KOSU Community Calendar

The Art Hall is pleased to host the Oklahoma City iteration of Shyanne Dickey & Edward Grady: Rising, curated by Gallery Director Helen Opper. This exhibition pairs the work of two Oklahoma-based artists, Shyanne Dickey and Edward Grady, for a two-part exhibition that took place at Modella Gallery in Stillwater in March-April and is now on view at The Art Hall. Join us on Friday, May 5th, 2023, from 5-8pm, for a reception honoring the artists. As always, this event is free, family friendly, and open to the public.

Dickey and Grady make artwork that explores their cultural and personal influences, honors strong women and matrilineal heritages, and celebrates Black identity. Through her mixed media paintings incorporating archival imagery, Dickey examines her own family’s history and that of other African American “Exodusters”, families who settled in the farmland of Kansas after the Civil War. Grady’s vibrantly colored, textured, and intricately patterned paintings of Black women, men, and masks are informed by his relationship to African cultures and art forms, his interest in symbolism, fashion, and design, and a career’s worth of art education and curatorial work within Black communities in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Each of these artists adapts figuration to reflect their own voices and artistic practices, empowering themselves and those who view the artwork.

This exhibition is supported by the THRIVE Grant Program, a regranting program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts administered by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.

Oklahoma native, Roger Miller, made a bold statement in his hit song, “You Can’t
Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd,” but we respond with, “Yes, I Can Roger!” Twenty-five large
hand-cut wood veneer marquetry art pieces use 1/48 inch wood veneer with up to 700 parts each arranged in stained-glass type puzzles to create a “graphic novel” feel to this one-of-a-kind experience. Vibrant colors and swirling wood burls come alive to bring Jayzik Azikiwe, Buffalo, and Magic Rabbits to life. Jayzik struggles to overcome her “buffalos” in a world where she is eventually celebrated for her courage and determination. Vintage record players with 45 rpm records of “You Can’t Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd,” Roger Miller, “Buffalo Gals,” traditional and “Skate Away,” Dire Straits will be participant operated. “Yes, I Can Roger” will show at Norman MAINSITE Contemporary Gallery May 12 - June 9. Tuesdays - Saturdays, 10:00 am- 4:00 pm. Our goal is to provide hope for audience and artistic futures.

Visit Oklahoma Contemporary’s Sculpture Garden! Guadalajara-based artist Jose Dávila creates sculptures in which industrial materials seem to be precariously balanced. For a new piece presented in front of Oklahoma Contemporary, the artist continues his recent practice of balancing large, free-standing structural elements — I beams — to fabricate constructions that are tense yet calm and overwhelm the eye and body.
This sculpture is part of the exhibition La casa que nos inventamos: Contemporary Art From Guadalajara.

For more information: 405-951-0000, okcontemp.org/JoseDavila

Image: Jose Davila, Untitled/Sin titulo, 2022. Metal and boulder.

"The Unchosen Ones" began on the sidelines of county fair animal contests in Minnesota in 2016 where R. J. Kern photographed fair participants and their non-winning animals. The exhibit encompasses a series of portraits of young people posing with the animals they have raised, cared for, and groomed for entry into a best animal competition, with dreams of the glory of moving on to State Fair victory. No victory is shown here, however. These animals and their young owners were not deemed champions; they came in second or third or not at all. Here, on the sidelines of the main events, these disappointed children and their beloved animals illustrate a small backstory, preserving a moment of failure, loss, love, and hope, as only photography can.

"The Unchosen Ones" continued beyond the initial project and between 2016 and 2021 Kern re-photographed many of his subjects. In some cases, the animal and its handler are photographed together again. In other cases, the child moved on and replaced the animal with some new pursuit; a tractor, a chicken, a fishing pole. Once a series about the love, pride, joy, and disappointment that comes with being passed over, "The Unchosen Ones" is now a record of the original sitters choosing how they will live the next part of their lives.

"Brummet Echohawk: An Artist's Journey" presents the life story of celebrated artist and World War II veteran, Brummett Echohawk, through a selection of his artwork, which were sourced from the permanent collection at the OSU Museum of Art, curated by OSU students.

Join us on May 4th from 5-7 PM at the OSU Museum of Art for a reception. Student curators will speak about their journey creating the exhibition. Talk begins at 5:30 PM and light refreshments will be served.

Patterns of Knowing features works by three artists — Jordan Ann Craig, Benjamin Harjo Jr. and Jeri Redcorn — exploring how patterns sourced from Indigenous cultures embody a lineage of ideas. Through ceramics, paintings, prints and drawings, Patterns of Knowing highlights artworks in which rhythmic, repeated arrangements of shapes, colors and symbols carry knowledge across generations. The exhibition explores how Indigenous artistic principles continue to move and evolve between media, connecting ideas from past to present.

For more information: 405-951-0000, okcontemp.org/PatternsOfKnowing

Image: Jordan Ann Craig, Center of Attention, 2020.

Oklahoma’s very own 2023 National Teacher of the Year, Rebecka Peterson, will serve as the guest speaker at the Oklahoma School Innovation Summit (OSIS) on June 7 at 1 p.m.

As National Teacher of the Year, Rebecka plans to use her platform to highlight teachers’ stories of the good that’s happening in education. Teaching is a profession that affords creativity, autonomy and purpose, and Rebecka believes that highlighting the stories of joy happening in classrooms across the country will help encourage current teachers and attract new educators to the profession.

Next year's OSIS event will be hosted June 4-5, 2024.

Are you smarter than a librarian? Teens in grades 6-12 will kick-start summer reading with trivia! Teens are encouraged to work in teams as they answer six rounds of trivia over a variety of categories. Winners will recieve prizes donated by various businesses around Stillwater.

This program is a part of the Stillwater Public Library’s summer reading program, “All Together Now,” which begins May 22. Visit library.stillwater.org/summer_@_your_library.php to register for summer reading, log reading times, earn prizes, and find out about more great events including our read-a-thon fundraiser! Major sponsors for summer reading include the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Oklahoma Department of Libraries, and the Friends of the Stillwater Public Library. A full list of sponsors can be found on our website.

Come enjoy the spoken word, or maybe even share some of your own poetry! Either way, we'll see you there. ✨ Sign-up at 7:30. Show at 8:00. FREE EVENT ⚡

The Art Hall is pleased to host the Oklahoma City iteration of Shyanne Dickey & Edward Grady: Rising, curated by Gallery Director Helen Opper. This exhibition pairs the work of two Oklahoma-based artists, Shyanne Dickey and Edward Grady, for a two-part exhibition that took place at Modella Gallery in Stillwater in March-April and is now on view at The Art Hall. Join us on Friday, May 5th, 2023, from 5-8pm, for a reception honoring the artists. As always, this event is free, family friendly, and open to the public.

Dickey and Grady make artwork that explores their cultural and personal influences, honors strong women and matrilineal heritages, and celebrates Black identity. Through her mixed media paintings incorporating archival imagery, Dickey examines her own family’s history and that of other African American “Exodusters”, families who settled in the farmland of Kansas after the Civil War. Grady’s vibrantly colored, textured, and intricately patterned paintings of Black women, men, and masks are informed by his relationship to African cultures and art forms, his interest in symbolism, fashion, and design, and a career’s worth of art education and curatorial work within Black communities in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Each of these artists adapts figuration to reflect their own voices and artistic practices, empowering themselves and those who view the artwork.

This exhibition is supported by the THRIVE Grant Program, a regranting program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts administered by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.