Art Focus Oklahoma Summer 2021 by Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition

Art Focus

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

Ok l a h o m a

Vo l u m e 3 6 N o . 3 | S u m m e r 2 0 2 1

AN EXHIBITION CURATED BY BENJAMIN LIGGETT Saturday Concerts at ahha Tulsa Jul. 24 & Aug. 21 | 7pm Tulsa Playboys on Guthrie Green Sep. 10 | 7pm Photo by Jack Dean Pictures

For a full list of programs and event tickets scan the QR code with your smart phone’s camera This exhibition is sponsored by Oklahoma Humanities, the Kinder Morgan Foundation, the Flint Family Foundation, the Cecil & Virgie Burton Foundation, Burt Holmes & Jean Ann Fausser.

www.108contemporary.org 108 East Reconciliation Way Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 918.895.6302 Brady Craft Inc., dba 108|Contemporary, is a charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 108|Contemporary is an equal opportunity employer committed to principles of the broadest form of diversity. Design by Naomi Dunn. This program is funded in part by Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of OH or the NEH.

Art Focus

Ok l a h o m a Vo l u m e 3 6 N o . 3

| Summer 2021

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Collective Growth: Art by Jarica Walsh at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City By Gianna Martucci-Fink

8 ON THE COVER: Dawn Tree, Lioness Spirit, latex acrylic, aerosol on wood board. Photo Credit: DJ Mercer. Page 17

Don’t Nod at an Evil Olive: Ed Ruscha at Oklahoma Contemporary By John Selvidge

10 Southeastern Mound Builder Culture from Spiro Mounds to Contemporary Art By Kristin Gentry

F e a t u re s 12 Views of Greenwood: Interviews with the Artists By Susan Green

15 Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon: the Painting and Aquatints of Doel Reed Installation view of Ed Ruscha: OKLA. Photo credit Alex Marks, courtesy of Oklahoma Contemporary, page 8

By Rebecca Parker Brienen and Cassidy Petrazzi

17 Paint, Promote, and Paint Again: Art by Dawn Tree By Barbara Eikner

19 Eleven on 11 Murals Curated by Markus Muse By Piper Prolago

22 VISTAS: Reaching Back, Looking Forward with the Qu’aint Collaboration By Sarah Atlee

24 EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetry Edited by Liz Blood

Don Thompson, Baltimore Barbershop, 1970. Gelatin silver print, 9 7/8” x 13”. © Don Thompson, page 12

26 OVAC News 28 Gallery Guide

Support from:

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition PHONE: 405.879.2400 1720 N Shartel Ave, Ste B, Oklahoma City, OK 73103. WEB: ovac-ok.org Editor: Krystle Kaye, director@ovac-ok.org Art Director: Anne Richardson, speccreative@gmail.com

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Art Focus Oklahoma is a quarterly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the visual arts in Oklahoma. Mission: Growing and developing Oklahoma’s visual arts through education, promotion, connection, and funding. 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.

2020-2021 Board of Directors: President: Douglas Sorocco, OKC; Vice President: Kirsten Olds, Tulsa; Treasurer: Diane Salamon, Tulsa; Secretary: Kyle Larson, Alva; Parliamentarian: Jon Fisher, OKC; Past President: John Marshall; Susan Agee, Pauls Valley; Marjorie Atwood, Tulsa; Bob Curtis, OKC; Barbara Gabel, OKC; Anna Inhofe, Tulsa; Farooq Karim, OKC; Kathryn Kenney, Tulsa; Drew Knox; Heather Lunsford, OKC; Chris Winland, OKC. 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. © 2021, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved. View the online archive at ArtFocusOklahoma.org.

Jarica Walsh, Collective Healing, cyanotype, printed with plant materials collected from several of the gardens visited for Hope Flags.

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COLLECTIVE GROWTH: Art by Jarica Walsh at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City by Gianna Martucci-Fink

Jarica Walsh’s process is one that returns to both the earth and community through the shared experience of a garden. A place that requires care, attention, love, and maintenance by the gardener, but also a place to retire, gather, and be. The return to nature has been heightened over the course of the past year, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as we sought after activities old and new, to occupy our newfound time and looked for meaningful distractions in the wake of tragedy and fear. Reflecting on these times of uncertainty and comradery are the core ideas behind Walsh’s latest series Collective Growth which is currently displayed at the 21c Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City. Featuring her Hope Flags installation and works on paper, her photogram prints reflect community relationships with nature in the pandemic, while documenting the plant life and thought processes of the individuals from which they were harvested. The importance of a self-cognitive and meditative process has been a steady part of Walsh’s work. Take her ceramic talisman-like vessels for example, which evoke strength in concept, body, and spirit, but vulnerability in structural integrity as she meticulously carves out clay to create repetitive negative space. More importantly, the belief in the healing quality and impact of her art and objects is that they are infused with positivity and blessings. As the memory or negative image of her commonly composed vessels appear synonymously amongst the foliage in her Hope Flags, printed on fabric through cyanotype techniques, it is evident that this installation is transferring healing imagery to the viewer. Just as Walsh’s physical objects intended, their visual reference in the installation is only solidified through the pairing of contextual quotes from the fellow gardeners on the verso side of the flags. Including the names or partial names of each shared quote, one citation from Lin and Ernesto Sanchez reads “gardening has been a gift of normalcy in the midst of chaos,” or as E Sidler explains “the garden reminds me to take the long view.”

Practicing the long view, or slow-looking strategies, within the exhibition space is also a mindset Walsh has instilled in her viewers. The calming and constructed aesthetics between the balance of nature and design, now create a unifying and extended presence while considering her works on paper. Much like the flags, here, the composition in each printed work is broken up by the physical transference of plant life in the photogram printing process, but the hands of the artist hold a stronger presence. Exploring the use of cyanotype printing techniques more broadly, there is an unrefined but

intentional painterly quality residing in the cyan-blue color field, which is created by brushing on the two-part chemical solution (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide), that when sun-kissed darkens its shade. As Walsh uses cyanotype printing at the majority of each location, including the First Americans Museum grounds, the results consist of raw images inspired by the natural exposure to UV light in its original environment. “Printed by the earth itself ” you could say is the foundation of the exhibition— conceptually it is not only a practical way (continued to page 6)

Artist Jarica Walsh with her work at 21c Museum Hotel

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of documenting the plant life, but the negative image or ghost of where the plant once was, reminds us of the trauma, loss, and hardship this year has brought upon us. By losing the plant’s intricacies in the photogram images, Walsh calls attention to each unique shape and pattern— legible enough to understand the image but ambiguous in its introspection, as each print will resonate differently for each viewer. In order for collective healing to transpire from collective trauma, she creates an inviting and reflective space so we can contemplate our shared experiences. Although the gardens and interactions with community members in Walsh’s visual record reside in Oklahoma, people globally are choosing to reconnect with land, acting as a mutual exchange of nourishment and comfort between us and mother earth. However, it is important to understand that the next chance you have to experience Walsh’s work, whether Collective Growth or even a future series, you do not have to be a gardener or plant buff to experience her work to the fullest. She simply asks us to acknowledge the roots of our existence, treat our earth and each other with respect, and in doing so through our own personal growth and beautiful vulnerability we begin to heal, and so does our community flourish in our garden. The Collective Growth exhibition is on view in Gallery 4 on the first floor through mid-summer 2021. For visitor information, please visit 21cmuseumhotels.com/ oklahomacity. To see more of Jarica Walsh’s artwork, visit jaricawalsh.com. n Gianna Martucci-Fink is a visual artist with an emphasis on sculpture and printmaking, who uses feminist and posthumanist theory to address contemporary consumerist culture. Additionally, she is the Co-Host and Co-Creator of Artpop Talk—a podcast that explores the intersections between art history and pop-culture, engaging with a community of art learners every week.

Jarica Walsh, from Hope Flags, cyanotype, printed at the garden of Lin and Ernesto Sanchez Top: back of flag. Bottom: front of flag.

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Don’t Nod at an Evil Olive: Ed Ruscha at Oklahoma Contemporary By John Selvidge

Ed Ruscha, Don’t Nod, 2002, acrylic on canvas. Photo Credit: John Selvidge

Obviously, this past year hasn’t been the best for art-goers, but it’s been a very good year for Ed Ruscha fans in Oklahoma. First, this past fall and winter, there was the remarkable OK/LA at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman that featured six artists originally from the Sooner State—Ed Ruscha among them—who migrated to Los Angeles in the late 1950s. Then, just after this companion show closed, Oklahoma Contemporary unveiled its landmark Ed Ruscha: OKLA, the first solo museum exhibition of Ruscha’s work in the artist’s home state. That it took Ruscha so long to “come home” is surprising, but considering the groundswell of excitement—perhaps only slightly blunted by COVID—for everything the Contemporary’s new location, resources, and programming can mean for the OKC arts scene, it’s possible that it just simply could not have happened before.

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In part because his vast, six-decade body of work comprises an impressive variety of media—incorporating paintings, prints, drawings, books, photographs, and films— staging a Ruscha retrospective likely presents a considerable challenge. Further, given aspects of his reputation for inscrutability, is Ruscha difficult to present to the public? Thankfully, the Contemporary and co-curator Alexandra Schwartz organized OKLA in a way that allowed what so many have enjoyed as the fundamental humor, obliqueness, and spirit of experimental play in Ruscha’s art to shine brightly through the 74 works included. Most often resisting “explaining” Ruscha through over-arching statements or definitive interpretations of his works, OKLA provides a refreshingly light curatorial touch, grouping pieces together in fairly loose constellations of subject matter (Oklahoma, religion, Pop Art, car culture, America) and then mainly getting

out of the way, offering minimal wall text so viewers can riddle over what they experience on their own. But, of course, there’s no shortage of text in this exhibition since written language is a consistent presence in Ruscha’s art, likely its most heralded hallmark. Even just looking at a few works quickly makes it easy to say that something interesting happens when Ruscha deploys words. With the screenprint Sin, the single word of its title is presented, via trompe l’oeil technique, as if tilted out of the traditionally flat, two-dimensional realm of writing into three-dimensional space. Rendered now as if physical, both unwieldy and vulnerable with its paper-thin letters, the word “SIN” effectively enters the perceptual field as a thing—specifically a fabricated thing, as if someone had snipped its letters from a ribbon. However, when juxtaposed with the olive, fleshy and luscious, that sits below it, does

Clockwise from top: Ed Ruscha, Mother’s Boys, 1987, oil on canvas. Photo Credit: John Selvidge; Ed Ruscha, Chocolate Room, originally installed 1970 at the 35th Venice Biennale, chocolate on paper. Photo Credit: John Selvidge; Ed Ruscha, Sin, 1970, screenprint on paper. Photo Credit: John Selvidge

“SIN” become more insubstantial or more darkly delicious? Does this olive gesture more towards the power of temptation that attends the theological concept, or does its neo-Dadaist or surrealist flourish just make the whole thing seem hilarious, an old idea worthy of a laugh and a martini? To my mind, a productive and valuable tension resides between these two poles. Ruscha’s nuanced manipulation of these elements can be understood to open up a field of play where a definitive meaning need not ever arrive. Applied to a more sober subject, something like this indeterminacy can become poignant. In the oil painting Mother’s Boys, an American flag is depicted waving in the wind against an open but austere blue sky. Underneath it, a featureless white rectangle sits at the bottom of the picture plane. According to the Contemporary’s wall text, this white bar “obscures the title of the work painted

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beneath it and is meant to suggest censored or redacted words, as in a classified government document.” I find this take compelling but incomplete. Though this whited-out space, painted over the work’s title, may naturally stand for words now unavailable, the bar’s size and shape also recall a tombstone, a slab, a monument or cenotaph for fallen dead just as much as an act of whitewashing or censorship. As a presence marking an absence, might this empty space function more ambivalently, more inclusively as a blank zone of loss into which viewers can import whatever associations this flag may summon for them, whether patriotism, mourning, anger, national hypocrisy, or dreams deferred? While many works insistently remain open like this, some might be characterized by an excess of signification, even its obliteration. The canvas Don’t Nod seems overdetermined in a sly, almost maniacal way, the visual joke

of the mirrored double-image of a majestic mountain range repeating the symmetrical structure of the palindrome emblazoned across it with the uncanny effect of an abyss opening up behind the words. And with his Chocolate Room installation, positioned at the end of the exhibition’s tour, Ruscha’s 100 pounds of screen-printed Hershey’s chocolate exudes the funk of a sweetness that, given the artist’s persistent concern with consumer culture, might just be a whiff of an empire in decline. n John Selvidge is an award-winning screenwriter who works for a humanitarian nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City while maintaining freelance and creative projects on the side. Selected for OVAC’s Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship in 2018, his art writing, magazine writing, and poetry have appeared locally, nationally, and internationally.

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Southeastern Mound Builder Culture from Spiro Mounds to Contemporary Art By Kristin Gentry

Connecting the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Spiro and the Art of the Mississippian World exhibition and the Chickasaw Nation’s Exhibit C Gallery’s Music for the Great Sun exhibition

Human Face Effigy with Deer Antlers, AD 1200–1450, wood, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, Spiro site, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Photo Credit: Kristin Gentry

Both exhibitions held the concept that the descendants of the Mound Building peoples are a living culture here in the present day through language, customs, traditions, art, and more. The Spiro exhibition at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum displayed the actual historical objects from the Spiro Mound site (Le Flore County, OK); whereas the art pieces at Exhibit C Gallery showed the contemporary work based on the objects important to Marcus Amerman’s Chahta (Choctaw) culture found at the Spiro Mound site. Viewing both exhibitions we see the direct interpretation of the historical objects on Amerman’s work. Some of the Mississippian and or Caddoan peoples in the contemporary parts of the exhibitions

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were from tribes removed to present day Oklahoma during Indian Removal from the southeastern part of the United States. Spiro and the Art of the Mississippian World and Music for the Great Sun art exhibitions both display the Southeastern, Mound Building culture of the Mississippian peoples from historical and contemporary lenses. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s curator, Dr. Eric Singleton, worked closely with the Caddo Nation, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and countless other Nations. It was important for him to let the tribes dictate the direction. From the museum’s website, “The Spiro people, and their Mississippian peers, are nearly forgotten in the pages of North American history, yet they created one of the most

Margaret Roach Wheeler (Chikashsha (Chickasaw)/ Chahta), Minko Regalia, mixed media with handwoven and loomed textiles, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Photo Credit: Kristin Gentry

exceptional societies in all of the Americas. What makes Spiro truly unique, however, is that it contained the largest assemblage of engraved, embossed, and carved objects of any presently known Mississippian site.” The exhibition was displayed chronologically starting with the historical found objects, and progressed in time as viewers moved through the space into the art created today by the same Mississippian descendants in the section entitled, Cultural Continuation. In his interview for Art Focus Oklahoma, Dr. Singleton expressed he wanted both the art and the artists to speak for themselves at the museum. Through ethnology, he wanted the study of comparative cultures to be used for viewers to understand some of the meanings and motifs found on the historical

and contemporary objects. The Museum held several events collaborating with artists within the Cultural Continuation section of the exhibition from different Indigenous nations. Contemporary Oklahoma artists like weaver Margaret Roach Wheeler, Chikashsha (Chickasaw)/Chahta, textile and clay artist Anita Fields, Wazhazhe (Osage), multidisciplinary artist Matt Anderson, (Cherokee), and others held artists talks and demonstrations live at the museum. The Seminole Nation held a stomp dance at the museum the day the exhibition closed. Music for the Great Sun showed Marcus Amerman, Chahta, and Preston Singletary’s, Tlingit, collaborations created based off of Marcus’ Chahta culture with the imagery through blown glass work reflective of the objects found at the Spiro Mound site. From the exhibition statement, “Amerman’s ancestors saw The Great Sun as the political and religious leader of the ancient, classstratified society. Many of the pieces Amerman and Singletary are using for inspiration were originally made by imperial craftsmen for the demands of the ruling class and The Great Sun.” The word “music” was used in the title as the artists working together performatively are creating music for the Great Sun. Their work has put the Mississippian people into modern conversations. In his artist talk hosted by Tom Farris, , Amerman, said Otoe-Missouria/ he wanted to create this body of work as “culture adapting to new medium, to keep the stories and the symbolism alive.” Their renditions through large, colorful, and graphic sand carved glass pieces were in such contrast to the small and delicate naturally colored mound objects. They took the carefully relief-carved iconography of the Mississippian people and transformed them into bold graphics with the same care for precision. For Singletary, this was his inaugural exhibition in Oklahoma. From Singletary’s website, “My work with glass transforms the notion that Native artists are only best when traditional materials are used. It has helped advocate on the behalf of all indigenous people—affirming that we are still here—that we are declaring who we are

through our art in connection to our culture.” Amerman is well known for his beadwork, so to collaborate with Singletary he pushed his work in a new direction. The objects of all the people from the Spiro Mounds to their descendants as artists of today continue to live with the cultural knowledge they have preserved despite everything that has tried to take that away from them. The next featured exhibition at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is Tattoos: Religion, Reality and Regret, and will be on display August 27th through May 8th. n

Top left: Marcus Amerman (Chahta) & Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Buffalo Man, blown and sand carved glass, 18.5” x 11.25” x 13”, Photo Credit: Copyright © Preston Singletary. Top right: Erin Shaw (Chickasaw), 2013, mixed media, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Photo Credit: Kristin Gentry Bottom right: Engraved Shell Cup with Human Face on the Shell of Turtles, AD 900–1450, marine shell, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, Spiro site. Craig Mound, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Photo Credit: Kristin Gentry

Kristin Gentry is a Choctaw artist, writer, curator, and educator. kristingentry.com

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Views of Greenwood: Interviews with the Artists By Susan Green

The Greenwood District was all but destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Despite overwhelming devastation, Greenwood residents and business owners remained and rebuilt. In the decades that followed, the neighborhood thrived again—but continued to face blows from urban renewal and other forms of systemic racism. Oklahoma photographers Don Thompson, Gaylord Oscar Herron, and Eyakem Gulilat documented the neighborhood from the late 1960s to the present day. The resulting images explore moments and landscapes of the community: 1970s sedans beside brick storefronts, empty railroad tracks stretching to the downtown skyline, and the faces of entrepreneurs whose businesses would be reduced to rubble the following day. Greenwood is a place of resilience, one that survives today thanks to the impassioned—and ongoing—work of community residents. The important images in Views of Greenwood by these three photographers show the physical makeup

Don Thompson, Roller Skater, 1991. Gelatin silver print, 13.5” x 9.25”, Courtesy of the artist. © Don Thompson

of the neighborhood and surroundings, as well as the people who live and work in Greenwood—a barber, a newlywed couple, and a new generation of children playing, making the neighborhood their own.

DON THOMPSON As you were developing your practice as a photographer, what did you hope to explore with your images?

As a young photographer, I looked to artists like Gordon Parks who used his camera as a weapon against discrimination. I wanted to show the injustices that I felt and that I saw in our society. Through my photographs, I hoped to change others’ perceptions about people of color and dispel the notion that people of color had no value. I took up the camera to show the goodness and grace of people. Your photographs in Views of Greenwood are powerful images of a community. What drew you to focus on Greenwood?

In taking these photographs, I discovered that we all have mutual beliefs and desires. I also wanted to change people’s perceptions of Greenwood and North Tulsa. I noticed that the Tulsa news media

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never highlighted local Black life and accomplishments—instead they branded North Tulsa as a place of crime. I wanted to change this and show the community in general as well as people, including Black pioneers, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and educators, who were accomplishing great things. Your images show intimate moments in people’s lives, but they also reveal larger issues, including urban renewal. How does your work speak to these larger issues?

Baltimore Barbershop (1970) captures the essence of why I had to take these photographs. When I approached the barber in his shop, he was smiling and jovial, and we talked about how long his business had been on Greenwood. As he posed looking out the window, his body began to slump and sadness washed over him. Across the street, bulldozers were tearing down buildings. When I asked what he thought about the destruction from the urban renewal project, he said “Looks like I’m going to be next. I don’t know what I’m going to do. This has been my business all my life.” After I took several photographs, I told him I would be back. But when I returned the next day, his building had been razed. I was never able to find him again. My one regret is that the bulldozers were faster than I was. I was not able to capture all of the people, the businesses, and the buildings. I couldn’t believe the wanton destruction of urban renewal—taking the lives and livelihoods of people. This was a community of people living, working, and contributing back to the community. They were viewed as having no value. What the Massacre could not do, urban renewal and the bulldozers accomplished.

Eyakem Gulilat, Untitled, 2013. Archival pigment print, 22 x 24”, Courtesy of the artist © Eyakem Gulilat

GAYLORD OSCAR HERRON You began photographing Greenwood District in the mid-1960s, and your images are both compelling and evocative. What drew you to recording images specifically of Greenwood?

I felt that we needed to show the evidence of what our community had been through and show where our community stood right then. I was trying to illustrate as much as I could, knowing that it would be important to look back and consider. That’s what photography is for. It brings the past up to the present and lets you predict the future. Artists express what society is working through—the challenges that we face and the questions that we have. Your photographs convey not just a scene, but a mood, and perhaps the perspective of the sitter. How did you convey that inner perspective?

I would talk to the person—I wanted to know what they were interested in, what they were doing, how they felt, and how they got to this place. I was honest and

interested, and I tried to truly engage with them. On my first visit to Greenwood, the first person I met was the woman in Woman at Archer & Greenwood (1964). She is facing north, and the railroad spur from downtown is behind the building. Greenwood Rising is being built where she is sitting. Her mood encompasses the photograph. She’s there, perhaps welcoming, but there’s uncertainty there as well. Photographs help in understanding people. The look on faces reveal the deeper reason for the photograph. You can tell a lot about what came before, what came after, and what’s going on now. That’s what I love about photography. It’s like reading a script rather than something that’s flat and one-dimensional. There is a lot that we must face in our past, as well as today; change needs to happen. What do you hope for the future?

I hope that everyone could see the (continued to page 14)

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dead-end roads that we’ve gone down that are completely counterproductive to what God wants and what we should want. We have a responsibility for each other. We have to change our mindset and stop being at odds with one another. When you observe someone, you go into action—you engage with them. We should truly see each other, love one another, and actively practice that love.

children—whether White or Black—would have played here. I want the audience to imagine the lives, the stories, and celebrations that would have taken place. Black placemaking is the realization and ability of Black communities to create a space that meets their social and economic needs. Learning about Tulsa and wanting to support Black placemakers is what has propelled me to pursue a Ph.D. in city planning. Your large-scale photograph of Standpipe Hill is incredibly immersive. Tell us about your intent for the work.

We use skylines as a reference point to understand a place. But in this immersive 360-degree view of Tulsa from Standpipe Hill, the downtown skyline is dwarfed by the stark realities of other parts of Tulsa. We see the energy of Tulsa focused at the downtown skyline and the vacant, raw land to the north. The highway cuts through the space, dividing the two. Photography doesn’t differentiate between an empty lot or a building—it democratizes what is reproduced in the image. In this way, this photograph gives equal weight to all parts of Tulsa. North Tulsa is just as important as downtown or South Tulsa. But we can’t help but notice the stark visual and economic differences between North and South Tulsa. I hope that viewers will scan the photograph—find landmarks and then become restless and examine more than just downtown. I hope visitors question why the land that can be seen to the north is vacant, without significant investment. Gaylord Oscar Herron, Greenwood at Brady – Tulsa, OK, 1972. Print on Hahnemühle paper, 20 x 15.5”. Courtesy of the artist. © Gaylord Oscar Herron

EYAKEM GULILAT In your work, you explore intersections of place and memory. What intersections did you find while working in Greenwood?

In 2013, I was the first artist-in-residence at ahha Tulsa. I was keenly aware that Greenwood was a place of trauma, and I wanted to acknowledge that. Before there can be reconciliation, acknowledgement has to occur. As I explored, I couldn’t understand why there were open stretches of land [now commonly called “The Steps to Nowhere”] so close to downtown and the Arts District. I soon learned the history of the land and its connection to Greenwood. I photographed every empty set of stairs in this neighborhood. With the repetition of seeing the multiple steps and grassy lots, I hope viewers will imagine the Black placemakers in Tulsa, the conversations that would have happened on the porches of these homes, and the games that

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You were able to meet and talk with Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Wess Young and his wife Cathryn as part of your residency. Would you share more about your photograph of their home?

Wess and Cathryn Young were amazing human beings, and being able to meet them was an extraordinary privilege. While visiting with them, I was taken by the history on this wall. The wall shows that despite traumatic experiences and systemic exclusions, life still happens in Black communities. It shows the beauty of their family and is a testament to their dreams and desires. All families, whether Black or White, have dreams—for their lives to flourish, for the education and success of their children, and to be a part of a place called Tulsa. Views of Greenwood is on view at Philbrook Museum of Art from March 14 – September 5, 2021. For more information, visit philbrook.org. n Susan Green serves as the Marcia Manhart Endowed Associate Curator for Contemporary Art & Design at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she works with artists and the public and oversees the decorative arts and design collection, the historic Villa Philbrook, and the Museum’s special collections and archive.

Doel Reed’s Murals in Stone: Picturing Oklahoma Agriculture and the Oil Industry in the 1930s By Rebecca Parker Brienen and Cassidy Petrazzi

Doel Reed (designer) and Joe Taylor (sculptor), Murals in Stone, ca. 1938, Oklahoma State Office Building (now the Jim Thorpe Building), Oklahoma City. Photography by Phil Shockley.

Celebrated for his beautiful aquatints and dramatic landscapes of the American Southwest, painter and printmaker Doel Reed (1894-1985) was an artist and faculty member at Oklahoma State University from 1924-1959. Many of the artist’s early works have been lost and others, like his self-described “murals in stone,” c 1938 in the Jim Thorpe Building (formerly the Oklahoma State Office Building) in Oklahoma City have only recently been identified as works by the artist. Built in 1938 and designed by prominent Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, the Jim Thorpe Building is art deco in style. Reed and University of Oklahoma sculptor Joe Taylor created reliefs and wall engravings for this building that are reminiscent of other Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects that highlight American industry and agriculture. The relief above the building’s main entrance, which focuses on three robust male figures at work, may be attributed to

Taylor and Reed. It also includes imagery related to the land run of 1889 and oil production, preparing the viewer for Reed’s wall engravings inside. The limestone walls of the lobby feature images designed by Reed and expertly carved by Taylor. Many of Reed’s original drawings for this project are in the collection of the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art. Reed’s artistic reputation was on the rise nationally in the 1930s, and as such he would have been an obvious choice for this commission. Trained as an Impressionist painter at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, by the 1930s Reed had rejected “foreign” influences and subject matter, arguing that Midwestern artists needed to paint in their “own yards.” His adoption of a Regionalist style, which featured the land, people, and industries of the Midwest, was well-suited for this project. While the entryway relief focuses squarely on industry and masculinity, Reed’s interior imagery emphasizes an idealized and prosperous present for Oklahoma through representations of

anonymous but productive male and female types, all of whom appear to be Caucasian. The young state required decoration for its governmental buildings that conveyed a sense of history, institutional power, and civic duty to its visitors. Taylor and Reed’s work accomplished this, and perhaps even more importantly, instilled a sense of pride in Oklahomans’ collective accomplishments and bright future. Reed’s three images on the north side of the lobby illustrate Oklahoma’s connection to the oil industry. The central image features two large elm trees surrounded by oil derricks. This composition is framed on either side by pairs of young, strong, anonymous men, labor is highlighted by the tension in their muscular arms and the contrapposto of their powerful legs. The men on the left use a drill pipe elevator, and the men on the right work together to maneuver an oil pipe. All of the men wear close-fitting workpants and “Oil King” type work boots, and the majority are bare (continued to page 16)

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chested, allowing the viewer to admire their powerful torsos. This is one of only a handful of works by Reed that focus on the male, rather than the female, figure. The derricks featured around the elms of the central image may refer to the “forest of derricks,” which was rapidly encroaching on the Oklahoma City State Capitol Complex in the 1930s. By 1936 there were 150 active wells throughout the capitol. By clearly rendering elm leaves, Reed may have been referring to the “million dollar elm” under whose shade Colonel Elmer Ellsworth Walters, the official auctioneer of the Osage Nation, became renowned for selling milliondollar oil leases in Pawhuska, OK. Though physically absent from these depictions, it is important to note the enduring presence of Native peoples in the history of oil discovery and production in Oklahoma. Lewis Ross, a brother of Chief John Ross of the Cherokees is credited with finding the first pocket of oil in 1859 in present day Mayes County, OK. In 1885 the first oil well was drilled in Atoka County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. During the height of the oil boom from 1919 – 1928, oilfields earned the Osage tribe millions of dollars and produced many fortunes including that of Phillips Petroleum and Conoco. On the south side of the lobby, Reed also uses a tree as the central image for a three-part composition. Here the tree is a peach, and a disproportionately large female figure leans seductively against its trunk. The curvaceous form and full breasts of this Oklahoma Eve suggest the fecundity of the state, a Midwest Garden of Eden. Peaches were an important cash crop for many Oklahoma farmers into the 1940s and commercial peach orchards may still be found in the state. Here peaches stand in for the more traditional apples and echo the form of the woman’s breasts. Pairs of figures flank the main image, matching Reed’s layout on the northern wall. To the left, curiously barefoot women lean over to harvest bolls of cotton. Cotton was introduced into the region by the Five Civilized Tribes in the early nineteenth century and became an important crop. The price of cotton plummeted during the Great

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By clearly rendering elm leaves, Reed may have been referring to the “million dollar elm” under whose shade Colonel Elmer Ellsworth Walters, the official auctioneer of the Osage Nation, became renowned for selling million-dollar oil leases in Pawhuska, OK.

Depression, and the federal government paid farmers to cut production. By 1939, the number of cotton farmers in Oklahoma had declined by more than 33,000. Male figures gathering sheaves of wheat complement the female figures harvesting cotton. The composition here replicates Reed’s c 1938 aquatint The Harvesters. Like the oil workers depicted on the opposite wall, these men are bare-chested, with the engraved lines emphasizing their strong, youthful bodies. Winter wheat became an important cash crop in Oklahoma in the early 20th century, although prices for wheat fell significantly during the 1920s. Reed’s work promotes an idealized vision of Oklahoma that ignores the human and environmental tragedy of the Dust Bowl. Instead, he harkens back to a premechanized utopia in which men and women work the land in harmony with nature. Throughout these six murals, Reed’s positive characterization of Oklahoma’s productive land, and the strong bodies of the men and women working it, contributes to the developing mythology of the state, in which agriculture and the oil industry still play central roles. n

Doel Reed (designer) and Joe Taylor (sculptor), Murals in Stone, ca. 1938, Oklahoma State Office Building (now the Jim Thorpe Building), Oklahoma City. Photography by Phil Shockley.

Rebecca Parker Brienen, PhD, is a Professor of Art History and guest curator for the exhibition Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon: the Paintings and Aquatints of Doel Reed which opens at the OSU Museum of Art on July 6, 2021 and runs through October 30, 2021. Cassidy Petrazzi, MA, is Director of the Gardiner Gallery of Art, OSU, and curatorial assistant for the Doel Reed exhibition.

Paint, Promote, and Paint Again: Art by Dawn Tree By B. L. Eikner

Dawn Tree, Tree Eyes, latex acrylic, aerosol on wood board. Photo Credit: DJ Mercer

Some artists leave the promotion of their work to agents and PR firms and delve completely in their worlds of creativity and design, but Dawn Tree armed with a degree in Journalism from Oklahoma State University spends time on both sides of the fence: creation and promotion. Dawn has traveled around the world developing murals, speaking, teaching both adults and children on art related subjects, hosting solo shows, participating in artist residencies, and creating work with her primary medium of wood, paint, and other color solutions. She is the primary owner of the Underground Tree Studios Dawn has created a wealth of art on images of Tulsa in the 1921 Era with collages

of colors, movement, and forces of love and violence. Along with her images she provides historical data to let the viewer connect with the images, people, and activities. Dawn was selected as one of the artists in the Bloomberg Greenwood Arts Project in 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and concluded the project, The Greenwood Joy Experience on June 19, 2021. Let us speak with her for a moment: Where did you get the name Tree?

My brother gave me some small square pieces of wood thinking I could maybe paint on it. I did, and I liked the way the paint soaked up the wood. I then met the artist BKiamart Adams in Washington,

DC. He has work in the Smithsonian Museum of African American Culture and History, and he automatically started calling me Tree. It stuck. I was going by Dawn J. at the time. So, my early works are entitled Dawn J., which stands for my middle name Joylyn. You do not have an agent, how much of your time do you use promoting your work?

No, I do not. I spend a majority of time promoting. It seems innate and part of the whole process. I used to do marketing, graphics, and web design for clients but now I primarily do it for myself. It is good to have the skillset so I don’t have (continued to page 18)

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to outsource, plus I have a degree in journalism. Why art and not journalism?

I use all my skills at this point. Journalism comes in handy with everything but especially the graphic art where I search out archived photos and the history that comes along with it. Tulsa haunts me—the past, and the present. There is still a need to light the fire of entrepreneurial spirit in the Black community and foster support of the greater business community. What and where are your next shows?

I will be featuring my series called The Frequency of Fear at The University of Tulsa’s Hogue Gallery on August 26, 2021. I am creating a graphic for a film-adapted play called What the River Knows by Alicia Inshirad. This play shows a perspective of the coup d’état that took place in Wilmington, NC and will be available November 2021, Thalianhall.org.

Artist Dawn Tree, photo by Olubumni Film y Foto

Dawn is the author of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street: A Modernized Revelation, Volume 1, a graphic art book, which received Runner Up Commendation in the Phillips Seminary Centennial Commemoration Art Showcase in May 2021. Volume 2 will be out in 2022. Dawn can be reached at utreep.com n B. L. Eikner is an author, journalist, poet, and art consultant. She is owner of Trabar & Associates and a regular contributor to Art Focus Oklahoma. She recently was included in, Release Me, The Spirits of Greenwood Speak Anthology 2021. She can be reached at Trabar@windstream.net or on Twitter @trabar1

Dawn Tree, Blackbird (Soar), latex acrylic, gold leaf, aerosol on wood

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Eleven on 11th Murals: Marcus Muse Curates Oklahoma City Public Art Project By Piper Prolago

Sean Vali’s Peace Peace, Miguel Palomino’s Rose, and Marcus Muse’s For Breonna are featured in the Eleven on 11th installation.

The streets of Oklahoma City are home to nationally recognized public art projects. Here, a diverse array of artists are able to express themselves and their experiences by shaping the aesthetics of the city. One of the city’s newest projects, the Eleven on 11th murals, hones in on the individuality of Oklahoma artists; these eleven panels line 11th street near N Walker Ave in Midtown Oklahoma City. A result of collaboration between Chris Fleming and developing company Midtown Renaissance, Marcus Muse, who created one panel and curated the selected murals, as well as 10 additional artists from throughout the state, the Eleven on 11th murals have become a unique opportunity for Oklahoma creators to realize their own unique visions.

abstractions in Forward Refraction to Alexander Tamahn’s playful and exuberant message to “Normalize luxury for Black Women” in Redefine Luxury. Each of the murals are painted on pre-primed, sign-board-grade plywood inserted into a large, connected frame that lines the 11th street sidewalk. Brought together by Muse, each artist was given the space to cultivate their own design within their allotted panel. Muse described his process of assembling a group through the city of Oklahoma City’s Pre-Qualified Artist Pool and by reaching out to individuals he specifically wanted to work with. Seeking artists who could “display their cultural and ethnic heritage through their art,” Muse assembled a group of creators who reflected the diversity of Oklahoma City.

Eleven on 11th features panels designed with everything from Bryan Boone’s vibrant

A spark of an idea for this project came in summer 2019 in a conversation between

Fleming and Sean Cobbs of Funnel Design Group. Originally conceived as Ten on 11th, the two had the idea to transform the street after redoing the sidewalk on the facing street. “You can either fix it or you can feature it,” Fleming laughed, describing that one side of the street had interesting architecture and landscape while the other, where the murals would ultimately be placed, was blank. Public art reaches out to passersby, inviting an interruption to daily life and moments of contemplation. In these moments, art can surprise you. Although funded through Midtown Renaissance, Fleming and Muse collaborated with the Oklahoma City government throughout the process of implementing these murals. Arts & Cultural Affairs Liaison Robbie Kienzle explained that a public art project like this “reflects who WE (continued to page 20)

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LEFT: Joshua Jaiye Farrell’s Portal Way, Cread Bayliss’ Bombastic, and Rosetta Funches’ Stay Woke are each featured murals in the Eleven on 11th installation. RIGHT: Bryan Boone, Forward Refraction, 2020

are as a community, and what’s important to us for all to see in our individual neighborhoods and cultural districts.” Recognizing the potential of the space to cultivate community and creativity, Fleming held on to the idea until the next year, when he reached out to Muse. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Muse opened Museart Tattoo Co. here in 2013. Although the Eleven on 11th project was Muse’s first experience with curating, Muse has been making art for more than 30 years, including working on Royal Tones, a large mural in Culbertson East Highland. Spanning the entire face of the Jeltz Senior Housing Center building, Royal Tones is an ambitious project imagining the visage of a Black woman in blue tones, framed by a golden halo and dedicated to all the men and women who have lost their lives due to police brutality. “Art can be such a reflection of place and time,” Fleming described. Particularly at such a charged moment in time, public art initiatives can be meaningful opportunities

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to proactively advocate for social justice and racial equity. This is certainly the case with Muse’s own contribution to the Eleven on 11th murals, a portrait of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her bed by plainclothes Louisville police officers during a botched raid. Muse captures the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement in this moment, reminding viewers of its stakes. The ability to make design and thematic choices like Muse’s was an integral part of the creation of the Eleven on 11th murals. Muse’s leadership in this project revolved around creating space for each artist to pursue their own ideas. Rather than submitting design ideas—where the applicant might shape their design to what they think the commissioner would like to see—the people involved were invited to join as holistic artists, given creative freedom as part of the team. Bryan Boone, one of the contributing muralists, explained, “Working with Marcus was great. He laid out the vision and made it clear each artist was to bring their individual vision to each panel.

I could just trust in his curation and create without worrying about the whole or how my design would fit.” In the future, the team might bring in new artists with the hopes of creating a dynamic and ever-changing institution on 11th street. Fleming hopes to create a self-sustaining and continuous project by selling the current panels to fund the next round of artists. Through the innovation of individuals like Muse and Fleming, Oklahoma City has become one of the best cities in the country for public art, recognized in USA Today as the #1 City for Street Art in 2021. With increasing recognition of the power of street art to enliven urban spaces, cities might look to the Eleven on 11th murals as a model to ensure that pubic art also meets its potential to express the diversity of the city and elevate talented community members. n Piper Prolago is an undergraduate senior from Wichita, Kansas studying art history and anthropology at the University of Tulsa.

“One of my main priorities is to continue to strengthen our existing relationships with our community partners and to build new ones.”

The Eleven on 11th installation features work by Bryan Boone, Paul Bagley, Dawn Jaiye, Sean Vali, Alexander Tamahn, Marcus Muse, Holey Kids, Brian Landreth, Rosetta Funchess, Miguel Palomino, and Steven Cread Bayliss.

The Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tulsa is pleased to announce that Michelle Martin, Professor of Art, has assumed the position of Director of the School of Art, Design and Art History. An active artist working in all print media and drawing, Professor Martin’s work has been shown in over 225 national and international exhibitions since 1995, including venues in Australia, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Venezuela, Iceland, Italy, Turkey, Canada, and England. She has won numerous awards, including an Oklahoma Artist of Excellence Award in 2003, the OVAC Oklahoma Visual Arts Fellowship in 2008, and several exhibition and purchase awards. Her work can also be found in over 40 museum and university collections. Since her arrival at The University of Tulsa in 1997, Professor Martin has been an active member of the department; in addition to her active research and service profiles, she also teaches classes in printmaking, drawing, and beginning digital media. She brings a wealth of administrative experience to her new role; prior to serving as Director, she has held numerous other positions, including Director of Arts Management, Freshman Advisor, Graduate Advisor for the MFA program, Director of the Alexandre Hogue Gallery, and Director of the Sherman Smith Family Gallery at the Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education. The School of Art, Design and Art History has a long history of building relationships within the local and regional community. Whether through hosting the Kravis Summer Arts Camp (in partnership with Tulsa Public Schools), giving workshops or demonstrations at local schools and museums, hosting exhibits for local schools and nonprofits, or providing pro-bono design services to local nonprofits (Third Floor Design), the School considers community service to be a vital part of its mission. Professor Martin agrees, stating “The community outreach component of our program is extremely important – for both the community and our students’ professional and personal education. One of my main priorities is to continue to strengthen our existing relationships with our community partners and to build new ones.”

CREATE, COLLABORATE, COMMISERATE Two Art Galleries | Gift Shop | Photography Studio 10 Artists’ Studios | Art Workshops 3024 Paseo, Oklahoma City, OK 73103 Tues-Fri 11am-5pm Sat Noon-5pm

Over her long career at TU, Professor Martin has seen many changes, but she is looking forward to the future, and sees the School poised to make significant contributions to the university’s new strategic plan, especially in the areas of career readiness and graphic design and digital media. “Our department prepares our students with a solid foundation for success after graduation: we provide a program that finds a balance between the study of fine art and specialized training in how those skills can be applied in various industries. Our students in all programs (studio art, design, art history, and arts, culture, and entertainment management) are equipped to compete successfully in the professional arena prior to graduation through obtaining competitive internships, presenting at professional conferences and exhibiting in juried exhibitions. Due to these efforts, we have a nearly 100% rate for employment and graduate school placement for our students, and our alumni have found careers in design, software/app development, animation, education, marketing and law (yes, really!).” Check out our most recent activities at @utulsaart and utulsa.edu/art.

thepaseo.org/PACC 405.525.2688

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

TU is an EEO/AA institution

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VISTAS: Reaching Back, Looking Forward with the Qu’aint Collaboration by Sarah Atlee

When you think about quilts, you might picture Grandmother’s house—a four-poster bed, well-worn cottons sewn together in traditional patterns, keeping you warm on winter nights. Sound familiar? Sound like ancient history? Some say quilting is a lost art. The Qu’aint (Quilt + Paint) Collaboration is here to show audiences that quilting is thriving and inspiring contemporary artists to reach new aesthetic ground. Our collective of seven Oklahoma artists is engaged in an ongoing conversation between painting and quilting, past and present. These two art forms may appear different at first, but they overlap in various ways. The maker’s use of shape, color, line, and texture are ever-present concerns. Styles can range from the obsessively tight to big, broad strokes. The comparison also raises some interesting questions. Is there a meaningful difference between craft and art? Functional and decorative objects? Do people talk about quilts and paintings differently? Agnes Stadler (OKC) sees quilting as a fascinating way to stand between two worlds. “One is that of traditional sewing patterns and intricate rows of stitching, techniques that were devised by generations of quilters that came before me. The other, much more exciting realm, is the artistic expression of how I see the everchanging world around me.” I’ve been on both sides of this dialogue, having learned both painting and quilting in high school. Painting was my primary medium until 2016, when quilting elbowed its way to the front of my brain. I made it my mission to connect with other quilters in Oklahoma. By joining the OKC chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild, I met future collaborators Agnes Stadler, Ann Solinski, Brenda Esslinger, and Elizabeth Richards. Through membership with Fiber Artists of Oklahoma, I learned about the quilts of Susan R. Michael (Tulsa), and was immediately hooked on her style: meticulous, yet organic. For painter Jason Wilson (McAlester), quilts have always been a part of his artistic consciousness. He has fond memories of

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the quilts that his grandmother and greatgrandmothers stitched by hand. Wilson’s paintings, hard-edge geometric abstractions full of vivid colors, are strongly influenced by those patchwork treasures. In 2018, the OKC Modern Quilt Guild held an exhibition of quilts at Artspace at Untitled in Oklahoma City, concurrent with Fiber Artists of Oklahoma’s Fiberworks show nearby. At Fiberworks, Wilson spotted a quilt by Brenda Esslinger (OKC) that looked like something he would have painted. After visiting the two shows, Wilson began talking with other quilters, myself included. Wilson visited Esslinger’s studio soon after, and the Qu’aint Collaboration was born. First, we chose one of Wilson’s paintings. Each of the quilting artists interpreted that painting in fabric. We’ve repeated the cycle several times. For the next phase of the project, Wilson has been making new paintings based on our quilts. Ann Solinski (OKC) sees this process as both an opportunity and a challenge to share her passion with the public. “I am especially excited about our creative growth as a group and individuals.” Collaboration is a journey. In our case, we begin and end at the same points, but all take different paths to get there. Brenda Esslinger says that Qu’aint has been good for her creativity, “challenging me to move in new and exciting directions. The support and inspiration I receive from my fellow artists has kept me motivated during these trying times.” For Elizabeth Richards (OKC), creativity and community go hand in hand. “The Qu’aint Collaboration has given me a chance to explore my style as a quilt artist. I am inspired by this group of artists, and enjoy their friendship and encouragement.” Several shows later, we’re going strong, in spite of some personnel changes, the pandemic, and a near-fatal car wreck Wilson experienced in 2019. (After the accident, we naturally responded by making Wilson a quilt. We titled it Group Hug.) We are excited to present Qu’aint’s fifth exhibition, Vistas, at Leslie Powell Foundation Gallery in Lawton. Viewers can see how our work has evolved through the project’s stages.

Wilson is proud to honor his grandmothers’ skills. “The dream that was born from their painstaking work that turned fabric into art is now reality; our Qu’aint creations are being seen in galleries throughout Oklahoma, and one day I hope they will be seen around the world.” Susan R. Michael finds the collaborative adventure a way to connect with history. “I feel fortunate to be a part of the quilting tradition.” Explore tradition through a contemporary lens at Vistas, on display at the Leslie Powell Foundation Gallery through August 27, 2021. The gallery is located at 620 SW D Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 12-4 pm. For more information visit lpgallery.org or call 580 357 9526. Follow along with the Qu’aint Collaboration at facebook.com/ quaintcollaboration. n Sarah Atlee (OKC) pivoted to quilting fulltime after 20 years as a professional painter. Visitors are always welcome at SarahAtlee.com.

Sarah Atlee, Signal Aspect, 2019, deconstructed garments and other fabrics, machine pieced and quilted, 29” x 37”

Right: Ann Solinski, quilted by Agnes Stadler, XOX, 2019, quilt, 36” x 35”

Right: Elizabeth Richards, Interchange, 2021, hand-dyed fabric, raw edge applique, hand stitching. 24” x 24”; Far right: Agnes Stadler, Peeking Through The Blinds, 2019, commercial quilting weight cotton and linen, freemotion longarm quilted, 26” x 38” Bottom Row (l-r): Susan R. Michael, Black Flowers, 2019, fabric. 21.5” x 35.5”; Brenda Essslinger, Ambiguous, 2021, cotton and polyester quilt, 26” x 40”; Jason Wilson, Different Angles, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”, inspired by Sarah Atlee’s quilt Ban Logic

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EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetry Edited by Liz Blood

Ekphrasis is an ongoing series joining verse and visual art. Here, Gay Pasley responds to Mother Scapegoats, part of Hoesy Corona’s ongoing series SCAPEGOATS (2013– present), which Corona describes as “an exploration of the indoctrination into societal othering as a form of devoted practice.” The Scapegoat is represented as a deity and, in Mother Scapegoats, the herd is relaxed in a safe environment re-envisioned for the social castaways.

Hoesy Corona is an emerging queer Mexican artist living and working in Tulsa and Baltimore. His performance and installation works consider what it means to be a queer latinx immigrant in a place where there are few and often address race/class/gender, nature, isolation, queerness, celebration, and the climate crisis. Earthly Mirage, a ten-year survey of Corona’s work created by Amber Litwack, opens at AHHA in Tulsa on August 6, 2021. Gay Pasley is a social justice advocate, nurse, writer, photographer, and lifelong Oklahoman. Pasley is a Black female immigrant. Her sense of displacement in the diaspora and desire to magnify her witness drive her art and writing.

ekphrasis

WHEN WE WERE UGLY Dear Hoesy, When I served in the military, a drill sergeant who looked like me separated another female soldier from the rest of the company. 1986, Fort Dix, New Jersey, sticky hot. It was summer. She yelled, “You will not serve in my Army!” Made her march alone in the sun. What was she guilty of? She was fond of another woman in an all-female unit. The Scapegoat remains so brave, so strong in my mind, appears in colorful cloth and flowering horn—thanks to you. Is the mother of millions. The Shepherd, so ugly, is absent now. I was teased about my name when I was a little girl. When I was six, I learned the word faggot and that they burned them at the stake. In the small place where I come from, queer boys are called anti-men and are despised, tortured. But we are not in that small place. We are in the land of the free where men with guns claim anti-men seduce them, where men with guns shoot them after discovering that they aren’t who they think they are. Bodies covered in wounds. Colorful, bad blooms. Stranger fruit. Their memorials, small, stuffed animals and white candles. The mothers of millions. When I was a midwife in Tulsa, I assisted in the births of infants born with both male and female genitalia. Only the baby’s mother was allowed to change the child’s diaper. Once, I asked the doctor what would become of one of these babies. He said it was easier to assign them as female: dismember the beautiful baby, force them to be one thing and not the other. Keep them from challenging notions, marching alone, changing the sun. There was more than one. Mother of a million. “May I have a glass of water, please?” the Black boy asks sweetly. The men bend their hands at the wrist and twist their hips and speak with lisps and throw stones at a child guilty of being themself: fragrant, bright, flowing, flowery, beautiful, the center of all attention, a blossom society refuses to bear. They bloom anyway. Mother to a million. And we know what we know: God is not a man or woman. They spoke to me, once, when I was naked. I heard their voices, and they filled me, like a cup of trembling. Now I hear their voices, our voices, and fear no more. We say, I am not your Negro. I am not your Scapegoat. I am.

Hoesy Corona, Mother Scapegoats, 2020, mixed media wearable sculptures, dimensions variable

e k p h r a s i s 25

Thank you to our new and renewing members from November 2020 to April 2021 JRB Art At The Elms Morrison/Dyke Studio Oklahoma Baptist University Art Department City Arts - Ponca City Art Association The Vault Art Space A Gathering Place Ziegler’s Art & Frame School of Visual Art Main Street Guymon Mazen Abufadil Rachel Adler Susan Agee heather ahtone Matin Alavi Anita Albright Mary Jane Alexander Cara Alizadeh-Fard Kylie Anderson Lisa Andrew Kayla Andrus Kelly Armstrong Marilyn Artus Alyson Atchison Foster Atkinson Sarah Atlee Janet Attisha Marjorie Atwood Alexis Austin Natalie Baca Paul Bagley Meredith Bailey Robert Bailey Howard Baird Emily Baker Keith Ball Randall Barnes Hope Bass Dimana Bazrbashi Dawn Behrens Leyla Bello Joy Belt Ike Bennett DiAnn Berry Kerry Billington Lori Billy Andrew Boatman Chelsea Boen Marjorie Bontemps Colby Bowers Aunj Braggs Caryn Brown Deborah Burian Whitney Buxton Caden Caldwell Crystal Campbell frank Campbell Jack Chapman Marissa Childers Dian Church Dayton Clark Natasha Cottrell Tyler Crow Gayle Curry Bob Curtis Claire Dabney Ebony Iman Dallas Ryan Davis April Dawes Rachel Dazey Florine Demosthene

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Emma Difani Lizzie DiSilvestro Christian Dixon Anke Dodson Chandler Domingos Michael Downes Myriah Downs Joseph Dullea Marcus Eakers Chase Earles Brenda Eidson Aimee Eischen Caleb Elliott Sandra Elliott Brenda Esslinger Ben Ezzell Kris Fairchild Kati Falcon Daniel Farnum Josh Farrell Jean Ann Fausser Jenna Feezel Beverly Fentress Anna Ferguson Bayliegh Fields William Fisher Leah Fisher Whitney Forsyth Jack Fowler Samantha Friday Barbara Gabel Ryan Garrett Aubrey Ginsterblum Katie Godfrey Alexa Goetzinger Diane Goldschmidt John Gooden Shelly Goodmanson Michael Graft Taylor Graham Almira Grammer Cassie Grein Tyler Griese Stephanie Grubbs Curtis Gruel Marsha Gulick Henry Hadzeriga Sue Hale Audrey Hamby Hannah Harper Olivia Harris Tara Harris Alexandra Harvick Kayla Hawkins Janet Hawks Susan Hayes Carla Hefley Briana Hefley-Shepard Calli Heflin Ben Helms Katie Henderson Scott Henderson Christina Henley Michelle Herholdt Devon Herron Terri Higgs Dodge Hill Robert “Skip” Hill Katie Hoffmeier Michael Höffner Gayla Hollis Jay Holobach

Sheila Hopper Mordikai Hornpetrie Christine Hostetler Alyssa Howery Kaylee Huerta Theresa Hultberg Whitney Ingram Watkins Anna Inhofe Brittany Jacobs Cable Jacobsen Angel Jamarillo Kari Jauregui J. Jann Jeffrey Lydia Jeffries Julius Johnson Melyn Johnson Sue Johnson Karis Jones Micheal Jones Renee Jones Haejeong Jung Phebe Kallstrom Stephanie Keef Jean Keil Lauren Kerr Lauri Ketchum Clayton Keyes Tania Khouri Jared Kinley Katelynn Knick Drew Knox Andrew Kokoszka Audrey Kominski Carrie Kouts Lindsey La Valle J Mark Larson Kyle Larson Erin Latham Amanda Lawrence Beverly Layton Gentry Leach Emma Leach Bethany Learmont Araina Leatherock Marcus Leonard Steve Lewin Kimberly Lollis-McCauley Jaquelin Lopez Ruth Ann Loveland Annie Lovett Naima Lowe Kayela Lynn Shelby Mae Amy Maguire John Marshall Bobby C. Martin Mirella Martinez Cindy Mason Beatriz Mayorca Michelle McChristian Michelle McCrory Heather McGee Toby McGee Jessica McGhee Christa McGill Jesse McIntyre Dominique McPhail Erin Merryweather Isabella Messman Sara Michael Susan Michael Donnabeth Mitchell

Brandon Mitts Matthew Moffett Lydia Moore Dianna Morgan Jackson Morgan Melanie Morgan Raymond Morgan Arland Mornhinweg JP Morrison Lans Studio Josephine Morrison David Morrison Benjamin Murphy Molly Murphy-Adams Sophie Najjar Mary Nickell Katy Nickell Evguenia Novakova Cornejo Kayla Ohlmer Brenda Olive Hunter Olson Samuel Ortiz Kristi Ostler Christie Owen romy owens Ryan Pack Ashleigh Parker Stephen Parks Soni Parsons Gay Pasley Duncan Payne Kathleen Pendley Bryon Perdue Dan Pham David Phelps Esther Pitcock Spencer Plumlee Stan Pollard Shelby Porter Cristiana Prado Grace Pratt Cheryl Price Jenna Purvis Shirley Quaid Traci Rabbit Chris Ramsay Suzanne King Randall Rachel Rector Shelby RedCorn brandon Reese Betty Refour Lauren Riepl Micah Roberts Jim Rode Kelly Rogers Gabriel Rojas Jessie Rosenfelt Lauren Rosenfelt Glenda Ross Liz Roth Mary Russell Amy Sanders Todd Scaramucci Madeleine Schmidt Parker Schovanec Barbara S. Scott Bert Seabourn Hershel Self Ali Seradge Chante Sexton Tyra Shackleford Lilia Shahbandeh Polly Sharp

Melanie Shelley Celeste Shields Ashley Showalter MtnWoman Silver Sabrina Sims Mark Sisson Jamie Slone Cheryl Smith Janetta Smith Laura Smith Sonia Sniderman Robert Sober Behnaz Sohrabian Douglas Sorocco Coleen Sovick Isabel Stogner Jezz Strutt Kindra Swafford Cindy Swanson Paul Sweeney Jordan Tacker Michael Takahata Patricia Taylor Jessica Teckemeyer Mary Hockett Thoma Suzanne Thomas Barry Thomas Karly Thurber Clara Titus Spencer Tracy Milton Trice Sean Tyler Audra Urquhart Albert Vadnais Kathryn Van Horn Cindy Van Kley Sally Venard Jordan Vinyard August vonHartitzsch Shel Wagner Carmen Walden Jason Wallace Jessie Ann Wallentine Katrina Ward Carla Waugh Jim Weaver Carol Webster Kathryn Webster Kolby Webster Ariana Weir Shanley Wells-Rau Marie Weltzheimer Brian Whisenhunt Kathy White Jane White Dawn Williams Holly Wilson Jason Wilson Chris & Lori Winland Madison Winter Mark Wittig Jenny Woodruff Jennifer Woods Adrienne Wright Dean Wyatt Zane Wyatt Anne Yoncha Malcolm Zachariah Zach Zecha

OVAC NEWS

SUMMER 2021

In July we proudly announce the first year’s recipients of our new Thrive Grants in partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. These awardees will receive $5,000 each to carry out new, public-facing, collaborative projects over the next year. Follow along at ThriveGrants.org. Having nearly completed our three-year strategic plan in under two years, the OVAC Board of Directors has big ideas of how OVAC will serve the state’s art community next. And, we want you to be a part of the planning! Join us at our Annual Members’ Meeting on July 17th to celebrate our successes of the last year and help us plan the next big step for OVAC. Visit our website at ovac-ok.org and follow us on social media for more details. Art 365 is back this summer with new, innovative projects by Ginnie Baer (Edmond), Maggie Boyett (OKC) & Marwin Begaye (Norman), Crystal Z. Campbell (OKC), Naima Lowe (Tulsa), and Mirella Martinez (Stillwater). The Krystle Kaye, Executive Director

exhibition opens at Living Arts of Tulsa with First Friday in the Tulsa Arts District on July 2nd. The second opening, along with the catalogue release party, is August 19th at Artspace at Untitled in Oklahoma City. During both exhibitions, each artist will host free public programing to further connect audiences to the concepts in their projects. For more information, visit Art365.org. We hope to see you in person at this year’s 12x12 Art Fundraiser on September 24th! However, for those unable to attend, we will keep the best parts of last year’s virtual fundraiser in a new hybrid model. To donate, view the artwork, or for more information, visit 12x12OK.org. Lastly, save the date for the second iteration of the OK Art Crawl to be held on October 16th. Last year’s Crawl featured 242 artists in 33 cities and generated more than $25,000 in art sales for participating artists! We look forward to highlighting the art next door again this year. To sign up as an artist, to join as a partner, to sponsor, or for all the details, visit OKArtCrawl.org. To keep up to date on the latest OVAC news, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! Sincerely,

Notes from Black Wall Street

Krystle D. Kaye Executive Director

OR HOW TO PROJECT YOURSELF INTO THE FUTURE

Crystal Z Campbell May 7-July 25 Learn more: ahhatulsa.org

ovac news

Gallery Listings & Exhibition Schedule Ada

Claremore

Aug 16 - Oct 12 Courtney Starrett The Pogue Gallery East Central University 920 E Main St (580) 559-5353 ecok.edu

The Gary Moeller Gallery of the Arts Rogers State University 1701 W Will Rogers Blvd (918) 343-7740 rsu.edu

Altus May 10 - Aug 6 From Start to Finish Wigwam Gallery 121 W Commerce St (580) 477-1100

Alva Jul 2 - 31 Through the Lens Aug 6 – 31 Artists Now and Then Sept 3 – 28 Native American Art Graceful Art Center 523 Barnes St (580) 327-ARTS gracefulartscenter.org

Ardmore

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

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

Broken Bow Sept 24 - 25 Owa-Chito Festival of the Forest Forest Heritage Center Beaver’s Bend Resort (580) 494-6497 beaversbend.com

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

Davis Jul 1- Oct 31 Cherokee Artist Eva Cantrell Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center 35 N Colbert Rd (580) 369-4222 chickasawcountry.com/explore/ view/Chickasaw-nationwelcome-center

Duncan Jul 1 - Sept 1 Joe Don Brave Chisholm Trail Heritage Center 1000 Chisholm Trail Pkwy (580) 252-6692 onthechisholmtrail.com

Durant Centre Art Gallery Southeastern Oklahoma State University 1614 N. First Street

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

Edmond

Donna Nigh Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 University Dr (405) 974-2432 uco.edu/cfad Mar 2021 - Mar 2022 I Remember That! Edmond in the 1980s Edmond Historical Society & Museum 431 S Boulevard (405) 340-0078 edmondhistory.org

Fine Arts Institute of Edmond 27 E Edwards St (405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com Sept 16 - Nov 18 Women’s Rights are Human Rights Exhibition Melton Gallery University of Central Oklahoma 100 N University Dr (405) 974-6358 uco.edu/cfad University Gallery Oklahoma Christian University 2501 E Memorial Rd oc.edu

El Reno Jul 19 - Aug 27 John Salame and Virginia Sitze Redlands Community College 1300 S Country Club Rd (405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Guthrie Hancock Creative Shop 116 S 2nd St (405) 471-1951 hancockcreativeshop.wordpress. com Owens Arts Place Museum 1202 E Harrison (405) 260-0204 owensmuseum.com

Guymon

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

Idabel Jun 1 - Sept 26 Native North American Baskets May 11 - Aug 8 Kuna Molas Museum of the Red River 812 E Lincoln Rd (580) 286-3616 museumoftheredriver.org

Lawton The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery

28 g a l l e r y g u i d e

620 D Avenue (580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org Mar 3 - August 31 KEVA Museum of the Great Plains 601 NW Ferris Ave (580) 581-3460 discovermpg.org

Norman The Crucible Gallery 110 E Tonhawa (405) 579-2700 thecruciblellc.com Downtown Art and Frame 115 S Santa Fe (405) 329-0309 Firehouse Art Center 444 S Flood (405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com Jacobson House 609 Chautauqua (405) 366-1667 jacobsonhouse.com Jun 24 - Dec 31 A Life in Looking Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave (405) 325-3272 ou.edu/fjjma Aug 26 - Sept 30 McLean Fahnestock Lightwell Gallery University of Oklahoma 520 Parrington Oval (405) 325-2691 art.ou.edu May 14 - Jul 9 Other Places | Danny Joe Rose II May 14 - Jul 9 The Left Hand of Liminality | Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery 122 E Main (405) 360-1162 normanarts.org Jun 18 – Aug 20 Historic Hospital Exhibit Sept 3 – Oct 30 Annual Quilts and Textile Arts Show

Moore-Lindsey House Historical Museum 508 N Peters (405) 321-0156 normanhistorichouse.org The Depot Gallery 200 S Jones (405) 307-9320 pasnorman.org

Oklahoma City [ArtSpace] at Untitled 1 NE 3rd St (405) 815-9995 artspaceatuntitled.org

Contemporary Art Gallery 2928 Paseo (405) 601-7474 contemporaryartgalleryokc.com Jun 10 - Jul 4 Exhibition featuring Ruth Ann Loveland, Amanda Weathers, Lindsay Zodrow, Krista Jo Mustain Jul 8 - Aug 8 Best in show exhibition Aug 12 - Sept 5 Photography group exhibition featuring Oklahoma artists Sept 9 - Oct 3 Tony Thunder Solo Exhibition DNA Galleries 1709 NW 16th St (405) 525-3499 dnagalleries.com Jul 1- Oct 31 Women Warriors: Kendra Swafford, Shelby Rowe, Karin Walkingstick Exhibit C 1 E Sheridan Ave Ste 100 (405) 767-8900 chickasawcountry.com Factory Obscura 25 NW 9th St factoryobscura.com May 21 - Aug 21 Bellamy. Mercer. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum 1400 Classen Dr (405) 235-4458 oklahomaheritage.com

Grapevine Gallery 1933 NW 39th (405) 528-3739 grapevinegalleryokc.com Howell Gallery 6432 N Western Ave (405) 840-4437 howellgallery.com In Your Eye Studio and Gallery 3005A Paseo (405) 525-2161 inyoureyegallery.com Jul 2 - Aug 31 Mark Hennick: Sun Salutations Laura Nugent: Chromatic Adaptations Sept 3 - Oct 31 Exhibits featuring Christa Blackwood and Larry Hefner JRB Art at the Elms 2810 N Walker Ave (405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Nov 5, 2020 - Jul 11 Close Encounters: Western Wildlife Mar 17 - Aug 8 #HashtagTheCowboy Jun 6 - Aug 8 Prix de West Invitation Art Exhibit and Sale Jul 9 - Oct 17 ¡Viva México! Jul 16 - Feb 27, 2022 Framework: Exploring the Artistic Process Aug 20 - Oct 17 Find Your North Aug 27 - May 8, 2022 Tattoos: Religion, Reality, and Regret Sept 10 - Jan 2, 2022 New Beginnings: An American Story of Romantics and Modernists in the West National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd (405) 478-2250 nationalcowboymuseum.org Nault Gallery 816 N Walker Ave naultfineart.com Feb 23 - Aug 12 Domestic Inquiries: Sam Charboneau May 10 - Aug 6 Bert Seabourn on Paper Aug 11 - Oct 5 Orgullosa: Elizabeth Suarez Nona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University 1600 NW 26th (405) 208-5226 okcu.edu Inasmuch Foundation Gallery Oklahoma City Community College 7777 S May Ave (405) 682-7576 occc.edu

May 15 - Nov 7 Fritz Scholder: Beyond Stereotypes May 15 - Nov 7 From Heroes to Immortals: Classical Mythological Prints May 15 - Nov 7 A Room with a View: Scenes from the Italian Countryside Jun 26 - Oct 17 The Painters of Pompeii: Roman Frescoes from the National Archaeological Museum, Naples Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Dr (405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com Feb 18 - Jul 5 Ed Ruscha: OKLA May 27 - Oct 28 Crystal Z Campbell: Flight May 6 - Sept 20 We Believed in the Sun Jul 29 - May 2, 2022 Chakaia Booker: Shaved Portions Aug 19 - Jan 3 Abstract Remix Jul 29 - Sept 13 ArtNow 2021 Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd (405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org Oklahoma State Capitol Galleries 2300 N Lincoln Blvd (405) 521-2931 arts.ok.gov Jul 2 – 31 Sam Charboneau // Print on Paseo Aug 6 – 28 Autism Oklahoma // Tour de Quartz Sept 3 - Oct 30 Aimee Eischen & Bianca Roland // Paseo Photofest Paseo Arts & Creativity Center 3024 Paseo (405) 525-2688 thepaseo.com Red Earth BancFirst Tower 100 N. Broadway Avenue, Suite 2750 (405) 427-5228 redearth.org

Pauls Valley Jun 4 - Jul 31 From the Ground Up, featuring Lawrence Hultberg, Davis Holland, KNelson, and Dean Wilhite Aug 26 - Oct 10 We Belong to the Land, featuring Bill Hensley, Jack Fowler, Brad Price, and Dustin Mater The Vault Art Space and Gathering Place 111 East Paul Ave, Suite 2 (405) 343-6610

Ponca City Ponca City Art Center 400 E Central Ave (580) 765-9746 poncacityartcenter.com

Shawnee Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art 1900 W Macarthur (405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

Stillwater Aug 16 - Sept 17 Cimarron National Works on Paper Exhibition Gardiner Gallery of Art Oklahoma State University 108 Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts (405) 744-6016 museum.okstate.edu Jul 6 – Oct 30 Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon: the Paintings and Aquatints of Doel Reed (1894-1985) Aug 10 - Oct 2 Vision and Visionary : Paintings and Drawings by Moh’d Bilbeisi Postal Plaza Gallery Oklahoma State University Museum of Art 720 S Husband St (405) 744-2780 museum.okstate.edu Modella Art Gallery 721 S Main Modellaartgallery.org

Sulphur

smART Space Science Museum Oklahoma 2020 Remington Pl (405) 602-6664 sciencemuseumok.org

Jul 1- Oct 31 Choctaw artist Kristin Gentry Chickasaw Visitor Center 901 W 1st St (580) 622-8050 chickasawcountry.com/ explore/view/Chickasaw-visitor-center

Park Hill

Tahlequah

Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. 21192 S Keeler Dr (918) 456-6007 cherokeeheritage.org

Cherokee Arts Center 212 S Water Ave (918) 453-5728 Cherokeenationart.com

Aug 9 - Oct 1 24 Works on Paper The Spider Gallery 215 S Muskogee Ave (918) 453-5728

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

Tulsa Jul 2 - Sept 19 A Luthier’s Tale: The Craft of Stringed Instruments 108|Contemporary 108 E Reconciliation Way (918) 895-6302 108contemporary.org exhibit by aberson 3524B S Peoria (918) 740-1054 abersonexhibits.com May 7 - Jul 25 Crystal Z Campbell: Notes from Black Wall Street (Or How to Project Yourself into the Future) Jun 30 – Sept 19 Greenwood’s Legacy: Shaping a City and a Nation Aug 6 – Oct 24 Earthly Mirage: Hosey Corona ahha 101 E Archer St (918) 584-3333 ahhatulsa.org Mar 5 - Jul 4 Assignment Tulsa Jun 14 - Jul 4 Enslavement to Emancipation: Toward a More Perfect Union Gilcrease Museum 1400 N Gilcrease Museum Road (918) 596-2700 gilcrease.utulsa.edu Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education 124 E Reconciliation Way (918) 631-4400 gilcrease.utulsa.edu/ Explore/Zarrow Alexandre Hogue Gallery University of Tulsa 2935 E 5th St. (918) 631-2739 utulsa.edu/art Holliman Gallery Holland Hall 5666 E 81st Street (918) 879-4791 hollandhall.org (continued to page 30)

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(continued from page 29)

Joseph Gierek Fine Art 1342 E 11th St (918) 592-5432 gierek.com Jul 2 - Aug 6 OVAC Art 365 Sept 3 - Oct 8 Oh, Tulsa! Living Arts 307 E Reconciliation Way (918) 585-1234 livingarts.org M.A. Doran Gallery 3509 S Peoria (918) 748-8700 madorangallery.com

Jul 9 – 30 Inbound Jul 9 - 30 Artifacts Liggett Studio 314 S Kenosha Ave (918) 694-5719 liggettstudio.com Lovetts Gallery 6528 E 51st St (918) 664-4732 lovettsgallery.com Jun 11 - Oct 17 Dalí’s Alice in Wonderland Mar 14 - Sept 5 From the Limitations of Now Mar 14 - Sept 5 Views of Greenwood Philbrook Museum of Art

2727 S Rockford Rd (918) 748-5300 philbrook.org Pierson Gallery 1309-1313 E 15th St (918) 584-2440 piersongallery.com July 24 Works on Paper August Michael Palazzo September Andrea Martin Tulsa Artists’ Coalition 9 E Reconciliation Way (918) 592-0041 tacgallery.org

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

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

PATRON $250 · · · · ·

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

FELLOW $150 · · · · ·

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

FAMILY $75

· Same benefits as Individual, for 2 people in household

INDIVIDUAL $45 · · · · ·

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

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

STUDENT $25

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

Tulsa Performing Arts Center Gallery 110 E 2nd St (918) 596-7122 tulsapac.com

Wilburton

Urban Art Lab Studios 1130 S Harvard Ave (918) 625-0777

Woodward

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

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

Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum 2009 Williams Ave (580) 256-6136 nwok-pipm.org

Weatherford SWOSU Art Gallery 100 Campus Drive (580) 774-3756 swosu.edu

MEMBER FORM C

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

Phone

Credit card #

Exp. Date

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

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

Detach and mail form along with payment to: OVAC 1720 N Shartel Ave, Ste B, Oklahoma City, OK 73103 Or join online at ovac-ok.org

CMY

The Painters of Pompeii Roman Frescoes from the National Archaeological Museum, Naples

This exhibiton is organized by the National Archaeological Museum, Naples and MondoMostre.

Art Focus

Ok l a h o m a

UPCOMING EVENTS July 2

Art 365 Opening at Living Arts of Tulsa

July 2-31 24 Works on Paper at TAC Gallery, Tulsa July 10

Art 365 Workshop with Ginnie Baer, Tulsa

July 15

OVAC Grants for Artists Deadline

July 17

Annual Members’ Meeting, OKC/Zoom

July 20

Art 365 Workshop with Naima Lowe, Zoom

July 24

Art 365 Workshop with Mirella Martinez, Zoom

July 28 ASK Workshop: Equitable Arts Events, OKC/Zoom Aug 1

ASK Workshop: Public Art Part II, OKC/Zoom

Aug 1

Fall 2021 Intern Deadline

Aug 5

Art 365 Panel Discussion with Crystal Z Campbell, Zoom

Aug 5- Sept 20

12x12 Preview at The Art Hall, OKC

Aug 6

Art 365 Workshop with Maggie Boyett and Marwin Begaye, Tulsa

Aug 9- Oct 1

24 Works on Paper at Spider Gallery, Tahlequah

Aug 19

Art 365 Opening and Catalog Release at Artspace, OKC

Sept 24

12x12 Art Fundraiser, OKC

1720 N Shartel Ave, Suite B Oklahoma City, OK 73103 Visit ovac-ok.org to learn more.

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

Art Focus Oklahoma Summer 2021

Articles inside

Paint, Promote, and Paint Again: Art by Dawn Tree

Collective Growth: Art by Jarica Walsh at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City

VISTAS: Reaching Back, Looking Forward with the Qu’aint Collaboration

Don’t Nod at an Evil Olive: Ed Ruscha at Oklahoma Contemporary

Eleven on 11 Murals Curated by Markus Muse

Southeastern Mound Builder Culture from Spiro Mounds to Contemporary Art

Views of Greenwood: Interviews with the Artists

Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon: the Painting and Aquatints of Doel Reed