovering from polio, when she completed her first painting. Howerton painted a forest scene with a set of oil paints given to her by her parents for Christmas that year. “That painting was given to my grandmother as a gift. When she passed away the painting was given back to me and hangs in my studio now. There are no birds or animals in the painting, but I am spending my life filling out other canvases with life.” Helen pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Tulsa and has studied under notable artists such as Bob Kuhn, Carl Brenders, Jim Wilcox, Sandy Scott and John Coleman. She often creates paintings inspired by birds and wildlife. Howerton carries at least one camera everywhere she goes, just in case she comes across something that will inspire her. “We are so fortunate to have a world embellished by birds and wildlife. We can learn a lot just by observation of them,” she said. “Actually, animals and birds will predict coming weather changes and seasonal changes.” Viewers often claim that the eyes of the animals in her paintings will follow you, but Howerton says it seems to happen without her actually planning it. “It’s hard to explain, but sometimes I start a painting and it morphs into something else by the time it’s completed. I get so much ‘in the zone’ that I lose track of time, things are going well and paint seems to flow almost on its own. It’s a magical feeling.” To learn more about Helen Howerton and her art visit www.howertonart.com. n Sasha Spielman is a web editor who enjoys blogging, appreciates beautiful black and white photography, and loves producing short documentaries. She firmly believes that “Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
(top) Eagle Watch, Acrylic on canvas, 18” x 24” (bottom) Micah, Acrylic on canvas, 14” x 11”
business of art
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Ask a Creativity Coach: Got Talent? Motivation Matters More by Romney Nesbitt
Ask a Creativity Coach:
MAKE YOUR LIFE WORK FOR YOU
by Romney Nesbitt
Dear Romney, Before I can concentrate on my creative work I have to take care of little chores around the house, but they eat up all my time. Can you help me balance my need for things to be neat with my need to do some artwork too? —Neat-Nik Dear Neat-Nik, You’ve got the “but first, then” syndrome that is a form of both procrastination and perfectionism. Your brain says: “I’m going to do my creative work today, but first I need to unload the dryer, make the bed etc. and then I’ll paint,” but one chore leads to another and before long your day is shot. A coaching tip: never waste high-value time on low-value activities. The reason it’s easy to fall victim to “but first” thinking is because a chore will show an immediate result and give you a fast good-feeling of satisfaction. A clean kitchen does feel good, but so does a completed painting! People like to do what feels good and people don’t like to do what feels bad. Doing your creative work doesn’t always feel good, in fact sometimes our creative work can make us feel paralyzed, unsure, agitated and anxious.
The First Friday Gallery Walk takes place on the first Friday of every month, rain or shine, from 6-10pm. Paseo galleries host lively opening receptions featuring new artwork, live music, and refreshments. The Gallery Walk is free to attend and open to the public. Join us for an unforgettable art experience. The Historic Paseo Arts District stretches from N.W. 28th and Walker to N.W. 30th and Dewey, and is the oldest arts district in Oklahoma City. The Paseo is home to 20 galleries and working studios, all within walking distance, and occupied by more than 75 artists. Intermingled with the galleries are a variety of unique gift and clothing shops, an event center and restaurants. For more information, call 405.525.2688 or visit thepaseo.com.
Creative work is hard. It’s work done over time and the emotional or financial pay-off can be weeks or months in the future. Creativity takes concentrated brain power; it’s mentally tiring and energizing all at the same time. Making art is emotionally risky and we’re never sure if what we’re creating will end up being “good enough” to show or sell. Creative work also brings up anxiety causing us to doubt our skills and marketability. No wonder most of us procrastinate to avoid the work we say we love to do! Your mind, like your body, requires periods of work and rest. During an extended time of painting your mind and body will need a few short breaks. Most people can sustain twenty-forty minutes of intense concentration balanced by a five-ten minute break. Some people use this break to meet social needs (Facebook, check email etc.) and other people eat a snack to refuel. A break activity that might work for you could be a short feel-good chore (make your bed or brush the dog). If you have a need to do household chores to make you feel your world is in order, why not use this need as a reward for measurable minutes of creative effort? Instead of expending all your best energies at the beginning of the day doing your “butfirst” chores, start your day by doing your creative work when you’re physically rested. Use your best energy to do your highest value work. Space a few feel-good chores throughout the day as breaks. Tell your brain, “I know you like certain things done in a certain way, but you can relax, everything will get done today— just not all at once.” I’ve discovered that most perceived problems (like perfectionism) can turn into advantages through creative thinking. You can make your life work and create your life’s work! n Romney Nesbitt is a Creativity Coach and author of Secrets From a Creativity Coach (available at amazon.com). She welcomes your questions and suggestions for this column. Book her to speak to your group through OVAC’s ARTiculate Speakers Bureau. Contact her at romneynesbitt@gmail.com.
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Gallery Listings & Exhibition Schedule
Ada Marshall Gettys: Native American Objects Through November 26 Senior Exhibits November 26- December 6 The Pogue Gallery Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center 900 Centennial Plaza (580) 559-5353 ecok.edu
Through November 22 Seasonal Selections from the USAO Permanent Collection December 2-13 University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma Gallery-Davis Hall 1806 17th Street (405) 574-1344 usao.edu/gallery/schedule
Alva
Edmond
Fall is in the Air: Benita Brewer and Jena Kodesh Opening November 1, 6-8 pm Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit New Harmonies: American Roots Opening November 16 Music and Spirit of Christmas Show and Sale featuring work of Caryl Morgan Opening December 6, 6-8 pm Graceful Arts Gallery and Studios 523 Barnes St. (580) 327-ARTS gracefulartscenter.org
Adult Studio Group Show November FAI Faculty Show December Fine Arts Institute of Edmond 27 E Edwards St (405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com
24 Works on Paper Through November 25 Margaret Roach Wheeler November 1-23 Opening November 23, 6-7 pm Jean Perry and Rick McClure December 3- January 10 Opening December 20, 6:30-7:30 pm The Goddard Center 401 First Avenue SW (580) 226-0909 goddardcenter.org
Norman
Ardmore
Broken Bow Beaver’s Bend Folk Festival November 8-10 Forest Heritage Center Beaver’s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497 forestry.ok.gov/fhc
Chickasha The Seven-State Biennial
Lawton Centerfold Show November The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery 620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org
Holiday Gift Gallery November 8- December Opening November 8, 6-9 pm Firehouse Art Center 444 South Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com On Assignment: the Photojournalism of Horace Bristol November 16- May 18 Pablo Picasso’s Woman in the Studio Through December 29 Dark Light: the Micaceous Ceramics of Christine Nofchissey McHorse Through January 12 Libertad de Expresión: the Art of the Americas and Cold War Politics Through January 5 Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
555 Elm Ave. (405) 325-4938 ou.edu/fjjma 6th Annual Chili Bowl Fundraiser November 13 VASA Art Auction and Holiday Sale November 22 Intersession Printmaking Show December 13- January 2 Lightwell Gallery, University of Oklahoma 520 Parrington Oval (405) 325-2691 art.ou.edu
Oklahoma City Tim Blake November romy owens December aka gallery 3001 Paseo (405) 606-2522 akagallery.net Mark Gilmore, Dennis Murphy and Neal Robinson November DNA Galleries 1705 B NW 16th (405) 371-2460 dnagalleries.com Denise Duong, Ginna Dowling and George Oswalt November 1-30 Christmas at the Elms and Annual Small Works December 6-28 JRB Art at the Elms 2810 North Walker (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com
November 15- January 4 Opening November 15, 6-9 pm Ashley Griffith: Red State Project November 15- January 4 Event December 1, 2-5 pm Individual Artists of Oklahoma 706 W Sheridan (405) 232-6060 iaogallery.org Faces of Bettina Steinke Through December 22 A Fresh Take: William S. And Ann Atherton Art of the American Gallery Through December 31 Prix de West Collection Through December 31 Allan Houser and his Students Through May 11 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 nationalcowboymuseum.org Ana Maria Hernando Through December 20 Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd. (405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org
Denise Duong: To Pioneer Through January 4 Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum 1400 Classen Dr. (405) 235-4458 oklahomaheritage.com
Glenn Fillmore Through November 3 Anne Spoon Through November 10 Larry Layton Through November 17 Randall Watkins November 11-January 12 Michelle E. Himes-McCrory November 18-January 19 Marjorie Atwood November 25-January 26 Oklahoma State Capitol Galleries 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 arts.ok.gov
The Company You Keep: Bonnie Allen, Jennifer Barron, Kelsey Karper, Lori Oden, Romy Owens, Stephanie Ruggles Winter
Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting Through November 17 Chuck Close: Works on Paper
December 13-February 16 Lisa Hoke: Come on Down December 13-April 13 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com Jennifer Cocoma Hustis: Untamed Through March 1 The Satellite Galleries at Science Museum Oklahoma 2100 NE 52nd St (405) 602-6664 sciencemuseumok.org
Ponca City Art Center Faculty Exhibit Through November 24 24 Works on Paper December 1-29 Ponca City Art Center 819 East Central (580) 765-9746
Stillwater Graphic Design Senior Portfolio Exhibition Through November 15 Senior Studio Capstone Exhibition November 20- December 6 Opening November 21, 5-7 pm Gardiner Gallery Oklahoma State University Museum of Art 108 Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts (405) 744-4143 museum.okstate.edu Sharing a Journey: Building the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Collection Through January 5 Curator Talk November 7, 6-7 pm Postal Plaza Gallery Oklahoma State University Museum of Art 700 S. Husband Street (405) 744-2784 museum.okstate.edu
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Tulsa Member’s Juried Exhibition November 8- January 5 Opening November 8, 6-9 pm 108 Contemporary 108 E Brady (918) 237-9592 108contemporary.org Holiday Show and Sale November-December Hardesty Arts Center 101 E Archer St (918) 584-3333 ahhatulsa.org Dia de los Muertos Arts Festival November 1 Champagne and Chocolate Fundraiser November 16 The Four Elements Opening December 6, 6-9 pm Living Arts 307 E. Brady (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org Kaleidochromatic: Jeff Harm, Benjamin Cobb and Erika Pochybova December 7- 31 Opening & Demo December 7, 10-5 Lovetts Gallery 6528 E 51st St (918) 664-4732 lovettsgallery.com Sirens of the Southwest Through November 10
Opening Abstraction Through June 29 Identity and Inspiration Through June 29 The Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 South Rockford Road (918) 749-7941 philbrook.org Linear Chaos: Deanna Chafin November 1-30 Opening November 1, 6-9 pm The Best of Edison Prep December 6-21 Opening December 6, 6-9 pm Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery 9 East Brady (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org Tulsa Historical Society November Stephen Smith: Impasto, Impasto, Impasto December Tulsa Performing Arts Center Gallery Third and Cincinnati (918) 596-2368 tulsapac.com
Deanna Chafin, St. Louis, MO, Lush, Acrylic on wood, 24” x 24” at Tulsa Artists’ Coalition gallery November 1-30.
Woodward Mike Wagar November 2-30 Dixie Waddle Gingerbread Contest December 7- January 4 Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum
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. PATRON - $250
-Listing of self or business on signage at events -Invitation for two people to private reception with visiting curators -$210 of this membership is tax deductible. -All of below
FELLOW - $125
-Acknowledgement in the Resource Guide and Art Focus Oklahoma -Copy of each OVAC exhibition catalog -$85 of this membership is tax deductible. -All of below
FAMILY - $60
2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 pipm1.com
MEMBER FORM ¨ Patron
¨ Fellow
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¨ Individual
Name Street Address City, State, Zip
-Same benefits as Individual level for two people in household
INDIVIDUAL - $40
Website
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-Subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma -Monthly e-newsletter of visual art events statewide (sample) -Receive all OVAC mailings -Listing in Annual Resource Guide and Member Directory -Copy of Annual Resource Guide and Member Directory -Access to “Members Only” area on OVAC website -Invitation to Annual Meeting Plus, artists receive: -Inclusion in online Virtual Gallery -Monthly e-newsletter of opportunities for artists (sample) -Artist entry fees waived for OVAC sponsored exhibitions -Up to 50% discount on Artist Survival Kit workshops -Associate Membership in Fractured Atlas, with access to services such as insurance, online courses and other special offers.
STUDENT - $20
-Valid student ID required. Same benefits as Individual level.
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¨ Student
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?
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Detach and mail form along with payment to: OVAC, 730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104, Oklahoma City, OK 73116 Or join online at www.ovac-ok.org
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ArtOFocus k l a h o m a Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma are free with OVAC membership. Nov 19:
OVAC Day in the City of OKC
Nov 19:
Artist INC Final Presentations
Nov 20:
OVAC Day in the State of Oklahoma
Nov 21:
OVAC Day in the City of Tulsa
Nov 23:
ASK Workshop - The Artist’s Network, Norman
Dec 31:
OVAC Spring Internship Application Deadline
730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities.
Non Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Oklahoma City, OK Permit No. 113
Visit www.ovac-ok.org to learn more.
Jan 15: OVAC Grants for Artists Deadline
NOVEMBER Denise Duong Ginna Dowling George Oswalt Opening Reception: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 6 - 10 P.M.
DECEMBER Small Works Christmas At The Elms Opening Reception: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6 6 - 10 P.M. Gallery Hours: Mon - Sat 10 am - 6 pm Sun 1 pm - 5 pm
2810 North Walker Phone: 405.528.6336 www.jrbartgallery.com
JRB
ART
AT THE ELMS