KOSU Community Calendar

Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Booker slices, twists, weaves and rivets her medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments. For the artist, the varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, while the tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs. Repurposed from cast-off industrial scraps that would otherwise have remained symbols of urban blight or measures of wanton waste, Shaved Portions is a monumental work standing sentinel atop Automobile Alley, which was originally lined with car dealerships. Image: Chakaia Booker, Manipulating Fractions, 2004.

Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of Oklahoma Contemporary. Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden's uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect. Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem. Image: Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020. Wire rope and concrete (144 units), 61.5 inches tall. © Maren Hassinger. Photo by Simon Klein, courtesy Aspen Art Museum.

Linde Oktoberfest Tulsa will take place October 21-24, 2021, with Corporate Night Gemütlichkeit on Wednesday, October 20 (Private Event)! Linde Oktoberfest is located at River West Festival Park, 2100 S. Jackson Ave. in Tulsa, OK 74107. Ranked as a Top 5 Oktoberfest in the U.S. by USA Today! As one of Tulsa’s most celebrated festivals, Linde Oktoberfest Tulsa has a long and storied history of providing authentic German food, drink, and fun to generations of Oklahomans. What’s not to like about bratwurst, the Chicken Dance, the Dachshund Dash, German beers, Bavarian cheesecake, great music, and thousands of your friends, all together at one place? We invite you to join us in 2021at the beautiful River West Festival Park on the banks of the Arkansas River overlooking Downtown Tulsa.

The Edmond Historical Society and Museum presents I Remember That: Edmond in the 1980s, which runs until March 2022. The 1980s were at time of big hair, spandex, and major political upheaval. The decade saw the Reagan-era presidency, the beginning of MTV, and a royal wedding. Shoulder pads aside, the 1980s is also remembered for its corruption, consumption, and volatility. Edmond residents, not immune to such trials, experienced the oil bust, increased crime, an F3 tornado and the 1986 Post Office Massacre. It wasn’t all bad news though--Edmond’s population and business development increased. The long-awaited Lake Arcadia project was completed, Edmond hosted the 1988 PGA golf tournament, and the decade was rounded off with a huge 100th birthday party. Artifacts and photographs showcase an era rich in pop culture and large-scale celebrations, but also evidence of how the city responded in the face of tragedy. Artifacts include: PGA items, an Atari game system with Pac-man game, an aerobic workout record, Liberty-Fest memorabilia, the Postmaster General’s speech following the massacre, Berlin Wall fragments, a Rubik’s cube, an Edmond Memorial senior sweatshirt, and more. New artifacts will be on display in September. If you lived through the 1980s, you know it was a vibrant and exciting time. If you didn’t, come see what you missed. Museum Information: Edmond Historical Society & Museum hours are 10:00-5:00 Tuesday – Friday, and 1:00-4:00 Saturday. Please visit the museum website at www.edmondhistory.org or by calling the museum at 405-340-0078 to learn more about how the museum is operating during Covid-19. Admission is free.

Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon explores the art and career of the highly successful twentieth-century American printmaker and painter Doel Reed (1894-1985). Reed is best known today as a Southwestern artist and "master of the aquatint;” his conservative yet modernist approach to the New Mexican landscape found a ready audience among curators and collectors during his lifetime. Reed began summering in the Taos artists’ colony starting in the 1940s and permanently moved to New Mexico in 1959. The mountainous topography, geology, and history of New Mexico were an endless source of inspiration to Reed. This exhibition will bring attention to this significant but understudied artist and demonstrates how Reed was both influenced by and contributed to national and international artistic trends over his long and prolific career. The rich and varied American landscapes of the Midwest and Southwest were his primary sources of inspiration. Included in the exhibition are over sixty works of art by Doel Reed and his contemporaries. The OSU Museum of Art is always FREE thanks to the generous support from the OSU Museum of Art Advocates. Hours are from 11 AM - 4 PM Tuesdays - Saturdays and 11 AM - 4 PM on Thursdays. Doel Reed, Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon, 1979, aquatint and etching on paper, 7 7/8 x 17 ½ inches. Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK, DRC 2011.015.001. Photo by Phil Shockley.

Reserve your free timed ticket to experience the inaugural exhibition in our Artist-in-Residence Studio and Gallery. Using light, sound and digital film projection, Flight explores the physical, architectural and cultural residue of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre into the present. Timed with the 100-year commemoration of the massacre, Flight incorporates archival material with digital video, digitized 35-mm film footage, three-channel sound, and vinyl. The artist provides multiple points of entry and angles of refraction, offering an unfixed sense of what is varying parts history, impressions, analysis, and reverie. This exhibition is made possible by a grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance. Installation view of Crystal Z Campbell: Flight at Oklahoma Contemporary. Photo: Trayson Conner

Vision and Visionary : The Paintings and Drawings of Moh'd Bilbeisi August 10 - October 2, 2021 Vision and Visionary is an exhibition with international dimensions. The installation will feature over 70 works of art, including paintings of architectural landscapes from sites across the globe, imaginative drawings, and sketchbooks that offer insight into his process. Bilbeisi's mastery of watercolor is shown through his vibrant use of color, gestural line, and expressive brushstrokes. In addition to his work as an artist, Moh'd Bilbeisi is a licensed architect, author, and Professor of Architecture in the OSU School of Architecture. The OSU Museum of Art is always FREE thanks to the generous support of the OSU Museum of Art Advocates. Hours are 11 AM - 4 PM Tuesday - Saturday and 11 AM - 7 PM on Thursdays. Image: Moh’d Bilbeisi, Cairo 10, Egypt, 2020, watercolor on paper, 9x12.

Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Booker slices, twists, weaves and rivets her medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments. For the artist, the varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, while the tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs. Repurposed from cast-off industrial scraps that would otherwise have remained symbols of urban blight or measures of wanton waste, Shaved Portions is a monumental work standing sentinel atop Automobile Alley, which was originally lined with car dealerships. Image: Chakaia Booker, Manipulating Fractions, 2004.

Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of Oklahoma Contemporary. Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden's uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect. Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem. Image: Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020. Wire rope and concrete (144 units), 61.5 inches tall. © Maren Hassinger. Photo by Simon Klein, courtesy Aspen Art Museum.

“A Luthier’s Tale: The Craft of Stringed Instruments,” is on view from July 2 – September 19, 2021. Guest curator Benjamin Liggett brings together local and regional makers in an exhibition dedicated to the art, craft, and design of stringed instruments. Following his training at the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona, Liggett became a full-time luthier at Bishline Banjos. Liggett conveys his passion for creating instruments in this exhibition, which is a survey of stringed instruments from a variety of luthiers that represent the culture and craftsmanship of our region. With a documentary of the making process, a wide range of educational programs, and a multitude of performances, this show shines a light on this incredible craft. For more information about the exhibition: https://108contemporary.org/event/a-luthiers-tale/