Tulsa Art Blog

Review: Modern Materials

2010-02-07T14:26:00.003-06:00

My mother quilts. With a vengeance. She spends most of the hours of most of her days quilting. She makes quilts for everyone: Her children, her friends, people at church, people she barely knows and all of their children. We never wonder what birthdays or Christmases are going to bring us because it is almost always a quilt.

My mother is a fine quilter, and I always appreciate her gifts, but her quilts don’t necessarily get me stirred up and excited. And I don’t usually think of them as works of art. More like lovingly, sweetly made crafts.
A new exhibit at Living Arts, though, has taken everything I thought I new about quilts and turned it upside down.

“Modern Materials: The Art of the Quilt” features the work of 24 fiber artists from across the nation, featuring two Oklahoma artists: Tulsa’s Jean Ann Fausser and Oklahoma City’s Elia Woods.

My initial response to the quilts on display at Living Arts’ still-new space at 307 E. Brady was shock. I was amazed by what these artists formed out of fabric and thread. They completely redefined the words “fine craft.”

Susan Else’s “Above the Boardwalk,” which features a quilted, spinning Ferris wheel, complete with passengers.

Kevan Rupp Lunney has constructed a large “Pod,” inside which sits a pink bud.

Check out the detail. This is an up-close view of only a small section of Jill Rumoshosky Werner’s “Fan Dancer.”

The exhibit, sponsored in part by the recently formed Brady Craft Alliance, debuted at Oklahoma City's Artspace at Untitled Gallery in July 2009.

The director of that gallery said, “Quilting has a unique culture wherein, historically, it has been a traditional craft where the product is utilitarian; versus modern quilting quickly becoming a contemporary art form to be hung on the wall or sat on a pedestal.

“Many quilters tell narratives through their work, while some address social issues through their art. Others simply use quilt art as their chosen medium for self-expression. Quilt artists use a variety of fibers and quilting materials, and some incorporate a range of other materials, from photographic film to tiny plastic suitcases.”

The exhibit remains on display through Feb. 25. Gallery hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5pm, Thursdays from1-9pm and Fridays from 1-9pm. Get more information at www.livingarts.org.

Tonight: Fall Collection

2009-10-22T09:06:00.005-05:00

Well, folks, the Battle Royal culminates tonight. I can't tell you how appreciative I am of your support (even if you supported my arch nemesis, Natasha). What you really did was support a wonderful cause, Resonance Center for Women, which works every day to make better the lives of women in Tulsa.

The other thing you did was give two tired old mommies much-needed makeovers. Yeah, I know, only the contest winner was supposed to get the makeover, but since you guys helped us RAISE $1,140 FOR RESONANCE, we figured we both deserved one.

And now, for the unveiling. I liken this moment to one of my son's favorite board books, called Yummy Yucky.

Mommy without makeup is YUCKY.

Mommy with her new makeover is YUMMY!

Thanks, all! And, if you'd like to see Natasha's makeover as well (the only photo I took of her was mid-rinse. See below), come to Ihloff Fall Collection tonight in the Assembly Hall of the Tulsa Convention Center, 100 Civic Center, at 7pm. Tickets are only $15 in advance at either Ihloff location or $20 at the door, and all proceeds go to Resonance. Not only will you see the results of Natasha's and my makeovers, you'll also see Resonance clients made over and strutting their stuff and about 50 local models, decked out in fairy tale garb, with hair designed by the Ihloff Creative Team.

Thanks again for your support, and I hope to see you tonight!

Battle Royal: Pick Your Princess

2009-10-01T10:27:00.010-05:00

My friend Natasha is beautiful. She’s got this gorgeous, thick hair, virtually unblemished skin and pouty, full lips.

That’s why she’s going down.

There’s been some speculation that Tasha and I might very well be the same person. We’re both energetic gals about town with babies of similar age. We’re both writers, and we write mostly for the same publications. And we both like giving back to the community — especially when there’s a little competition involved.

Now would be a good time to assure you that Tasha and I are in fact very different people. But we want the same things: To raise lots and lots of money for Resonance Center for Women and to get a free makeover in the process. And I definitely need a makeover more than Natasha.

Resonance is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a support system for women facing life’s challenges. The organization was founded in 1977 by Eleanor Hill, who was suddenly widowed by her husband. She established Resonance in a house on the grounds of St. John’s Episcopal Church, and along with a group of volunteers, began offering services that included free listening sessions, on-going support groups and educational workshops.

Resonance provides counseling, substance abuse treatment, career and job services, resources and referrals. In total, Resonance has served more than 250,000 women and families. Each month Resonance receives 1,200 phone calls for information, appointments, or referrals, and serves an average of 350 clients.

Resonance is privately funded and receives no federal or state funding and is not a United Way agency. It is supported by individuals, foundations, corporations, churches, workshop fees and revenue generated by special events.

One of its top supporters is Marilyn Ihloff and Ihloff Salon and Day Spa. Annually, the Ihloff creative team hosts the Fall Collection, a high-energy fashion show that displays the team’s undeniable creativity when it comes to hair and makeup. The show, this year on Oct. 22 at the Tulsa Convention Center’s Assembly Hall, donates proceeds to Resonance and provides Resonance clients, as well as community members, with makeovers.

I want one of those makeovers.

And I’m willing to duke it out with my good friend and colleague in order to get one. But I need your help. (And so does Resonance.) We need you to donate money to Resonance in my name (or, if you like her better, Tasha’s name) between now and Oct. 14. The sassy lady who raises the most money for Resonance gets a makeover and to walk in the Ihloff Creative Team Fall Collection.

To find out the winner of the contest, buy a ticket to Fall Collection (more money for Resonance). The winner will be announced there. And, you’ll get to see whichever of us got the hot new makeover strut our stuff on the catwalk. And the other one crying alone in the corner.

You don’t have to donate a ton of money. $5, $10 or $20 helps. Everything helps. But if you want to give more, do it. Just do it under my name. You can donate via Resonance’s Facebook page here. Tell all your friends.

Follow @hwall, @tashadoestulsa and @ResonanceTulsa on Twitter and visit our Facebook pages to keep up with the competition. It’ll be good, I promise.

Everyone's a Winner!

2009-09-25T09:01:00.001-05:00

Well, everyone who entered this contest is a winner, anyway.

Since five people entered, and I have five pairs of tickets to give away, you each get one! So, congrats to Jeff Martin, Matt Nightingale, Jeff Shaw, treygar and Lynda Clopp. And thanks so much for sharing your favorite fables! I hadn't heard any of those except one.

E-mail me at hollyx19 at yahoo.com to claim your prize. Thanks for playing, and enjoy the show!

Get Your Groove On: A Giveaway

2009-09-24T12:44:00.003-05:00

When I got the assignment from the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Intermission magazine (that fantastic glossy book your program comes in when you attend events at the PAC) to cover GrooveLily’s concert on Friday, I had no idea what the heck a GrooveLily was.

I took the opportunity to peruse the band’s Web site and download some tunes, and I ended up spending all day listening to mp3s and watching their videos on YouTube.

The band combines Broadway-inspired tunes with jazz, folk and rock music to create a sound that is completely unlike anything I’ve heard before and is so magical, soothing and inspiring that I wanted to get on Amazon.com as quick as possible and snatch up all the CDs I could find.

GrooveLily is Valerie Vigoda, vocals and electric violin; Brendan Milburn, vocals, keyboard and, it just so happens, Valerie’s husband; and Gene Lewin, drums.

Vigoda is a classically trained violinist who, while pursuing a career as a folk singer, met Milburn in 1994 in a New York City coffee shop. They began to meet regularly, first to discuss music, then began writing music together and, eventually, dating. Later that year they met Lewin, whose background is in jazz and rock.

The really beautiful thing about GrooveLily’s music is that, though lovely melodies and rhythms, the band tells marvelous stories. A large portion of the band’s repertoire is its rock musicals, which turn age-old moral tales on their heads, giving them a new spin, to tell smart, humorous, creative stories.

And even those songs that aren’t part of the rock musicals seem to have a story to tell – an imaginative, intellectual story.

If what I’m writing can’t convey it well enough to convince you that this is a show you want to see, then listen for yourself.

GrooveLily plays the Williams Theater of the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St., Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:30pm. Tickets are only $28, but five – FIVE – lucky winners will get a pair right here for free. Just leave a comment with your favorite fable or moral story, and I’ll select the winner at random tomorrow morning. You have until 8 a.m. tomorrow to enter. I’ll choose the winner tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Good luck, and happy listening!

Tonight: Next/Now

2009-09-22T13:26:00.003-05:00

Tonight is Tulsa Young Professionals' fourth annual Next/Now art show, from 6-9 p.m. at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road. Through the event, TYPros celebrates local artists between the ages of 21 and 40 and presents live music by Dead Sea Choir and improv performances by actors from Crayons Improv.

The event is free and open to the public. Light appetizers will be served, and there is a cash bar.

See you there!

Park and Play

2009-09-18T09:10:00.000-05:00

I've always suspected that I'm not (I can't be) the only Tulsa who doesn't think this city needs more parking lots. Two years ago, a local architecture firm came up with a concept of “providing temporary public open space... one parking spot at a time,” transforming concrete into an unusual combination of park and art.

PARK[ing] Day in Tulsa, hosted by AIA Eastern Oklahoma, IIDA, McFarland Davies Architects and Tepera Hood Design, is a non-commercial project intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, social interaction, generosity and play.

Originally created by REBAR, a San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day global event during which individuals and groups transform parking spaces, parking lots and other areas of the landscape built to store stationary motor vehicles into places for people to congregate, socialize and play – to the exclusion of motor vehicles.

Four installation projects are open throughout the day and feature special events in Brookside, the Brady District, Cherry Street and on Route 66 during the times shown.

The ballPARK: On the northeast corner of east Archer and north Boston in the Brady District, sponsored by AIA Eastern Oklahoma's Young Architects Forum.
Open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., guests can purchase hot dogs from downtown Tulsa's most recognizable food cart, the Dog House. Better yet, the first 50 guests to register online will receive a FREE hot dog.
At noon, Bob Jack with Manhattan Construction and a representative from the Tulsa Drillers will present a preview of ONEOK Field, scheduled to open in April 2010.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party: 5-6 p.m. at 3638 S. Peoria Ave. in the Brookside Design District, sponsored by IIDA (International Interior Design Association).
IIDA will transform Urban Furnishings' concrete patio into an inviting outdoor tea room. Enjoy unusual tea blends provided by Dragon Moon Tea Company and garden art supplied by Garden Deva while vying for great prizes.

Home Run Derby: 6-7 p.m. - back to the northeast corner of East Archer and north Boston in the Brady District, sponsored by AIA Eastern Oklahoma's YAF. Guests will compete in an old-fashioned Home Run Derby with prizes awarded to the best sluggers.

CHOCS: From 7-8 p.m. at 1502 E. 15th St. at Coffee House on Cherry Street, sponsored by AIA Eastern Oklahoma's Committee on the Environment and McFarland Davies Architects.
Located at the corner of east 15th Street and south Rockford Avenue, this installation features two 30-gallon trees on a Zoysia grass lawn and Cherry Street giveaways.

Route 66: From 8-11 p.m. at 1347 E. 11th St. on Route 66. The installation, sponsored by Tepera Hood Design, features a unique installation transforming a former gasoline island into an urban park setting complete with a "forest canopy."
Owners Shane Hood, Assoc. AIA and Mary Jones, Assoc. AIA invite you to celebrate the grand opening of their design studio on historic Route 66 with music and food served throughout the evening.

T-Town Trolley will carry passengers between downtown Tulsa, Cherry Street, Route 11, and Brookside from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

In 2007, Selser Schaefer Architects organized Tulsa’s first PARK(ing) Day installation in a single parking space in an uptown Tulsa parking lot.

In 2008, AIA Eastern Oklahoma’s Young Architects Forum and SR Hughes converted parking spaces in the Brookside Design District into an outdoor living environment. In 2009, the installations multiplied the number of temporary parks in Tulsa through the combined efforts of artists, activists, and citizens drawing attention to how the city’s urban space is allocated and used.

Tell Tale: A Conversation with Joe Andoe

2009-08-19T14:38:00.005-05:00

I've been elated about Joe Andoe's return to Tulsa for some time. Not only is he exhibiting brand-new, commissioned work, but he's doing so for the benefit of Tulsa Girls Art School Project, a phenomenal non-profit organization that provides underprivileged young girls with an opportunity for arts education.

At Dwelling Spaces, 119 S. Detroit, tomorrow evening, from 6 to 8pm, Andoe will sell 100 hand-painted t-shirts for $100 each, and the girls of TGAS will sell 100 original flower paintings for $100 each. You can probably do the math on your own, but that provides an opportunity for TGAS to earn $20,000, which would be monumental for the school.

Read my story in Urban Tulsa Weekly here.

And below is a trsncript of most of the interview I did with Joe Andoe. He's a genuinely nice guy and surprisingly easy to talk to — so much so that we spent more than 40 minutes on the phone, chatting not only about the benefit exhibit but also about the possibility of Jubilee City, his autobiography, being made into a film and the past, present and future of Tulsa.

At the end of the post is additional information on how tomorrow night's exhibit will go. E-mail tulsaartblog@yahoo.com with any questions.

HW: How did you first hear about Tulsa Girls Art School Project?
Joe Andoe: When I showed up at the (Aberson’s Exhibits) show (on June 24), I was kind of late, and someone handed me a diploma-looking thing from the mayor that named June 24 “Joe Andoe Day.”

I took it to my mother’s house to show to her, and we took it to Ziegler to have it framed so she could hang it on her wall. Someone in there said we should go across the street and see Matt Moffett’s little girls school. It sounded cute, so my mother and I walked across the street.

My mother was so impressed with the girls; they were all so well-behaved, just sitting there painting, and so polite.

At the school they have this peg board, a gallery space, where the girls could sell their work. And half of the proceeds from the paintings went into a scholarship for them and the other half went to the school. So I was looking at it, and I picked out one, and said, “I’ll buy this one.” Then I looked at the painting next to that one and thought, “She’s going to feel bad if I buy this girl’s painting and not hers.” Then I looked at the next girl and said, “Matt, just sell me one of each.”

The girls were so cute, they brought them out to the trunk of my car. And they’re such good painters. They’re so unafraid. Matt’s a good teacher.

HW: So how did you arrive at the idea to do a benefit for the school?
JA: Later, the next day or that night, I talked to Mary Beth and she asked if I’d ever do a t-shirt or something for her space. And it just came to me: “How about we do this?” Just that quick. It’s just another example of my mouth writing a check my ass can’t cash. I thought I’d draw a little flower with a marker or something on each one and sign it. But I got wrapped up, carried away. Whoever buys these things for $100 apiece will certainly get their money’s worth. I sell things for $25,000 that I don’t put this much work into.

HW: Why flowers?
JA: Flowers reminded me of the little girls. They’re the right size to paint. It’s just one consistent thing that could be similar on each of the shirts.

HW: Who decided there’s be 100 of them?
JA: Oh, that was my big idea. You hang around me long enough I’ll make a mistake like that.

When I got back to the city, I was listening to the public radio station, and some guy was on who wrote a book about childhood development and the benefit of teaching children music at younger age. He said they grow up to be more sensitive adults, that it tanslates into human interaction later in life.

I got to thinking, I bet art is the same way. Anytime they’re sensitive to the fact that this color next to this color makes you feel certain way, then they can control things, the way they feel. Art is about empathy anyway. At the root of it all, people relating to art is something akin to, in nursery, when one baby cries and then they all cry. Or when one person yawns then it makes you yawn, too.

When you’re an artist, if you feel something and put it down on a canvas, there’s good chance you can make someone else feel the same way without words. I figured, if these girls could paint and they had this, the ripple effects would be real positive in their community.

HW: Did the fact that most of these girls hail from the same part of Tulsa where you’re from, the north side, increase your desire to hold this benefit for them?
JA: It didn’t hurt. The fact they’re underprivileged meant more to me than anything. They’re not getting it as easy as most kids in Tulsa do.

HW: What did you do with the 24 paintings you bought?
JA: I gave them to my family, all my nieces and nephews. I kept two for myself, gave my mother one, gave my brothers one.

In case you were wondering...here is how it's going to go down Thursday night at Dwelling Spaces

Joe Andoe Hand Painted T-shirt Art Exhibit 2009

Register at desk outside of shop to get a number if you want to purchase a t-shirt
Doors will open at 6pm
6:30 we will call #1, #2, etc.
You will have 1 minute to pick your t-shirt
PLEASE BE READY…you will only have 1 minute to choose
Once you have chosen your t-shirt
Pay at the counter
Keep your receipt to pick shirt up on Saturday or after
This is an Art Exhibit
$100 each 100% goes to Tulsa Girls Art School
Anytime during the event you can purchase the flower paintings by the girls at TGAS which will be on display on the back wall. The paintings by the girls are $100 each 100% to TGAS.
Donations are also accepted directly to TGAS.
Dwelling Spaces
119 S. Detroit Ave

www.dwellingspaces.net
www.tulsagirlsartschool.co

m
www.rsfineart.net
www.joeandoe.com

WE WILL BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS THURSDAY AM FROM 10:30-1PM
CLOSED FROM 1-6 TO PREPARE FOR FLOWER FREAKOUT

Call to artists: Momentum Tulsa 2009

2009-07-27T09:21:00.002-05:00

OK, so I'm super, duper excited about being on the planning committee for the 2009 Momentum Tulsa event. The event highlights the work of Oklahoma artists aged 30 and under and provides a wonderful example of the degree of talent we have in our state.

I can't tell you any details of the event yet, but I can tell you that artists will be involved in every aspect of the event, from its planning to its execution, in addition to being the stars of the show. So, go ahead and get to work. The call for entries is below.

Open to Oklahoma artists age 30 and under to exhibit their work in a fun and exciting atmosphere featuring interactive art and live bands. The sixth annual Momentum Tulsa will be Saturday, October 10, 2009 at Living Arts new location at 307 E. Brady, Tulsa.

Performance artists, filmmakers, 2D and 3D artists are encouraged to submit up to 3 entries. Submissions must have been created in the last two years and can not have been included in previous Momentum's.

Curators are Scott Perkins, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, and Frank Wick, artist and Momentum Spotlight Emerging curator. More info at 405-879-2400 or www.MomentumOklahoma.org.

More than $1,000 in cash prizes will be awarded.

Deadline for entries is September 26 and 27.

Visit www.MomentumOklahoma.org for the full call for entries.

One Hot Night

2009-07-26T12:48:00.003-05:00

Tulsa-based artist JP Morrison presents a preview party for her latest body of work “Beguiled: The Folklore of Women” before taking it to The Base Gallery in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, July 29.

“Beguiled” is an exhibition of seven new mixed media works exploring the roles of female characters in fairy tales and allegory.

According to the artist, “The work deals in particular with personal empowerment, which is a novelty almost entirely overlooked in traditional tales. The women in my retellings understand that there are many ways to achieve ‘happily ever after’ without being rescued.”

The preview is at Pearl Gallery, 1201 E. Third St., from 5-8pm in conjunction with the closing of the gallery’s “The Long Hot Summer Show.”

The event is free and open to the public. For more, go to www.pearlgallerytulsa.com.

Call to artists: Next/Now Art Show

2009-07-01T10:53:00.003-05:00

From the horse's mouth:

TYPros is looking for talented Tulsa artists ages 21-40 to participate in the fourth annual Next/Now art show. Selected artwork will be displayed at the Gilcrease Museum Sept. 18-28 with a special reception on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Below is information about artwork submissions. The deadline to enter is Friday, Aug. 7. For questions about the show or submissions, contact Chris Oden, executive director of TYPros, at 918-560-0286 or chrisoden@typros.org.

Theme
Open

Specifications
Artwork will be submitted via e-mail (only one piece of art per e-mail). All media is welcome for submission. To be considered, please provide artist name, phone number, e-mail, title, media and price (if applicable) with each submission. Artists may submit up to five pieces for the show.

Hanging pieces should be no larger than 4' X 4' with a weight restriction of 25 pounds. Sculptures should not exceed 3' in height with a maximum base dimension of 20" X 20" and a weight restriction of 25 pounds.

When artwork is delivered, each piece must be ready to hang with wire or d-rings and framed if appropriate. Any special equipment must be provided by the artist. Pieces should also be prepared for transport.

Submission Information
Please send an e-mail with information and picture of artwork (maximum file size: 1 MB) to chrisoden@typros.org.

Important Dates
Aug. 7 - Deadline for submissions
Aug. 18-20 - Jury will review
Aug. 24-26 - Notification of selected works (via email)
Sept. 9 - Selected art provided to TYPros, 5-7 p.m., at Walsh Branding, 300 East Brady
Sept. 22 - Reception, 6-9 p.m., Gilcrease Museum
Sept. 29 - Artists pick-up artwork, 5-7 p.m., Walsh Branding, 300 East Brady

Details
TYPros and the Gilcrease Museum are not responsible at any time for the loss, damage or theft of artwork. Submission of artwork constitutes an agreement on the part of the artist to the conditions set forth in this prospectus and shall further include permission to reproduce work for publication. All art will be judged by a panel of experienced jurors.

Inclusion in the Next/Now art show does not constitute an endorsement of the artists' work by the Gilcrease Museum.

If someone is interested in purchasing your art piece, you will be contacted. The artist will be responsible for the sale including getting the artwork to the purchaser; however, artwork must be displayed at the museum for the duration (Sept. 18-29).

Eligibility
In order to enter, you must be 21 to 40 years of age and a member of TYPros. To sign up for free membership, visit www.TYPros.org.

Feel free to forward this call for entries to other YPs that might be interested.

Editor's Note: Local artist Grace Grothaus is involved in putting this on, and I know she's really trying to amp up the quality of the event. While I sometimes tend to disregard functions organized by TYPros, this one should be good. God, I sound like a jerk. Ha!

Wanna see my boobs? (A call to artists)

2009-06-23T08:22:00.004-05:00

For some reason — I can't quite figure it out — Judi Grove, an amazing woman, breast cancer survivor and founder of Breast Impressions, thinks I'm a celebrity.

I think her judgment should be questioned, but whatever.

Her organization donates casting kits to women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and face a mastectomy. By making a cast of their breasts before they're removed, the women are left with a memory of their bodies before they're altered by the effects of their cancer.

The idea was sparked when Grove found a lump on her nipple and learned she'd have to have a mastectomy. She made a cast of her own breasts before surgery.

Two years ago, Grove began hosting an annual event to raise money for Tulsa Project Woman, a nonprofit organization that provides no-cost mammography, diagnostic procedures and surgical services for women with no health insurance and limited financial resources.

Grove asks local "celebrities" (typically people much more famous than I am) to lend their bodies to a casting. The casts are then painted by local artists and auctioned off at the gala event. This year's annual gala and live auction is October 25 at Woodland Hills Mall. Grove would like to have the casts on display through the month of October.

I am more than thrilled to be a part of this event and to lend myself to two organizations who do so much for women's health. My aunt and my grandmother, both on my mother's side, are breast cancer survivors, and I find them and all of the other women who've beat the disease, awe-inspiring.

Grove is still looking for five or six artists who are interested in painting/decorating casts to be auctioned off. It is a great way to have your work seen in an unusual setting and to do something really wonderful for the community as well. Grove said she'd especially like to have the involvement of some younger, burgeoning artists who could stand to benefit from the exposure.

Plus, no one's signed on to paint my cast yet. And I want someone really, really good.

Finished casts are due September 1, so we need to find artists quickly. If you're interested, please e-mail me at tulsaartblog at yahoo.com or contact Judi at breastimpressions at cox.net or 691-3874.

Line by Line: Drawing Exhibits at Philbrook

2009-05-15T16:14:00.004-05:00

Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road, opens two fascinating exhibits this weekend: Peggy Preheim: Little Black Book and From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado.

Preheim is a contemporary living artist whose drawings, while small and delicate, are fierce in their meticulous detail. The exhibit includes 75 of her drawings, along with sculptures and photographs, all created between 1984 and 2007, and is curated by Harry Philbrick, director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.

Rand Suffolk, Philbrook’s CEO, curated the exhibit’s assembly within Helmerich Gallery and gave me a sneak peak. The drawings are astounding and will require some time and devotion from their viewers. The sculptures were not yet on display, but, according to a release from the museum, they too are meticulous, often featuring white clay and found objects, like furniture, dolls’ clothes and Victorian glass.

Of the title of the exhibit, Preheim said, “I think Little Black Book can serve as a provocative end enigmatic summing up of the work in the exhibition. This concept can refer to many things. For me, it refers to the closing of one chapter and the opening of another; the acquisition of language; the ‘book’ which appears in some of my allegorical drawings points to the book of Revelation.”

A full color book titled Peggy Preheim, published in conjunction with the exhibit, will be available for purchase in the museum bookstore.

On the opposite side of the gallery is the Prado exhibit, which features 70 superb 16th century Italian drawings. The Museo del Prado is acclaimed as one of the world’s premier art institutions, and this tour marks the first time many of the works will have appeared outside of Madrid.

The works range from quick sketches to elaborate commissions and help trace the lineage of the drawing art form. I suggest starting with the Preheim exhibit to experience how a contemporary artist utilizes her pencil, and then move over to the Prado survey, delving into the history of the medium.

Both exhibitions open Sunday, and museum hours that day are 10am to 5pm. Philbrook is closed Monday, and on Thursday the museum is open until 8pm. The exhibits will hang until July 26. For more, visit www.philbrook.org.

A Little Perspective

2009-05-15T08:57:00.004-05:00

Christopher Westfall was driving his wife Cheryl to the doctor last August when, all of a sudden, his eyes went dark. He couldn’t see.

Westfall is an artist best known for his renderings of Tulsa cityscapes, but when a stroke left him unable to see well enough to paint the detail necessary for an accurate portrait of the town, he changed his perspective.

Cheryl’s appointment became Chris’s, and after a battery of tests, visits to specialists and a couple of guesses, his doctors finally decided he had had a small stroke that killed the nerves behind his eyes. He was left with double vision and vertigo, both of which made it impossible for him to paint the cityscapes he had pained for the past 22 years, the ones his fans and patrons loved so much.

Not one to put down the paint brush, though, Westfall began to do something he had never done before – he painted abstracts.

“What I found out about abstracts is that they’re the same as any painting: They involve color and composition. But, you can eliminate a lot of the details,” he said.

Westfall said he found painting abstracts “freeing.” When he’s painting landscapes or cityscapes, especially for a client, they have to look like what they represent.

“These don’t have to look like anything in particular,” he said. “There are no set rules. I love that.”

Westfall regained his sight gradually over the course of about three months, and he has returned to his cityscapes, but he still paints the abstracts when he can.

And even though they’re different, looking at one of his abstracts next to a painting of downtown, you can see the similarities between the works. You can still see Westfall’s style in the abstracts, in the color palettes and brush strokes.

His abstract work isn’t on display now, but you can see traditional Westfall paintings at Mayfest this weekend in the Invitational Gallery and at M.A. Doran Gallery, 3509 S. Peoria, as part of the "National Contemporary Realism" show, through the end of the month.

A New Home for Contemporary Arts

2009-05-14T13:52:00.004-05:00

Last night, I got to help make history.

Living Arts announced that it will open in its new space, Living Arts Contemporary Space, at 307 E. Brady, on August 15. George Kaiser Family Foundation owns the building and is leasing the first floor to Living Arts for what I’m guessing is a nominal fee.

The second floor will house 13 apartments, occupied by recent college grads who will be infiltrating Tulsa Public Schools’ most underserved schools as members of the service corps Teach for America. Since the teachers have to be in place in the fall, the whole building is set to open Aug. 15. Architecture firm Kinslow, Keith and Todd will handle the design and build of the outside walls, as well as those that connect the two floors, and the stairway, elevator and lobby.

The remaining portion of Living Arts will be built as funds are available by architects and builders of the organization’s choosing, which is why, last night, a group of architects, artists and designers gathered at the space to flesh out ideas.

The building, with 12,000 square feet of usable space (twice what LA is working with now) will be totally dedicated to contemporary arts. There will be two galleries, one for visual arts and one for performance arts, as well as three education spaces, a lounge, bar and kitchen and office space.

As we toured the facility and began thinking about how we wanted to design and build walls, windows, entrances, signage, lights, sound, etc., etc., we were encouraged to think creatively about solutions, and to think of every solution as a temporary one, so that LA can continue to grow, change and develop.

We were divided into committees, each one (hopefully) comprised of a blend of professionals: architects, designers, artists and “other” (me, for example).

I joined Linda Clark, LA’s new administrative director, on the bathroom committee, along with Chris Ganong. Because I’m not an artist or designer, and because I have virtually no technical skill – but I want to be a part of designing the new space – I chose a small project, where virtually all of the technical work (plumbing, etc.) will be handled by KKT, and I can think about paint, art… you know, the fun stuff.

But, Linda and I really need the help of artists! We want to tear out the existing stalls and have artists design new ones out of material of their choosing – the more unlikely, the better. In my mind, I’d love for it to be some kind of found or reclaimed material, but I’ll by no means limit an artist to that. We will probably limit them in budget, though, but I don’t know yet what that will be. I’m guessing it will be small, though, so we need artists who will either donate their talent or be willing to work with us on a fee.

We’re also thinking about incorporating sculptures and other art into the bathrooms, but we need artists’ help! I know it sounds like an unusual project, and it is, but it’s also an exciting one, and I hope that some local, and even student, artists will want to participate. We’re meeting at Living Arts (current address: 308 S. Kenosha) at 5:30 on Tuesday, May 19. I encourage anyone who wants to participate to please, please come! I’ll have photos of the bathroom so you can get an idea of what we’re working with, and maybe we can even take a field trip to the site.

And stay tuned for more updates on Living Arts’ progress. After an itinerant 40 years, in which the gallery had 10 different homes, it’ll finally have a permanent residency. It’s an exciting time for art and downtown Tulsa, and I encourage you to be a part of it.

And the winners are...

2009-05-14T09:25:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, I had a contest allowing two lucky winners to cash in on some free goodies at this weekend's Blue Dome Arts Festival.

First, the winner of two free gyros, selected at random, is:

Comment No. 2 came from joei. Congrats!

Next, the winner of a gift certificate for $10 worth of make-and-take art courtesy of Tulsa Stained Glass (this amounts to two mosaic tiles), is:

Comment No. 1 came from Christine Crowe, of Weather&Noise. Congrats! Christine also won big yesterday on www.tashadoestulsa.com. Lucky girl!
Hope you both have a great time at Blue Dome and enjoy your goodies. Send an e-mail to tulsaartblog[at]yahoo.com to claim your prize!

Giveaway: Goodies at Blue Dome Arts Festival

2009-05-13T09:01:00.005-05:00

As seen in today's Urban Tulsa Weekly... (Photos by Don Emrick, courtesy www.bluedomeartsfestival.com)

In 2001, a group of 20 artists gathered in the courtyard of fellow artist Virginia Harrison's Owen Park home for the First International Clayfest. Little did they know that, eight years later, their little gathering would grow into a major arts event, attracting hundreds of artists and thousands of visitors.

The Blue Dome Arts Festival, which occupies First and Second Streets at Elgin and Detroit of the Blue Dome District this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, began because local artists wanted to devise a way to be part of Mayfest, a 37-year-old arts and music festival that infiltrates downtown Tulsa each spring.

Mayfest attracts hundreds of artists from all over the country. They're selected by a jury to show work at the festival. In 1982, Mayfest incorporated the Invitational Gallery in order to accommodate more local artists in the festival. Those artists are juried as well, and with about 100 spots available, admission into the gallery is competitive.

"Local artists were frustrated that they couldn't get into the gallery because of the competition," said Harrison, who works in ceramics and glass. "There are so many artists in Tulsa, and they needed to be able to show their work. We realized that people really want to see local artists' work."

Those artists decided to hold their festival at the same time as Mayfest because, Harrison said, people were excited about art during Mayfest. They encouraged people to stop by their festival once they'd left downtown.

In only two years, Clayfest outgrew Harrison's back yard, so she approached developer Michael Sager, who owns much of the property in downtown's Blue Dome District, about having their event in that area. He loved it, and since 2003, the Blue Dome Arts Festival has steadily grown, both in number of participants and patrons.

Harrison said she's learned something about hosting the festival every year, and she understands how Mayfest started out as a small celebration of artists and grew into a massive event.

In fact, her hope for the future is that Blue Dome Arts Festival and Mayfest meld into one large, arts-lovin' event. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen, but the two festivals' organizers work in tandem with one another to ensure that both festivals are well-attended and achieve their missions of celebrating and proliferating art.

More than 100 artists will set up booths at this year's Blue Dome Arts Festival, and an additional 30 or so can set up in the festival's space for Emerging Artists. The Emerging Artists area is dedicated to young artists who've perhaps never participated in a festival before and aren't quite sure how. They can set up for free, learn a bit from veteran Blue Dome artists, and then perhaps set up their own booths next year.

In addition to the Emerging Artists area, the festival has added an Emerging Musicians element to the festival, allowing young, burgeoning musicians to set up and play on Blue Dome's stage in between scheduled musical acts.

Tulsa's own Hanson will make a stop at the Blue Dome district at 11am on Sat., May 16. The band will conduct a mile-long segment of its "The Walk Tour," which supports the new album, The Walk. The tour is fighting poverty and AIDS in Africa.

For a complete list of artists and musicians who'll be at the festival, visit www.bluedomeartsfestival.com.

Though the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa sponsors the Blue Dome Arts Festival and area restaurants and business contribute to its success, it's still very much a grassroots event, organized entirely by volunteers.

And while Mayfest still attracts more artists and seems to earn artists more money for their work, many of the artists exhibiting in Mayfest's Invitational Gallery will also have booths at Blue Dome Festival, including Harrison. The artists at Blue Dome Festival are generally younger, emerging artists, giving the entire festival a more bohemian feel.

The festival is open Friday, from 12-9pm; Saturday, from 10am to 8pm; and Sunday from 10am to 4pm.

Virginia Harrison gave me a certificate for two free gyros and two free pieces of make-and-take art from Tulsa Stained Glass Co. to give away to two readers. One reader will win the gyros and one will win the stained glass art. To win, leave a comment telling me your favorite aspect of the Blue Dome Arts Festival. The winners will be chosen at random at 9am Thursday, May 14. Good luck!

Oklahoma arts receive national recognition (and a good amount of money)

2009-05-07T11:43:00.007-05:00

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust announced today that it has received a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest single grant ever awarded by the NEA to an Oklahoma organization.

The grant falls under the category “American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius” in the discipline “Presenting” to acquaint Americans with the best of the nation’s cultural and artistic heritage.

The PAC Trust will share the $40,000 with Gilcrease Museum and the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers for a collaborative project called “Oklahoma Landscapes: A Plains State of Mind.”

The PAC Trust, in partnership with the George Kaiser Family Foundation, will use the grant to present an eight-performance run of Oklahoma native Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County, from Jan 26-31, 2020. GKFF will underwrite the presentation up to $250,000 and assist with marketing, said Stanton Doyle, GKFF senior officer for arts and culture.

The title of the entire program, “Oklahoma Landscapes: A Plains State of Mind” is borrowed from a line in Letts’ play and speaks to Oklahoma’s unique geographic location.

Billie Letts, award-winning Oklahoma author and mother to Tracy Letts, described her son’s play, saying it “reveals old secrets and opens old wounds.”

“He asked me if it bothered me that he more or less told all of my family’s secrets,” Billie Letts said. “I told him it bothered me a little bit, but he’s still in the family will.”

Gilcrease Museum will present an exhibition of and lecture featuring works “strongly connected to Oklahoma,” evocative of the “uniqueness of our state’s landscape and heritage.”

The exact content of the exhibit and lecture is yet to be determined, but it will likely be presented November of this year to March 2010.

The OCPW will use its portion of the funds to present “Oklahoma Landscapes: A Literary Tableau” on January 21, 2010 at 7pm in the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa auditorium. The event will feature readings by some of Oklahoma’s most noted authors, including N. Scott Momaday, Joyce Carol Thomas, Billie Letts, Michael Wallis and Rilla Askew.

In addition, the Center will kick off a reading campaign, marketed specifically to Oklahoma English teachers.

“Writers play an important role in Oklahoma landscapes,” said Teresa Miller, OCPW executive director.

She said John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath continues to be the literary definition of Oklahoma, but contemporary Oklahoma authors are rewriting that definition.

PAC Trust Program Director Shirley Elliott said the NEA grant will have at least a $5 million economic impact on the city and through the attendance of its programs, will reach roughly 600,000 people.

Susan Neal, director of community development and education initiatives for the City of Tulsa, said the hallmark of a community is its arts endeavor, and that Tulsa’s recognition through this grant signals to the rest of the country its major contributions to the arts world.

"Bonny Goon"

2009-05-06T16:11:00.004-05:00

Harrod Blank is a product of his environment. He grew up in the Redwood forest of the Bonny Doon mountains, just outside of Santa Cruz, Calif., without the influence of TV and pop culture.
“Growing up, I raised chickens and ran through the forest,” he said.
His family didn’t own a television set, so rather than basing his values on what he saw on TV, he developed them on his own.
When he was 16, he got his first car, a 1965 white Volkswagon Beetle, what he called “probably the most boring car someone could own.”
To differentiate himself and his automobile, Blank painted a rooster on the driver’s side door, and that single act became the catalyst of his long career in art cars.
“I wanted to show people (at his high school) that I didn’t look like they did and I didn’t have the same values they did. I was different,” Blank said.
He was surprised, though, at how much attention the painted rooster got him. The kids at his school began to refer to him as “Rooster Man” or “Chicken Man,” and the notoriety earned him invitations to parties and an identity.
He added objects to the car, including a television, which he shot and mounted to the top. In it he placed symbols of what he saw on TV: A Barbie doll to represent sex, Jell-O to represent commercial advertising.
He worked on the car through high school and college, and he sill has it and adds items to it. And as he constructed his art car, thinking he must be the only person in the world with a car like his, he began to hear snippets of information, stories of other people across the country and their own art cars.

Beginning in 1986, Blank began seeking out and photographing art cars all over the country, and he compiled his findings into a documentary called Wild Wheels, released in 1992, which he promoted by driving his first art car “Oh My God” (named after the response people frequently gave to seeing the car) across the country.

In 1993, Blank had a dream about a car covered in cameras, and he spent that year collecting more than 2,700 cameras, which, in 1994 and 1995, he mounted to a 1972 minivan. Camera Van, in addition to being a piece of art, was also a solution to a problem. Blank wanted to be able to photograph the public’s reactions to his art cars without them being tainted by the presence of a camera.
Nestled in with the thousands of non-working cameras were 10 that were rigged to snap photos at random intervals, thereby capturing the public’s honest, immediate reaction to his creation.
Blank will exhibit the photos produced by the Camera Van and his photographs of art cars in an exhibit at Liggett Studio, 314 S. Kenosha, opening tomorrow at 6pm.
Blank has also produced another film about art cars, called Automorphosis, which the Circle Cinema will show Sunday, May 17 as part of Art Car Weekend. The film and Blank’s book, Art Cars, will be available for purchase during the exhibit and Art Car Weekend. His exhibit at Liggett will hand through May 23.

Blank talked about using automobiles as a medium, saying, “Cars are already a powerful object because of their mobility. They’re seen by a lot of people. I think they reach people similar to radio and TV because of the number of people who see them.”
The art car cult craze is still proliferating, Blank said.
“The whole point is saying, ‘It’s OK to do this to your car.’ A lot of people see a minivan and they think it’s supposed to look like that,” Blank said, pointing to a car parked across the street from Liggett Studio. “But once they do it and see how much joy it brings to themselves and to other people, they realize it’s OK.”

Cinco por Cinco

2009-05-05T08:43:00.004-05:00

Every year, the Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery hosts its annual 5x5 Fundraiser, and the event has become one of the gallery's most popular.

The exhibit and fundraiser, now in its 10th year, opens tonight, May 5, at 5:55pm. All of the artwork displayed was donated by local artists and created on five-inch-by-five-inch canvases. It sells for $55 each. The gallery requests a $5 donation at the door.

The small works represent a wonderfully creative variety of subjects in painting, ceramic, photography, paper, metal, wood, cloth and other mediums.

According to a release, "Whether it is representational or abstract, whimsical or profound, you are bound to find it at this art event. These small works can easily find a niche in your home. Both the artists and the public are eager to participate. The art patrons line up well in advance of the opening of the doors at 5:55pm."

The event generates a large portion of the gallery's operating revenue, allowing it to keep exhibition costs low for artists. It also provides the public with an opportunity to purchase original, local art at a low price.

The Tulsa Artists' Coalition is an artist-run, non-profit 501C(3)organization of artists and art supporters formed to encourage and support emerging and established contemporary artists and to foster the development of new forms and multi-disciplinary works in Tulsa and surrounding communities.

The 5x5 Fundraiser continues through May 23, and work will be available for purchase until that date. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 6-9pm and by appointment.

Call to artists: Jenks Art on Main

2009-05-04T09:27:00.002-05:00

(Taken from a press release.)

The Jenks Historic Downtown District will be transformed into a cultural arts experience on Saturday, October 10 from 10am to 6pm as thousands of participants gather to appreciate Oklahoma’s creative talent at Art on Main.

The art show seeks to create access to a broad array of art experiences, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in Oklahoma. This event recently was awarded Oklahoma Community Institute’s “Outstanding Community Improvement Initiative.” Featured entertainment will be Tulsa’s Salsa Rhythm Project.

Artist applications for a variety of mediums, such as drawings, glass, jewelry, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, wood carvings and other art forms are being accepted for consideration into this juried show. Artists may showcase and sell their artwork.

This event is sponsored by the Jenks Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation. To request information, contact Brittany Sawyer with the Jenks Chamber at (918) 299-5005 or info@jenkschamber.com. The deadline for submissions is June 30. To access applications online, visit the events calendar at www.jenkschamber.com.

Why I Love Tulsa (Hint: Because of its filmmakers)

2009-05-01T16:47:00.003-05:00

As if he didn’t have enough to do, local actor, director and producer Starr Hardgrove is embarking on yet another endeavor, this one with the mission of uniting local film artists around their love of Tulsa.

Enchanted Grove Films PLP, Tiroma Films and Evandrake Productions (code names for Hardgrove, Rob Harris and Titus Jackson) are banding together to create on feature-length film, comprised of about 20 short films, centered around the theme “why I love Tulsa.” Why I Love Tulsa will also be the name of the film.

The three were involved in the feature film Jesus Fish (of which I’ll have a review soon; Harris sent me a copy of the film last week), and realized how “easy” it is to make a feature-length movie, Hardgrove said. They decided to bring all the folks in town who’ve been involved in making various short films together for one long one.

So far, about 15 directors are on board, including the three aforementioned partners, and they’re holding auditions for actors and technical support this Saturday, May 2 at 2pm at Tulsa Community College’s Metro Campus, 909 S. Boston, in room MSU 202.

Auditions will be cold readings of scenes for the camera and will be made available to the actor via online video after the taping. Each audition will take no more than five minutes. No further preparation is required.

Each of the films will be shot in 20 days at some recognizable Tulsa landmark or location. They’ll all be fictional, narrative films, incorporating love, Tulsa and loving Tulsa.

The finished film, which will likely resemble something like Paris, Je T’aime (and Hardgrove says New York, I Love You will hit theaters soon), will do three things, according to Hardgrove: It will showcase directors in Tulsa and their work, it will showcase Tulsa actors (of which they’ll need about 100) and it’ll showcase landmarks and filming opportunities in Tulsa, hopefully drawing outsiders in.

Hardgrove isn’t just involving film directors; visual artists, musicians and even a body paint artist will direct films.

Directors will begin shooting their films after May 17, and the project’s organizers will edit them as they come in, fusing them together with photographic and musical interludes. They hope to have the entire thing finished by October 31. They’ll show the rough cut to various local musicians and commission music inspired by the film for a CD to accompany the film.

The public will see Why I Love Tulsa on February 14, 2010.

Hardgrove said he’s still looking for directors, investors and local businesses to get involved in the film. Head to auditions Saturday or visit www.whyilovetulsa.com to get in on the action.

Point Blank

2009-05-01T15:25:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow night, artist and graphic designer (Point Blank Design) Sara Bowersock opens an exhibit of new work at Ida Red, 3346 S. Peoria. Bowersock's new collection celebrates legendary Oklahoma musicians (that's Leon Russell above). Her style, heavily steeped in her design background, is like a blend of dark, moody rock 'n roll and colorful pop music.

The exhibit opens with a reception (read: party) Saturday, May 2 at 7pm. The Electric Rag Band, in which Bowersock is a musician, goes on at 8pm, and there'll be plenty of snacks and free booze.

40 years and counting

2009-04-30T15:26:00.002-05:00

In September, Living Arts of Tulsa will celebrate 40 years of presenting new, contemporary art forms to Tulsa. To celebrate, Walt Kosty is helping organize a publication that will offer an introspective view of the gallery's history, told mostly through the eyes, words and photos of its patrons. I'm excited to be a part of the project as well.

Kosty has started a blog, at livingartshistory.blogspot.com for patrons, past and present, to post their memories and photos of the gallery. You can e-mail Kosty at walt.kosty.livingarts[at]blogger.com to submit your memories.

The subject of your e-mail will be the titles of your post, and the body of the e-mail will be the post itself.
Always include your name at the end of the post so it can be attributed to a person. To include an image in your post, you can attach an image to you your e-mail.

Sometimes email programs append text to the bottom of each sent message;
to make sure this cruft doesn't get posted to your blog, put "#end" at the end of your post.

The project will be revealed at the gallery's 40th anniversary exhibition, which opens September 3.

Head over to the blog to submit your favorite memory and read those of others. They're really quite fascinating.

First Friday in the Brady Arts District

2009-04-29T16:31:00.006-05:00

I just called Janice McCormick at the Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery to get information about TAC's presence at the Brady Arts District's First Friday Art Crawl for the May 7 issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly.

"Um, isn't May 1 the first Friday of the month?" she politely asked me, while probably silently reeling at my idiocy.

That's what I would have done, anyway.

So, since I, for some reason, though that May 8 was the first Friday of the month, I didn't include information about the First Friday Art Crawl or about the Visual Arts Center's Baywalk in this week's UTW column.

I apologize.

For about a year now, galleries in the Brady Arts District have been joining forces to collectively open their doors on the first Friday of each month. Greg Gray, owner of Club 209, organizes the event, which involves the Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery, Club 209, CFC Chocolatier, the Tulsa Glassblowing Studio and Donna Prigmore's pottery gallery holding exhibit openings and other art-related events all on the same night, at the same time.

In addition, at the May and June events, the Visual Arts Center will host a Baywalk, wherein artists will set up shop just inside the garage doors of the Mathews Warehouse, the future site of the center at Brady and Boston. About 20 or so artists will be there with wine and work, exhibiting and selling to passersby.

The entire event is free and open to the public, and it's a great time. I took Isaac last month and he was fascinated by the glassblowing at the Glassblowing Studio. I mean, really. He stared at it forever. I think he sensed that he could break it, and that intrigued him.

And I love seeing so many bodies in downtown Tulsa at once, all gathered for the purpose of celebrating and supporting local artists. Awesome.

First Friday starts at about 5:30 or so on Friday, May 1. At each gallery there will be a sheet of paper with information on participating galleries, their addresses and the times of their openings. Because TAC won't open until Tuesday, May 5 (its annual 5x5 show; read more about that later), the gallery won't be open, but they'll have a table at the Baywalk with a sneak preview of a couple of the 5x5 pieces and some info about coming attractions.

A Little Bit Wicked

2009-04-29T10:39:00.001-05:00

This summer, Celebrity Attractions presents Wicked, a musical retelling of The Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch's point of view. While it's Celebrity Attraction's mission to bring Broadway performances to Tulsa year after year (and the organization does a great job of doing so; thanks to it locals can see major blockbuster performances without have to leave our cozy little city), it seems each season has one really stand-out production, and this year it's Wicked.

Tickets go on sale May 9 for an engagement beginning July 15, but by clicking the link below, you can buy yours early. And you might wanna. I have a feeling they're going to sell out fast.

Opera for the Rest of Us

2009-04-27T21:23:00.005-05:00

I wrote the following post for my good friend Tasha at Tasha Does Tulsa. We attended Tulsa Opera's production of Gaetano Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore last weekend, and Tasha scored two tickets to give away to one lucky reader. Check out the post below and then head over to www.tashadoestulsa.com to enter.

Every time I attend a Tulsa Opera production, I forget for a little while that I’m in Tulsa. TO presents magnanimous works, attracting the best singers, directors and conductors that the industry has to offer. And as I watch (and hear) these amazing voices, performing in front of such elaborate sets and in such exquisite costumes, I imagine that I’m in someplace much larger and more cosmopolitan than Tulsa.

(For some reason, I sometimes still think of Tulsa as being a much smaller city than it actually is, even though I know better.)

For those who are opera fans, Tulsa Opera never disappoints, and its final production of the 2008-2009 season is no exception. For those who’ve never attended an opera before, this weekend is a perfect time to start, as Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore is a wonderful first-time opera.

In it, Nemorino (Gregory Schmidt) is a shy, naïve peasant living in the Italian countryside. He’s in love with Adina (Mari Moriya), a stubborn landowner who toys with his emotions and mocks his affection. Desperate to win her heart, Nemorino purchases an elixir of love from a traveling doctor (read: quack) named Dulcamara (Terry Hodges). The elixir is nothing but wine, but it fills Nemorino with a confidence he’s never known, and is he able to act aloof and unconcerned around Adina, sure that she will fall in love with him soon.

Adina, insulted that Nemorino has taken his attention from her, agrees to marry the sergeant of a military regimen that’s made a stop in their town. Belcore (Christopher Feigum) is a conceited, philandering fool, but Adina agrees to the wedding only to get a reaction out of Nemorino. It works.

Nemorino, desperate for money and more elixir, joins Belcore’s army for a stipend, which he quickly spends on a bottle of elixir the size of his torso. Meanwhile, the ladies of the village get word that Nemorino’s rich uncle has died and left him a millionaire, and they flock after him, leaving Nemorino and Dulcamara to believe that the love potion has worked.

In the end, Adina buys back Nemorino’s contract, saving him from war, and declares her love for them. The two marry, and everything ends happily ever after – which is so unlike and opera.

But that’s why it’s a fantastic show for those who think they don’t like opera or have no interest in the art form.

This is a comedy, written in the bel canto (“beautiful singing”) style, and it is sweet, sincere and amusing. The music and the singing are absolutely beautiful, and the singers are not only wonderful singers but actors as well. The show is rife with nuanced comedy, with every expression and gesture perfectly timed for a genuine laugh. At the same time, the show is sincere and poignant. It is a wonderful, feel-good show that makes for a perfect date night.

It’s also fast-paced and, for an opera, really short. The two hours you spend in the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Chapman Music Hall, fly by.

And if it sounds like a good time to you, you’re in luck. TO presents L’Elisir D’Amore this Friday, May 1 at 7:30pm and Sunday, May 3, at 2:30pm. And the company has given Tasha Does Tulsa two tickets for Friday evening’s performance. Enter to win at www.tashadoestulsa.com.

Reviews: Dollar$ to Diamond$ and Mealer/Cleaver

2009-04-21T18:37:00.010-05:00

Ugh. I am such a loser.

I peeped Living Arts' and Liggett Studio's April exhibits weeks ago and just haven't had the time to blog about them. My real job(s) have been keeping me way too busy, and now you only have two days to get your little hineys over to Kenosha before they come down on Thursday. I'll try to keep this short and sweet, then, with few words and lots of photos.

At Living Arts is "From Dollar$ to Diamond$," presented and curated by Swami Tourism, basically a fictitious organization invented by Jason Zaloudik. The exhibit consists of 20 works crafted by Oklahoma artists from materials found at the dollar store. No artist was allowed to spend more than $20 on his or her supplies. The variety of work included in the show is striking, showing off each artist's inventiveness and creativity. All of the work is for sale via a silent auction to benefit Living Arts. You can still swing by the gallery and bid on a piece until Thursday.

Artists whose work is included in the exhibit are: Kelli Adlan, Zoe Allen, Tommy Ball, Dustin Boise, Allison Dale, JOse Diaz, Joy Frangiosa, Adella Isle, Neal Janosek, Don Janzen, Ellen Jones, Dillon Klaod, Dean Lane, Jon Lindel, Sean Nelson, Tom Pershall, Eric Saak, Zac Sidle, Joe Sizlak and Jason Zaloudik.

Dustin Boise's multi-media project. The "Invisible Man" is crafted out of packing tape, his insides made from balloons.

Arguably the most popular piece in the exhibit was Jason Zaloudik's Skittles Pope. This one had the most bids when I saw it. Pretty remarkable.

Eric Saak's sculpture was probably the second most bid upon item. It's carefully constructed and quite inventive. I enjoyed just trying to determine what objects he used to make the piece.

Obviously there are 17 other works I left out, but a lot of my photos ended up blurry and ugly. Sorry. Go see it for yourself. The gallery is open from 5-8pm on Thursday.

Next door at Liggett Studio is J.D McPherson's video project "Mealer/Cleaver." The work consists of two videos projected on large, white walls. In one, McPherson is breaking apart boulders with a sledgehammer, and in the other, he's chopping wood with an axe.

The video begins with McPherson entering the space (in the wood-chopping video he arrives via tractor), picking up his tool and very systematically setting out to work, exhibiting the kind of toil, drudgery and determination associated, not only with manual labor, but with any kind of labor.

I found myself asking, as I watched him toil, "What is his purpose?" And then, "What is my purpose when I work? Why do I do it?"

Good questions, eh?

McPherson eventually puts his tools to rest and leaves his work, but then the video begins its loop, and he starts all over again. The project is insightful and thought-provoking.

I also loved the simplicity of his artist's statement, below. I was too lazy to copy it, so you'll just have to squint your eyes.

Liggett Studio is also open Thursday from 5-8pm. Stop by and check out this exhibit. Try to do it after dark. It's easier to see that way.

Call to furniture artisans from IAO

2009-04-16T16:20:00.003-05:00

Calling all Furniture Artisans!

Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO) announces a call for entries to design and build the new reception desk for the organization’s future home at 708 W. Sheridan.

Attached are two dimension options for the needs of the space (note: The dimensions are not attached. Call the gallery for details). Please use these dimensions as a guideline for your design, but not as specific requirements for the piece. Other needs for the piece are to have ample storage and a hidden workspace area. The L-shaped version will need some way to pass through to the West side of the gallery and the piece must stay at 4-feet from the South wall and no more than 6-feet, 6-inches out into the gallery space. The workspace area must be 30” to 32” above finish floor; other heights may vary.

The dark black line on the outer part of the dimensions signifies the need for IAO’s mission statement and a way to conceal the office door.

The winning piece will be selected based on aesthetics/creativity, function, materials used (specific materials must be submitted with entry) and the total cost of the project, including the design and build fees.

Submissions must be made on one 24" x 36" board presentation to include the design and specified materials. The name of the artist should be placed on the back (not the front) as the judges will be considering the submissions without knowledge of whose piece it is.

Submissions must be delivered to IAO’s gallery at 811 N. Broadway by 5 p.m. Friday, May 22. The winning piece will be announced June 1 and the piece must be finished and delivered to IAO’s new location by Thursday, August 1.

IAO members will be allowed to submit one entry for free; non-members may submit one entry for $20.

Special thanks to Chip Fudge for donating the funds to IAO for the competition.

Gallery hours to drop off submissions are Noon – 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; Noon to 8 p.m. Friday. The gallery is located at 811 N. Broadway.

For more information, please call IAO at (405) 232-6060.

Call to artists: Cranked

2009-04-16T16:15:00.002-05:00

This from Live4This/Loose Leaf Co.:

We're having a group show coming up during the Tulsa Tough bike race. The show is called Cranked and will feature all bike themed art.

If you are interested in submitting work the guidelines are as follows -

+ All art must be bicycle themed / related.

+ One piece per artist not to exceed 18x24.

+ If you are submitting a print you can submit as many as you would like to sell but at least one needs to be framed for display.

+ All work MUST be in by May 22 at the very latest and ready to hang.

+ The gallery takes 30% of sales.

+ Artist pays for shipping (if applicable). If any work is unsold we will cover return shipping.

+ Send work to 1402 S Quincy Ave. Tulsa, OK 74120 along with the following info - your name, title, medium, website, and the total price of the piece (including the 30% commission). Or drop off work at 328 E 1st Street, Tulsa, OK 74120, Mon-Turs 11-3.

+ If you plan on participating in the show please send an email to aaron at looseleafco dot com with your name, website and a few samples of work.

Thanks for your interest!!
-LL

May and June Baywalks at the Visual Arts Center

2009-04-14T15:20:00.003-05:00

Last week I joined a crowd of local artists in the home of Bob and Sandy Sober for an update on the Arts and Humanity Council of Tulsa’s Visual Arts Center, set to open fall 2010 in the Mathews Warehouse at Brady and Boston.

The VAC will boast a 4,000-plus-square foot gallery, plus two 1,200-square foot galleries, six artists studios and classrooms (though the number escapes me). The center will be very artist-oriented; member artists may rent the studios for a nominal fee, member organizations may use the galleries for a nominal fee and artists will help decide the programming for all of the VAC’s exhibit spaces.

In an effort to generate buzz and excitement about the center, the VAC is hosting Baywalks (like the one in March) to coincide with the Brady Arts District’s First Friday events.

Baywalks are tentatively scheduled for the first Friday in May, June and July (provided there is no interfering construction at the center), and artists may set up shop to show and sell their work to passersby. Because of space, the event is limited to 20 artists per month. Below are all the details.

Something to look forward to in June: Grace Grothaus, local artist and Momentum 2009 Spotlight Artist, will display her installation “McWilderness” at June’s Baywalk. I didn’t get to see the installation firsthand at Momentum (and am very disappointed about that) but I have heard nothing but good things about it. Read my friend Ashley’s blog about it here.

VISUAL ARTS CENTER BAYWALK
PART OF THE BRADY ART DISTRICT’S FIRST FRIDAY ART CRAWL

FRIDAY, MAY 1
EVENT 6 – 9 PM
SET UP 5 PM

MATHEWS WAREHOUSE
100 E BRADY
2 truck bays on the northwest corner

LIMITED TO THE FIRST 20 ARTISTS TO SIGN UP TO SHOW AND SELL THEIR WORK!

ENTRY FEE: ONE BOTTLE RED/ONE BOTTLE WHITE WINE AT THE DOOR TO SHARE WITH GUESTS

• Bring easels, table, chairs, wine, food, candles…whatever it takes to set up your art

• AHCT will provide: ice, cups, lighting, water, information about the VAC

• Electricity source is limited. Lights will be set up, but no electricity is available for artists booths.

• Construction is progress! Baywalk with happen the first Friday of the month during May, June, and July…AS LONG AS CONSTRUCTION PERMITS. SUBJECT TO CHANGE!

• Please sign up tonight or email Meghan at pr@ahct.org

Heeere’s Linda!

2009-04-14T15:12:00.002-05:00

Living ArtSpace recently hired Linda Clark, former part-time Business and Grants Manager for the Tulsa Glassblowing Studio and frequent Living Arts volunteer, as its Administrative Director. Although Living Arts’ bylaws always intended for there to be an administrative head, that position had, until now, been filled by volunteers.

“Since 2000, since we’ve really been gaining momentum in our programming and activity in general, it’s been impossible for a volunteer to take care of everything we need,” said Living Arts Artistic Director Steve Liggett.

In 2007, Living Arts applied for and received a Warhol Initiative Grant of $100,000 from the Warhol Foundation, and the grant has helped fund the new position. The Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been very generous to Living Arts, especially recently, and the George Kravis and Raymond and Bessie Kravis Foundation also helped fund the position.

Living Arts’ search committee received 50 applications from job seekers across the country before deciding unanimously to hire Clark. April 1 was her first day on the job.

Clark worked as an intern at Living Arts in 2006 while earning a master’s degree in arts administration from Goucher College. She has a background in performance art as a dancer and performer in musical theatre. She coordinated New Genre 2008’s “Crazy Quilt Drive-in” performance as well as 2009’s “Dance Oklahoma.”

She decided to focus her career on administration rather than performance because, she said, she “saw a need for that.”

“I’m very business-minded,” Clark said, “and my career is a way for me to blend my two passions: business and art.”

Liggett said her background in performance art nicely offsets his in visual art and comes perfectly timed as Living Arts plans to grow and expand its performance art programs.

Liggett will still handle Living Arts’ programming, while Clark will be responsible for raising the funds to put those programs in place and market them.

“With Linda’s help, we’ll be able to expand out operations further and do more of what we think the community needs, which is out mission, to expand and develop new, contemporary art works,” said Liggett.

'August' in Tulsa

2009-04-06T23:32:00.004-05:00

I got this from local activist Barbara Santee and wanted to share it here. I'm so excited to see this play I could pee my pants. But that would be weird. And embarrassing.

Friends:

By now, I think everyone and his/her dog knows that Oklahoma playwright Tracy Letts is my cousin, so I am taking the liberty of using my lists to let you in on some good news. His Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County is coming to Tulsa!!! The PAC is selling DISCOUNTED tickets to the January 25th through 31st performances right now! You can go to their web site at www.tulsapactrust.org, click on the August: Osage County icon, choose your performance day/time, enter the password trust, and purchase at a 10 percent discount! Orchestra seats are only $50. This is a pre-sale, and tickets go on sale at their regular prices August 3.

I've copied the New York Times review of the opening. It is a fabulous play that won five Tony awards and every major theatrical award there is, including in England when the London production opened there. Not too shabby for a kid from Oklahoma!

Barbara Santee

December 5, 2007

THEATER REVIEW | 'AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY'

Mama Doesn’t Feel Well, but Everyone Else Will Feel Much Worse

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

All happy families are alike, Tolstoy told us, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. But I’d bet the farm that no family has ever been as unhappy in as many ways — and to such sensationally entertaining effect — as the Westons of “August: Osage County,” the new play by Tracy Letts that blazed open last night at the Imperial Theater.

A fraught, densely plotted saga of an Oklahoma clan in a state of near-apocalyptic meltdown, “August” is probably the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Oh, forget probably: It is, flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Fiercely funny and bitingly sad, this turbo-charged tragicomedy — which spans three acts and more than three blissful hours — doesn’t just jump-start the fall theater season, recently stalled when the stagehands went on strike. “August” throws it instantaneously into high gear.

Mr. Letts, hitherto best known as the author of the crafty, blood-soaked genre pieces “Killer Joe” and “Bug,” somehow finds fresh sources of insight, humor and anguish in seemingly worn-to-the-stump material: the dysfunctional dynamics of the American family. In “August: Osage County” can be heard echoes of other classic dramas about the strangling grip of blood ties — from Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” to Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child” — but Mr. Letts infuses his dark drama with potent energies derived from two more populist forms of American entertainment. The play has the zip and zingy humor of classic television situation comedy and the absorbing narrative propulsion of a juicy soap opera, too.

In other words, this isn’t theater-that’s-good-for-you theater. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, to quote an immortal line from a beloved sitcom.) It’s theater that continually keeps you hooked with shocks, surprises and delights, although it has a moving, heart-sore core. Watching it is like sitting at home on a rainy night, greedily devouring two, three, four episodes of your favorite series in a row on DVR or DVD. You will leave the Imperial Theater emotionally wrung out and exhausted from laughing, but you may still find yourself hungry for more.

“August” was first staged over the summer at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago. That production, with a terrific cast superbly directed by Anna D. Shapiro, has been imported virtually wholesale for the Broadway run. Among the many pleasures the show affords is the chance to see actors largely unknown in New York — perhaps, most vitally, Deanna Dunagan, who plays an evil mom to end them all — take the city by storm with the harsh humor, ferocity and keen feeling of their performances.

Ms. Dunagan is Violet Weston, the razor-tongued matriarch of a family from Pawhuska, near Tulsa. Early on in the play, Violet’s husband of more than 30 years, a poet and former professor, mysteriously — or perhaps not so mysteriously — walks off into a sultry summer night, never to be heard from again. (The exhausted paterfamilias, Beverly, played with lovely wit and rue by the playwright’s father, Dennis Letts, opens the play with a lyrical dirge assessing the state of his marriage: “My wife takes pills, and I drink,” he says. “That’s the bargain we’ve struck.”)

The couple’s three adult daughters are called back to the family homestead, husbands or boyfriends in tow, to comfort Mother in her time of need, and try to get to the bottom of Dad’s disappearance. (Todd Rosenthal designed the tiered, haunted-house set, artfully strewn with shadows by the lighting designer Ann G. Wrightson.) All three offspring exhibit clear indications of past, present or future emotional damage.

The mousy Ivy (Sally Murphy), who lives nearby and resents the responsibility she’s had to take for watching over the horror of her parents’ latter years, has never married, although she is secretly carrying on a love affair with her mousy first cousin, belittlingly known to the family as Little Charles (Ian Barford). Barbara (Amy Morton), the oldest and strongest of the daughters, well armored in savage humor, returns from Colorado with her newly estranged husband, Bill Fordham (Jeff Perry), and their sardonic, pot-smoking teenage daughter, Jean (Madeleine Martin). The youngest Weston girl, Karen (Mariann Mayberry), arrives later, from Florida, spouting self-help platitudes about her recently rehabilitated love life, and accompanied by her oily businessman fiancé, Steve (Brian Kerwin).

Surrounded though Violet is by her extended family — which also includes her abrasive sister, Mattie Fae (a howlingly funny Rondi Reed), and Mattie Fae’s henpecked husband, Charlie (Francis Guinan) — she does not really seem to be a woman in great need of succor and support. Yes, she’s got cancer of the mouth. And a serious addiction to downers. She is often self-medicated to the point of incoherence, and prone to childish hysterics when crossed.

But Violet also possesses a spirit of aggression that a pro linebacker would envy, and a sixth sense for finding and exploiting the sore spots and secret hurts of everyone around her. For Violet, a child of poverty, neglect and abuse, the will to endure is inextricably tied up with the desire to fight and the need to wound. She can keep the blood in her own veins flowing only by drawing blood from others. (The play could almost be called “My Mother the Vampire.”)

And so, needlessly, pointlessly and endlessly, Violet sets about psychologically flaying her nearest and dearest, one by one, taking impotent revenge for the miseries of her life by picking at the scabs of everyone else’s.

The results are as harrowing as they are hilarious. Ms. Dunagan is simply magnificent in this fabulously meaty role. Such is the mesmerizing power of her performance that as Violet’s snake eyes scan the horizon for a fresh victim, claw-hand dragging a Winston to her grimly set mouth, you may actually find yourself sinking in your seat, irrationally praying that she doesn’t pick on you. (I was cowering myself.)

The cast does not have a weak link, and the other major female roles, in particular, are rewarding and perfectly played. (Only Ms. Martin and Mr. Kerwin, both excellent, are new to the production.) Ms. Murphy’s sad-eyed Ivy has a plaintive tenderness that occasionally flares up into a defensive assertion of the justice of her needs. Ms. Mayberry makes Karen’s drawly, long-winded narcissism oddly touching — you sense she’s still recovering from a lifetime of being talked over or ignored.

Ms. Reed flaps and squawks hilariously as the vulgar Mattie Fae, who shares with her sister a brazen heedlessness of other people’s feelings. Perhaps finest of all is Ms. Morton’s Barbara, who gradually — and frightfully — begins to metamorphose before our eyes into a boozing, brutalizing mirror image of her mother.

Alcoholism, drug addiction, adultery, sexual misbehavior: The list of pathologies afflicting one or another of the Weston family is seemingly endless, and in some ways wearily familiar. But Mr. Letts’s antic recombination of soapy staples is so pop-artfully orchestrated that you never see the next curveball coming, and the play is so quotably funny I’d have a hard time winnowing favorite lines to a dozen. (Much of the “Greatest Generation” speech would definitely make the list.)

I’ll leave you with one that neatly expresses the bleak spirit of the play, which nevertheless manages to provide great pleasure by delving into deep wells of cruelty and pain. Recalling a night of youthful high spirits in sad contrast to the gruesome present, Barbara seeks to wise up her daughter to the decay of hope and happiness that often comes with the passage of time.

“Thank God we can’t tell the future,” she observes, “or we’d never get out of bed.”

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

By Tracy Letts; directed by Anna D. Shapiro; sets by Todd Rosenthal; costumes by Ana Kuzmanic; lighting by Ann G. Wrightson; sound by Richard Woodbury; music by David Singer; dramaturg, Edward Sobel. A Steppenwolf Theater Company production, presented by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, the Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald and Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group. At the Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street; (212) 239-6200. Through March 9. Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes.

WITH: Ian Barford (Little Charles), Deanna Dunagan (Violet Weston), Kimberly Guerrero (Johnna Monevata), Francis Guinan (Charlie Aiken), Brian Kerwin (Steve Heidebrecht), Dennis Letts (Beverly Weston), Madeleine Martin (Jean Fordham), Mariann Mayberry (Karen Weston), Amy Morton (Barbara Fordham), Sally Murphy (Ivy Weston), Jeff Perry (Bill Fordham), Rondi Reed (Mattie Fae Aiken) and Troy West (Sheriff Deon Gilbeau).

OVAC's Tulsa Art Studio Tour

2009-04-06T22:57:00.011-05:00

I took the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's self-guided Tulsa Art Studio Tour on Sunday and was, of course, so inspired by the creative spaces in which some of our local artists work.

First on my tour was a nondescript building at 1104 S. Voctor Ave. in which large-scale photographer David Varmecky works.

It turns out, though you'd never know it, there are actually seven artists with studios in this building. Here's Varmecky's:

Varmecky finished his MFA at the University of Tulsa in 2005 and is looking for a teaching position at a university somewhere. He spends time working in his studio every day.

Although he wasn't on the itinerary, artist Steve Rosser, who's attending TU for his MFA in printmaking, opened his studio to folks on the tour.

Rosser has painted professionally for 25 years and worked in art galleries for 20. While he earns his MFA, he continues to create and also teaches a class at TCC called Pro Practice, which instructs students on how to deal with galleries and other business aspects of art.

On the door to Rosser's studio was taped a Gustave Flaubert quote that I really liked: "Be regular and orderly in your life so that you can be violent and original in your work."

Next on my tour was Kristal Tomshany's studio, a small shed behind her Midtown home. Tomshany is a painter and mixed media artist whose studio was packed when I visited.

Here, Tomshany is explaining the circumstances by which she found the bird that is the subject of the painting below. You can see the work in stages: a photograph of the bird, a sketch and then the finished product. Unfortunately, I came in on the story midway through and am unable to relate it to you here.

As as aside, I thought this was cute:

Following that, I made my to photographer and installation artist Glenn Herbert Davis' studio at 3837 W. 21st St. I had plans to visit the studios of at least three more artists, but, unfortunately, on the way to Davis' studio my son fell asleep, cutting our trip short.

See?

Davis' studio looks less like an artist's habitat and more like a wood shop. He creates his installations from found soft wood, usually reclaimed from discarded packing palettes. His work is often functional, even if the function is a completely made up one, specific to that work.

His office furniture is almost all reclaimed, augmented and built by the artist.

When he's finished with a work, he disassembles it and uses whatever he can salvage on other projects. He's also a professor at TU. Here, the artist and his muses:

(I made that part about the muses up. I have no idea if that's true or not.)

I truly enjoyed my time with these artists and sincerely appreciate their willingness to open their studios up to the public for two days. I wish I could have seen all the studios. If you didn't visit at least one, you missed out. And while I wouldn't recommend knocking on any of these artists' doors just to see if you can pop in for a bit, I would urge you to take the tour next year. You will not leave uninspired.

Colonizing Pawhuska

2009-04-06T22:30:00.004-05:00

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.

Dreamland

2009-03-30T14:37:00.003-05:00

Does anyone want to give me A LOT of start-up capital so I can publish a monthly arts magazine? Not to compete with any other print medium out there, but because I think I can fill a glossy, full-color magazine with news about arts every month and not think twice about it. That notion was reiterated to me last month as I interviewed and wrote about 15 movers and shakers in the local arts community. While I could have written an entire story on each of these individuals, space constraints forced me to keep my profiles limited to 500 words max.

One of my subjects, Lee Roy Chapman, who coordinated last winter's Public Secrets exhibition with Live4This and Black Mesa Studio, has some interesting ideas about preserving the work and influence of local artists who've left Tulsa to find fortune and fame but who are largely still ignored in their hometown.

Joe Andoe is one such artist.

I've wanted to profile Andoe for UTW for some time now, but I'm continually sidetracked by my efforts to cover artists still living and working in Tulsa.

I read Andoe's autobiography Jubilee City and have since marveled at the artist’s life and work and how his life has influenced his work. The book, although it appears to be a tell-all, comes off as guarded, like Andoe really isn’t revealing all he knows, like he’s keep his audience an arm’s length away. Even so, the writing itself is unapologetically candid, straightforward. The book isn’t just about Andoe’s work as an artist; it’s about his life, the early years in Tulsa, the drugs and violence, the inappropriate marriage, his move to New York, his children, the divorce and, finally, success.

Andoe doesn’t actually discuss his art as often as I expected he would, but that fact just made the pages that were explicitly about his art all the more intriguing. I love these lines, the description of his first foray into the art world, when he discovered he could draw:

“I felt it was something of a trick I could do, like wiggling my ears. I was always surprised when someone enjoyed it. It meant nothing to me, really, but the other side of the coin was that it meant everything. This is very personal inasmuch as I didn’t even realize it until recently, because it was too close to see.”

Chapman’s point, with Public Secrets and in our discussion a couple of weeks ago, is that some of the city’s most successful artists – Andoe, Gaylord Herron, Larry Clark – have gone all but ignored in Tulsa. Why? Because they left town? Found success elsewhere? Still, Tulsa is as much a part of who they are as it was when they lived here. And this fact is evident in their work.

A couple of prints of Andoe’s work are available at Dwelling Spaces, as is his memoir, and the BOK Center, when it opened in downtown Tulsa, commissioned a work from the artist.

However, the way in which the city acquired that work is, to say the very least, disappointing. Here is, borrowed from his Myspace page, Andoe’s artist’s statement regarding “In Sight of Dreamland” and how the work, midway through completion, changed in scope and nature.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ignorance and sleep
Category: Life

In Sight of Dreamland
>Artist Statement by Joe Andoe
First off I want to say a painting is just a painting –it's just paint on canvas way before it's a picture of something or about any ideal. And a painting should be anything the viewer wants it to be no matter what anyone says even the artist…but then again an artist needs to entertain themselves.
Soooooo just for your information, this is what I first pictured for the 9 foot by 24 foot painting for my home towns new arena- I pictured the ending of a black and white western and as the last credit rolled down over two horses rearing up as if to challenge one another for yet more excitement, leaving my 5 year old imagination reeling as I sat in the back seat of my parents '57 Chevy- probably around 1960 at some Drive Inn called "The Riverside" or "Apache" or "The Admiral Twin", on a hot August evening as it could have actually happened because that is what my parents who were in there early twenty's could afford and what we enjoyed.
This was the plan until the contract to do this picture was voided by somebody writing checks for the city of Tulsa. A year goes by and I never got paid. I was supposed to get paid in four parts because it was expensive to make. I was told over and over "checks in the mail". And I was asked each time to send yet another invoice because "the last one must have been "lost" again. The official delivery date came and went because I held out delivering until payment. So I was paid half and I was told I would get the rest the day I hung the painting in the arena and was told I needed to send yet more invoices for that final payment. So I gathered twenty or so friends from Tulsa and flew in an expert on projects like this because it was a big job and it took everyone's help to get this massive thing stretched and hoisted ten feet off the floor and hung straight. With all my friends help and two installers from Gilcrease it was hung and even the cleaning ladies at the arena liked it. But you can guess no one showed up with a check. I actually thought now they had the painting I would never be paid. So to back up –because of nonpayment over the course of the year I have to get a loan to cover the expense to make the picture and deliver it and for me to live. So any "feel good" feelings were lost way before I walked away from my picture hung nicely in the arena, empty handed.
But something good did come out of all this even months before that. There is the word or symbol in the Chinese language for crises that happens to be the same symbol for opportunity. With the city of Tulsa voiding the contract by nonpayment, the painting became free of restriction of content. In other words- it wasn't going to be this "feel good" project anymore. It was going to be better. I can't fake a feeling that's left me and as the saying goes: You never stand in the same river twice. I and I had a year to look at the painting and to think about it and watch the river flow.
The composition stayed the same but my thinking changed as I thought about the location of the arena - on the "north side" of Tulsa and how my painting was going to be located on the north side of this "north side" building.
Also, I thought about how I'd always loved Tulsa's "north side" because I think the landscape is prettier than the "south side" and how both sides of my family came from the north side and I lived there till I was ten and both set of grand parents lived their lives there.
I thought about how cool and bold it was for Tulsa to build their new Cesar Pelli arena in a place that Tulsa has be trying to run from for years and years.
Why run?
Because of the African American community lived on the "north side."
Then I remembered my grandfather telling me how he came out after a movie at the Raito Theater one afternoon in 1921 when he was 11 and saw dump trucks rolling past piled high with the bodies of dead black people and he said there were arms and legs hanging over the edges as the trucks headed toward the Arkansas River.
Now I have lived away from Tulsa for a quarter of a century and in that time I have learned that if Tulsa is known for anyone thing more than anything else around the world- it would be the race riot of 1921.
It is the largest such attack in US history, an attack on a prosperous African American community where white men burned down blocks and blocks of what was called "Black Wall Street." No one really knows who started it or how many people died. But the whole place was torched; Burned to the ground- homes, businesses, people and animals.
Even in the 60s you could see what it must have been like, here and there with the little parts that didn't burn; and how it was still a community like many inner cities, where you see row houses, bars and churches all in close proximity. Sure in could have been called a ghetto but at the same time life was being lived there; and where there's life, there's culture.
Now that's all lost too. It's just grass, trees and empty streets where it once stood. Greenwood and Archer never recovered. There is not even a grocery store on the "north side." And it happened for no reason except that they were black.
I grew up from the age of ten way out east- near 21st and Garnett. Early on I saw how some from more prosperous addresses turned their noses up at us. We weren't black and weren't really that poor, but we might as well have been.
As time passed- I moved to New York and have I had shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York galleries and collections from around the world- ten years before any Tulsa Museum would touch me. Philbrook wouldn't even accept a horse portrait as a gift once. (FREE)
I still wasn't bitter until the people in charge of paying me for my arena painting dismissed me for a year and mockingly told me to send even more invoices and how money would be there if I only would deliver it.
This opportunity made it real and an opportunity turn a "feel good" painting about a place once called the "Oil Capital of the World" in to something much more important, relevant and worldly- and that is in 1921 you could have seen Black Wall Street burn from where my painting now hangs.
How could I ignore that?
In the end, I did tie it back to the movies when I finally got to talk to the fellow who wrote the checks (or didn't write the checks and told me to send more invoices) when I told him over the phone and for the record, the painting was titled DREAMLAND. Of course I didn't tell this guy who had no remorse or respect what that meant- I wanted to get paid first.
The Williams Dreamland Theater was a movie theater near Archer and Greenwood that was burned to the ground that day in 1921.
They may have shown Westerns, I don't know- but without a doubt horses burned in their stalls in sight of it and the arena.

Sapulpa gets creative

2009-03-29T22:32:00.004-05:00

I just got word from Sheri Ishmael-Waldrop of a new art gallery in Sapulpa at 16 S. Water St. Water Street Art Gallery will host a soft opening March 31 and a grand opening April 24.

Ishmael-Waldrop provided the information below.

Water Street Art Gallery, where fine art meets Route 66.
Located just steps from Historic Route 66, in the revitalized downtown district of Sapulpa, Water Street Art Gallery is the place to find original works of art to enhance your collection or to remember a treasured moment in time as you travel the historic roadway.
Just south of the "Mother Road" at 16 S. Water St., the state’s newest gallery brings together a group of “self-expressing" fine artists, specializing in such diverse media as acrylic, ceramics, jewelry, oil, pastels and photography.

Gail Booth, initially a watercolorist, unexpectedly discovered her love of oils, light, color and the impressionist perspective in mid-life. Currently her work in oils spans both impressionism and expressionism.

Kathleen Curran is a portrait and commercial photographer, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in fashion illustration from the University of Oklahoma. She specializes in senior and family portraits, as well as, fine art, black and white landscapes, still-lifes and stylized portraits involving dramatic use of light

Betty Dalsing paints the local landscape as well as painting, sketching, and photographing during her extensive travels. Many of her paintings are done en plein air and offer an impressionistic rendering with strong value contrasts.

Ruth Harris considers herself an impressionistic landscape painter although she also enjoys painting skyscapes, street scenes and still lifes. She was born and raised in the Oklahoma farm belt and has been close to nature her entire life.

Sheri Ishmael-Waldrop’s photographic career has evolved from portrait photographer to journalist and now to fine art photographer. Her photojournalistic style can be seen in her sports photography and portraiture, but her love of nature’s simple lines and aesthetic balance shows in her landscapes and floral pieces.

Julie Miller is a professional artist and respected instructor who works in traditional elements with a contemporary approach. Her abstracted representational style subjects are varied and described in both subtle and vivid painterly strokes.

Carol Mulcare's motivation to create expressive, realistic and beautiful paintings began in 1965 when she joined a charcoal class with Jay O'Meilia, a well-known Tulsa artist. She went on to study oil painting techniques over a 20 year period with Dalhart Windberg, a Texas artist know for his romantic realism.

Silk Degrees founders Jan Thomas and Nancy Cowden began their partnership designing handmade fused dichronic glass jewelry after taking a class in the medium "just for fun." Together, they have added handcrafted sterling silver settings and beads to many of their pieces to add an extra element of beauty.

An Oklahoman by birth, Celeste Vaught is a passionate "explorer," and her curiosity resonates in her art. Acrylics, while challenging, allow a versatility of techniques accommodating her painterly, colorful style. This nationally and internationally known artist paints a wide variety of subjects from macro florals to cityscapes, she especially enjoys painting still lifes as they give her the opportunity to paint from life.

The location allows space for a structured gallery setting, as well as a creative space for teaching art classes. There will be gatherings for artistic endeavors that include book signings, music demonstrations and other special events. Situated on Route 66 and adjacent to the gallery is a small park area perfect for relaxing and "open air" painting. The combination provides an exceptional site for visual and performance arts.
Water Street Art Gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and during downtown Sapulpa events. Artists are invited to bring their sketch pads and pieces in progress to the gallery for Thursday evening’s Open Classroom night, for an open exchange of ideas.

For more information visit the gallery at www.waterstreetartgallery.com, or contact us at 918-227-2009 or at contactus@waterstreetartgallery.com.

Waterstreet's June event is a "Six by Six" art show. Here' the scoop: Beginning April 1, artists may pick up a free 6x6" canvas for Waterstreet's Six by Six show. The show runs June 4-20 with an opening June 4 from 6-9pm. Finished work must be dropped off at the gallery by May 27. The price for each piece of art will be $66, with half of the proceeds going to the artist, one-fourth going to the gallery for overhead and one-fourth going to a charity.

Tonight

2009-03-27T13:14:00.004-05:00

Hit the kickoff for OVAC's Art Studio Tour at Framemaker Gallery first (see below for details), then visit Loose Leaf Co. for a look at new work by Ruth Ann Borum.

There are about a million and a half things going on next week, and I'll start posting about them very soon.

See ya'll tonight!

'Up the Down' On the Cheap

2009-03-26T12:29:00.004-05:00

Theatre Tulsa announces the admission price to tonight's IDR for "Up The Down Staircase" comes at the low, low price of canned food for the local food bank. Just come on down to the Liddy Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. 110 E. 2nd St., and bring some canned food items for admission to the IDR on a first come, first served basis.

This program is part of Theatre Tulsa’s continuing mission statement to make live theatre accessible to everyone in the city of Tulsa.

Theatre Tulsa presents "Up the Down Staircase" with Clark Theatre in a first-time collaboration. Performance dates are March 27-28, April 2-4 at 8pm and March 29 2pm.

The show is directed by Frank Gallagher and Julie Tattershall. The set is by Erin Scarrberry and Joel Cheatham. The lights are by Anthony Batchelder, the stage manager is Cathy Blackmore, and the producer is Anthony Batchelder.

The cast includes Phil Blackmore, Deborah Bosworth Campbell, Ron Friedberg, Beth Anne Herrmann, Deborah Hunter, Miriam Mills, George Romero, W. Bryan Thompson, and Sherry Zyskowski

It also features Tim Bowman, Erin Bridwell, Chazz Browne, Ethan Cantrell, Grace Cuellar, Jon Dicandeloro, Scorpio Flynn, Tanner Friend, Jose Gonzalez, Michaela' Hanneyer, Shannon Harris, Madeline Lackey, Erika Loney, Ryan Mannschreck, Julia Mills, Hannah Moore, Simone Summers, Marjorie Tanner, Nicholas Thomas, and Tiffany Wright.

Best remembered as the 1967 movie with Sandy Dennis, "Up the Down Staircase" tells the touching and humorous story of a new teacher in an inner-city high school. Confronted with situations her Ivy League education never prepared her for, Sylvia Barrett struggles to find ways to reach kids who don't care. Or do they?

The directors’ vision is to update the play to have more of an impact in today’s modern times. The original was almost a “Laugh-In” version of stock characters coming in and out of the classroom. The students in the play were played more for comedy. It was easy to fit the play into today’s classrooms and the problems young teachers still grapple with. Just as in 1967, schools are over run by the educational bureaucracy and mountains of monotonous paper work that interfere with the students’ actual learning process. Sylvia must learn to accept the kids as they are and motivate them by example. Trust runs both ways and a classroom where real ideas are exchanged is built by mutual trust and not practical rules. All the problems of the 1967 movie of teen suicide and bullying still exist and we need caring teachers to create a different model in which students are seen as individuals and not stamped out by cookie cutters.

For more information on Clark theatre visit www.clarktheatre.com or Theatre Tulsa visit www.theatretulsa.org.

OVAC Art Studio Tour coming!

2009-03-12T16:40:00.002-05:00

(OK, so I realize that lately I've been blatantly plagiarizing every artist and organization in Tulsa to get content for this blog, but it's all I've had time for. Original writing coming soon, I promise.)

Tulsa Art Studio Tour

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s upcoming Tulsa Art Studio Tour will open the studio doors of 11 Tulsa artists in 9 studios. Visitors can get a glimpse into the creative process and see art in action April 4-5 from noon until 5 p.m each day.

For art lovers, such access to the inner workings of artists is a rare opportunity to see the other side of the canvas. Visitors will have the chance to talk with artists, view and buy artwork, and see art being made. The tour is self-guided and presented by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.

The artists range from photographers and painters to ceramicists and metalsmiths, representing a variety of stages in their art careers. Tour artists include:
• Kevin Byrne, ceramics
• Lynn Clark, painting
• Glenn Herbert Davis, photography and installation
• Chris Owens, painting and mixed media
• Mary Russell, painting
• Cindy Swanson, mosaics
• Kristal Tomshany, painting and mixed media
• Steadman and Peggy Upham, painting and metalsmith
• David Varmecky, photography
• Craig Wood, ceramics

A kick-off celebration and exhibit will be held at the Frame Maker Art Gallery at 6201 E 61st St, on Friday, March 27 from 5-8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, and guests will have a chance to see examples of artwork from artists on the tour, meet the artists, and purchase tour tickets. This exhibit runs from March 17 – April 11.

Tickets to the tour include a map and are $5 in advance and $10 at the door. Tickets will be available online here, or by phone at (405) 232-6991, or at any of the Tour studios the days of the Tour.

Call to artists: Nude V deadline fast approaches

2009-03-12T15:37:00.002-05:00

Nude:5 artist entry and requirements:

1. All artists must be 21+ to enter or submit to Nude.

2. Artist(s) can submit up to 3 pieces for $20. Participating artists will get into the show for free.

3. All work must be new, done in the past year, and must be erotic/provacative/sensual in nature.

4. Painting, Photography, Sculpture, and performance will be accepted.

5. This is a juried art show with cash prizes.

6. All 2d work must be matted/framed and ready to hang. Hanging hardware must be present, we will NOT do this for you.

7. Name, title, medium, price should all be labeled on the back upper right hand side of image. Sculptures should have this on the underside of the piece.

8. Please do not attach business cards, bios, or resumes to your artwork as these will not be displayed with the piece.

9. The deadline for all entries is Sat. March 21st. 12midnight.

10. CoughSyrupGreen will retain a 30% commission on all sold works.

11. The drop off for all work submitted is Sunday, March 22 12pm-2pm at Capellas, 1st and Detroit downtown Tulsa.

Art work can be picked up Sun. March 29th from 12pm-1pm at at Capellas, 1st and Detroit downtown Tulsa.

12. CoughSyrupGreen, Nude, or any of its affiliates will not be responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged artwork. We take great care with the handling/placement/and displaying of all work submitted.

More at www.nudeartshow.com.

Call to artists: Mixtape Art Show

2009-03-10T09:07:00.001-05:00

Mixtape Art Show Official Call For Entries
MixTape, with DJs Lynn K and Robbo, is teaming with the Personality of Cult art exhibitions to organize an art show featuring works by Tulsa area artists that pay homage to their favorite songs.

The show is slated to open July 18, 2009 at the Blank Slate, 1st and Detroit, in downtown Tulsa with an opening reception/dance party featuring the songs that inspired the art works.

ELIGIBILITY
Open to the public. No finished work is required at the time of entry form being turned in. However, for planning purposes, we would like to see a prep sketch of your piece in advance of completion of your art work.

REQUIREMENTS
Work must be inspired any song, preferably one that, in the words of the immortal Dick Clark, has a good beat and you can dance to it, as the song you choose will be featured in the dance party included with the opening gala.

The theme of your work must be to demonstrate what this song means to you personally. Draw from your own memories of this song, interpret the lyrics in your own style, and create art that conveys a unique perspective.

All artwork must be suitable to hang on the wall, preferably wired on the back.

We wish to have as much variety as we can, and to that end, you will be given a choice of two songs to base your artwork on. On the form below, please indicate a primary and secondary choice. The secondary choice is in the case of another artist having already chosen your primary choice. In such an event, we will consult with both artists to reach an agreement as to who lays claim to the subject.

SIZE OF ARTWORK
In keeping with the music theme, all pieces MUST be 12 inches by 12 inches, the standard size of a traditional vinyl album cover. This size must include any framing and matting.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY FORMS
Entry form must be received by April 18, 2009. If your entry form has not been responded to by at least two days of delivery, please re-submit or call the contact number listed at the bottom. All forthcoming information regarding the opening of the show, will be shared with all entrants as they are available.

ENTRY FEE
Entry fee for the MixTape Art Show will be $15.00. This fee is due by the entry deadline of April 18 without exception. This fee is non-refundable.

IMPORTANT DATES
APRIL 18, 2009 - Last day for entry forms and entry fees.

MAY 31, 2009 - Must submit prep sketch of your piece by this date.

JULY 4, 2009 - Piece must be completed, or in absolute final stages, and if finished a digital photograph submitted for promotional purposes.

JULY 15, 2009 - Finished pieces due to be turned in. Any pieces not turned in by the end of the night without prior arrangements being made cannot be guaranteed to be included in the show.

JULY 18, 2009 - Noon: Hanging of show to begin. 8:00 pm: Opening gala begins. 10:00 pm - 2:00 am: Dance Party

ENTRY FORM
ARTIST INFORMATION
This information is for MixTape Art Show organizers' use only, and personal information will not be shared with any other entity.

NAME: ______________________________

NAME AS YOU'D LIKE IT TO APPEAR IN PROGRAM AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS: ______________________________

DAYTIME PHONE: ______________________________

NIGHTTIME PHONE: ______________________________

EMAIL: ______________________________

ADDRESS (OPTIONAL): ______________________________

MYSPACE URL: ______________________________

FACEBOOK URL: ______________________________

WEBSITE URL: ______________________________

BEST TIME TO REACH YOU: ______________________________

BEST METHOD OF REACHING YOU: ______________________________

ENTRY INFO
PRIMARY CHOICE OF SONG: ______________________________

SECONDARY CHOICE OF SONG: ______________________________

CHOICE OF MEDIA: ______________________________

CONTACT INFO
Dan Fritschie, Organizer
personalityofcult@yahoo.com
918-519-6593

Home and the American Dream Mythology

2009-03-06T09:32:00.007-06:00

When I first sat down with Steve Liggett a couple of weeks ago to talk about New Genre, he told me that Living Arts had recently received a grant from the National Performance Network to develop new performance art pieces in Tulsa and that the gallery would be using the grant to offer a free, week-long performance art workshop to anyone who wished to participate the week following New Genre.

Jose Torres Tama, who performed "The Cone of Uncertainty" at the New Genre Festival, has led the week-long workshops, which will culminate in a final performance tonight at 8pm. Tama's performance piece deals with New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the government's response to the disaster and the very broad ideas of home and the American dream. Those are the themes that the eight or so individuals participating in the residency will explore in their ensemble piece, "Home and the American Dream Mythology," tonight at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.

The ultimate goal of the residency is to inspire more performance art works by people in the Tulsa community. Through his workshops, Tama is arming artists with an arsenal of techniques and strategies for performance art, which include movement and the creative use of the human body, film and video, politically charged objects as props and improvisation.

I had the opportunity to sit it on one of the workshops, where I observed a couple of the elements of tonight's show. I was moved by each individual's interpretation of "home" and how they each articulate their thoughts and feelings on home through original text and simple movement. Using a flag of the original 13 colonies, each participant told a story of home, his relationship with his home and where he is now in proximity to it. The stories were improvised, but within a set of defined boundaries. Rather than making something up on the spot (the sort of improv local audiences are likely most familiar with), the artists told their stories -- stories they know well and have told before -- as they felt them at that moment. The result was a very raw, very personal, very moving exchange between the artists on stage. And it was by watching this exchange that I really understood the goal of the residency -- to prove that anyone who has a story to tell can write and perform a piece of art. Many of the workshops' participants have no performance art experience, but you'd never know that by the way they express themselves while on stage.

Tama talked to me before the workshop began about what performance art is, and he described it as the offspring of both visual art and theatre, but one that neither of the two wants to claim. And the goal of this project, and of similar workshops Tama will conduct in Alaska and London this season, is to give something back to the community by way of performance art. Liggett said Living Arts plans to have more residencies like this every year. He said one will always be associated with New Genre but he'd also like to conduct one or two others each year.

If you're curious at all about performance art, about what it is, what it looks like, how it's done, I encourage you to attend tonight's performance. I hope it inspires others to consider what they have to offer local audiences and what stories they have to tell so that the next workshop is twice or three times as large, with multiple performances. Tickets to tonight's show are $10, $7 for students. To read more about the residency, check out Tama's blog at elbigeasyamigoblogger.blogspot.com.

Get your pencils ready

2009-03-06T09:07:00.004-06:00

After making guest appearances at branches in Kansas City and Oklahoma City, the ladies of Eye Candy Burlesque will bring Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School to Tulsa this spring.

The concept is to make drawing the human form fun and sexy by using burlesque dancers as models. The idea originated in Brooklyn in 2005 and, since then, branches have popped up all over the country in art galleries, theaters and clubs, combining live drawing with risque humor, and performance. There's drinking, laughter, games and prizes for the "best" drawings. For those who don't draw, it's an opportunity to hang out with some sexy women and have a good time. For those to do draw, it's a "cure... for every boring art class you've ever been to." (The Sunday Age, Melborne)

The tentative date and location are May 17 at the First Street Music Hall (emphasis on tentative). I'll be sure to let you know when plans are finalized. Until then, be sure to pencil this in on your calendar.

(Photo by Gavin Elliott.)

Add to your Friday list

2009-03-06T09:01:00.003-06:00

Beginning at about 7pm, Avery Hanson, local high school student and little sis to Taylor, Ike and Zach, will hold an opening reception for an exhibit of new works on display at Ida Red Boutique, 3346 S. Peoria Ave. I'm interested to this young girl's work ad how the creative talent is distributed in the Hanson family. See you guys there!

Because I never have been very good at keeping secrets...

2009-03-02T12:41:00.007-06:00

So, I was on the phone with Karen Greenawalt, talking about May's Blue Dome Arts Festival, when she let slip that the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa's Visual Arts Center, which anticipates completion in 2010, will, starting this Friday, be an active part of the Brady Arts District's First Friday Art Crawl.

The Visual Arts Center will, along with Philbrook's part of the Eugene B. Adkins Collection, inhabit the Mathews Warehouse, at 100 E. Brady, in the Brady Arts District. That combined with the number of galleries already occupying that area, means that the district will soon be a hub of arts activity in Tulsa. And, gallery owners there are already positioning themselves as such. Greg Gray, Tulsa doctor and owner of Club 209 at 209 N. Boulder started the First Friday Art Crawl a few months ago as a way to get people out and about, seeing and appreciating local art. Participating galleries timed their openings to coincide with one another so that wanderers can easily get an eyeful in one night.

This Friday's event marks the first Visual Arts Center "Baywalk," wherein the VAC will open up the north bay doors and allow artists to set up shop inside, spilling out onto the sidewalk as needed. The event is loosely coordinated by Greenawalt, who volunteered for the job, and allows local artists to bring their work and sort of "show and tell" -- and, of course, SELL -- at their leisure. Reservations are not required, but you can contact Greenawalt at 749-3311 for more information.

Below is a schedule of this Friday's activities and a copy of the VAC's call to artists. Please pass this around and share with the artists and art lovers you know!

5pm-Dark
VAC Baywalk
Mathews Building north bay and sidewalk
Various artists

6-9pm
Brady Arts Gallery
Artist Donna Prigmore
Pottery-making demonstrations

Tulsa Glassblowing Studio
19 E. Brady
Artists Elana Newman, Carson Smith and Lisa Fox
Glass blowing demonstrations

CFC Chocolatier
15 E. Brady
The Art of Chocolate: Patrick Aldred
Chocolate-making demonstrations

Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery
9 E. Brady
Conformity: Textile art by Kate Kline

Lola's at The Bowery
5 E. Brady
Off Route 66: Digital art by Michael Scruggs

7-11pm
Club 209: The Arts Bar
209 N. Boulder Ave.
Paradox: Multimedia by Joel Moore and Ken Balch

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!
We’re starting a new tradition!

Bring easels, table, chairs, wine, food, candles…whatever it takes to set up your art to show and t/sell at the first ever Visual Arts Center Baywalk.

This is an awareness raiser at the future home of the Arts & humanities Council of Tulsa’s Visual Arts Center. It’s also a chance to show and sell your artwork as part of the Brady Arts District’s First Friday Art Crawl…and just generally have a good time!

Cost is FREE! A voluntary 20 percent of sales as a donation to build the Visual Arts Center is appreciated.

INSIDE SPACE IS LIMITED…but we’ll flow onto the sidewalks. Early arrivers will get premium locations. Set-up begins at 4pm. No need to RSVP, but please call or email Karen at 749-3311 or greenawalt1@sbcglobal.net with questions. Each artists may plan on about 8’x8’.

Self set-up, self clean-up. It’s our first time…let’s keep it simple…and fun!

Click this

2009-02-28T09:34:00.021-06:00

New Genre opened Thursday, with exhibitions at Living Arts, Liggett Studio and Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery. I talked about the Liggett Studio exhibition here, and it's worth reading again. Everything I thought/felt when I first saw the exhibit was there the second time 'round. You'll want to see that for yourself.

My only complaint about the New Genre opening was that I felt kind of rushed, hurrying to each gallery in order to have time to hear the artists speak. With only 30 minutes between artists' talks, exhibit goers weren't left with much time in between the talks to really absorb each exhibit. Luckily, the exhibits up at Liggett and Living Arts will hang until March 26, so you still have some time to get out and see them. And I highly suggest you do.

The exhibit at Living Arts is [::ART.net::] and is curated by local video artist, middle school teacher and rockabilly musician David McPherson. From releases: "Internet art (often called net art) is art that uses the Internet as its primary platform. Rather than simply online documentation of artworks, these pieces were created specifically for the Internet and take advantage of one or more of its technological characteristics."

In his artist's talk, McPherson made the point that technology and art have always sort of "bumped up against" one another. Whenever new technology has emerged, McPherson asserted, artists have always latched onto it to see what they can do with it, how they can use it to their gain, whether that new technology has been a sable brush or the Internet.

Living Arts right now sort of resembles a computer lab, with 17 artists' works displayed throughout the gallery, four on large projection screens (featured artistts) and 13 on tabletop PCs and Macs.

Featured artists
Mathwrath: Mathwrath's work draws mainly work draws mainly from the aesthetics and ideas of old technology and vaporware to deal with information "pollution" and the digital footprints we leave behind. One element of Mathwrath's site is a real-time Web performance of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman over forums of bot-created Web sites for pyramid schemes.

Gregory Chatonsky: Chatonsky's body of work includes interactive installations, networked urban devices, photographs and sculptures and attempts to create new forms of fiction. The work on display at Living Arts is "Etat du Monde (World State)" and shows a woman reacting to headlines pulled from the AP wire as though they are the narrative of her life.

Antoine Schmitt: In "Time Slip," Schmitt analyzes RSS news feeds, changing their tense from past to future, "provoking the motive energy of unpredictability and risk."
Patrick Cunningham: TelePorch is a cross-city artwork, projected live from Chicago. Via Skype, exhibit goers can sit and talk with Cunningham in real time. Inspiration for the exhibit comes from the Amish communities and their ability to improve the bonds of a community.

Other artists
Martijn Hendricks: His "12 Glowing Men" is an enhanced fragment of Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men.

Britney Cluster: (Can't find the link. Will post later.) Artists Bob Paris, Deven Langston and Brian Glass compare Google hits for "cluster bombs" to Google hits for "Britney Spears" and then analyze public psychic toxivity.

Mrs. Cory Arcangel: (Can't find the link. Will post later.) Scarlet Electric's Web site devoted to renowned digital media media artist Cory Arcangel is part fansite, part cultural critique and part exercise in stalking.

Wave: (Can't find the link. Will post later.) James Schaeffer's site is a combination of generic HTML marquee code and memories of the family at the beach.

A is for Apple: David Clark's site is a complicated archive of links between network interconnectivity and the cultural, religious, cryptographic and agricultural purposes of apples.

Appended: Artist Edmond Salsali has created an interactive, digital exploration of the junction between figuration and abstraction.

Playdamage: Curt Cloninger has created a massive, dischordant, ongoing multimedia journal, with 70+ screens and growing.

World of Female Avatars: Evelin Stermitz's site is a survey project for expanded understanding of women and their relation to their bodies.

Spamology: Irad Lee's site is a live, rich audiovisual representation of word frequencies in spam e-mail messages.

Smoke, Mirrors: Chris Collins' "billowing" site is a display of regenerative clouds of smoke generated by HTML code.

One of the things McPherson pointed out about the works in this exhibit is that they are free and available to the public at any time. You don't have to pay admission (although entrance to Living Arts is free) or visit a gallery to see them. You can just open up your laptop and have a look whenever you like. And, you can get out there and search the Web for even more artists and works utilizing the Internet as their medium.

Miamians do it in the Coleman

2009-02-26T15:26:00.004-06:00

I borrowed this from my friend Amanda at Have Spork Will Travel. That girl is livin' it up in Miami, Okla., cooking and eating and generally enjoying life.

Ahhh, I wish I had a fish eye lens......... huh, what? Oh, I'm back. These photos of the Historic Coleman Theater are from Visitmiamiok.com and, if you happen to be doing so this weekend, you can check out the latest play from Miami Little Theater, "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum." The play itself is pretty funny, telling the tale of this one dude that wants his freedom and this other guy that wants some girl and this other guy who wants money and this other guy who.... .oh just come see it. However, the grand event for me is a chance to enjoy this great theater, built in the 1920s as a vaudeville locale, featuring like likes of such no-names as Will Rogers, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby. It's also the home of the Mighty Wurliztzer organ and I just love to say that.

The show opens tonight at 7:30 with shows on Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 7:30 and a matinee on Sunday at 2:30. The theater is smack dab in the middle of Main Street. You can't miss it.

If you happen to notice the smooth flow of the curtain close or the impeccable timing of cast placement, give me a shout-out....I'm back stage support! (well, don't really shout, we frown on that sort of thing in theater.) I'll be looking for you! (Dun, DUN, Duuunnnn.)

Hey, you guys!

2009-02-26T09:15:00.005-06:00

So, I have this friend Tasha, and she has an affinity for doing Tulsa. She even has a blog where she records her experiences doing Tulsa. She's pretty cool.

As it turns out, my friend Tasha also likes art. And since her blog is all about dispelling the myth that there's nothing to do in Tulsa (I am so on board with her mission), she decided to take on the arts in Tulsa. And she asked if I'd like to help. Because, believe it or not, there are still quite a few people who have no idea that this city is home to world-renowned ballet and opera companies, to exquisite art museums, to fantastically talented artists and to a plethora of active theatre companies. Well, if they didn't know all of that, they should now.

So Tasha and I decided to let people know about some of the art goings on this weekend, since this weekend happens to be chock full of art goings on. And, as a bonus, Whitson Hanna, director of Theatre Tulsa's production of Educating Rita, gave us two tickets to tonight's performance to give away on Tasha's blog. So, click here and enter to win. You have until 2 p.m. Do it.

Whoa

2009-02-25T20:59:00.004-06:00

That was the first word that came to mind when I stumbled onto "Domestic Arsenal" this afternoon. I stopped by Living Arts/Liggett Studio to pick up my New Genre festival pass, and Steve and a handful of volunteers were prepping the exhibit, which opens tomorrow night at Liggett.

Centered in the gallery space was a pile of regular, random household objects, each of them a possible weapon in a domestic violence situation. Even without the lights, the background noise, the ambiance that will be in full effect tomorrow night, the work is stunning. I circled the pile, perched atop a wooden bed frame, and noticed items like a small garden shovel, bars of soap, a hair dryer. Then there were the more grotesque things: a pick ax, a golf club, hockey sticks. But perhaps the most emotive of all of the objects were those that, apart from the exhibit's connotation, were the most innocent: child's toys, a baby doll, a wooden spoon. Looking at those items, especially the toys, and imagining a child playing with them, then to have them torn from their little hands and used to hurt them, left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. I stopped to pick up a piece of soap laying on the floor and had to put it back down almost as quickly as I touched it.

The toys are painted to appear rusty and old, and I'm not sure if, even without the varnish, their symbolism wouldn't have been as powerful. But, the dark, dirty paint applied to them left them with the appearance of being worn, weathered and gruesome.

On the walls surrounding the installation work are large sheets of paper on which are plastered news articles describing real cases of domestic abuse. I stopped to read a few of the stories, and I was most compelled by one in which a source asserted that, in order to understand and attempt to put a stop to the problem of domestic violence, we have to stop criticizing women who refuse to leave their abusers and rethink the society in which we live that somehow thinks it is OK or understandable for a man to hit a woman (or vice versa).

I'm not sure if Eileen Doktorski, the artist behind "Domestic Arsenal," has ever experienced domestic abuse firsthand. None of the articles or information I read about her made it clear one way or another. She certainly does have a morbid fascination with the thing, but, translated into a work like this, that fascination could quite possibly provoke a viewer of her exhibit to take action against what she's portraying. I'm pretty sure Domestic Violence Intervention Services has been alerted to the nature of her work and encouraged to be present at the exhibit, should someone need their services after seeing it.

New Genre in a nutshell

2009-02-25T08:47:00.016-06:00

(As appeared in this week's issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly)

This is just a general overview. I plan to keep you guys posted with more detailed previews, reviews and other need-to-know stuff. So keep reading, dudes.

Each new art gallery opened, theatre company instigated, seems to include in its mission statement the same core purpose: to be different. To bring something different to the arts in Tulsa, to fill a perceived gaping hole in what is offered.
And, generally, each of these new endeavors fulfills its purpose. A city like ours, with such broad and diverse artistic offerings, only exists because someone set out to do something different and did it.
And it doesn’t get much more different than the New Genre Festival.
Now in its 16th year, the festival, hosted by Living ArtSpace, seeks to explore new and cutting edge contemporary media and artists. In a matter of days, New Genre will presents 110 local, regional and national artists – all of them doing something very, very different – to Tulsa audiences.
This year, New Genre has something new in store for its audiences – a community residency program through the National Performance Network, a partnership with Choregus Productions and the inclusion of Web media in its offerings.
Some events are free, while others require an admission fee. For $65 ($55 for Living Arts members), event goers can gain admission to all of the events.
We’ll break down everything the festival has to offer, from Feb. 26 to March 10.

Galazi: Thursday, Feb. 26, 5-7pm
Eighteen-year-old Kelci Stansbury, who studied under Mark Wittig at the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences and participated in the New Arts Camp at Living Arts, presents “Galazi,” an installation and performance at Chrysalis Spa, 7 E. Brady.
Stansbury will perform within her installation, in a work that so closely intertwines fantasy with reality that visitors will be challenged to distinguish one from the other. Stansbury encourages her viewers to “explore the depths of your inner conscious reality through installation of light, sound, glass and fabric.”
This event is free and open to the public.

[::ART.net::]: Thursday and Friday, Feb. 26 and 27, 5-7pm; Saturday, Feb. 28, 1-7pm; and Sunday, March 1, 1-4pm
Local video artist and rockabilly musician Dave McPherson curated this exhibit, which includes work by Web and video artists.
Living ArtSpace, 308 S. Kenosha, will become a collage of computers, projectors, images and sounds as work by some of the country’s best artists are on display. Some of the work is interactive, while others are not.
This is the first year for New Genre to include Web artists on its bill, acknowledging the very talented and revolutionary artists utilizing this fairly new medium.
The exhibit will be on display through March 26 and is free and open to the public. McPherson will give an artist’s talk at 5:30pm on Thursday.

Domestic Arsenal: Thursday and Friday, Feb. 26 and 27, 5-7pm; Saturday, Feb. 28, 1-7pm; and Sunday, March 1, 1-4pm
For “Domestic Arsenal,” Eileen Doktorski collected 365 objects that could be used in domestic violence situations. They include toys, furniture and shoes, have been painted to appear charred and iridescent and are piled in the center of Liggett Studio, 314 S. Kenosha, presenting a formidable sight to onlookers. The smell of smoke lingers in the background, and the walls of the gallery are papered with newspaper articles about tragic events involving domestic violence.
The installation is meant to be a tribute to victims of family violence. The exhibit is free and open to the public and will be on display through March 26. The artist will speak about her work at 6pm on Thursday.

Axis Mundi Archives: Thursday and Friday, Feb. 26 and 27, 5-7pm; Saturday, Feb. 28, 1-7pm; and Sunday, March 1, 1-4pm
Okmulgee-based artist Cindy Zimmerman presents a light, whimsical installation/performance at Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Gallery, 9 E. Brady.
In it, Zimmerman takes time to deal with all of the “stuff” she’s accumulated over the years, “scanning the archives” of her life within a “bunker-like grotto,” constructed from old crates, panel paintings, snow fencing, shredded paper, crutches and clotheslines on which images hang.
The event is free and open to the public, and Zimmerman will speak on her work at 6:30pm on Thursday.

Sonatas and Interludes: Thursday and Friday, Feb. 26 and 27, 8pm
Organized by Living Arts’ Artistic Director Steve Liggett, “Sonatas and Interludes” is a mixed media performance of work by the legendary John Cage. Adam Tendler will play Cage’s most notorious and demanding masterpiece for the prepared piano, which is played by the musician inserting random (but very specific) objects into the piano’s strings to create a sound very unlike that which is usually heard on such an instrument.
While Tendler plays (completely by heart), Charles Woodman, aka viDEO SAVANT, will perform a live video improvisation, projected around Tendler.
Tickets to the performance, at the Tulsa Little Theater, 1511 S. Delaware Ave., are $15, $10 for Living Arts members. On Friday at 2pm, Woodman will lead a free workshop on live video mixing and improvisation at the Little Theater.

New Genre Dance Oklahoma: Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and 28, 8pm
Hartel Dance Group, Bell House Arts Inc. and Perpetual Motion/Modern Dance Oklahoma, all Oklahoma-based contemporary dance companies, will perform together at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. 2nd St., in the John H. Williams Theater.
Hartel is a company recently formed by Austin Hartel, who was a soloist for five years with Pilobolus Dance Theater, considered “gods” of contemporary dance; Bell House Arts is a new company spearheaded by Rachel Johnson, who also heads up the dance department at Oral Roberts University; and Perpetual Motion is a company that includes a lot of aerial work in its choreography and performed at the “Crazy Quilt Drive In” at New Genre XIV.
Tickets to the performance are $20, $15 for students.

The Cone of Uncertainty: New Orleans After Katrina: Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and 28, 8pm
Jose Torres Toma is no stranger to New Genre, having presented work at the festival twice before. The artist, who lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina wreaked so much havoc on the city and helped evacuate residents using a stolen school bus, now presents an exhibit inspired by that disaster.
In “The Cone of Uncertainty,” Tama explores the “criminal negligence of the federal government and the apocalyptic abandonment of a people who were made to beg for help and water,” while also commenting on the larger, more universal issues of race and class in America.
Tama will perform the piece at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. 4th St. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, and reservations are suggested by calling 633-8666.
Additionally, Tama will offer guidance to artists who choose to participate in the first ever National Performance Network Community Residency program at New Genre. Funded in part by a grant from NPN, local performance artists may participate in a week-long residency, following New Genre, at Living Arts, which will enable them to study under Tama while developing their own performance artwork, free of charge. Stipulations apply, and artists may sign up by phoning Steve Liggett at Living Arts, 585-1234.
Following the residency, participants will perform their works at Nightingale Theater Saturday, March 7 at 8pm. Tickets to that event are $10, $7 for students.

New Genre Performance Cabaret: Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and 28, 10pm
At the Nightingale Theater, the cabaret includes performances by installation artist Mark Wittig, the Monica Huggins Dance Theater and the theatrical electronic/robotic music group Recorder, all Tulsa-based.
Wittig’s “Breaking Labels” deals with his experiences with dyslexia and how the disability (for lack of a better word; Wittig asserts it is not) is perceived by mainstream culture.
Monica Huggins will present “Agree to Disagree,” a new collaborative work with Katie Feiock, Jennifer Alden and the dancers of Monica Huggins Dance Theater, and Recorder’s performance will include an appearance by the notorious shadow puppets wielded by Nightingale co-owner John Cruncleton.
Tickets to the cabaret are $10, $7 for students.

New Genre Video Matinee: Sunday, March 1, 2pm
Traditionally the closing event of the New Genre Festival (this year it is followed by the NPN residency and a collaborative event with Choregus Productions), the “New Genre Video Matinee,” screened at Circle Cinema, 12 S. Lewis, is a showing of new, experimental videos, including the winners of the recent 24 Hour Video Race.
The matinee includes nine videos chosen for their artistic and experimental merit by representatives from Living Arts and the Dallas Video Festival, and Liggett said this year’s video matinee will present the best videos he’s ever seen.
Tickets to the screening are $7, $5 for students.

The Merce Cunningham Dance Co.: Tuesday, March 10, 8pm
Ken Tracy began Choregus Productions two years ago as an effort to bring new, contemporary, exciting works to Tulsa, works seen often in larger cities like New York, Chicago and L.A.
His mission to bring such progressive works to Tulsa directly coincides with Living Arts’ mission, and so a partnership between the two organizations, Liggett said, was natural.
Together, they bring the Merce Cunningham Dance Co. to the Chapman Theater of the Tulsa PAC. The company and its namesake have been hailed as some of the most radical and influential forces in the world of contemporary dance. Tickets to the performance are $25-40 at tulsapac.com.

Call to artists: RETHINK: RECYCLE: REDESIGN

2009-02-24T11:45:00.006-06:00

The deadline for entry is this Friday! Sorry, but I just found out about this! If this is sort of your thang anyway, and you didn't already know about it, submit! I would love for one of the galleries here in Tulsa to show a similar exhibit (hint, hint).

RETHINK: RECYCLE: REDESIGN
April 18 to May 8, 2009
Call For Entries

About: RETHINK: RECYCLE: REDESIGN is a juried art exhibit of Sustainable OKC created to promote and encourage green design and sustainability created to challenge artists and designers to RETHINK objects that have reached the end of their lifecycle. The idea is to RECYCLE and REDESIGN by repurposing and transforming objects into art—functional and non-functional.

Jurors: The jury will be a panel of professionals in the fields of art, design, and sustainability.

Submission guidelines: Work will be considered according to various criteria with emphasis on originality of transformation, effectiveness of repurposing, and aesthetics of design.

Media to be used: Each entry must contain predominantly manufactured materials that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled. For our purposes, materials from nature such as rocks, sticks, leaves, bones, dirt, water, etc. are not recycled. Materials that one might use are items normally considered junk, or that would have ended up in a landfill if not rescued for some new purpose—such as art.
Suggestions: Old toys, machine parts, used building materials, newspapers, magazines, fabric from old clothing,or CDs.
For inspiration or ideas, take a look at the book “Cool Green Stuff” by Dave Evans or visit a few of these Web sites:
www.readymade.com
www.chopstickart.com
www.weburbanist.com/2008/06/04/recycled-art-from-trash
www.kid-at-art.com
www.re-store.org

Sales: All work will be offered for sale on the opening night, Saturday April 18, 2009, from 7 to 11 p.m. The artist will stipulate a price per piece. Fifty percent of the final sale price will be retained by Sustainable OKC. Artists will have the option to generously donate 100 percent of all proceeds to Sustainable OKC. Accepted artists will receive two complimentary tickets to the opening nigh

Delivery and pickup: All work accepted into the show must be delivered to:
IAO Gallery, 811 N Broadway
Before Friday, April 10, 2009, between 12 noon and 7pm.
If you are unable to deliver your piece during that time, please contact us to make other arrangements.
Unsold work must be picked up by May 10. The gallery will be locked during non-show hours. IAO and Sustainable OKC will not be held liable for any damage, theft or loss of work.

Application process: Artists may submit a maximum of 3 pieces. A representative sample of each submission in JPEG or TIF format must be delivered to IAO via mail or e-mail. Include an Artist’s Statement containing an explanation of your process and a detailed and comprehensive list of materials used. Please also include a short bio. Provide an e-mail address and phone number for contact purposes.

Mail:
Individual Artists of Oklahoma
RETHINK RECYCLE REDESIGN
811 N. Broadway
Oklahoma City, OK 73103

E-mail:
iaogallery@coxinet.net
Subject Line: RETHINK RECYCLE REDESIGN Submission

Deadline for Call for Entires submission is Friday, February 27, 2009.
Accepted entrants will be notified by March 6, 2009.
For more information, contact Jeff Stokes:
Phone: (404) 232-6060
E-mail: iaogallery@coxinet.net

The Man Behind the Baton: A conversation with Kostis Protopapas

2009-02-24T09:56:00.006-06:00

In last week's Urban Tulsa Weekly, I wrote a preview of Tulsa Opera's Hansel and Gretel. I wanted to see the show last week so I could review it here, but I just did not have enough time. I will see it, though, this Friday at 7:30 in the Chapman Music Hall of the Tulsa PAC. I encourage you to do the same. The show closes with a final performance on Sunday.

Below is a transcribed copy of my interview with TO's artistic director and conductor for Hansel and Gretel, Kostis Protopapas. He is so much fun to talk to, and I thought you all should experience some of that. Below our interview is a cast list and brief synopsis of the show. Enjoy! See you in the theater!

Why did Tulsa Opera choose this particular interpretation of “Hansel and Gretel”?
This was designed by Maurice Sendak, a famous illustrator of children’s books and the creator of “Where the Wild Things Are.” He has also created several opera productions. This is one of his most famous ones; this is his trademark. He has a European background, so everything is very two-dimensional, as far as the color and atmosphere and mood. It’s a pretty unique production.

It also has some pretty whimsical effects, like the witch’s house has all kinds of moving parts. It has eyes that sort of follow the performers. The set has a life of its own, this sort of haunting personality that is sort of a trademark of the Maurice Sendak style. It’s very beautiful, but it’s a really huge set. There are a lot of pieces. And all of the scene changes happen a vista, which means the curtain doesn’t come down. All the transformations happen while the music is playing and the action is happening on stage.

It’s a very unique show. The story is, of course, the classic “Hansel and Gretel,” but there are some added fantasy elements. The story is one that people are very familiar with, but there are some new and unexpected elements.

Why did TO decide to perform the English version, rather than the original German?
“Hansel and Gretel” is one of the two or three operas of the European repertoire that, nowadays, is as often performed as English as in German. It’s something that provides that extra step of contact with the audience. And also, we hope that people will bring their children, and children cannot necessarily read (surtitles) as fast as adults, so it’s an element of immediacy.

Tell me why you chose “Hansel and Gretel” for TO’s 2008-2009 season.
We always want to have a balance in the repertoire, musically and thematically. We always have at least one or two very standard Italian operas, because they are the backbone of operatic repertoire, and this season we started with “La Boheme.” We’re going to close this season with “Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore),” which is also an Italian opera by Gaetano Donizetti, but it was composed a lot earlier than “La Boheme,” and it’s a light comedy. It’s a part of the bell canto style, so the music is sort of similar to something like the “Barber of Seville.” It’s a light, Italian, comic opera.

And in the middle, I thought, what can we put in the middle that is musically different from the other two yet still a classic and also might be appealing to people who want to bring their kids? Tulsa is a great town for kids, and we’re always looking for something to involve the kids in. And I think this will be a good opportunity for people to bring their kids to the opera, especially since the current generation of opera-goers, that was their first opera. It used to be very popular as a first opera. The Tulsa Opera did it a lot in the ‘60s, and a lot of our subscribers and board members and other people I talk to are all very excited because they remember going and seeing “Hansel and Gretel” early on. They remember loving it because the music is, of course, really beautiful. It’s late 19th century German romantic music.

Maureen mentioned the very unique relationship she must have with the conductor for this production. Tell me about that from the conductor’s point of view.
Our production is extremely active. There is no “stand and sing” at any point. And the way it has been directed has as much activity as you would expect because the performers, especially Maureen, not only have to sing nonstop, but she also has to dance, she has to sing on her back… Maureen is a great actress, and it’s amazing how much activity and acting she packs into her performance. So, in order to achieve that, I have to be very careful to make sure the tempo is right. Because not only does she have to sing, but she also has to dance in this tempo. And make sure that she has time to breathe and catch her breath because she never really stops singing.

Also, it’s very interesting to me because I’ve actually never conducted this opera before. Three of our principals have done it before: Maureen, who is our Gretel; Jennifer Roderer, who has done the Witch a lot; and Dana Beth Miller, who is the Mother, has done the Mother before. It’s been a learning experience for me because the performers who have done it before know what they need. I am the one shaping the overall musical performance, but it is good to have singers who know what works for them. And also of course, in this case, because we have a really big orchestra (55 musicians) in the pit, my responsibility is to make sure that the orchestra does not overpower the singers.

Again, the show is very active, and that’s the way it should be, because it should be exciting and entertaining. The singers are all over the stage, so we have to make sure that the orchestra does not cover them but that the music is still really alive.

Is there anything that you’ve learned, conducting this production, that you might do differently the next time you conduct “Hansel and Gretel”?
You always learn something. This is a different score because it’s in the German tradition, which means its very much through-composed and very much orchestral, in that the singers are sort of a member of the orchestra – one voice with the orchestra – and, of course, they are the most important voice. It’s sort of more composed like a symphony, and it has structure. And that’s not entirely new to me, but it’s sort of like going back a few years to when I was in school and I was studying a lot of symphonies.

It’s a completely different process because a lot of times, especially with Italian operas, you come from the vocal line. In this one, you go from the orchestral score when you start learning it. In that sense, it has been a different experience for me. I’m really enjoying it. I’m sort of using a different set of skills that I don’t use as much. Every opera has different elements, and you always learn something. You kind of go into it with a certain idea of how we expect things to work, but you always have to keep an open mind.

Is there anything else about this production that you’d like to share with our readers?
One thing that has impressed me during this is that we have a really great cast of performers. Not only are they great singers, but they are also real performers. So there is movement, and they have a lot of fun. And what’s surprising is how funny a lot of the show is. You don’t necessarily think of “Hansel and Gretel” as being a funny show, but Tara Faircloth directs it with a lot of humor. It’s an extremely entertaining show because of the way it’s directed and because these people can really do a lot of things other than sing, and they bring a lot to the show.

The Cast:
GRETEL
Maureen McKay

HANSEL
Blythe Gaissert

WITCH
Jennifer Roderer

MOTHER
Dana Beth Miller

FATHER
Robert Hyman

CONDUCTOR
Kostis Protopapas

STAGE DIRECTOR
Tara Faircloth

SETS
Designed by Maurice Sendak
Original Production by Frank Corsaro

COSTUMES
Designed by Maurice Sendak
Associate Set and Costume Designer, Peter Hauser

Synopsis, borrowed from The Metropolitan Opera
Composer: Engelbert Humperdinck

ACT I. Hansel and Gretel have been left at home alone by their parents. When Hansel complains to his sister that he is hungry, Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbor has given them for the family’s supper. To entertain them, she begins to teach her brother how to dance. Suddenly their mother returns. She scolds the children for playing and wants to know why they have gotten so little work done. When she accidentally spills the milk, she angrily chases the children out into the woods to pick strawberries.

Hansel and Gretel’s father returns home drunk. He is pleased because he was able to make a considerable amount of money that day. He brings out the food he has bought and asks his wife where the children have gone. She explains that she has sent them into the woods. Horrified, he tells her that the children are in danger because of the witch who lives there. They rush off into the woods to look for them.

ACT II. Gretel sings while Hansel picks strawberries. When they hear a cuckoo calling, they imitate the bird’s call, eating strawberries all the while, and soon there are none left. In the sudden silence of the woods, the children realize that they have lost their way and grow frightened. The Sandman comes to bring them sleep by sprinkling sand on their eyes. Hansel and Gretel say their evening prayer. In a dream, they see fourteen angels protecting them.

ACT III. The Dew Fairy appears to awaken the children. Gretel wakes Hansel, and the two find themselves in front of a gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch, who decides to fatten Hansel up so she can eat him. She immobilizes him with a spell. The oven is hot, and the Witch is overjoyed at the thought of her banquet. Gretel has overheard the witch’s plan, and she breaks the spell on Hansel. When the Witch asks her to look in the oven, Gretel pretends she doesn’t know how: the Witch must show her. When she does, peering into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door. The oven explodes, and the many gingerbread children the Witch had enchanted come back to life. Hansel and Gretel’s parents appear and find their children. All express gratitude for their salvation.

Dealing with the media: We're not so bad

2009-02-23T13:53:00.006-06:00

I've almost recovered from my very hectic, but very exciting, weekend. I saw two stellar theatre performances -- The Playhouse Theater's Romeo and Juliet and Theatre Tulsa's Educating Rita -- and I had the honor of being a presenter at Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's latest installment in its Artist Survival Kit workshops, called Stop the Press!

The workshop, which spanned about three and a half hours Saturday, involved a wonderfully informative presentation by Adrienne Nobles, communications director for the University of Central Oklahoma, on the basics of writing and releasing press releases, making and maintaining media contacts and otherwise connecting with the media. The information was intended for artists, but it would be valuable to any small business person who lacks the experience or know-how of working with the media.

Following her presentation, we lunched and listened to Kathy McRuiz update us on the progress of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa's Visual Arts Center, an exciting endeavor that that will bring even more cultural and arts appreciation to the Brady District and looks to be completed by fall 2010.

Then, Glenda Silvey and I talked on what to expect during a media interview. I had no idea that Silvey was an avid collector of Oklahoma art, and, after speaking with her, I appreciate so much the coverage she gave local arts endeavors while she was an anchor at KOTV. I didn't realize TV stations are so reluctant to cover arts and culture stories, and Silvey said the sparse attention given these kinds of stories is only going to get worse, as more and more stations become increasingly concerned with their bottom lines.

I'm totally in the dark when it comes to the ins and outs of broadcast media, and I appreciated Silvey's informative and insightful presentation. What I liked most about her, though, was her sincere interest in each and every artist who attended the seminar and her desire to help them in any way she could.

OVAC is doing a highly commendable thing by offering this series of workshops, which serve to teach artists the business of art, giving them access to the tools they need to be, not only creatively successful, but also financially successful in their work.

Briefly, here are some of the highlights of the seminar. Most of these are borrowed from Nobles' presentation.

*In writing a press release, highlight the aspect of your exhibit or event that makes it unique to your reader. What are you doing that is different, contemporary, exciting?

*Invest in an Associated Press style book (available at college bookstores and online) and write according to AP style. This makes it much easier for the media person you're contacting to translate your release directly to print.

*Also invest in an Oklahoma Media Guide, available at www.okpress.com, and get to know the media contacts in your area. Before you even have an event, make contact, let that person know who you are, offer to take him/her out to lunch. Nine times out of 10, you won't be turned down.

*Know the publication/station's deadlines, for stories and for calendar submissions, and get your stuff to them as early as possible.

*Have a Web site or a blog on which you display your art work. A Web site is the most important marketing tool you have.

*Have someone else read over anything you plan to send to the media before you send it. Make sure it is informative, well-written and clever, free of grammatical errors, misspellings and punctuation mistakes. Always include a link to a site to which someone can go to view and download images of your work. Make it as easy as possible for the media to use your words and images, and they will.

*If you have questions about writing news releases, try these links: Publicity Insider, Press Release Writing Tips, wikiHow

*Don't be nervous! We're people, too! That said, don't always expect your event/gallery/whatever to receive coverage. We try to cover everything we can, but there's no possible way to cover it all. Be patient, be persistent and don't give up. And, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Preview: Playhouse Theatre's "Romeo and Juliet"

2009-02-19T10:17:00.006-06:00

A few years ago, while chatting with Julie Tattershall at Heller Theater (which should, btw, be close to completing its move to Henthorne Park), she mentioned she thought Tulsa had the potential to become a Midwestern theatre powerhouse, much like Kansas City or Minneapolis are considered.

I've never counted the number of theatre companies in the city and suburbs, and I'm not going to attempt to do so here for fear of leaving someone out, but there are quite a few, all of them boasting so much talent it's, well, awesome. The newest among those ranks is Playhouse Theatre, co-founded by Chris Crawford (perhaps most notorious for his riotous performances as Batboy in American Theatre Company's performances of Batboy: The Musical) and Courtneay Sanders, theatre director at Oral Roberts University. The company announced its arrival with a performance of David Schulner's An Infinite Ache last month.

Playhouse Theatre's first production of the season, Romeo and Juliet, opens Friday, Feb. 20 for a sold-out performance. Crawford directs the show, which takes an unusual approach to Shakespeare's work. Using the original text, Crawford plays with elements of space and time, pitting the actors against one another in a race to tell their stories.

They open the play as actors, he explained, and then slowly transform into their characters, "fighting time to tell their stories." While the elements of love and romance are there (it is Romeo and Juliet, after all) Crawford's artistic retelling of the tale also examines the ways in which hate and grudges are passed down to children through their families, perpetuating senseless animosity. It is a theme as old as Romeo and Juliet itself (the words "ancient grudge" ring a bell?) but also very, very current.

Hearing Crawford describe his interpretation of the play, I'm excited by his ambition and I look forward to watching the Playhouse crew pull it off. If they do, it'll be an exciting accomplishment of the company's goal to "fearlessly tell stories."

Crawford said he and Sanders, who are longtime pals, were inspired to start their own company after watching an annual production of A Christmas Carol by the Dallas Theater Center. They were moved, he said, by the fearlessness and vulnerability of the show's cast, and he hopes his company can aspire to quality of that caliber. Playhouse Theatre is a professional company, meaning all of its actors and crew are paid, which is rare in local theatre. The company is funded through private contributions and grants and hopes soon to gain some corporate backing.

I managed to snag a seat for Friday's show, but you'll have to settle for Saturday (at 8 p.m.) or Sunday (at 2 p.m.) performances in the Charles E. Norman Theatre of the Tulsa PAC. The show continues next weekend, Feb. 25-28. Click the link or call 596-7111 for tickets. And be sure to check UTW next Wednesday for a review.

"I'd like a sandwich, please, with a side of general disdain for others."

2009-02-19T09:55:00.006-06:00

Yesterday, following a great interview with Steve Liggett about the coming New Genre Festival, I lunched with my good friend and fellow art-lover Ashley Heider at The Collective, 3148 E. 11th St. Not only does The Collective boast a menu chock full of delicious lunch fare named for local landmarks, it also opens its doors, walls and dance floor to local artists, musicians, authors and pretty much anyone else who has need for a space in which to do their thang.

While we munched on our sandwiches (the Zingo for me and the Atlas with turkey for Ashley), lounging on The Collective's comfy antique couches, we let our eyes wander to the wall on which an exhibit titled "The Dark Arts" by Meredith Fajardo and D.A. Boone hung. The exhibit, by two of The Collective's employees, attempts to give substance to the angst and anguish felt by sad, skinny suburban teenagers who take part in the "emo"culture.

My younger brother went through an "emo" phase when he was in high school, and, having witnessed his "pain" firsthand, I can't help but mock it and anyone else who describes himself as "emo." In its press materials, The Collective described the exhibit as an examination of the emo culture, in which the artists attempt to determine whether or not the "pain" felt by these black hoodie-wearing teenagers is real or imagined. I didn't meet the artists, so I don't know their history in emo and whether or not they think it's something serious or something at which to point and laugh. And the artwork didn't do much to answer my question, either.

The exhibit included more than one portrayal of a sullen-looking face with long, side-swept bangs covering one eye. I think Ashley's favorite piece was a framed mirror, on which were glued long strands of pink and blond hair so that the person looking at herself could see how emo she could be if she only tried. After taking her picture in the mirror, Ashley joked, "How emo is this?"

Other pieces included a defiled sock monkey attached to a vertigo-inspired background, an eyeless face and an ear, both complete with multiple piercings, and a plain black canvas titled "My Soul: Shades of Black."

Thinking back on the exhibit, it is very likely these two were also mocking the emo culture, but, if they were trying to treat it with some serious, then I apologize for mocking them. It just didn't come off. And I'm not sure, had these two not been employed by The Collective, if their work would be hanging there now.

As it stands, Colleen, who, along with her hubby, owns the cafe/coffeeshop, said her exhibit space is booked through December, which is exciting for her and for local artists. Kelsey Karper, in the most recent issue of OVAC's Art Focus Oklahoma, wrote a really nice story about the importance of having local art on display in local businesses. Check it out, and then head to The Collective, if not for "The Dark Arts," then at least to try the Zingo. Oh. My. God. Yum.

Get smart

2009-02-17T15:41:00.004-06:00

Theatre Tulsa opens Educating Rita this Friday at the Liddy Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. 2nd St. Written by Willy Russell and directed by Whitson Hanna, the show will will run February 20-22 and 26-28.

A 26-year-old woman working as a hairdresser signs up for a university course because she is eager to learn and wants to discover what the educated lifestyle has to offer, She is met by an unsuccessful middle-aged academic with a drinking problem who has no experience in teaching working class students. What he sees in Rita is a perfect challenge.

The play features the talents of Will Carpenter and Leslie Long. The stage manager is Vickie Myrick and the producer is Sally Barnes. Lights are by Scott Heberling and Lone Wolf Audio.

This play is dedicated to the memory of Sue Woodruff. Sue was a long time supporter of Theatre Tulsa and she will be missed greatly.

Tickets range from $10-$17.50. Make reservations by calling 587-8402 or 596-7109, or visit www.myticketoffice.com.

Theatre Tulsa is a proud member of the Tulsa Area Community Theatre Alliance, the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and the Oklahoma Community Theatre Association.

This production made possible by grants from the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, The George Kaiser Family Foundation, The Williams Companies, Urban Tulsa Weekly, Dale Gillman Antiques, Donna Simmons/Tulsa Tech Broken Arrow and all the proud sponsors of Theatre Tulsa.

(P.S. Look for a review in the Feb. 26 issue of UTW.)

Your weekend "To Do" list is getting longer...

2009-02-17T12:14:00.006-06:00

Thursday:
Congratulations, video artists! Your day of fame has arrived! Bring your granny, your parents and friends to the screening of the fourth annual 24 Hour Video Race this Thursday, Feb. 19 at Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road.

Doors open at 5pm with a cash bar and the opportunity to view last year's winning entries and the current photography exhibit "Seeing Ourselves" at Philbrook. The official 2009 screening will start promptly at 6pm. Space in the auditorium is limited, but we have arranged for additional simulcast seating downstairs.
It is possible that the screening could last until 9pm.

After the screening, the judges will confer briefly while everyone heads to Living Arts, 308 S. Kenosha, for the afterparty and awards presentation! The 37 videos will be shown in the following order:
4 student videos
12 Videophile videos
2 Animation videos
4 Experimental videos
15 College videos

Friday:

There's plenty more to keep you occupied, including productions of Romeo and Juliet, Educating Rita and Hansel and Gretel. Check this week's UTW column for more on all of those, and keep coming back for updates.

Next week, I'll have reviews of all three stage productions, as well of reviews of exhibits at Loose Leaf Co. and The Collective and tons of info on New Genre.

I Love You, I Lust You

2009-02-13T10:32:00.003-06:00

One of the things I love (lust?) about Living ArtSpace is its commitment to exploring and promoting cutting edge contemporary art of all genres. When I started writing in high school poetry was my thing. Unlike fiction, poetry came very naturally to me. And while I haven't written poetry in quite some time, I'm still inspired when I read or hear some truly provocative poetry.

I love the freedom of spoken word, and it sort of reminds me of a company I belonged to in high school, called Playwrights in Players, in which, twice a year, we'd write, direct and perform our own original work, usually compilations of poetry, fiction and non-fiction loosely based on a very non-specific theme. Living Arts hosts a poetry/spoken word event that takes me back to a more prolific time in my life and inspires me to pick up the pen more often.

Tomorrow night, the spoken word event is centered around matters of the heart -- and the libido. Spoken word committee chair Tony B has curated an evening of spoken word artists whose work is likely to make you feel a little tingly all over as it explores the themes of love and lust.

The Wichita- and Tulsa-based poets of Love and Lust include Brook, Maid Mary, Mia, Tony Henley, Knowledge, Written, Claire Collins, Tracy Townsend, Debra Hunter, Miko, Bill Z, Phil Boswell, Dorea, Tony B, Anissia, Lauren, Confidence and Nan Payne.

"Love and Lust: Erotic Love Poetry" is tomorrow night at Living Arts, 308 S. Kenosha, at 8 p.m. Tickets are just $7, $5 for members.

LOOK!

2009-02-11T19:26:00.002-06:00

I had every intention of mentioning this in the column this week, and I forgot. Mollie Grubb, I hope you'll forgive me.

Sunday, Feb. 15 at 7:30pm
Harwelden Mansion, 2210 S. Main St.
Light Opera Oklahoma's Valentine's Day Cabaret with Andrea Leap and Eric Gibson
Join Andrea as she celebrates all things romantic and reflects on the day after Valentine's Day. This light cabaret will feature Eric Gibson at the piano and light hor d'oeuvres by Just Catering By Orr. Tickets are $50 per person or $95 per couple and can be purchased by calling LOOK at 918-583-4267.

The perfect make-out spot...

2009-02-11T15:42:00.002-06:00

Every second Saturday of the month marks free admission to Philbrook Museum of Art. That Saturday in February happens to be this Saturday, Feb. 14. Take your main squeeze for a free day at the museum and then make out in the oh-so-romantic Philbrook gardens. I'll be taking Isaac and not making out with anyone, but it should be fun anyway.

Call to artists

2009-02-09T23:03:00.002-06:00

Review: Transcend

2009-02-09T15:59:00.004-06:00

In an attempt to increase diversity and racial awareness in the arts in Oklahoma, OKC-based artist Nathan Lee has curated a series of exhibits that bring to the forefront of viewers' perception the work of black, Oklahoma-based artists. The latest of these exhibits, "Transcend," opened at Living ArtSpace, 308 S. Kenosha, last Friday.

The title of the exhibit, Lee explained during the artist's talk, comes from the artists' desires and attempts to transcend common stereotypes about black art--that it concerns only black subjects, that it is tribal in nature, that it all stems from the realism movement.

In fact, the work of the artists of "Transcend" -- Lee, Wendell Gorden, Skip Hill, Marjorie (GiGi) Bontemps, Suzanne Thomas, Brenna King, Rory Littleton and Cheri Ledbetter -- is all varied and individualistic.

Lee's sculptures, which blend the qualities of animal and human, and Gorden's prints, were some of my favorite elements of the show. I also admired Hill's mixed media pieces. (The work above is by Hill.)

After absorbing each piece of work on its own, I stood back and tried to take in the exhibit as a whole. I wondered, if I had come into the gallery without knowing anything about the show, would I be able to guess that it was an exhibit by black artists? Looking at the exhibit as a whole, I think so. From afar, it was easily noticeable that many of the works' subjects were, in fact, African Americans. But, when looking at the exhibit piece by piece, it is not necessarily clear the nationality of each artist whose work is represented.

Concerning its goal to dispel common myths about black artwork, the exhibit was a huge success. The work presented was so stunningly diverse, yet it came together beautifully for the exhibit. I think, though, any one of the artists of "Transcend" could easily carry his or her own show, and I hope we continue to see their work exhibited locally (though most of them are from the Oklahoma City area).

Lee's other goal for the exhibit, he told me, was to inform African American artists about how to market and show their work in local galleries. He founded Inclusion in Art to further provide minority artists with resources to educate and enable them about exhibiting their work. For more on that endeavor, e-mail inclusionart@hotmail.com.

"Transcend" will hang at Living Arts through Feb. 19. Gallery hours are Thursday and Saturday, 6-9pm, and by appointment.

Review: Maegan Kauffman

2009-02-09T08:58:00.008-06:00

University of Oklahoma student Maegan Kauffman opened an exhibit of paintings, charcoal drawings and ceramics last Thursday at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center Gallery. I missed the opening, but I made it by the exhibit on Friday while I was out visiting other openings.

Kauffman draws/paints the human form, and her smaller works, rife with subtle detail, are quite stunning. The larger pieces, by comparison, seem to lack the painstaking detail that make the smaller works so riveting, and so they fall short.

Some of the standout pieces, in my opinion, include the charcoal drawings "At a Gaze," which I considered Kauffman's best portrait; "Lust" and "Wet," both of which were fine drawings of hands; and the painting "Grieving."

The larger silhouettes almost seemed hurried or rushed. I think, had Kauffman incorporated the detail that she did in her smaller works, the paintings would have been quite impressive. It also appeared as though Kauffman is more comfortable working with charcoal than she is oil or acrylic paint.

Her ceramic works, which include bowls, vases, cups and mugs, are also quite beautiful and so reasonably priced that, by the time I made it to the gallery, only a day after the show opened, most had already been purchased.

The exhibit runs through the month of February at 621 E. Fourth St. Gallery hours are Monday-Saturday, 3-9pm.

Review: Minors' Major Works

2009-02-08T22:04:00.002-06:00

This exhibit, featuring work by Greeley, Grissom, Kendall-Whittier, Mark Twain, Patrick Henry and Zarrow International elementary students, opened at Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery Friday, Feb. 6. The exhibit includes selected works created in the classroom and is curated by local artist and teacher Steve Tomlin.

I'm not sure how you can criticize a kid's artwork. The exciting thing about the exhibit is that it proves that, though rare, there are a few schools left in the city that are still teaching the arts. The small gallery was crowded with kids and their families who were so excited to see their work hanging in an actual art gallery. The energy was palpable. It's the kind of experience that will (hopefully) stay with a kid for a long time and maybe even encourage him or her to continue to explore the arts as he/she grows older.

Some of the work, which consists of drawings, paintings, yarn work and other mixed-media projects, were obvious reproductions, but a lot of it was highly imaginative and creative. There's some definite talent among those kiddos.

The exhibit will hang through Saturday, Feb. 21. Gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, 6-9pm, or by appointment.

I'm talking to myself

2009-02-06T12:19:00.002-06:00

I realize no one is reading this yet, but I wanted to go ahead and let everyone know, if and when people do start reading this, I'm working on making it much less boring, visually.

Plus, posting even when no one's reading gets me in the habit of posting, making it much more likely that I'll continue to do so after this blog goes public on Wednesday.

Tonight: stops at TAC, Living Arts and the Neill Equality Center for new openings. Neill's gallery opening was last night, but Little Man and I did not make it. And, in my last column, I incorrectly reported that The Collective's new exhibit would be up tomorrow. I just found out it actually opened yesterday and I missed it. So I'll make a stop by there at some point this weekend as well. Tomorrow I'll be at the Broken Arrow Community Playhouse to review it's show "Rumors" by Neil Simon. Look for the review on Wednesday.

Here I go again... I mean, "Welcome!"

2009-02-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

It seems like every time I talk to Steve Liggett, I get the brilliant idea to somehow try to cover more than I already do in the way of local arts.

A couple of years ago, Steve's insistence that I review gallery openings combined with my discovery of a really good arts blog written by some guy writing for some alt weekly somewhere in America inspired me to start a blog about local arts. I had been writing Arts Experienced for Urban Tulsa Weekly for a year and a half or so, and I was frustrated by the constraints of paper and ink. I wanted to offer local arts organizations more coverage. If you read that blog, you know I didn't do too well. I think I posted once.

So, will this time be any different? I honestly have no idea. I obviously believe enough in the concept to give it another shot. To be honest, at the time I started "Walleye" (the clever name I gave my half-hearted attempt of a blog), I didn't know much about blogging. I still don't know a lot, but I have become sort of obsessed with it in the last year. I started a blog when I was pregnant with my son to keep family and friends updated with baby news, and I've since taken to posting every minute detail of my adorable nine-month-old's life. I've also attempted to start a community blog that would explore sustainability issues in Tulsa, but I haven't done very well with keeping that up. Thing is, I'm really interested in sustainability issues in Tulsa--I just don't know much about them. I think there's a need for a blog like the one I tried to initiate; I just don't think I'm the right woman for the job.

And while I don't know everything about arts in Tulsa, I have managed to build some really great relationships with many of the members of the local arts community. And I love covering the arts. I work full-time now for the Tulsa Business Journal, and while I love what I do there, I also appreciate that I still have the opportunity to cover the arts through UTW, Intermission magazine and OVAC's Art Focus (the latter two new gigs I'm super excited about). So, while I'm sure there are plenty of folks in the area who could cover the arts much better than I can, no one else is doing it. I am. So there.

The coverage I provide for print publications is limited by two very tangible factors: paper and ink. Which basically equal money. Unfortunately, there's just not enough space in any of the publications I write for to cover everything. So, what I can't cover there, I'll cover here. And what I can't cover, I'll get someone else to cover (btw, if you want to be one of those "someone elses," hit me up at tulsaartblog@yahoo.com). I am a single mom, and being so means that, in some instances, I won't make it to something because my kid is more important. In other cases, it'll mean my kid and I are crashing your party. Hope your gallery is all-ages.