I am a Weather Channel junkie. Plain and simple. I watch it a lot. But, over the last few weeks, I've grown tired of all the talk of the Tor:Con Index, Vortex 2, Fujita Scale, and all those horrible home videos of tornadoes raging through Midwestern open fields. It's all gotten pretty gloomy and depressing. I simply can't imagine living in one of those states that have no natural boundaries to slow down the wind and storms. Ugly.
In particular, it seems Oklahoma has been hit particularly hard this spring. When I see the daily reports of hundreds of lightning strikes, dozens of storm chasers and funnel cloud touchdowns dotting the state, all I can think is what a terrible place to live. But just as I wrote off the state in its entirety, I received a nice little magazine produced by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition called Art Focus Oklahoma. It was filled with images and articles of some of the beautiful artwork coming out of the OK state. (Yes, I accept the bitch slapping the weather gods have given me – or is it the art gods?). Turns out Oklahoma is not just about funnel clouds, hail storms, tumbled mobile homes and treeless fields. Here is a little example of some of the best and brightest art being created in Oklahoma:
Grace Grothaus
"City of Light; Distopia Looming"
mylar, acetate, leaves and flowers, acrylic, india ink
12"x18"x4" wall-hanging lightbox
Grace Grothaus
"Systemic II"
mylar, acetate, acrylic, photograph, leaves, ink
30"x18"x8"
Marilyn Artus
"I Told You This One Meant Business"
Giclee printed collage on canvas with embroidery
29"x20"
Bryan Boone
"Down the Road"
Mixed Media on panel
10" x 20"
Debby Kaspari
"Nelson's Cascade"
Pastel and graphite on Rives BFK paper
15" x 10"
Kim Fonder
"and then it all became perfectly clear to me"
Venetian plaster on canvas, with organic pigment
60" x 60" x 2 1/2"
Like how you brought this around to the art. I also tweeted it.
Posted by: Maureen E. Doallas | May 24, 2010 at 12:58 PM