Colonizing Pawhuska

In interviewing Lee Roy Chapman for last week's Urban Tulsa Weekly cover story, I learned that some pretty creative things are happening in the little town of Pawhuska, the capital of the Osage Nation, just an hour and a half northwest of Tulsa.

Chapman and a few others have a mind to turn the little town into an arts colony, similar to the Taos and Santa Fe colonies of New Mexico. Chapman and Oak Tree Books owner Scott Dingman have set up shop in a large, open space called the Woodul Gallery (above) on Sixth Street in downtown Pawhuska where, last weekend, they hosted an opening reception for an exhibit of famed, Tulsa-bred photographer Gaylord Herron. Also on display were some of Black Mesa and Live4This's works from the Public Secrets exhibit at Living Arts last winter.

Chapman said the exhibit will likely hang through April and May, and he'll host a second opening in May, which he hope will attract more travelers from Tulsa. He's leasing his Pawhuska space for a fraction of what something like that would cost him in Tulsa, and he sees the possibilities for artists in that town boundless.

The Lloyd Gallery, just down the street from Woodul, owned and operated by Roger Lloyd (above, center), also hosted an opening reception Saturday for an exhibition by photographer John Margolies. Margolies shoots roadside curiosities and other destination oddities. Last month, the Lloyd Gallery showed paintings by Tulsa artist (and memorable Mazeppa character) Gailard Sartain.

I'll be writing an in-depth piece on the possibility of Pawhuska as an arts colony sometime this summer for UTW, so stay tuned.