CITY ARTS CENTER ::: Exhibits ::: Oklahoma City

Jason Hackenwerth

New York artist Jason Hackenwerth creates colorful sumptuous sculptures that at once seem alien, botanical and reminiscent of sea creatures. As some sculptors seek media with a sense of permanence like stone and metal, Hackenwerth chooses to instead work with media that is filled with breath and is changes with time until ultimately it shrinks and shrivels away. Hackenwerth creates his sculptures with balloons. The artist states “I'm filling them. The air inside is slipping out. It's a great metaphor for our own lives." His sculptures change over the course of their exhibition morphing from hearty and voluptuous to shrunken and aged, "a perfect combination of sadness and joy."

Andrew Polk

Andrew Polk's exhibit was in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery at City Arts Center from March 11 through April 10, 2010.

Polk’s work exhibits aerial images of Oklahoma City with paint splatters and swirling lines. Polk is originally from Norman but moved as a child to and now resides in Arizona. He is a professor of art at the University of Arizona.

“A few years ago, I found that working with aerial photographs was like looking at things from the heavens, both literally and metaphorically,” says Polk. “From a distance things are much different. Big things seem small and insignificant, and larger things reveal themselves. The farther away one gets, the less personal things become. With these paintings, I am looking at the city from a distance, and I am doing so through a lens filled with the mystery, sentiment, curiosity and discovery.”

In preparing for this exhibit, he began by thinking about Oklahoma. He found himself focusing on the land. “Who owns it, how it came to be owned, what is on it, what is under it and how it has been shaped by nature, history and industry. When I look at Oklahoma City from above, I marvel at its beauty. The river, the arterials, the neighborhoods, the industrial areas, the colors and how they all come together. These paintings are about this,” Polk says.

“Andrew Polk has produced a body of work focusing on the aerial depiction of the Oklahoman landmass,” said Mary Ann Prior, executive director of City Arts Center. “Rendered as an amalgam of photography and painting, the images are imbued with the atmosphere of their source. Linear marks and areas of color hover above the surface of the works lending them a melancholy yet exuberant quality that closely echoes our experience of limitless skies and the vastness of nature.” City Arts Center will host Asia Scudder’s instillation Music Builds A Life in the Circle Gallery from March 11 to April 10.

Cafe City Arts Invitational

January 29 - February 27, 2010

City Arts Center is pleased to present the 17th annual fundraiser, Café City Arts 2010: Elevation, January 29 from 7:30-11:00 pm at City Arts Center (3000 General Pershing Boulevard).

Café City Arts is an annual celebration and art sale that features local and regional artists. For the past 16 years, proceeds from the fundraiser have enabled year-round visual arts exhibits free of charge to the public. Artists participating in the exhibit donate 50% of their art sales income to City Arts Center.

“Complementing the impressive work, the galleries will be transformed to an environment that exemplifies Elevation,” said Clint Stone, Artistic Director at City Arts Center. “Using light and constructed embellishments the galleries will be intended to be seen as a port that demonstrates City Arts Center’s progression into the future. With adornment theme of electric pink, the galleries will not only provide a dynamic atmosphere for the January 29 gala will provide an additional element to the Invitational.”

Tickets for Café City Arts are $50 per ticket in advance and $60 if purchased at the door. Tickets may be purchased at City Arts Center at 3000 General Pershing Boulevard or by calling 951-0000.

"Café City Arts has become Oklahoma City’s first artistic fundraising celebration of the year,” said David Leader, Café 2010 chair. “The entire art gallery is transformed into an impressive entertainment venue. As co-chair of this event I am so grateful for the high level of prestige that City Arts staff, volunteers, and donors have for supporting unrestricted year-around viewing of visual arts for everybody."

Patrons have the opportunity to purchase amazing works of art, meet the artists and indulge in food and drinks from some of the metro’s finest restaurants. Café 2010 restaurants include Paseo Grill, La Luna Mexican Café, James E. McNellie's Public House, Seasons Catering, Rococo Restaurant and Wine Bar, Pearls, Hilton Skirvin Hotel and Good Egg Dining Group. Participating artists include Rick Bewley, Tracey Bewley, Dylan Bradway, Mike Bruno, Kim Camp, J Don Cook, Debbie Curtis, Dan Garrett, Matt Goad, Kyle Golding, Dustin Hamby, Michelle Himes McCrory, Howard Koerth, Marko Kratohvil, Leslie Lienau, Harolyn Long, Suzanne Wallace Mears, J Michelle Martin Coyne, Hugh Meade, JP Morrison, Chad Mount, Romy Owens, Ben Pendleton, Jose Perales, Zachary Presley, Brad Price, Klint Schor, Bert Seabourn, Joe Slack, Michi Susan, Dee Unsell, BJ White, Elia Woods, Dean Wyatt and May Yang.

“Café City Arts is a wonderful showcase for local creative talent and this year’s theme of ‘Elevation’ sees us literally taking our aspirations to a higher level. As well as having a very strong body of work from artists who have contributed in previous years, Café 2010 introduces some new and exciting individuals to the OKC arts scene,” said Mary Ann Prior, Executive Director of City Arts Center.

“Working with the staff and volunteers of City Arts Center, as a past chair of Cafe City Arts, has been nothing short of fantastic,” said Louisa McCune Elmore, Café 2010 committee co-chair. “The mix of professionalism, art, and community inspires me in dozens of ways. Making art accessible to the hundreds of thousands--through galleries or hands-on classes--translates into a high quality of life on an intimate, personal level. To boot, few cities of our size have a community art center as sophisticated as City Arts, and to serve this organization in a creative fundraising capacity has been a career highlight for me. I hope the center will find ways for me to contribute in future years!”

Committee members for Café City Arts 2010 include: David Leader - Committee Chair, Louisa McCune Elmore as Co-Chair, Kim Bruno, Lori Tyler, Sheryl Pribyl, Romy Owens, Cheryl Jones, Ann Boozer, Michael Kirk, Robert Fuxa, Michelle Tibbs, Maryann Johndrow, Joan Maguire, Ann Johnstone, Marc Manseur, Regan Paquette and Mary Ellen Gumerson.

City Arts Center also wishes to thank our two main sponsors: Chesapeake Energy and the Chickasaw Nation.

The exhibit will remain on display in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery through February 27, 2010.

Donald G. Longcrier

November 19 - December 23, 2009

Donald G. Longcrier will be exhibiting in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery at City Arts Center November 19 through December 23, 2009.

Longcrier’s work exhibits both floor and wall pieces as well as large and small. He intends his work to be quiet and contemplative works and executes them as simply as possible to avoid decoration and embellishment. To reach these ends, he finds old objects and materials with the appropriate patinas or colors. Longcrier uses what ever materials are required to create the desired artwork he has envisioned. Often these works require that he create his artwork with heavy materials and use an ancient wax painting technique referred to as encaustic in which surfaces and pigments are secured under a layer of wax.

He explains, “Wax needs a rigid surface and heavy objects require supports strong enough to hold their weight, so I use plywood panels. I don’t manipulate surfaces or distress materials to simulate age or wear.” Longcrier takes pride in the simplicity he is able to convey through his artwork. During the creation of this body of work he made no distinction between drawing, painting and sculpture, referring instead to the resulting work as floor pieces or wall pieces. Donald explains the clarity his work conveys, “My work is very simple. You do not need any particular knowledge or additional information to understand the work. The viewer, and I mean any viewer, is quite capable of looking at and coming to some understanding of most work.”

“Mysterious, honest and restful on the eye, Longcrier’s work aims to de-clutter our vision,” said Mary Ann Prior, executive director of City Arts Center. “By focusing the viewer’s attention on materials and textures that might otherwise escape notice, the artist enhances awareness of the commonplace and reveals the true nature of the objects he selects, then re-configures, for a gallery setting.”

Longcrier does not simply seek inspiration as the catalyst for creating his work. An avid reader and observer of his environment, his travels and the people around him, he aims to interpret his findings and thoughts as simply as possible. From this point, the artist talks to the families of his observations, clarifies his vision and begins to “roam around and find materials that work for what I think I am trying to do.”

The resulting works Longcrier produces are in fact worthy of contemplation. Sometimes his works are very large in scale and other times the resulting works are relatively small and simple in content, but always his work is intricately thoughtful in execution. Longcrier invites a quiet experience between the viewer and the presented work, an experience in which the viewer may contemplate his relationship to the work, his immediate surroundings or the shared occupation of space.

Using materials that show their age and wear that often seem to have their own history, Longcrier’s work can not easily be labeled as minimalist. However, the clarity of his presentation does offer the observer the opportunity to think minimalist, yet a more adequate description may be that provided by the artist, “simple.” Longcrier explains, “These are humble pieces and there is no pretense or attempt at anything profound.”

Longcrier produces paintings and sculpture, which he refers to as wall pieces and floor pieces, in a variety of scales and materials. He has exhibited work in Colorado, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma.

Longcrier, who currently teaches at Oklahoma City University, holds a master of fine arts (1994) and bachelor of science in zoology (1979) degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He has also taught sculpture, painting drawing and design classes at the University of Oklahoma and in the St. Louis Community College system.

City Arts Center’s annual pottery sale to raise funds for the purchasing of new pottery studio equipment will open in conjunction with this exhibition. Both exhibits run through December 23. Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public.

Moss & Rivers

October 15 - November 7, 2009

UPDATE: City Arts Center’s Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery is honored to be exhibiting The Art of Barbara Robinette Moss as half of Moss & Rivers from October 15th – November 7th, 2009 with an opening reception on October 15th from 5:30-7:30pm. Barbara Robinette Moss (1954-2009) past away the evening of Friday, October 9th. The artists Kate Rivers and Barbara Robinette Moss were planning to attend and speak at the exhibit opening (as well as Narciso Arguelles and Cass Wozniak who installed Culti-Multural in the Circle Gallery.) In honor of Barbara’s passing we will have an informal artist talk featuring Kate Rivers, Narciso Arguelles and Cass Wozniak beginning at 7pm. Artistic Director Clint Stone will speak briefly on Barbara’s behalf.

Barbara Robinette Moss was a celebrated author and artist. Her two published works were Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter and fierce. She was working on her third book at the time of her death. Clint Stone will read a short passage from that book on her behalf during the informal artist talk. Barbara’s primary artist’s media were printmaking and painting. City Arts Center is honored to be featuring a collection of her recent works.

“I first encountered Barbara’s work in Kansas City in the October of 2008 and it reached me emotionally. The work was achieved with great technique and clarity. Over the past year, talking with Barbara through phone calls and e-mails, and visiting her studio, reading her books, I became more enthralled with her work.”

City Arts Center is delighted to share her work with Oklahoma City and the surrounding area.

Though Barbara’s passing was sudden and unexpected it was very important to her and her husband Duane DeRaad that this body of work be exhibited at City Arts Center.

Please join us in celebrating the work and life of Barbara Robinette Moss during the opening reception and exhibition of Moss & Rivers: The Art of Barbara Robinette Moss and New Works by Kate Rivers.

Here is a passage from Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter that Barbara held dear:

“But the flowers didn’t die. At dusk, after the slender stalks had soaked up energy from the sun all day, we could hear them grow, jubilantly crackling as they pushed toward the stars. Solar furnaces. Cosmic rockets. The dark green spikes climbed toward heaven with spear-shaped leaves clinging to either side; cocoon-shaped florets clustered on the stems like pop-beads, opening into frilly, radiant colors that took our breath away.” From the chapter: The Coming of the Day

Kate Rivers is an Assistant Professor of Art at East Central University in Ada. She received her BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design and MFA in Printmaking from the University of South Carolina. Rivers' work has been exhibited nationally and she has received awards in many juried exhibits. Kansas City based artist Barbara Robinette Moss received an MFA from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, and a BFA from Ringling School of Art & Design, Sarasota, Florida. She has participated in over one hundred juried art exhibitions, including the Los Angeles Printmaking Society Contemporary American Printmakers and the Museum of American Art Drawing Midwest. The two person show will show several bodies of work in the areas of painting and printmaking by both artists.

Circle Gallery:

Narciso Argüelles and Cassandra WozniakNarciso Argüelles grew up on both sides of the Mexican and U.S. border. While still an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego, Narciso started collaborating with the internationally known Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo and soon became a full member. Narciso has exhibited at the the 9th Biennale of Sydney, The First Johannesburg Biennale in South Africa, The Alternative Biennale in Tucuman Argentine, and all over the United States, including New York City, New Haven, and Los Angeles. In this exhibition Argüelles and Wozniak will explore the culture of modified bicycles and automotive culture as it relates to the south side of Oklahoma City.

Click here to watch an interview about the Jason Hackenwerth exhibit.