Art FocusArt FocusO k l a h o m a

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coal it ion

Vo lume 30 No . 1 January/February 2015

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Art FocusO k l a h o m a

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition 730 W. Wilshire Blvd., Suite 104

Oklahoma City, OK 73116 ph: 405.879.2400 • e: director@ovac-ok.org

visit our website at: www.ovac-ok.org

Executive Director: Holly Moye director@ovac-ok.org

Editor: Kelsey Karper publications@ovac-ok.org

Art Director: Anne Richardson speccreative@gmail.com

Art Focus Oklahoma is a bimonthly publication of the

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition dedicated to stimulating insight into and providing current information about the

visual arts in Oklahoma.

Mission: Supporting Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities.

OVAC welcomes article submissions related to artists and art in Oklahoma. Call or email the editor for guidelines.

OVAC welcomes your comments. Letters addressed to Art Focus Oklahoma are considered for publication unless otherwise specified. Mail or email comments to the editor at the address above. Letters may be edited for clarity or space reasons. Anonymous letters will not

be published. Please include a phone number.

OVAC Board of Directors July 2014-June 2015: Margo Shultes von Schlageter, MD, Christian Trimble, Edmond; Jon Fisher, Moore; Bob Curtis, Gina Ellis (Treasurer), Hillary Farrell, TiTi Fitzsimmons, Michael Hoffner (Secretary), Stephen Kovash, Travis Mason, Suzanne Mitchell, Renée Porter (President), Douglas Sorocco, Oklahoma City; Dean Wyatt, Owasso; Joey Frisillo, Sand Springs; Shelley Cadamy, Jean Ann Fausser, Susan Green (Vice President), Janet Shipley Hawks, Ariana

Jakub, Tulsa.

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition is solely responsible for the contents of Art Focus Oklahoma. However, the views expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the

opinions of the Board or OVAC staff.

Member Agency of Allied Arts and member of the Americans for the Arts.

© 2015, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. All rights reserved.

View the online archive at www.ArtFocusOklahoma.org.

On the cover Shan Goshorn, Tulsa, Reclaiming Our Power, 2014, 16” X 16” X 13.5”. Arches watercolor paper splints printed with archival inks, acrylic paint. See page 20.

from the editor

Kelsey Karperpublications@ovac-ok.org

Support from:

The image on the cover of this issue of Art Focus Oklahoma is a handwoven basket by Tulsa-based artist Shan Goshorn. While the basket is a beautiful piece of artistry and craftsmanship, it also contains a powerful message. Titled Reclaiming Our Power, the double-weave basket addresses the high statistics of violence directed at Native American women on tribal lands by non-natives. The interior of the basket is printed with statistics while the exterior portrays Native women of all ages wrapped in intertribal shawls, set against text from the Violence Against Women Act of 2013.

Goshorn’s work, particularly her recent basket series, has earned national and international recognition including a Smithsonian

Artist Research Fellowship and a Native Arts and Culture Artist Fellowship. Through this work she presents both contemporary and historical subjects that continue to be relevant today.

Like Goshorn, there are many Native artists in Oklahoma making work that preserves their heritage while addressing current issues. In an effort to document their work and capture their stories, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program of the Oklahoma State University Library began the Oklahoma Native Artists’ Project in 2010. Dozens of artists, including Goshorn, have been interviewed for the project which is led by Julie Pearson-Little Thunder. Audio and video recordings of the interviews are available on their website. Read more about the project and the value of oral histories in our feature story on page 20.

This project not only highlights the careers of Native artists, it also raises awareness of the cultural and economic importance of their work. According to the OSU Library, there are more professional Native artists in our state, producing a greater diversity of work, than anywhere else in the country. You’ll see work by several of these artists in this issue of Art Focus.

As you begin this new year, I hope you’ll be inspired to reconsider what you thought you knew about artists in Oklahoma. What seems familiar at first may reveal new perspectives on our modern world.

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pro f i l es4 A Tahlequah Tribute to the Liberty Bell

Ringing his credo of “Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Speech forever,” artist Patrick Synar forges his own interpretation of the Liberty Bell in his Tahlequah studio.

p rev iews6 OKC125: Photographic Perspectives of Downtown

A new exhibition highlights Oklahoma City’s creative talents and its urban renaissance.

8 Emergent MaterialityThe Alexandre Hogue Gallery in Tulsa showcases the work of San Diego artist Cathy Breslaw, who combines her fascination with space and light with a love for the weight, texture and patterns of a variety of materials.

10 Taryn Singleton: The Delay of RevelationBlurring the lines between the observable world and one of pure imagination, Singleton’s paintings, prints and collages invite viewers into a world of abstracted creatures and landscapes.

12 Electric Impulse: Bill Hensley at Exhibit CDrawing on his Chickasaw heritage, Hensley infuses massive paintings with color, texture and crackling energy.

14 TerraA new large-scale public sculpture repurposes 1.4 million feet of hand-knotted recycled lobster-fishing rope in an often unnoticed park in downtown Oklahoma City.

16 Fire & IceAn exhibition and fundraiser for the Tulsa Glassblowing School highlights the various possibilities of art glass.

18 Celebrating a Uniquely Oklahoma TreasureThe Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee kicks off a year-long celebration of Oklahoma artists with a career-spanning exhibition of work by Michi Susan.

20 Ocean of Thought: From ground to sea to sky to universe to Michelle Firment ReidInspired by a love of the ocean, Reid’s exhibition at the Hardesty Arts Center includes video, installation, visual art, workshops and more.

f ea tu res22 Capturing a Career: Artists and Oral History

A project of Oklahoma State University’s Oral History Research Program documents the life and work of Oklahoma’s Native artists.

24 Ekphrasis: Art & PoetryArtwork by JP Morrison Lans inspires tales of female oppression and curiosity in a new poem by Lauren Zuniga.

bus iness o f a r t26 Ask a Creativity Coach: EASE Into Your New Year

Get tips for making New Year’s resolutions you might actually keep.

OVAC news

27 OVAC News

27 New and Renewing Members

29 ga l l e ry gu ide

contents

(p. 14) Orly Genger, Brooklyn, Terra, Hand-

knotted recycled lobster-fishing rope, site-specific

installation. Photo by Carl Shortt.

(p. 20) Michelle Firment Reid at work in her Tulsa studio.

(p, 22) Tony Tiger, Tahlequah, Autumn

Meditations, Acrylic on watercolor paper and panel,

54” x 28”

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Correction: The exhibition Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary, which was featured on page 10 of the November/December 2014 issue, was organized and first toured by the Art Museum of South Texas.

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A Tahlequah Tribute to the Liberty Bellby Renee Fite

Around the world there are few foundries producing bells, but in Tahlequah one man is casting functional and fabulously designed bronze bells. Sculptor Pat Synar’s artistic career has encompassed delicate gold jewelry to huge vessels. Recently he became inspired to create bells at his foundry in rural Cherokee County. The bell project had been circling around in Synar’s head waiting for inspiration to become motivation, which came in the form of his daughter, Tanya. A sculpture teacher at Texas Women’s University in Denton, she asked him to bring an iron casting that would be cast with help

from a group of dedicated iron casters who take their portable iron furnace to different locations and pour iron, called the Texas Atomic Iron Commission. This is how the first Tribute to the Liberty Bell was born. The series is named for America’s famous Liberty Bell, which is Synar’s way of honoring our national treasure.

“No one on the planet is doing anything interesting with bells and they’re not doing anything like this in any country, nothing even close,” said Synar. His bells have an intentional crack and an industrial or “steampunk” design with his signature visible

on the surface. Synar blends metals to enhance the clarity of the ring and the luster of the bell. An iron bell weighs about 70 pounds with the clangor attached, while a bronze bell weighs 55 pounds before adding the clangor. The second Tribute to the Liberty Bell and Temple Bell with its steam punk design were cast in bronze at Synar’s foundry. He’s been doing some form of steampunk design for decades, “before it was called steampunk.”

“The design and quality of the metal being used is very special and extremely hard,” said Synar. “I also wanted to take the bell shape to a new level and I came up with the organic

Patrick Synar, Tahlequah, (left) Tribute to Liberty Bell #1 is cast from iron. (right) Tribute to Liberty Bell #2. Photos by Renee Fite.

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egg shape which I felt would be an awesome resonating chamber, and it definitely is.”

Clearly this is a labor of love for Synar, who dedicates at least 250 hours work into the production of a bell, including creating the prototype out of clay or wax, creating support molds, encasing the wax in a refractory plaster mix mold, preparing the kiln, pouring the liquid metal, digging it out of the cooled mold, grinding and polishing. Paint or patina is the final step. “I’ve had a foundry a good 40 years of my life, no 50,” said Synar, as he did the math in his head. Most of that time has been at its current location. “Some of the most wonderful people in the world live here,” he said. “I think a lot of people gravitated here for spiritual reasons.”

Fate sent him an apprentice. The pair met when Ryan Kelley came to fix a generator for Synar.

“I found myself fascinated with all his artistic endeavors,” said Kelley, an electronic and light designer/engineer by trade. “He paid me with a grinder; I like being paid in tools!” Carving the mold is one of Kelley’s jobs but he’s hands-on with every step of the production. “He gives me a sketch and I make a device out of it,” said Kelley. “I never knew I could carve; now I want to try carving stone.” Kelley’s affection for his mentor is apparent as the men work to prepare a kiln. “I like to learn from this guy, he not only knows the law but he knew the people who wrote the laws,” jokes Kelley to Synar.

Kelley has been a part of the bell process from the beginning, said Synar. “Whatever he does, he does a really good job of it, all my guys do.” That includes the quiet assistant Justin Jones, who said he likes the work because, “I’m not an 8 to 5 kinda guy, I like working with Pat and Ryan.” For Kelley the process is interesting, “it’s detailed, has to be exact.” The reactions of the different metals are unique in the process. “Pouring iron is more exciting than bronze, it’s hotter and sparks shoot off of it,” Kelley said.

Birthing a bell requires a propane powered kiln using high compressed air for the fire to melt bronze or iron for pouring into a mold. The kiln fire is lit in preparation of melting the bronze. Wearing safety masks, long sleeve jackets and leg pads, the three

men move the tools they need near the fire to be heated. “Unheated tools will explode when they come in contact with the molten metal,” said Synar. The roaring fire sounds like a jet engine, with heat hot enough to melt metal. This is how casting a bell begins. The artists watch the color and viscosity of the metal to help gauge when it’s ready to be removed from the heat and poured into the mold.

“We have to see the flame to gauge what the metal’s doing,” shouted Synar over the roar as he observed the inner core of the kiln. When it’s hot enough, two of the men lift the molten metal and pour it into the mold with great care. Using the lost wax process, a mold is encased in a wire frame, and a plastic frame with sand in-between to absorb the pressure. The mold is then placed in a beehive kiln built of brick and heated for three days to melt the wax away. After three days the bricks are restacked outside and the men anticipate what they’ll discover.

“The mold breaks out and there it is,” said Synar, as though he discovered a long-sought artifact on an archaeological dig. For most of an hour Synar and his helpers chip, dig and brush the plaster mix out of and off of the bell, stopping every so often to admire the emerging creation. Like most art it takes talent, skill and patience and even then the variables can result in a masterpiece or a mistake. As they clean, they feel for imperfections, bubbles, uneven places that will require more polishing, welding, repairing and finishing touches. Synar takes a drill to the inside to loosen up some of the packed, baked plaster mold encasing. Chipping away the plaster mix, the artists examine the bell for flaws, finding perfection as it’s released from its mold. When they feel like they’ve removed most of the plaster, and admired and perhaps bragged a bit to each other, they load up the heavy bell and drive it into town for a power wash.

Even in its raw form the third bell is impressive and the artists are pleased with the results, commenting on its shape, consistency of form, smooth sides and clear designs. “We’re progressing,” said Kelley, rubbing his hand over the newly hatched bell with pride. Synar nodded his agreement, gazing at the work of art, seeing in his mind’s eye the gleaming, finished bell. “This one’s a beauty. Well, they all are.”

Then with a quick shift of focus, eyes sharp like an eagle he picks up a small metal plaque that’s placed inside of each bell that to him is even more important than their beauty, the dedication, “Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Speech forever.”

“That’s my credo, I really mean it, forever!” he declared with a bang of his fist and nod of his head.

Pat Synar’s Tribute to Liberty Bells and Temple Bell will be exhibited during the month of February at the Cherokee Nation Spider Gallery, 215 S. Muskogee Ave in downtown Tahlequah. Contact 918-453-5728 or artscenter@cherokee.org. n

Renee Fite is a freelance writer and artist from Tahlequah and founding president of the Arts Council of Tahlequah. Contact her at reneefite777@gmail.com

The finishing process requires many man hours by sculptor Pat Synar. Photo by Renee Fite.

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OKC125: Photographic Perspectives of Downtownby Kerry M. Azzarello

125 minutes. 2 square miles. 27 exposures. Ready, set, GO!

These were the parameters given to 125 Oklahoma artists participating in OKC125, a photographic exhibition highlighting, in equal parts, the city’s creative talent and its urban renaissance.

It was a beautiful day in late September as my fellow artists and I converged on downtown Oklahoma City. We met at Leadership Square, received disposable cameras, and set out to make art. The rules were minimal. Take all the exposures in the allotted time and stay within

the boundaries of what is considered downtown: south of NW 13th, north of SW 3rd, east of Classen Blvd, west of I-235, and within the Boathouse District.

The format was incredibly freeing. Oklahoma City-based artist and exhibition curator, romy owens, held no preconceived notions for what she hoped participating artists would capture or how. We were encouraged to be creative and bold. This meant everything was fair game: attaching filters, deliberately scratching or smudging lenses, forced double exposures, and other manipulations. Artists were free to experiment. And they did.

Creating art in this context was quite the experience. Not only was it exciting to be a participant, it was wonderful to witness a multitude of artists wandering the streets seeking to capture unique attributes of the city. My roll was filled with pockets of architecture often unseen and unnoticed as well as signage and street debris. Shadows, shapes, and surface materials of a non-descript structure fill the frame for my final piece.

Others such as Brett Deering turned the lens to the people who live, work, and play downtown. Deering’s selected artwork freezes the joy of children playing in the city’s water features. Molly O’Connor took the opportunity

Brett Deering, Oklahoma City, 2014, Photograph.

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to meld natural and man-made elements. Her nicely composed piece places nature in the foreground, with flowers and grass partially obscuring the downtown skyline.

The exhibition’s geographic boundaries and time limit are understandable, but one wonders, “Why use disposable cameras?” Unlike today’s mostly digital world, which propels instant gratification, disposable cameras reveal the beauty of patience and acceptance. As owens explains, “disposable cameras force us to be okay with anticipation…with happy accidents and light leaks and randomness.” In addition to not knowing what was imprinted on the negative, artists dealt with the uncertainty of which piece would be on display.

After developing each film roll, owens selected two images per artist: the piece to be included in the exhibition and another ‘runner-up’ image used for promotional purposes. Artists were able to see the latter, but had to wait for opening night to view their final piece.

The final images, captured by an accessible medium, hang identically framed on display in the hallways of The Underground tunnels beneath downtown Oklahoma City. The works illustrate the growing life and culture of downtown. On any given day, one can find

buildings and monuments, indigenous plant life and water features, graffiti and murals, residents and visitors. There is no one picture that fully encapsulates downtown OKC.

owens gained a deeper understanding of the downtown culture during her year spent as the inaugural Artist in Residence at The Skirvin Hilton Hotel. From her workspace, she was observer of and participant in OKC’s urban landscape - one whose future looks bright. “There are so many things in the works through the city’s public art program which will totally transform the city’s visual art landscape in the years to come,” owens states. “OKC125 is simply another way to bring visual art into the every day experience of the downtowners.”

This exhibition serves as a follow-up to 2009’s 60 ARTISTS : 60 MINUTES, which featured 60 photographs by 60 artists captured in a 60 minute timespan on June 6. OKC125 celebrates not only the five-year anniversary of its predecessor; it also coincides with the 125th anniversary of Oklahoma City.

With an attitude of militant optimism, owens encourages community members to take action and create their own projects. She explains, “I had an idea, I found a way to fund it, and I found a place to exhibit the work. I think artists

need to figure out how to do this more often. We have to be more entrepreneurial.”

The time is now. I invite you to view the 125 different interpretations of downtown and afterward take some images of your own.

OKC125 opened December 5, 2014 (12.5) and runs through February 27, 2015. Images will be on display at downtown Oklahoma City’s The Underground, in the red and blue corridors. The Underground is open 6:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Additional programming includes a Curator’s Walk & Talk as part of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s Art Moves program on January 23 at noon. A closing reception will be held February 26, 5-7 pm.

For a list of participating artists and sponsors visit romyowens.com/#okc125 and for details regarding The Underground visit www.downtownokc.com/maps/underground or call 405.235.3500. n

Kerry M. Azzarello is an artist, writer, and Oklahoma City-dweller. When not photographing architecture, she can be found delighting in all things “awesome” (including cookies). She can be reached at kerryazzarello@gmail.com.

(left) Molly O’Connor, Oklahoma City, 2014, Photograph. (right) Kerry Azzarello, Oklahoma City, 2014, Photograph.

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Emergent Materialityby Mary Kathryn Moeller

Living in sun-drenched Southern California has made Cathy Breslaw expertly aware of “light,” she states, “and the way things exist in space.” She combines a cosmological fascination with space and light with a love for the weight, texture, and patterns of a variety of materials. Rooted in her childhood experiences of her family’s fabric business and her travels in Southeast Asia, Breslaw creates room-size installations, abstract drawings, and wall pieces from commercially-based products. These non-traditional materials convey light and movement, much like light-weight fabrics, and suffuse their surroundings with an ethereal color which belies their industrial nature.

Much of Breslaw’s work involves the use of a commercially-derived mesh produced in China which she discovered at a trade show in Taiwan in 2004. Similar to the stretchy

bags supporting limes and grapefruits in the produce aisle, this thin, tightly-woven plastic is made from extrusion moulding machines and distributed around the world for a variety of purposes. Breslaw repurposes the material to produce large-scale wall pieces such as Lightness of Being #1. The transparent quality of the mesh becomes opaque through Breslaw’s use of multiple layers of the material which are patch-worked to create stripes and blocks of color. The entire piece floats off the wall as the hanging apparatus is purposefully disguised from the front. With a few inches of distance from the gallery wall, the piece takes on a sculptural quality as light and color pass through the different patterns of the mesh to extend the dimensions of the work.

Works such as Lightness of Being #1 are influenced by the Light and Space Movement

and Color Field paintings of the late 1960s and 1970s. Breslaw initially trained as a painter and her use of other non-traditional materials, in addition to the mesh, can act as painterly components within her pieces. In Feeling Light, Breslaw incorporates painted yarn to create texture in a similar manner to daubs of paint on a canvas. She conceives of such elements, be they buttons or rope, in a purely aesthetic sense, attaching no symbolic meaning. The same is true of her abstract drawings, such as Threading Order to the Universe, which are often executed on transparent paper, plastic, or mesh. Breslaw incorporates other materials in order to explore two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. Such an effort is more than a literal aspect of her artistic practice. It is also part of her metaphysical exploration of the cosmological order of things. Each component of her work is a meditation on materiality

(left) Cathy Breslaw, San Diego, CA, Threading Order to the Universe, Mixed media on plastic support, 48” x 24”. (right) Lightness of Being #1, Transparent mesh, 99” x 95”.

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which ultimately demonstrates that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Breslaw’s work is an expression of emergence theory in which the totality of the work, such as her hanging installation piece Above, Below and Beyond, displays properties that the individual components of her work do not have, in and of themselves. This can only be true if it is accepted that space and light are materials she employs in equal measure to the mesh or other found objects. The confluence of materials, suspended on mesh from the ceiling in Above, Below and Beyond changes not only the appearance of the room but the feeling of it, as light and space move through. This change in the properties of experience for viewers is part of the larger aim of the exhibition. Taken as a whole, this presentation of Breslaw’s body of work offers an exploration of the material state

of being as well as the opening up of an experience of much more.

Material Visions opens January 15 through February 19 at The Alexandre Hogue Gallery at the University of Tulsa. The School of Art will host a gallery reception on January 22 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more information contact M. Teresa Valero at teresa-valero@utulsa.edu or 918-631-3513.

Additional information about Cathy Breslaw’s work can be found at www.cathybreslaw.com. n

Mary Kathryn Moeller is an independent curator, writer, and educator. She holds a MA in art history and teaches at Oklahoma State University. She is available via e-mail at mkmoeller77@gmail.com.

Cathy Breslaw, San Diego, CA, Above, Below, and Beyond, Industrial mesh, paint, reflective floor stickers, Wall pieces: mixed media on plastic, and digital print on transparent fabric, 12’ x 24’

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Blurring the lines between the observable world and one of pure imagination, Taryn Singleton’s paintings, prints, and collages invite viewers into a world of abstracted creatures and landscapes. This hybrid of the identifiable and unknown provides a space for creative contemplation among the playful formal elements that constitute her work. While Singleton uses a predetermined vocabulary of patterns, shapes, and hues, as she crosses mediums she looks at the same set of elements from different perspectives.

For example, in her prints such as 77, she voids most color to focus on the forms and implied textures. Further, by the flat surface of the print, as opposed to her paintings, the raised dashes created by her stitches with thread, have an amplified three-dimensional quality. In her paintings and mixed media works, such as 83 and 68 respectively, she can use the forms perfected by her prints to allow for a focus on the relationships among her choices of colors.

In addition to her forms, she unites her body of work through a repetitive use of pattern. For example, in her work 83 she uses a similar pattern of short, dashed lines above and behind a biomorphic form on the left side of the composition that mimics the same pattern of printed and sewn lines in both works 77 and 68. Though shifting in materials from one piece to the next, all of the works in her oeuvre speak to

each other, creating an otherworldly biosphere. Many of the patterns she chooses to incorporate into her works are inspired by the highly stylized prints found on vintage fabrics and papers. By breaking down the elements of her works to their essence and fundamental qualities, she leaves only enough information for viewers to recognize what the abstractions represent.

Through the abstraction of the creatures and their placement nestled within their landscapes, they become camouflaged in such a way that they incite viewers to seek them out. This blending of animalistic forms into a landscape of similar shapes makes them difficult to discern where an animal ends and the landscape begins. This ambiguous differentiation is important to the artist as she does not wish to spell out to her viewers what they are looking at. “These characters’ stories are not obvious or even concrete; where I might see a hungry hippo eyeing some grub someone else might see a bear scratching his back on a tree.” This is why instead of giving titles to her work that might guide the process of identification she assigns them numbers, such as in those mentioned above.

The title of her exhibition also clues us into the intentional ambiguousness found in her work. The “delay of revelation” is a literary device often used in detective novels to control the flow of information given to the reader. “It’s

supposed to talk about the constant act of giving new information while taking information away to keep you in a state of suspense, which is in dialogue with my interest in how people relate to and depict nature,” says Singleton.

In Singleton’s use of the delay of revelation device, she replaces words with forms to create a visual representation of the varying lines of certainty. By playing with this push and pull of information, she allows the viewer to wander through the works deciphering for themselves where the reality is, similar to a reader of a detective novel. “I’m depicting things from life and imagination and I’m working with the pulling back and forth of the two to create my own nature.” This undulation of reality paired with her employment of an adolescent energy, imbues her work with a lively nature creating a space for an imaginative reverie.

As the capstone to her master’s body of work, Taryn Singleton’s show The Delay of Revelation will be displayed at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery in University of Tulsa’s Phillips Hall. The show will open with a reception on February 25th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will remain on view until March 19th. See more of her work at www.tarynsingleton.com. n

Krystle Brewer is the Associate Director at 108 Contemporary and can be found at www.krystlebrewer.com

TARYN SINGLETON: The Delay of Revelation by Krystle Brewer

(left) Taryn Singleton, Tulsa, 77, Embroidered etching, 14” x 16”. (middle) 68, Acrylic and mixed media, 12” x 14”. (right) 83, Acrylic and mixed media, 48” x 48”

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ABSTRACT ABSTRACTCONTEMPORARY ABSTRACTION GETS SMALL

EVANESCENT IRIDESCENCE

JOHN BRUCE

OPENING RECEPTION: 6-10 P.M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13

CLOSING RECEPTION:6-10 P.M. FRIDAY, MARCH 13

1 2 2 E . M A I N S T.NORMAN, OKLA.4 0 5 . 3 6 0 . 1 1 6 2NORMANARTS.ORG

FEBRUARY 13 THROUGH MARCH 14 , 2015

OPEN 11 A.M. - 4 P.M. TUES-SAT

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Bill Hensley, Sulphur, Small Town Pride, Acrylic, ink,

mixed media 4’ x 5’

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ELECTRIC IMPULSE: Bill Hensley at Exhibit C by Lucie Smoker

Bill Hensley no longer repairs circuits or installs electrical wiring for a living. Instead, as an artist, he infuses massive paintings with color, texture and crackling energy. More Tesla than Edison, Hensley’s paintings will be charging up Exhibit C in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown through February 28th. I recently caught up with him and asked how he creates them.

“I have a certain idea and go with it. What I take out, what I add—sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.” When Hensley’s idea works, it really works. His recent focus has been on images that bring the background into the foreground of the painting, defying our traditional concept of perspective.

When he begins a new work, Hensley doesn’t have any idea of what he’s going to create. “I start pencil drawing on the wild side. When it feels right, I start painting.” He might paint every day for a week, then not. Putting family first, he works throughout the house. “My process runs all over the place. I try a lot of different things, usually more abstract, more energy. They remind me of something so I incorporate that into the painting.”

The background comes first using whatever techniques he needs to evolve the idea—a trowel, brush or a drawing turned into a stamp. Over that texture, he paints the foreground image freehand. Using dark acrylics, neon inks, ribbon-like stripes and pencil or ink drawings, he adds then subtracts from each progressively until the back of the painting melds with the front.

Background melding with foreground creates friction, an electrical impulse the viewer experiences as invigorated perception. It also adds a certain depth but not in a traditional, three-dimensional space.

“Ever since I started painting, my stuff was different, kinda loud,” said Hensley. “I wanted to be original.”

He found encouragement in a high school art teacher. “I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for Mr. Walsh. He made me realize I had talent.”

That teacher was Oklahoma artist Paul Walsh who said, “[Hensley] was rather quiet. I

noticed early on that he was more serious than the average student. Bill took every assignment and tweaked it in his style. I often let him work on his projects in the classroom. Early on he developed a strong sense of self that came out in his work.”

Sense of self came from a strong family. Hensley’s artistic roots run back to his Chickasaw grandmother, artist Catherine McGuire Cunningtubby. She taught him about their heritage through both her words and her art, but her mentorship wasn’t posed or “educational,” just based in doing. His mother carried on that creative tradition by constantly making things. “If we didn’t have money, she would make toys,” Hensley said.

Like them, Hensley experiments with a lot of different approaches. “I try to stay away from labels, don’t consider myself anything but an artist. I do my own thing. Sometimes you want to stick with something so people will recognize your work but I change it. A year from now, it’ll look different.”

Hensley added, “When I was younger, I would not let go of anything I had done. I didn’t want to share them.” Growing up, building his confidence helped him overcome that.

He always wanted to bring the Native part of himself into his art and this exhibit brings Chickasaw imagery into the mainstream. One of his paintings, Small Town Pride, is of his great-grandfather, Joe Cunningtubby from Davis. Others feature iconic figures from Chickasaw history. He paints around the stories, bringing out the personality and energy of that moment. If Winchester, depicting the second Chickasaw governor, or Thorpe, depicting a great Chickasaw athlete, inspires someone to look up the full story, all the better.

While based in a strong foundation of personal connections, Hensley’s paintings create a universal convergence of colors, images and energies that we can all connect with.

Bill Hensley’s work will be on display through February 28th at Exhibit C, open daily from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. at 1 E. Sheridan in Oklahoma City. For more information call 405-767-8700 or visit exhibitcgallery.com.

Paul Walsh will begin an exhibit of his own work at Norman’s Firehouse Art Center, 444 S. Flood Ave, on January 9th. For more information, go to normanfirehouse.com. n

Lucie Smoker is a suspense author and freelance writer. More at luciesmoker.wordpress.com

Bill Hensley, Sulphur, Winchester, Acrylic, 24” x 48”

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Terraby Liz Blood

Snaking through an unassuming green space near Automobile Alley in Oklahoma City, 1.4 million feet of hand-knotted, bright Terra-cotta colored, recycled lobster-fishing rope gives pause to an area most people pass without notice on their way to and from downtown.

Orly Genger’s Terra, a large-scale public sculpture on display now through October 2, is about more than meets the eye. Located at NW 11th and Broadway, Terra sits in Campbell Park, neighboring the future home of Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, which commissioned the piece by Genger in October 2014.

The hand-knotting of the rope took Genger over two and a half years to complete, and the installation of the piece took two weeks with a team of volunteers. According to Genger, the piece is a response to its site. “Terra is an opposite reaction to what I experienced when I visited Oklahoma for the first time, which was a flat, open space. This piece is vertical and has a lot of curves.” Each public sculpture done by Genger is site-specific, inspired and informed by its environment, so that the environment and sculpture are also in dialogue.

Terra invites anyone and everyone to enter into this dialogue and wind around its meandering and voluptuous curves, sit on a nearby bench, lay on the grass beside it, or interact through any number of ways one might invent. “The intention with Terra,” says Artistic Director and Chief Curator Gretchen Wagner, “is to have people interact with it in all kinds of scenarios and contexts. They can touch it, sit on it, lie on it. It’s there for people to spend time with, run around, video, to do really – whatever they’d like.”

When I visited Terra for the first time, I did so on an early Saturday morning with my notebook and cup of coffee in hand. While I was there, a white-haired man opened the trunk of his Mustang convertible and pulled out and placed on the pavement a drone with a camera attached. He flew the drone above the sculpture, directing it back and forth, higher then lower with a remote control, snapping pictures from various angles. It sounded like an onslaught of yellow jackets and whirred overhead for the near half-hour we were both there.

At first, I was annoyed. This wouldn’t happen in an art gallery or museum – spaces where quiet seems to be an

unwritten rule, I thought. I had come to Terra wanting an epiphany or brief enlightenment, for inspiration to strike that would guide me in writing this article. If, as the saying goes, God laughs when we make plans, then perhaps art does, too, when we expect a certain return from it.

“Sculpture now is all kinds of different things,” says Wagner. “It’s not just sitting in a gallery or a living room. Terra is architectural, landscape design, interactive; it isn’t something precious and not to be touched. And these concepts are key in contemporary art.” Genger, echoing Wagner’s thoughts, says when she makes works for public situations, she believes “part of the point is that the work becomes activated by people, not that the work activates the people. It becomes art when people bring their own experiences and stories to it.”

The drone’s owner brought to Terra his childlike enjoyment of a Saturday morning; I brought to the park a different experience of the morning – a desire for inspiration and quiet, which I ultimately found even as the drone hummed. His presence made my thoughts wander from rights and privilege to patience and escape. He wandered

Orly Genger, Brooklyn, NY, Terra, Hand-knotted recycled lobster-fishing rope, site-specific installation. Photo by Carl Shortt.

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through Terra with a camera, my mind wandered through it, too – winding from high to low, abrupt then cascading, much like the sculpture itself.

“I hope that people experience it in whatever way they will,” says Genger. “I hope it will make them stop and think about something they haven’t thought about before. But more than any of it, I hope they bring to the work their own stories.”

As a kickoff piece for Oklahoma Contemporary’s new site, Terra is as intriguing and welcoming as one could hope. “We want people to feel this will be their home and place, too,” says Wagner.

Visit oklahomacontemporary.org for more information. n

Liz Blood is a freelance writer living in Oklahoma City. She is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she earned her master of fine arts in creative writing.

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FIRE & ICEby Page Grossman

The Tulsa Glassblowing School and the Henry Zarrow Center for Art & Education have teamed up again to put on the third annual Fire & Ice exhibition and fundraiser. Through January 25, the Zarrow Center will exhibit glass art made by Tulsa artists and students and faculty members of the Tulsa Glassblowing School.

Janet D. Duvall, M. Ed., Executive Director of the Tulsa Glassblowing School, says that this exhibit includes a wide variety of glass art, some decorative, some functional, some sculptural. Many of the pieces are made with colored glass and others are made with clear glass. Some of the works are blown glass while others are fused glass, a method where glass is heated to its melting point in a kiln.

All of the artwork displayed at this fundraiser was chosen through a jury selection and will be for sale. The proceeds raised will go to support the Tulsa Glassblowing School and the Zarrow Center. A portion of the proceeds will go to support individual artists.

Many artists who have been exhibited in this event in previous years will be returning this year, including Kenneth Gonzales and Roy Loman. Though he claims to be only a hobbyist, Loman’s extensive work and knowledge of glass speaks for itself. He has been working in the medium of glass for over 30 years.

Loman speaks passionately about his work with glass and has never remained static while learning the art form. Loman describes that he works with hot, warm

(left) Glass sculpture by Kenneth Gonzales. (right) Glass sculpture by Roy Loman.

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and cold glass. Cold glass may seem like an oxymoron to anyone who has watched glassblowing, but Loman is quick to point out that stained glass is created without heat. Hot glass is what most people typically think of when glass art is mentioned. There are two forms of hot glass: blown gas and fused gas. For blown gas, glass must be heated to a molten, almost liquid state, approximately 2400°F. Fused glass is called warm glass because the glass is heated to only 1500°F in a kiln to form sculptures.

Loman’s pieces in the Fire & Ice exhibition are built using strips of glass that are glued together. To build these pieces, he uses a special type of ultraviolet glue to hold the strips of glass together. The glue must be exposed to a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light before it will fuse the pieces of glass together.

Another way that glass building differs between hot, warm and cold is how long it takes to build. Loman particularly enjoys the static quality of stained glass. You put together part of the piece, walk away and come back in a few days to keep working. When glassblowing or working with hot glass, it is a very dynamic process. Loman says that he enjoys the challenge of working against time, gravity and heat. Warm glass, or kiln-built glass sculpture, must be constructed, fired in a kiln and then built again.

Tulsa Glassblowing School is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization that provides “a creative outlet for youth and community through education, instruction and promotion of glass art.” They offer many levels of classes and youth programs to people in the Tulsa area. Visit

www.tulsaglassblowing.org for more information. n

Page Grossman graduated magna cum laude in 2013 from the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in Art History. She is currently working as a freelance writer and wrote a book on college success titled Welcome to College: 101 Ways to Rock your World.

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Celebrating a Uniquely Oklahoma Treasureby Karen Paul

The work of internationally-recognized Japanese artist and long-time Oklahoma resident Michi Susan will kick off the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art’s year-long celebration of Oklahoma artists with a special exhibition February 7 – March 22, 2015 in Shawnee.

This exhibition will take a holistic look at Susan’s wide-ranging, creative body of work. Susan, a Toyko native, moved to Oklahoma City in 1978, solidifying her reputation as an artist with a deep creative range.

Her unique works, which are created in distinctive series with specific thematic elements, include a fusion of vivid colors, traditional Japanese calligraphy, high energy elements, found objects and elaborate textures. While most of Susan’s exhibitions have a central theme and focus on one or two of her distinctive series at

a time, the Mabee-Gerrer exhibition will offer a rare glimpse of her work as a whole, showcasing a variety of sizes, surfaces and media across multiple series.

“Most people don’t know that it’s the same artist who creates each series,” said Joy Reed Belt. Belt’s gallery, JRB Art at The Elms, has been representing Susan since it first opened.

“In addition to being a first-rate artist, Michi’s such a wonderful role model to other artists,” said Belt. “She has personally mentored so many artists and shepherded them through the process of finding a gallery to represent them. It’s a critical step for any artist.”

During her career, Susan has earned extensive recognition for her wide range

of expression and her dedication to the Oklahoma arts community. In 2010, she received the Governor’s Art Award for her creative work. This award placed her among an elite group of Oklahoma art supporters.

In addition, The Paseo Arts District annually awards the Michi Susan Award to an artist who gives back to the local community. Susan, who has a studio in the Paseo, was the first recipient of the award, which was later renamed in honor.

“Michi is an artist that we’ve enjoyed at the museum for a long time,” said Delaynna Trim, Curator of Collections at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum. “She’s even donated several of her pieces to the museum. We’ve never had an exhibit of her work before. We thought it would be a great time to do it in

Michi Susan, Oklahoma City (left) Poem Kabuki 116-07, Mixed media, 30” x 30” (right) Wildflower 405-06, Mixed media, 40” x 30”

INNOVATORS & LEGENDSGENERATIONS IN TEXTILES & FIBER

February 6, – March 22, 2015

Opening Reception:February 6, 2015, 6-9 pm

Innovators and Legends explores the explosion of Fiber Art as a fine arts movement during the latter half of the 20th century

and tells the story of its ongoing transformation from the functional and decorative to the innovative and experimental.

108 East M.B. Brady Street, Tulsa, OK 74103www. 108contemporary.org

Image: Nick Cave, Soundsuit, Photography: James Prinz Photography/Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Innovators and Legends was organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan, and guest curator Geary Jones.

Brady Craft Alliance, Inc., dba 108|Contemporary is a charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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conjunction with our year-long celebration of Oklahoma art.”

For the Mabee-Gerrer team, Susan’s unique perspective and deep roots within the arts community made her the perfect artist to kick off the Oklahoma arts series.

For this exhibition, Susan will be curating her own collection. While her exhibition will not officially be a retrospective, it will include carefully selected pieces from a wide time period of her creative work that spans more than 40 years in the United States.

“She’s giving us a list of pieces that she would like to include and we are seeing if and how they will fit within the exhibition space that we have,” Trim said. “It’s always interesting to see how each artist works differently.”

Although many of the specific pieces have yet to be selected, Trim said the exhibit will include several pieces that are currently in the Mabee-Gerrer Museum’s permanent collection, a few pieces from Susan’s own personal collection and other pieces that will be borrowed from private collections across the state. As a whole, the exhibition will showcase the best work Susan has produced through this point in her career.

“I think Michi is important in the history of Oklahoma artists,” Belt said. “She has embraced Oklahoma with every fiber of her being. Coming from a huge metropolitan place like Tokyo, you see that discipline and aesthetic in everything she does.”

Susan’s integration of her love for Oklahoma with her Japanese heritage is obvious. The artistic expression of her bi-nationality can be

seen in her use of three-dimensional kimonos juxtaposed with flattened coke bottle tops, adorned jewelry on two-dimensional mixed pieces and three-dimensional sculptures.

“She honors both traditions and embraces the humanity of both worlds,” Belt said.

Michi Susan: An Oklahoma Treasure will be February 7 – March 22, 2015 at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee. For more information, visit the museum’s website at www.mgmoa.org. n

Karen Paul is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Oklahoma and a freelance writer who specializes in arts-based subjects. She can be contacted at karenpaulok@gmail.com.

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When you are in conversation with artist Michelle Firment Reid you do not have both feet planted on the ground. In fact, you are completely submerged from head to toe, or should I say from body to atom, in waves of thought.

For Reid, thought is not just memory but every part of one’s being, every force that creates life whether it is here and in the now or about to enter the next century. A thought coming from millennia before us or from voices of the past is always with us. Language, sound, form, movements, vision and all the forces that find themselves in art, music, poetry, drama, theater, large and small scale installations and any other mode of artistic expression is thought. To communicate joy and peace, sadness or chaos starts knowingly or in total secret as a thought.

Reid’s newest exhibition Ocean of Thought will have a soft opening at the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa’s Hardesty Arts Center (AHHA), 101 E. Archer St. in Tulsa, on Thursday, January 15, 2015. The exhibit will officially open during the Brady Arts District’s First Friday Art Crawl on February 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and run until February 22. The show is sure to engulf your heart, mind and soul. There will be ebbs and tides of activities from videos, workshops, installations, visual art and much more. This exhibit will not fit into one room. Like the oceans of the earth it will flow from the front of the gallery to the garden view and up to the artist loft, leaving no space untouched, for the public to experience the still small voice that Reid will crash against the walls of AHHA. There will be depths of darkness and crests of light and the heart will rejoice. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit her studio and see the work in process and I assure you it will be breathtaking.

Reid has spent a significant amount of her life on the shores of Europe and America and has incorporated her love for the beauty of the shores and waters into her works. Reid has not exhibited outside of the United States but her international life experiences are evident in her work. Abstract in nature, but universal in tone and vernacular, she communicates with colors and forms and has even incorporated asemic writing in her paintings. Reid no longer paints on canvas but after twenty years has decided to move to varying textures and types of paper

OCEAN OF THOUGHT: From ground to sea to sky to universe to Michelle Firment Reidby Barbara L. Eikner

Michelle Firment Reid, Tulsa, Ocean of Thought (detail), Mixed media on vellum, 42” x 152”

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such as glassine, rice, vellum, mylar and drafting paper. These papers have textures that are translucent and transparent and give the image the feel of water. Her feelings are that “canvas had become and created boredom” so trying images on other surface elements generates more excitement and vibrancy.

Reid states that “art is me and I project my feelings and reflections on how I see the world and then experience them coming back (to me).

“I was never told you could grow up and be an artist. I was always making things. My mother painted, did ceramics and pottery. Since as a child we traveled every two to four years I had the chance to spend time making things from nature. The ocean is my connection to the world. Ocean is home. The mind is like the ocean. The ocean was always nearby and thus became an important part of my life.”

Reid is a graduate of Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C. and a member of its

alumni association. She has co-authored the book Where The Land Meets The Sea: Together Alone with Nige’ Ollis, street photographer from Bristol, England. Reid is represented by M. A. Doran Gallery of Tulsa and is a member of OVAC, TAC, Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, Philbrook Museum, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She is an artist, poet, wife and mother.

Don’t be landlocked; be transformed and transcended by the Ocean of Thought! n

Barbara L. Eikner is an event planner, writer, author of Dirt and Hardwood Floors, owner of Trabar & Associates, member of TAC, OVAC, Philbrook Museum, Artist Collective of Houston, Texas, Women Empowering Nations Inc., and Sigma Gamma Rho. Eikner can be reached at Trabar@windstream.net

Michelle Firment Reid, Tulsa, Thought Keeper, Wire basket, vellum paper, seashells, mixed media, 22” x 16”

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Virtually all artists who achieve a measure of professional recognition will find themselves being interviewed at some point. Some thrive on the opportunity to explain their work from a public platform, while others would rather eat lemons or walk on nails. Format makes a huge difference, especially for the shy, soft-spoken contingent who can sometimes muster the nerve to talk to a print journalist, but who balk at radio, video or TV recordings. Oral history interviews, I’ve discovered, are perhaps the one format that introverts and extroverts enjoy equally. Their potential benefits as a historical record made available to individual artists and their families, to museums and arts organizations, and the general public are substantial.

While they do require recording equipment of some type, either audio or video, oral history interviews, as their name implies,

are not focused on future-based information: the what, when and where of upcoming exhibitions or events. Instead, they ask questions that prompt artists to reflect upon their past experiences and artistic production, even if that past is as recent as the day before the interview. The questions are always based upon some degree of research, and they are purposive yet open-ended. For example, in my work with the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program (OOHRP) at the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Library, my questions are designed to elicit career trajectories. I ask Native artists about their family and tribal influences, exposure to art in school, and special training as well as their awards, subject matter, process and techniques.

The feeling of satisfaction artists report after this kind of interview is only partly due to

questions that ask them to look back in time. The very process of the interview is satisfying, in and of itself. Oral history interviews allow for contextualization and clarification in the moment, and they encourage a rapport between interviewee and interlocutor that usually grows as they proceed. Once artists realize there’s no need to be entertaining or witty, they tend to think more about what they are saying and less about how cleverly they say it. Once in a while, I encounter artists who start with a well-rehearsed story, but once they’ve delivered it, they shift into more reflective speech. They begin thinking in real time about the questions they are answering, and that in turn, can lead to pleasant surprises.

In telling their stories, emotions and memories are often released that allow artists to make new connections between

CAPTURING A CAREER: Artists and Oral Historyby Julie Pearson-Little Thunder

Artists featured in the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program’s Oklahoma Native Artist series. (left) Jeannie Barbour, Ada, Chickasaw Medicine, Colored pencil, pen and ink, 14.5” x 14.5”. (right) Bill and Demos Glass,

Locust Grove, Eye of the War Bird, Ceramic and steel, 24 1/4 “ x 21 7/8” x 7”

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their artistic choices and career events. Their excitement at realizing and articulating these connections is palpable even in written transcripts, not to mention audio and video recordings. Of course, the way an artist interprets such discoveries may be different from the way an art critic or the public interprets them, but that only makes the oral history interview more interesting and valuable. It is both a subjective record of what an individual thinks happened and what she/he thinks it meant, as well as an historical record that draws its ultimate meaning from a much broader socio-cultural context.

Balancing as they do, reflection and information, the benefits of artist oral histories are not confined to the artist. They offer researchers and the public valuable insights into the myriad ways artists operate

in the world. One benefit of a series of interviews, as I am doing, is that each transcript or recording adds to a cumulative view of the kinds of family influences and cultural backgrounds, training, formats and creative processes that lead to making art. The result is not only a rich resource for scholars of the arts, but a potentially valuable tool for arts advocacy.

Depending upon an oral history interview’s ultimate destination, special permissions may be required, along with particular kinds of paperwork to bring oral histories into the public realm. Programs like OOHRP, among others, can provide guidance regarding interview design and techniques for groups wanting to collect such long-form interviews. Art-related oral history interviews need not be limited to individual artists. Arts

organizations and art associations can utilize this format to create organizational histories for themselves. Mediating between the personal and the social to generate a permanent (to the extent possible) historical record, a series of oral history interviews might be one of the best investments an arts organization can make.

To access recordings of the Oklahoma Native Artists Oral History project, along with others, visit www.library.okstate.edu/oralhistory. n

Julie Pearson-Little Thunder is a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program at Oklahoma State University. For more information about the program or the Oklahoma Native Artist interview series, call 405-744-7279 or send an e-mail to julie.pearsonlittlethunder@okstate.edu.

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JP Morrison Lans, Tulsa, Blue Beard’s Wife Eating A Pomegranate, Colored pencil and paper collage on board, 24” x 18”.

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EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetryedited by Liz Blood

IN THE END, WE ALWAYS GET THE HOUSEby Lauren Zuniga

When we stumble in, drunk on our own curious blood.

When they drag us by our turnip heads to the witness stand.

When they tell us not to eat the fruit.Tell us we are fruit.Tell us we will never be the right kind of fruit.Our juice stained hands, the castle’s only porch light.

When they give us the keys but change the locks.Give us a garden of fresh blame to swallow. A dowry of broken ladders.Tell us to be grateful.

When they think we have finally learned our lesson.

We hike up our petticoats and charge the ocean.

We stomp the salt. Wet our knees with redemption.Howl in the orchard until the moon cracks open. Nurse the sky with our want. Climb the curtain walls.Dangle from the tower like slick seeds from pulp.A thousand black birds carrying us like pies.

When we throw our rinds to the storks. Wash our feet in the city fountain. When we are too sloppy to be saved. Too loud to be groomed. When we wear our names like daggers in the holster. The street carts still overflow with gourds.Babies still teethe on our wings. They still tell our story however they want to.

In Lauren Zuniga’s poem,

inspired by visual artist

JP Morrison Lans, tales of

female oppression-flouting

and curiosity are part of

time immemorial. Ekphrasis

is a place for poets to

express their imaginative

understanding of a visual

work of art.

Lauren Zuniga is a nationally touring poet and teaching artist whose work frequents places like Upworthy, MoveOn.org, and Everyday Feminism. Her second collection of poetry, The Smell of Good Mud (Write Bloody Press), was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. She lives with her two kids and sweetheart in a house named Persimmon. www.laurenzuniga.com

JP Morrison Lans creates her artwork and portraiture out of her home studio in Tulsa, OK. Her work primarily focuses on the beauty of the human form and the complexity of human experience. Recent works were added to the permanent collection of the Queensland Arts Council, Australia, where Lans was a resident for two years. She can be found at JPMorrison.net. n

f ea tu re

26 bus iness o f a r t

ASK A CREATIVITY COACH: Got Talent? Motivation Matters More

by Romney Nesbitt

ASK A CREATIVITY COACH: EASE INTO YOUR NEW YEAR

by Romney Nesbitt

Dear Resolution,

I’m with you. Resolutions are often too lofty to maintain. Here are four self-care suggestions that will improve your health and creativity in the new year. They’re easy to remember too: E.A.S.E. Ease into the New Year by adopting these four guidelines.

Expectations Set realistic expectations of what you can accomplish in a day. Limit your to-do list to three items. Tackle the most important item first, and then fit in the lesser tasks. Do you try to please others by meeting their expectations? With your goals in mind, you can politely ignore “suggestions” from others and follow your own creative path.

AwarenessBe aware of your body’s signals. Signs of stress include short temper, sighing, tight shoulders and headaches. Consider whether your feelings or thoughts about an event are causing your body to react. Stop ruminating and go outside and breathe deeply. If you’re in the car, roll down the window and breathe.

Slow down Take a few minutes each day to slow down to a complete stop. Find a quiet, comfortable spot and enjoy a leisurely cup of tea or coffee. Collect your thoughts or clear your brain of distracting thoughts. For a quick fix, focus on the second hand on a clock or watch for sixty seconds. Inhale for five seconds and exhale for five seconds. Repeat for one full minute.

Exercise and Eat healthyTwenty minutes of exercise every day will rejuvenate your body and mind. Take a ten minute walk at lunch time. Later in the day add another ten minutes. About snacks -- your brain may crave a candy bar when your energy is low, but a small handful of almonds will give you long-lasting energy. n

Romney Nesbitt is a Creativity Coach and author of Secrets from a Creativity Coach. She welcomes your comments and questions at romneynesbitt@gmail.com. Book her to speak to your group through OVAC’s ARTiculate Speakers Bureau.

Dear Romney,

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Can you offer a resolution alternative I can actually keep?

—Resolution Reject

Cathy Breslaw

The University of Tulsa School of Art proudly presents Cathy Breslaw’s exhibition Material Visions. “My work engages materiality in many forms. It has its roots in childhood and the family fabric business. Spending a multitude of hours around fabrics of all kinds – seeing colors and feeling textures and patterns presented on an array of fabric types, made an indelible impression, which followed me into adulthood and into the art I make.”

The Cathy Breslaw Exhibition Material Visions will be on view from January 15 to February 19, 2015. Cathy Breslaw will provide a lecture on her work at 5:00 P.M. on January 22 in the Jerri Jones Lecture Hall at the School of Art, Room 211. There will also be a reception at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery on January 22 from 5:00 P.M. – 7:00. P.M. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M.–4:30 P.M.

For more information, visit www.cas.utulsa.edu/art/ or call 918.631.2739 • TU is an EEO/AA institution

Lightness of Being #1, Industrial mesh, 99” x 96”

27ovac news

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2015OVAC NEWS

Thank you to our new and renewing members from October and November 2014

OVAC would like to recognize and thank our interns for Fall 2014, Lauren Rosenfelt and Pauline Chateau. Both of these interns have assisted in administration and implementation of OVAC programs over the last few months, particularly helping with Momentum Tulsa and our 12x12 Art Fundraiser. Our work would not be possible without their help!

Congratulations to the 24 artists who completed our second class of Artist INC Live in November! Through the 8-week program, these artists gained entrepreneurial skills and developed their artistic practices

collaboratively. The curriculum is led by Peer Facilitators Beau Leland, Robert Matson, Sunni Mercer, Michelle Moeller and Jerod Tate, with Erin Shaw as administrative liaison.

OVAC organized the Artist INC program in collaboration with the Norman Arts Council, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, Oklahoma Film & Music Office, and the City of Oklahoma City Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. The program is sponsored by the City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Arts Council and the Mid-America Arts Alliance, with the support of the National Endowment for the

Arts. Thank you to the partners and sponsors who made this program possible!

OVAC invested $5,227 in five artist project grants in October. Creative Projects Grants were awarded to Beatriz Mayorca of Oklahoma City for the development of functional and non-functional artworks to be included in ArtNow 2015 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and Yiren Gallagher of Tulsa for her Greenbelt Meridian project, which will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Hardesty Arts Center. Professional Basics Grants were awarded to Sarah Clough Chambers of

(OVAC News, continued to page 28)

Jo Ann Adams Eileen Anderson Keith Ball and Marti

Jourden Tommy and Tahlia Ball Sara Banta Alexandra Barnes Carly Blalock Colleen Brown Kendall Brown Jack and Lynn Bryant Monica Cain Cady Dill Carlson Jeremy Dylan Cavin Karen L. Collier Kjelshus Collins and

Andrea McMillan

Sheridan Conrad Renee Coon Lindsay Larremore Craige Bob Curtis Bryan Dahlvang Dorothy Dinsmoor Nicole Emmons Christiane E. Faris Hillary and Peter Farrell Beverly K. Fentress Jennifer Fletcher Denise Ford Mary German Diane Glenn and Jerry

Stickle Almira Grammer Susan Green

Brent and Kennetha Greenwood

Kirsten Griffin Michelle Himes-McCrory David Holland Kendall and Christine

Howerton Pouya Jahanshahi Cynthia and Thomas

Janssen Christian K. Keesee Sue Kelley Karen Kirkpatrick Judy Laine Shelly Lewis Stanfield Susan Linde Lori Ann Lyon

John and Nancy Martin Janice Mathews-Gordon Paul Mays Carla Groschick Miller Holly Moye Markus Muse Debbie Musick Karen and Roy D Orr George Oswalt Anthony Pego Ronna Pernell Bretton Pierce Katie Prior Marissa Raglin Chris Ramsay Michelle Firment Reid Anne Richardson

Sue Ross Deborah Ross Liz Roth Abe Rucker Roger Runge Chris Sanner Barbara S. Scott Katy Seals Matt Seikel and Denise

Duong Rachel Shropshire Patric Shurden and Donna

Brown Cheryl J Smith Sandy and Bob Sober Bennett Stookey

William R. and Nancy Struby

Jim Terrell Noel Torrey Christian and Alesha

Trimble J. Diane Trout Harwood Joyce Ulstrup M. Teresa Valero Burneta Venosdel Terri Wagner Mo Wassell Julia Woodson Joanne Woodward May Yang

The 2014 class of Artist INC Live OKC gathered once a week for eight weeks to learn business skills specific to their careers.

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(OVAC News, continued from page 27)

ovac news

Oklahoma City for materials needed for a new body of work and Jill Tovar of Tulsa for the purchase of a new camera. Kim Rice was awarded our very first John McNeese Grant for Professional Development in Socially-Engaged Artwork. The funding helped Rice attend the Undoing Racism workshop in New York, presented by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Upcoming grant deadlines are January 15 and April 15. See www.ovacgrants.org for details and application forms.

Oklahoma artists ages 30 and younger are encouraged to submit up to three artworks to Momentum OKC 2015, with an application deadline of January 27, 2015. The exhibition, to be held March 6-7 at the Farmer’s Public Market in Oklahoma City, is curated by Juan William Chávez (St. Louis, MO) with Emerging Curator Suzanne C. Thomas. Selected Momentum Spotlight artists are Randall Barnes, Jenna Bryan and Eric Piper. Visit www.MomentumOklahoma.org for more information.

Please save the date for the Tulsa Art Studio Tour on April 11-12, 2015. Artists will open their working studios to the public on this self-guided tour. Be sure to visit all the studios on the Tour for a chance to win a prize! Watch www.TulsaArtStudioTour.org for updates and more information.

ART PEOPLECongratulations to OVAC member Holly Wilson who has been selected as one of five Native American artists to receive the 2015 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Her work will be honored with a $25,000 unrestricted grant and a major group exhibition opening November 14, 2015. Visit www.hollywilson.com for more about Wilson and her work.

Best wishes to Ken Busby who recently announced his resignation after more than twelve years as Executive Director of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. Thank you for all you’ve done for the arts

in Tulsa and across the state! We look forward to your continued work in improving our communities.

We also send our best to Kathy McRuiz, who has resigned from her position as Director of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa’s Hardesty Arts Center (AHHA) to pursue her artistic career. We thank you for your work in bringing AHHA to fruition and look forward to seeing developments in your artwork! n

Experience the Historic Paseo!Shopping, Dining & Learning!

20 Galleries, 75 Artists, Restaurants, Boutiques, Art and Education

For more information about Educational Programs contact:

405.525.2688 www.thepaseo.comARTS DISTRICT

#FirstFridayPaseoFirst Friday Gallery Walks every month

Friday 6-10 pm

(left) Beatriz Mayorca, Oklahoma City, B-Color Desk, Wood, metal hardware, 32” x 59.75” x 23.5” and (right) Mutual Force, Wood, metal, patina, 21” diameter. Mayorca received an OVAC Creative Projects Grant to develop new work to be exhibited in ArtNow 2015.

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Gallery Listings & Exhibition Schedule

AdaZachary Presley and Spencer Ulm ExhibitionJanuary 12-February 6Interscholastic ExhibitionFebruary 9-13James Gaar ExhibitionFebruary 16-March 13The Pogue Gallery Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center900 Centennial Plaza (580) 559-5353 ecok.edu

AlvaAmerican Indian Art: Native ViewsJanuary 2-30Opening January 2, 6-8 pmFabrics of the Heartland: Textile ArtsFebruary 6-27Opening February 6, 6-8 pmGraceful Arts Gallery and Studios523 Barnes St(580) 327-ARTS gracefulartscenter.org

DavisDoug Strickland ExhibitionThrough February 28Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center35 N Colbert Rd(580) 369-4222 chickasawcountry.com/explore/view/Chickasaw-nation-welcome-center

DuncanOkie Eclectic: The Art of Mikel DavisonThrough January 3Mike Aguirre: KachinasJanuary 5-March 23Chisholm Trail Heritage Center1000 Chisholm Trail Pkwy(580) 252-6692 onthechisholmtrail.com

EdmondStatewide Youth Impression Juried Art ShowJanuary 17-30Opening January 20, 7-8:30 pmDowntown Edmond Community Center(405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com

Behnaz Sohrabian ExhibitionJanuary 5-30Opening January 8, 5-7 pmThe Gold Show February 2-27Opening February 5, 5-7 pmFine Arts Institute of Edmond27 E Edwards St(405) 340-4481 edmondfinearts.com

El RenoMike Wimmer, A RetrospectiveThrough January 23Redlands Community College1300 S Country Club Rd(405) 262-2552 redlandscc.edu

Lawton24 Works on PaperThrough January 17The Leslie Powell Foundation and Gallery620 D Avenue(580) 357-9526 lpgallery.org

NormanAlexander Heir ExhibitionJanuary 9-31Opening January 9, 6-10pmDope Chapel115 S Crawford Ave(580) 917-3695

The Art of Paul WalshJanuary 9-February 21Opening January 9, 6-9pmFirehouse Art Center444 S Flood(405) 329-4523 normanfirehouse.com

Macrocosm/Microcosm: Abstract Expressionism in the American SouthwestThrough January 4101st Annual Student ExhibitionJanuary 22-February 15Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art555 Elm Ave(405) 325-4938 ou.edu/fjjma

Greg Booker ExhibitionJanuary 6-22Disparity: A Collaborative MFA ExhibitionJanuary 27-February 12RedStar Studios Residency ExhibitionFebruary 17-27Lightwell Gallery, University of Oklahoma520 Parrington Oval(405) 325-2691 art.ou.edu

John Wolfe ExhibitionJanuary 9-February 28Opening January 9, 6-9 pmThe Depot Gallery200 S Jones(405) 307-9320 pasnorman.org

Oklahoma CityWatch Out for the Under ToadThrough January 10Ashley GriffithFebruary 6-28Opening February 6, 6-10 pmaka gallery 3001 Paseo(405) 606-2522 aka-gallery.com

Orly Genger: TerraThrough October 1Campbell ParkNW 11th and Broadway Ave(405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org

Bill HensleyThrough February 28Exhibit C1 E Sheridan Ave Ste 100(405) 767-8900 chickasawcountry.com

ConnectionThrough January 3The First Fifty YearsJanuary 15-April 25Opening January 15, 5:30-7:30 pmGaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum1400 Classen Dr(405) 235-4458 oklahomaheritage.com

White IIJanuary 1-31Opening January 2, 6-10 pmMichelle Mikesell ExhibitionFebruary 6-28Opening February 6, 6-10 pmJRB Art at the Elms2810 N Walker Ave(405) 528-6336 jrbartgallery.com Traditional Cowboy Arts Association 16th Annual ExhibitionCowboy Artists of America 49th Annual ExhibitionThrough January 4National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd

(405) 478-2250 nationalcowboymuseum.org

espongo i miei sentimenti.. Through January 16OCU School of Visual Art Faculty ExhibitionJanuary 23-February 27Opening January 23, 6-8:30 pmNona Hulsey Gallery, Norick Art CenterOklahoma City University1600 NW 26th

(405) 208-5226 okcu.edu

My Generation: Young Chinese ArtistsThrough January 18Intent to Deceive: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art WorldFebruary 14-May 10Oklahoma City Museum of Art415 Couch Dr(405) 236-3100 okcmoa.com

ArtNowJanuary 12-23Reception January 23, 8-11 pmAlex Leme: Small Town AmericaFebruary 17-May 2Opening February 17, 5:30-7:30 pmOklahoma Contemporary Arts Center3000 General Pershing Blvd(405) 951-0000 oklahomacontemporary.org

Angie Piehl Through February 1Andre Tutak Through February 8David Holland Through February 15Robert Goddard February 9-April 12Virginia StroudFebruary 16-April 19Mary RussellFebruary 23-April 26Oklahoma State Capitol Galleries2300 N Lincoln Blvd(405) 521-2931 arts.ok.gov

Wanderlust: Nomadic Interpretations of Contemporary AfricaJanuary 2-31Opening January 2, 6-10 pmEphemeral Gradations: A Fringe ExhibitionFebruary 6-28Opening February 6, 6-10 pmThe Project Box3003 Paseo(405) 609-3969 theprojectboxokc.com

OKC125Through February 27The UndergroundDowntown Oklahoma Cityromyowens.com/#okc125

ShawneeMichi Susan: An Oklahoma TreasureFebruary 7-March 22Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art1900 W Macarthur(405) 878-5300 mgmoa.org

StillwaterThe Rhythm in Mountains and Rivers: Chinese Landscape Paintings, Ancient and ContemporaryJanuary 12-February 13Opening January 15, 5-7 pmTodd McDonald: Recent WorksFebruary 18-March 20Opening February 26, 5-7 pmGardiner Gallery OSU108 Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts(405) 744-4143 art.okstate.edu

ga l l e ry gu ide

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MEMBER FORMPATRON - $250 -Listing of self or business on signage at events -Invitation for two people to private reception with visiting curators -$210 of this membership is tax deductible. -All of below

FELLOW - $125 -Acknowledgement in the Resource Guide and Art Focus Oklahoma -Copy of each OVAC exhibition catalog -$85 of this membership is tax deductible. -All of below

FAMILY - $60 -Same benefits as Individual level for two people in household

INDIVIDUAL - $40 -Subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma -Monthly e-newsletter of Oklahoma art events and opportunities -Receive all OVAC mailings -Listing in and copy of Annual Resource Guide & Member Directory -Access to “Members Only” area on OVAC website -Invitation to Annual Meeting Plus, artists receive: -Inclusion in online Artist Gallery -Artist entry fees waived for OVAC sponsored exhibitions -Up to 50% discount on Artist Survival Kit workshops -Discounted registration for Artist INC Online Course -Affiliate benefits with National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture, Fractured Atlas, and Artwork Archive

STUDENT - $20 -Valid student ID required. Same benefits as Individual level.

¨ Patron ¨ Fellow ¨ Family ¨ Individual ¨ Student

Name

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Email

Website Phone

Credit card # Exp. Date

Are you an artist? Y N Medium?_____________________________________

Would you like to be included in the Membership Directory? Y N

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

Comments:

Detach and mail form along with payment to: OVAC, 730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104, Oklahoma City, OK 73116

Or join online at www.ovac-ok.org

Become a member of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. Join today to begin enjoying the benefits of membership, including a subscription to Art Focus Oklahoma.

Chris Ramsay: Mediations in StillwaterThrough January 17The New York Project: James RosenquistThrough March 14Close to Home: Photographs by Richard S BuswellFebruary 9-May 9Opening March 5, 5-7 pmFrank Lloyd Wright’s Samara: A Mid-Century Dream Home February 9-April 21Opening February 19, 5-7 pmPostal Plaza GalleryOklahoma State University Museum of Art720 S Husband St(405) 744-2780 museum.okstate.edu

SulphurLisa HudsonThrough February 28Chickasaw Visitor Center901 W 1st St(580) 622-8050 chickasawcountry.com/explore/view/Chickasaw-visitor-center

TonkawaCreators: Faculty Biennial ExhibitionJanuary 26-March 27Eleanor Hays GalleryPerforming Arts CenterNorthern Oklahoma College1220 E Grand(580) 628-6670 north-ok.edu

TulsaHere and Now: Contemporary Native American Art of OklahomaThrough January 18Innovators and Legends: Generations in Textiles and FiberFebruary 6-March 22Opening February 6, 6-9 pm108 Contemporary108 E MB Brady St(918) 895-6302 108contemporary.org

Frontier to Foundry: The Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease CollectionThrough March 23Gilcrease Museum1400 Gilcrease Road(918) 596-2700 gilcrease.utulsa.edu

Ocean of ThoughtJanuary 10-February 22Opening February 6, 6-9 pmHardesty Arts Center101 E Archer St(918) 584-3333 ahhatulsa.org

Fire & Ice Glass ExhibitionThrough January 25Chris Ramsay: Meditations in StillwaterJanuary 30-March 29Opening February 6, 6-9 pmHenry Zarrow Center for Art and Education124 E MB Brady St(918) 631-4400 gilcrease.utulsa.edu/Explore/Zarrow

Cathy Breslaw: Material VisionsJanuary 15-February 19Opening January 22, 5-7 pmTaryn Singleton Master of Fine Art Thesis ExhibitionFebruary 26-March 19Opening February 26, 5-7 pmAlexandre Hogue Gallery, Phillips HallUniversity of Tulsa2930 E 5th St.(918) 631-2739 utulsa.edu/art

Sarah NealJanuary 12-February 27Holliman Gallery, Holland Hall5666 E 81st Street(918) 481-1111 hollandhall.org Speaking Volumes: Transforming HateJanuary 2-February 26GLITCH/ANALOGOUSFebruary 6-March 26New Genre XXIIMarch 1-7Living Arts307 E MB Brady St(918) 585-1234 livingarts.org

Fever & FlashThrough March 15Shifting FocusThrough April 26Philbrook Downtown116 E MB Brady St(918) 749-7941 philbrook.org

A Creative UnionThrough January 4ImpactThrough January 11The Philbrook Museum of Art2727 S Rockford Rd(918) 749-7941 philbrook.org

Beverly WissenJanuary 6-30Tulsa Performing Arts Center Gallery110 E 2nd St (918) 596-2368 tulsapac.com

(Gallery Guide, continued from page 29)

Children & Adult Art ClassesMonthly Art ExhibitsTheatre PerformancesCommunity ProgramsFacility RentalsSpecial Events

27 E Edwards | Edmond, OKNorth of the Downtown Post Office

www.edmondfinearts.com405.340.4481

Celebrating 30 years

of creativity!

(Stillwater, continued)

31

Non Profit Org.US POSTAGE

P A I DOklahoma City, OK

Permit No. 113

Art FocusO k l a h o m a

730 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104 Oklahoma City, OK 73116Annual Subscriptions to Art Focus Oklahoma

are free with OVAC membership.

Thru Jan 17: 24 Works on Paper, Lawton

Jan 15: OVAC Grants for Artists Deadline

Jan 27: Momentum OKC Artist Deadline

Feb 19: Momentum OKC Artist Info Session, Tulsa

Feb 20: Tulsa Art Studio Tour Preview Exhibition, Opening Reception, Tulsa

Feb 21: Artist Survival Kit Workshop: Prep School: Framing, Crating Installing, OKC

Feb 21: Momentum OKC Artist Info Session, OKC

Mar 6-7: Momentum OKC

Mar 8-9: Momentum OKC Gallery Hours & Spotlight Artist Talks

View the full Oklahoma visual arts calendar at ovac-ok.org/calendar.

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition supports Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists and their power to enrich communities.

Visit www.ovac-ok.org to learn more.

WHITE IIJRB ART AT THE ELMS2810 NORTH WALKER

PHONE: 405.528.6336www.jrbartgallery.com

FEBRUARY

Opening Reception:FRIDAY, JANUARY 2

6 - 10 P.M.

Opening Reception:FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5

6 - 10 P.M.

WHITEII

MICHELE MIKESELL

Gallery Hours:Tue - Sat 10 am - 6 pm

Sun 1 pm - 5 pm

JANUARY