THE ART HALL: A Creative Corridor Through the Vibrant Uptown District

By Ariana Jakub

Just one block west of the iconic Tower Theatre in OKC, The Art Hall’s entrance is discreetly located in The Rise building at 519 NW 23rd Street. Artworks hang on a long white wall opposite one of exposed brick, creating an element of warmth. The entire gallery can be viewed in one glance.

Gallery owner Anna Russell conceived of The Art Hall after living in Miami and encountering numerous art spaces that defied the layout and operating hours of most traditional galleries. Security cameras monitor the art and sales are processed online or at Urban Teahouse next door. This system eliminates the need for an attendant and allows for extended viewing hours.

Helen Opper, The Art Hall’s curator and director, has played a key role in the gallery’s success. Opper, who was born in Oklahoma City, recently returned to her hometown after ten years of working in the New York art world. Her boomerang story is typical of many talented Oklahomans who leave the state to gain a broader experience and then return. She is articulate and passionate about increasing opportunities for Oklahoma artists to present their work to a wider audience.

The current exhibit titled Tiny Little Fables: The Enchanted features work by three artists: Nonney Oddlokken, Nicole Moan, and Aztrid Moan.

Oddlokken combines images of insects and animals in her collages, inviting the viewer to enter into an alluring world of fables that migrates down the hallway. Her rhythmic gold stitching mimics the cadence of her New Orleans accent and connects her enchanted subjects to one another.

On the opposite wall is Nicole Moan’s life-size ceramic Death Bed Series. Lightly glazed spines and ribs, absent skulls or leg bones, enclose metallic flesh forms. Inside the rectangular coffin-like frames are wonderfully stylized ceramic blooms that beg to be touched and smelled. In lieu of fragrance, these works emit a red light from within, created from repurposed VW tail lights. This series was made during a time when Moan lost a number of people in her life, helping her to process and manifest her grief into a physical form.

A vaulted ceiling allows the hallway to open vertically and an upward glance reveals two cat paintings by Aztrid Moan, Nicole’s daughter. The cats are rendered playful and yet intensely surveillant. I zigzagged through the gallery from left to right, unable to commit to one wall at a time. Oddlokken’s Rougarou and His Spirit Guide beckoned me; a fox with a human eye enclosed in a monocle gazed both at me and toward a cicada simultaneously. According to the artist, “The encircled eye symbolizes the enchanted people and creatures who live among us that we may not see, but always see us.”

After Hurricane Katrina, Oddlokken moved to a river parish which requires her to regularly drive through the bayou just to get to the grocery store. Her continuous observations of this forgotten part of New Orleans have increased her connection to the city’s Cajun roots. The rougarou, a Cajun version of the werewolf, as well as all of the flora and fauna appearing in her collages, are indigenous to her hometown. In The Feu Follet and Her Roseate Spoonbill, a curious woman and bird are encased in a palette stitched from flamingo pink thread, the color of the native spoonbill bird. The Feu Follet, or Cajun fairy, is thought to glow in the bayou and can sometimes confuse people causing them to become lost. Her work is unbelievably rhythmic and impeccably crafted. Layers of white and thick gold thread push and pull one’s eye around the composition, recalling the teachings of Hans Hofmann. The fairy’s face and hands are highlighted by the absence of threading, signaling a stillness and siren-like ability to draw the viewer in with her expression.

Across from this work is one of Nicole Moan’s ceramic works, Lace Garden Corset, cinched together with a pink ribbon echoing the color and movement of Oddlokken’s threaded lines. The raised designs on Moan’s corset are fluid and decorative compared to Oddlokken’s angular stitching. Moan said she designed several of her corsets for the women in Oddlokken’s works, imagining them stepping out of their frames and into one of her works. In fact, at the show’s opening, dozens of attendees did just that, proudly donning Moan’s corsets around their chests.

Near the end of the hall hangs one of Aztrid Moan’s works, Iris, an ink drawing of a celestial being on a wood panel. She gracefully extends her arm for an eyeless bird to perch, her body revealing the grain of wood on which she is drawn. A flock of birds, drawn in both ink and wood, maintain the rhythmic patterns visible in all three women’s work. In this exhibit, Opper succeeds in Nicole Moan, Lillie, Death Bed Series, clay, glaze, thin-set resin, and LED on panel.

her intention to show the “breadth and quality of nontraditional artwork being made by women artists at various stages of their careers.”

As NW 23rd Street, one of the most traveled roads in Oklahoma, continues on its path of becoming a destination district, The Art Hall has established itself as its creative corridor. Opper not only highlights the talent of her selected artists, but also the connections made possible when artworks are displayed so closely together—an apt metaphor for this developing block. As the Uptown District continues to grow, with many businesses owned by women, expect to see a schedule of consistently strong exhibits from this women-run Art Hall.

Tiny Little Fables: The Enchanted is on view through May 18. The Art Hall is located at 519 NW 23rd Street, OKC. Hours are Monday-Friday 8am-9pm, Saturday 10am9pm, Sunday 10am-6pm. arthallokc.com n

review Ariana Jakub is an artist, educator, and writer. She teaches art at Cascia Hall Preparatory School and can be reached at ariana.jakub@gmail.com.