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.