connect vol. 2011, issue 3

CONNECTa publication of the OKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART | Vol. 2011, Issue 3

Faded Elegance: Photographs of Havana by Michael Eastman | Sept. 8 – Dec. 31, 2011

Inside at a Glance

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art enriches lives through the visual arts.

Mission

4 Faded Elegance: Photographs of Havana by Michael Eastman Curator Alison Amick discusses the exhibition with internationally acclaimed photographer Michael Eastman.

10 Poodles & Pastries (and Other Important Matters): New Paintings by Franco Mondini-Ruiz Explore the fun, colorful, witty work of contemporary artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz and be inspired to “curate” your own collection.

12 IN FOCUS @ OKCMOA

14 Majestic Word: Making of a Bestseller Dr. Scott Carroll tells the story of the King James version of the Bible and its impact on our culture. 18 Friends’ Lecture: PLACE PURPOSE FORM Join architect Jon Pickard as he discusses designing the new 50-story Devon Energy Tower.

21 FROM STUDENT TO CAREER College student Laura Nauman’s experiences at the Museum have influenced her career path.

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Closing October 16, Passages brings to life the history of the King James version of the Bible through nearly 300 manuscripts and artifacts. Don’t miss the opportunity to see rare items, such as a Dead Sea Scroll fragment, a large portion of a Gutenberg Bible, and first editions of the King James Bible. Take advantage of the audio tour and interactives found throughout the exhibition!

Illuminating the Past

Photo by Sanford Mauldin

CONNECT | Vol. 2011, Issue 3

DEAR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS,

The Museum remembers a dear friend and colleague, Chief Curator Emeritus Hardy Sloan George, PhD.

Hardy Sloan George was born in Oklahoma on December 2, 1932, and passed away in his home state on July 10, 2011. A graduate of Texas Christian University, George received a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received his Ph.D. in art history from the University of London. He was a professor of art history for many years and taught at the University of London in the UK; George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; Temple University in Philadelphia, PA; and finished his educational career at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.

George joined the staff of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 1999 as Chief Curator and served in that role until retiring in 2009. Upon retirement, George was honored with the title of Chief Curator Emeritus and continued to work with the Museum and maintain an office on site, preparing for the exhibition La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art from North American Collections. George’s vast and detailed knowledge of fine art, both modern and classical, helped him to shape the Museum’s collection that has received much acclaim and recognition. His research continued at the Museum until his death in July this year.

The important exhibitions George produced during his career were singular in the array of rich content brought to Oklahoma City. He considered them his finest work of his 50-year

professional career. George was a leading authority on the artist J.M.W. Turner and had published several books and professional articles as part of his scholarly work.

Hardy George will be dearly missed and always remembered by his friends and colleagues for his gracious and kind personality, his expertise and wonderful sense of humor, and as a significant contributor to the many communities where he lived and worked throughout his lifetime. (More about Hardy George on page 22)

Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center415 Couch Drive | Oklahoma City, OK 73102

(405) 236-3100 | Fax: (405) 236-3122okcmoa.com

Readers’ comments are welcome. Requests for permission to reprint any material

appearing in this publication should be e-mailed or sent to the address above.

E-mail [email protected].

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OFFICERSElby J. Beal, Chairman

Frank D. Hill, Immediate Past ChairmanFrank W. Merrick, Chairman-electSuzette Hatfield, Vice-chairmanLeslie S. Hudson, Vice-chairmanDuke R. Ligon, Vice-chairmanJudy M. Love, Vice-chairman

Virginia A. Meade, Vice-chairmanPeter B. Delaney, Treasurer

John R. Bozalis, M.D., SecretaryGlen Gentele, Ex-officio

EXECUTIVE STAFFGlen Gentele, President & CEO

Sandy Cotton, Development DirectorRodney Lee, Finance Director

Jack Madden, Facility Operations Director

EDITORIAL STAFFAlison Amick, Curator for Collections

Chandra Boyd, Senior Associate Curator of EducationJim Eastep, Senior Development Officer

Nicole Emmons, Editor & Publications CoordinatorBrian Hearn, Film Curator

Jennifer Klos, Associate CuratorLeslie A. Spears, Communications Manager

J. Edward BarthKaty BorenAllen Brown

William M. CameronTeresa L. Cooper

Theodore M. Elam*Nancy Payne Ellis

*Shirley FordPreston G. GaddisDavid T. Greenwell

Julie HallKirk Hammons

K. Blake HoenigThe Honorable Jerome A. Holmes

Joe M. Howell, D.V.M.Willa D. Johnson

Penny M. McCalebKatie McClendon

Frank W. McPherson*James C. Meade*Charles E. NelsonCynda C. Ottaway

Caroline PattonChristopher P. ReenMarianne Rooney

Robert J. RossAmalia Miranda Silverstein, M.D.

Darryl G. SmetteJeanne Hoffman Smith, MSSW, ASCW

Denise SuttlesJordan Tang, Ph.D.

Lyndon C. TaylorWanda Otey Westheimer

Charles E. Wiggin

*Lifetime Trustee

Glen Gentele, President & CEOON THE COVER: Michael Eastman (American, b. 1947). Red Couch, Havana, 2010. Digital C-Print, 90 x 72 in. © Michael Eastman/Photograph courtesy Barry Friedman Ltd.

President & CEO Glen Gentele (left) with Chief Curator Emeritus Hardy George (right) in front of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s The Building of the Trojan Horse at the opening of the exhibition La Serenissima: Eighteen-Century Venetian Art from North American Collections.

Photo by Joseph Mills

3CONNECT | Vol. 2011, Issue 3

FADED ELEGANCE: Photographs of Havana by Michael Eastman features works by internationally acclaimed photographer Michael Eastman. The first large-format photography exhibition at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Faded Elegance consists of twenty-nine, 6 x 7 1/2 ft. photographs taken in Havana, Cuba, by the artist between 1999 and 2010. Eastman’s subjects range from the interiors of homes along Embassy Row, to stairwells and music schools, to abstract patterns found on the exteriors of buildings. Join the exhibition’s curator, Alison Amick, in an in-depth interview with Eastman and discover how this talented artist captures such rich colors and visually stunning images.

ALISON AMICK: Let’s start by describing your background and how you developed an interest in photography. MICHAEL EASTMAN: I didn’t really get involved in photography until after college. At about 25 years of age, I borrowed a friend’s camera. I think what drew me to it was the immediacy of the medium.

AA: Early in your career, what type of equipment were you using, and what were some of the first subjects that you photographed?

ME: Some of the first things I photographed were surfaces. In fact, one of the first was an old painting that was in somebody’s garage, and the light was hitting it from the side, which is interesting, because it’s sort of what I’m doing currently. When I first began, I was working with medium format and 35 millimeter and photographing black and white, mostly architecture detail, and focusing mainly on learning composition. I was kind of a minimalist—photographs were just parts of building, lines, and compositions. I did that for ten years, photographing in that manner and photographing that subject matter.

In ‘82, I started working with a 4 x 5. It gave me the ability to shoot both black and white and color. Before, I was kind of forced to stay in black and white. If you wanted to change to color, you finished that roll and put in color, and then you shot in color. It wasn’t something that was interchangeable. But with 4 x 5, the film comes in holders, and you can load color in one group of holders and another group could be black and white, so you could switch back freely. And in ‘82 I made a photograph of a tiled old mid-century drugstore in black and white. And I thought, well, I’ll try it in color as well. When I looked at the color next to the black-and-white print, I never really wanted to photograph in black and white again because the colors added so much information, richness, warmth, narrative, so that the white on gray was now ivory on bone white, and the dark gray was this steely blue. From then on, anytime I ever saw a black-and-white photograph, I always wondered what color it was. And, almost 30 years later, I haven’t really looked back much at black and white.

AA: What type of equipment are you using now, and how does this compare to how you were working in 1982? How has your equipment and working method changed?

ME: I still shoot with a 4 x 5 camera. I now pretty much only use a wide-angle lens because the wide angle allows me to be as far back as I need. I find myself, especially when I’m photographing interiors, almost at the other end of the room with my back against the wall. But the big difference has been the digital revolution. I’m still shooting film, but instead of taking that negative and going into the darkroom and putting it into an enlarger, I’m scanning things in now.

Rather than printing them in the conventional darkroom, in the analog world, I’m printing them in Photoshop, which turns out, for me,

Michael Eastman (American, b. 1947). Mercedes Bedroom (detail), 2002. Digital C-Print, 90 x 72 in. © Michael Eastman/Photograph courtesy Barry Friedman Ltd.

Faded ElegancePHOTOGRAPHS OF HAVANA BY MICHAEL EASTMAN

September 8–December 31, 2011

CONNECT | Vol. 2011, Issue 34 okcmoa.com

to be what I call “the digital dark room.” It’s the most amazing darkroom any photographer could have ever imagined because of the amount of control. And I’m not talking about cloning and adding or subtracting things. I’m talking about the conventional tools a photographer had at our disposal: burning, dodging, cropping, and lightening this area, the contrast of a print, the color of the print. Having a few seconds in the darkroom to burn or dodge, to lighten and darken certain areas—that was a real limitation. So, you couldn’t get the print you wanted really. You only could approximate. But with Photoshop, you can. And that’s really, I think, the big advantage for fine art. For a printmaker, you can get exactly what you want; you can control everything in the print; and you can repeat it every time.

AA: Did you have any resistance to the digital revolution? How did you make the transition into printing digitally?

ME: It was not an aesthetic decision. When I first started in the mid-80s, I was making photographs with an 8 x 10 camera and cropping the center and making long horizontal cityscapes. I was printing those probably four or five feet long. So it was always part of my desire to print big. One of the reasons I photograph with a big negative is so I can go big. I was doing 6 x 8-foot prints analog. And the problem with doing a 6 x 8-foot analog is that you have to mask off the negative, and it has to be hand-done. There’s no such thing as a machine-made mask for a negative. You have to actually use four pieces, tape them together. If you were off a 64th of an inch, when you blew up to 6 x 8 feet, instead of having a rectangle, you’d have a parallelogram. And when you printed it and mounted it, you’d have a border that was uneven. And you couldn’t cut a mat that big. The only real solution at that point—and I was really reluctant to do it—was to go digital. If you went digital, there was no need for masking. You could crop it in the computer so it was a clean, a perfect rectangle. That was really the beginning, because I was pulled into the digital world dragging and kicking. And on some level, I still think analog prints have certain advantages, but the advantages of digital are enormous.

AA: Expand on the role that color plays in your work and how you achieve the rich, luscious effects that we see in your photographs.

ME: In ‘84, I made a photograph called Marcella’s Resort, which was a picture of some chairs in front of a pink building. It was an image that I absolutely loved. There was a narrative going on: there were these chairs; there was a television set on the inside. But the color of the building was this pinkish-orange with green trim. It was beautiful. It was unlike anything I was doing at the time, yet I knew there was something significant about it.

So it kind of was a precursor to the Cuba work, in that the color was really the thing that gave you the tone and flavor and feel. I always have it hanging somewhere in my house so I can look at it—the lesson of that photograph came to fruition when I first went to Cuba and saw the color there. It’s very significant; color is the first thing I see.

AA: Do you manipulate the colors at all in Photoshop?

ME: Well, part of it is the limitation of what I do. By that I mean, I shoot film—very few people do anymore—and I shoot really, really long exposures, sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes a minute, sometimes two minutes because the interiors that I photograph are usually very, very poorly lit. The film is not really designed for long exposure. It’s designed for an eighth of a second, not 80 seconds. And so you wind up having what’s called color shifts: the greens might go a little greener, the reds might go a little redder. It does affect it.

Most people think when I get into Photoshop, I’m going into colors and hitting the saturation button and jamming it as far to the right as possible to get it more saturated. But, in fact, I’m usually doing the opposite—the colors are too far gone. If anything, the colors are a result of

continued on page 7

BY MICHAEL EASTMAN


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using the wrong film for the wrong purpose, but I’m trying to make them as accurate as possible when I get back into the digital darkroom and work with them. But I do tend to remember romantically. I don’t have anything to go by. So those colors can go any number of directions. I try to be accurate.

AA: Scale plays an important role in your photographs. How did you become interested in printing photographs up to six feet?

ME: Six feet is the limit of a machine that prints these things. I think there has to be a reason to go large because if it’s not the right image, then there’s nothing gained by it. In fact, it’s just a big bad photograph. I always felt that the reason to go large with my work was because of the scale of the things that I photograph. When you’re looking at one of the big interiors of Cuba, there’s a sense that you fit in there, that the scale is right for what you’re looking at. And you can enter the print.

I make photographs that are portraits without anyone in the room. It’s very important for the viewer to be able to discover the narrative of that photograph and of the person that lives in that space. Those details are on the wall, they’re in the chairs, they’re in the artwork, they’re in the peeling paint, they’re in the chandelier, so that if it was a small 16 x 20 print, you could never view those things. I don’t print everything large scale, but that’s sort of my litmus test of when it should go big. Is there information there that’s important? Is it a scale issue where it’s significant for the viewer to enter the photograph?

AA: You’ve made four trips to Cuba. How did you become interested in visiting Cuba?

ME: I started seeing these fashion photographs that were getting some publicity, especially in European fashion magazines. They were shooting in Cuba more and more. It was sort of the vogue in the late 90s. And I was always looking at the background. Look at that room, or, wow, look at the paint on that wall.

There also was the whole mystique about Che and the revolution and Fidel and all. Those images, along with romanticizing Che and the revolution, made me really, really want to go to Cuba. I knew that it was a place that was frozen in time.

I grew as an artist by going there four times. When we were working on the exhibit and I was working on the [Havana] book simultaneously, it was like I was looking at everything I had shot, and it was really interesting to see the ideas take shape early in ‘99 and come to grow a little bit in 2000, and then really leap forward in 2002. And then 2010 was the best shoot I’ve ever had.

I think that it’s sort of finding your voice. It’s making your vision clear: what you’re going to photograph and how you’re going to photograph

it. It took me four trips, and each trip was better than the one before and different.

AA: People are often absent in your photographs; however, I noticed in your Cuba series that a few photographs included people.

ME: I feel like there was a breakthrough in the last trip. There were some things I tried that I found successful that were not what I had done before. I think including people was part of it. All the shooting I did in 2010, and what I’m looking forward to shooting in the future, are those kinds of themes, where there is a narrative telling the story. There are people on balconies and in doorways and walking down the street—sort

of like extras in a movie—that tell a story about the place and the building that I’m photographing.

AA: The homes of Isabella and Mercedes figure prominently in your work. Describe your experiences with them and these locations that you photographed.

ME: Well, Isabella’s was the first on my trip there in ‘99. We drove down 5th Avenue, which was where a lot of the embassies were located.

It was this grand old street. And along it there was a beautiful mansion, one with a huge green roof with a big gaping hole in it. We went to the door and knocked and asked if we could shoot. Isabella answered the door, and she’s my age, but ill, clearly not well. I walked in and saw the two chairs and several other images that I made there, and I started to photograph.

When I left and came back a year later, I discovered that Isabella had died a month after I was there—the hole in the roof, the lack of electricity, the dampness. Her niece took it over. And that’s when I shot Isabella’s Two Chairs (2000) with laundry. The whole house had laundry out;

the whole house had a sense of resurgence and vitality and youth and hope. When I went back in 2002, the hole was still in the roof, and there was a huge puddle in the middle of where I had photographed the two chairs. I couldn’t photograph it. It was just so sad. It was over.

When I went back in 2010, the government had taken it over. It actually looked like a corporate motel in America. It had been completely renovated. All the character, all the stories, all the history was removed, painted. And, you know, it was very, very sad that that was all lost, but certainly understandable. I mean, the building would be leveled if they hadn’t done something.

Mercedes was wonderful. I had been told about her house when I was there in 2000, but I never could seem to get in. Then in 2002, I met Mercedes and photographed that beautiful house. It was probably the best three hours of shooting that I’d ever done. It was so intense and wonderful, and there was so much to see. I just really wanted to

continued on page 8

Michael Eastman (American, b. 1947). Isabella’s Two Chairs, 2000. Digital C-Print, 90 x 72 in. © Michael Eastman/Photograph courtesy Barry Friedman Ltd.


honor it and make sure I got the photographs to have and to share.

When I went back in 2010, Mercedes had left the country, and the roof had fallen in on portions of the house, so many of the things that I had photographed were completely destroyed.

AA: Do you ever manipulate your settings?

ME: Anytime I have ever manipulated a setting, I’ve regretted it, which is rare. I didn’t do it in Cuba, but I’ve done it in Europe. I photographed a Renaissance interior with a set of contemporary golf clubs, and I moved the golf clubs. To this day, I know I made a mistake because it was the juxtaposition of those two things that made it a much more interesting narrative than the one I actually created when I moved them.

As someone who is documenting something as important as I think Cuba is as a subject, I feel that trying to be as honest and straightforward as possible is important. There is a historical significance to those photographs that has nothing to do with my artistic intent. I have a certain responsibility to show people the real thing, not something that’s been manipulated or changed or moved to make a narrative that doesn’t exist.

AA: How aware were you of what was happening in Cuba politically when you were traveling and taking your photographs, and did that have any influence on how or what you photographed?

ME: I’m sure it did, but I tried to respond to things from the heart and not from the mind. I’m not a political artist. To me, that would be propaganda. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it if you’re honest about it, but it’s not what I’m about.

What I’m really looking for is the universality of the human condition and a collective consciousness about how I respond to things. What I feel in the gut, what I feel in my heart, and not in my mind. I think it’s in the backdrop. I mean, certainly the poverty and condition of the island has to do with the decisions of Fidel and the government, but I don’t know that much about it. I don’t want to know that much about it. I don’t want to be swayed, and I don’t want to be making photographs where I’m trying to make a point. I just want to find the things that I respond to emotionally and record those as accurately as I can.

AA: Your photographs of Cuba include beautiful abstract details of exteriors, and the 2010 trip includes images of flatiron buildings. Could you discuss your photographs of these exteriors and the role that this type of photography plays in contrast to your interior settings?

ME: Well, it’s interesting because the abstractions really are what I’ve

been doing all along. I think that’s probably the painter in me who is seeing the photographic frame as a kind of canvas or a flat field. I’ve seen it as an object of art as opposed to a window, the way the photograph is, because it’s basically flat and two-dimensional, and it’s basically a painting—a photograph of a painting that I created by the frame that I chose to put around the subject.

Those were themes that have always been part of my work. And in Cuba, they were more resolved in some ways because of the color, which was intense and beautiful. The way these things were untouched for years and years, so that man made and nature and sun and wind and rain and storms made these marks and scars and patina and surface on these walls. Those are things I’m still interested in, still love to photograph.

The flatirons and the photographs of buildings from a little bit of a distance are new and very exciting to me. They tell a story too. And I think that’s one of the reasons why they’re farther back. I’m as far back now as I can be with a wide-angle lens across

the street, but I’m telling a story just like I did with the interiors.

AA: Is there anything else you would like to add, Michael?

ME: Every artist, I think, finds a place that they respond to in a way that they don’t respond to in any other place. And Cuba was that for me—the pathos, the sadness, the beauty, the architecture, the color. I know that I’ll find those elements again in the future, and I’ll be grateful to be in front of them, but Cuba was just the place for me. It was perfect. It fit me.

See the Museum’s calendar for exhibition-related events.

Michael Eastman (American, b. 1947). Flat Iron Building 1, Havana, 2010. Digital C-Print, 90 x 72 in. © Michael Eastman/Photograph courtesy Barry Friedman Ltd.

PUBLICATIONAvailable for purchase in the Museum Store, Michael Eastman’s full-color publication Havana (Prestel, 2011) is a vivid and poetic tribute to a vibrant, unique city and culture. The book is comprised of over 90 photographs, the fruits of his four trips to Cuba over the last 12 years. The publication includes essays by Cuban-born writer and poet Achy Obejas and critic and author Vicki Goldberg.


On March 16, 2012, the Museum celebrates its 10th anniversary downtown in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center. Our wonderful programmatic successes and loyal members and benefactors have made the last decade a thrilling experience, and we look forward to an equally exciting future. Thank you!

SAVE THE DATE!for these special 10th anniversary events:

December 31, 2011

Rediscover the magic of the Museum’s collection of Dale Chihuly glass on New Year’s Eve. The Museum will host a Members’ Preview from 6:00–8:00 p.m. From 7:00–11:00 p.m., OKCMOA will be a venue for the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s Opening Night, featuring live entertainment, Chihuly glass, and more!

March 16–18, 2012Help us celebrate our 10th anniversary with a FREE ADMISSION weekend full of family fun and activities. Look for the invitation in February.

SHARE YOUR STORIES!We would love to hear memories or stories from our members and friends about the Museum over the last ten or more years. If you have memories, stories, or photos you would like to share with us on our anniversary, please send them to [email protected] or mail to OKCMOA, 415 Couch Drive, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102


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FUN, FLAVORFUL, COLORFUL, KITSCHY, nostalgic, whimsical, witty, poetic, glitzy, ironic, and a “fizzy visual pleasure”i are just some of the words used to describe Franco Mondini-Ruiz’s art works. Lawyer turned full-time artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz is a sculptor, painter, and performance artist with a mission. He wants contemporary art to be entertaining, accessible, portable, and most importantly affordable to anyone interested in his work.

The fourth installment of the NEW FRONTIERS Series for Contemporary Art, Poodles & Pastries (and Other Important Matters): New Paintings by Franco Mondini-Ruiz presents a site-specific installation of approximately 1,000 small-scale paintings, most measuring 8 x 10 inches. Poodles, Parisian icons, pastries, cupcakes, chandeliers, couples, and fashionable women appear on canvases, embodying a visual extravaganza of imagery. Quick brushstrokes offset by vibrant colors of pink and blue capture spontaneity reminiscent of fashion illustrations. Witty titles evoke the poetic voice and humor of the artist. In essence, these paintings become miniature utopias to behold.

Poodles & Pastries reflects the artist’s heritage in an extensive body of work. As the son of an “upper-crust” Italian father and a “working-class Tex-Mex” mother, Mondini-Ruiz draws inspiration from his early memories to create a “theatrical setting, mom-and-pop store cum cultural salon.” Mondini-Ruiz grew up in the “white” suburbs of San Antonio, and like many young Latinos of his generation, it was not until later that he would explore and embrace his Mexican roots. Becoming envious of his artist friends, Mondini-Ruiz quit his job as a lawyer and purchased his famous Infinito Botánica on South Flores Street in San Antonio in 1995. The botánica, a store or junk shop selling folk medicines and religious candles, contained over seventy years of existing stock to which Mondini-Ruiz added thrift-shop finds and art works by himself and his friends.

Mondini-Ruiz successfully created a communal space, a hybrid store and art installation, serving the local neighborhood and bringing together all classes, races, and cultures of San Antonio. In an interview Mondini-Ruiz stated, “the botánica all of a sudden became a cultural institution. And it worked. I had movie stars and museum curators and all the rich people and all the gangsters and all the Mexican grandmothers and middle-class ladies that thought they were cool venturing into the ghetto.”ii

Full of parties and performances, the botánica itself was a “social sculpture,” according to the artist. Mondini-Ruiz successfully created a fun, accessible, creative, and inclusive space to buy art and to become part of the contemporary art world.

The botánica experience caught the attention of museums and galleries nationally and internationally. Mondini-Ruiz had the opportunity to recreate the Infinito Botánica as an installation, event, and performance. Invited to be in the 2000 Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, he memorably sold objects on the street in front of the museum. Mondini-Ruiz continues to participate in performances and exhibitions showcasing and selling his sculptures, prints, and paintings. Aware of the nuances and ironies of cultural “exoticization,” the artist expresses his witty sense of humor and vibrant personality throughout his work. Mondini-Ruiz is quick to remind visitors, “We all have a lot of problems—the economy and environment and all that—but you’ve still got to try to enjoy your life. You’ve still got to look for the poodles and the pastries in life. And it’s there.”iii

iRoberta Smith, “Art in Review; Franco Mondini-Ruiz,” New York Times, 30 December 2005.iiFranco Mondini-Ruiz, interview by Jennifer Klos, 6 June 2011.iiiibid

OPENING PARTY/PEDDLER PERFORMANCES Small canvases create portability in purchasing power. Part performance and part studio art, Poodles & Pastries embodies a visual profusion of artwork. Over several days, Mondini-Ruiz will be “performing”—painting, pontificating, and peddling—with a background of music, complimentary pink drinks, frenzied shopping, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. Visitors will be able to “curate” their own collections and go home with paintings purchased right off the walls. This is a no-miss show!

Wednesday, September 7, 6–8 p.m.Thursday, September 8, 5–9 p.m.Additionally, the artist will be present throughout the day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 8–11.

ABOUT THE SERIESOrganized by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, NEW FRONTIERS Series for Contemporary Art presents the art of our time dealing with current perspectives in the field. The series was created to provide a framework for the exchange of ideas between the Museum, artists, and the community and to advance the visual arts. NEW FRONTIERS connects the Museum to the international dialogue on contemporary art and emphasizes the importance of contemporary art as a critical and dynamic part of our daily lives.

By Associate Curator Jennifer Klos

Images Left to Right, Top to Bottom:Pose with a PoodleMarriage ModernePretty in ParisDog with a DentistMemoirs of a MinotaurCouple on a CupcakeThe Light DrinkersWoman in PinksBirds on a BourbonParty of ThreeFun on FrostingGirl Having a BallDoughnut DiorGirls on the GoWoman with a Golden BackgroundThe Banana Split Up

NEW FRONTIERS Series for Contemporary ArtSeptember 8–December 31, 2011

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IN FOCUS @ OKCMOAYOUTH ARTS ADVOCATES Members of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Youth Arts Advocates held a film event on May 14 that featured live music, a screening of American Teen, and an interactive panel discussion. YAA members also worked with a professional artist in May to create art panels for the WestTown Campus public art project put on by the Homeless Alliance of Oklahoma City.

LAST CALL 1934: A NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTSGuests attended the Last Call closing celebration for 1934: A New Deal for Artists on August 18. Festivities included a vintage cocktail tastings, curator talks in the exhibition, and a “Living Newspapers” performance by Twinprov. Photos by Chris McCord.

deadCENTER Large crowds enjoyed the opening night rooftop reception at the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival. Pictured above is festival director Lance McDaniel. Photos by Peter Dolese


HEARTS FOR HEARINGThis summer, the Museum partnered with Hearts for Hearing to present a camp for children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Campers engaged with the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the OKC Thunder and had behind-the-scenes experiences with Museum exhibitions as well as Lyric Theatre. Photos by Randy Fischer.

PASSAGES OPENINGAt left, Steve and Jackie Green, Scott Carroll, and Tina and Elby Beal at the opening reception for Passages. More than 700 visitors attended the event. Photos by Alan Ball.

SUMMER CAMPSMore than 200 children, ages 4 to 16, participated in the Museum’s summer camp program this year. Projects ranged from printmaking, sculpture, cityscape drawing and American Scene painting to photography, fashion, and video production.


THE CULTURAL IMPACT OF PRINTED BOOKS could never be overstated, even in a world of digital readers. The most copied, printed, adorned, quoted, widely distributed book of all time is the Bible. Nothing stands in comparison. It has had an enormous influence on all walks of life. Its stories have inspired more works of art than any

other book. The Passages exhibition celebrates the most influential translation of the Bible and the best-selling book of all time—the King James Bible (hereafter KJV) on the 400th

Anniversary of its first printing. This short article will explore the production of the KJV, the factors that contributed to its popularity and, ultimately, its cultural legacy.

Printing the Bible in English mirrored the tumultuous developments of the time. The first

legal printing of the Bible in English was by Myles Coverdale in 1535, 69 years after the appearance of the first printed vernacular Bible in German. Even less than a year after the publication of the Coverdale Bible, the most prominent English Bible translator, William Tyndale, was executed as a heretic for translating and publishing the Bible in English. Surprisingly, English would be among the last of the major European languages to have a legal Bible translated and published in the vernacular, yet by 1611, England would produce the best-selling and most influential translation of all time.

In 1603, King James I ascended to the throne in England, marking the emergence of a new dynasty and the hope of a new era of unequaled power and royal wealth, practically a Messianic reign. This meant unifying the disparate, and potentially destabilizing, Protestants and solidifying his own rule by claiming divine authority for his reign. The latter meant dangerously courting Franco-Catholic theories and the Bible was central to his program. Unsuccessful attempts had been made trying to unify the Protestants by means of producing a consensus translation. Henry VIII and Parliament tried to replace the popular Matthew’s Bible of 1537 with the so-called Great Bible of 1539. Despite the grandiose title, it never caught on.

Elizabeth I and Parliament tried to replace the wildly popular Geneva Bible of 1560 with the Bishops’ Bible of 1568. Despite a title that promised the weight of ecclesiastical authority, it never replaced the Geneva Bible. Neither Bible achieved acceptance as a standard, despite mandatory distribution to all parishes and decrees urging the

public reading of the Bible from the new official translations.King James I was undaunted by the failures of previous Bible

translations. He saw the Geneva Bible as a divisive translation, filled with excessive theological notes and renderings that were potentially disruptive to his new order. One of James’ first measures in 1603 was to convene scholars at Hampton Court Castle to inaugurate a new translation to replace the Geneva Bible. He hoped that it might unite the Protestants and support his own religio-political agenda. Despite these over-arching obsessions, James had a sincere interest in Bible translation. He had produced a paraphrase of Revelation as early as 1585 and a popular metrical translation of the Psalms shortly after the appearance of the Bible that bears his name.

When he tasked the selected scholars to produce the new consensus translation, he laid down very specific guidelines. The resulting translation was, in actuality, NOT a translation in the traditional sense. Each group of translators was given unbound copies of the 1603 Bishops’ Bible to use as a base text. Several still survive with translators’ notes. They were tasked to peruse the earlier English translations of the Bible and to find the renderings they felt read best. Then they were told to compare the translation they chose with texts of the original languages to verify their accuracy. Finally, they were sternly warned to avoid translating passages that were deemed theologically polarizing and to avoid the use of notes unless they were necessary to explain the original language of the text. The KJV represented a very non-conventional approach to translation and it underscored the control the King had over the project. Like many of his predecessors, James understood the influence of unifying the church and state under monarchical authority and the strategic importance of controlling his subjects by dictating the Bible they read.

The KJV was produced at a fortuitous time. The printing revolution was well underway. Reading was democratized. Books were more affordable and mass produced. Educational opportunities

MAJESTIC WORDMaking of a Bestseller

This is a portrait of King James I of England and the VI of Scotland, by John De Critz the Elder who died 1647.

By Dr. Scott Carroll, director of the Green Collection

King James I had a passionate interest in Bible translation both for religious and political designs. His metrical translation of the Psalms, which he translated with the help of others, was published posthumously by his son and successor Charles I. The translation was intended to be used in Church and was very popular. The title page is particularly interesting. It shows the title being held by God, whose hand bursts through a cloud from heaven. On one side, King David, in armor with his harp at his side, helps to support the title or may be seen as receiving the content—a common theme in medieval manuscript representations at the beginning of Psalms. On the other side, King James I, like a Davidic successor, helps without any strain to hold the title. While David looks devotedly into heaven, King James stares out at his readers.


expanded. New worlds were discovered. There was a vast expansion in learning and the knowledge base grew exponentially.

The seventeenth century was a period of great literary production in English and a time when the English language took form. The KJV was born in this context. During the tercentenary anniversary of the KJV, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem that described England being shaped on an anvil, “Heavy are the blows! (But the work will be a marvel when it’s done.) . . . . England’s being hammered, hammered, hammered into shape.” The same might be said of the English language at that time. The production and distribution of the King James Bible played no small role in this development. Victor Hugo observed, “England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare but the Bible made England.” Countless copies of the KJV were distributed around the English empire. Those who could not read heard it proclaimed from pulpits and used in the marketplace.

Journalist Boyd Tonkin illustrates the far-reaching influence of the KJV in a recent article published in the British newspaper The Independent:

In a secular age where ignorance of religion goes from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7) among lovers of filthy lucre (I Timothy 3:8) who only want to eat, drink, and be merry (Luke 12:19), we know for a certainty (Joshua 23:13) that these resonant words endure as a fly in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10:1) and a thorn in the flesh (II Corinthians 12:7) of the powers that be (Romans 13:1). They can still set the teeth on edge (Jeremiah 31:29) of those who try to worship God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). But does this ancient book, proof that there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), now cast its pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6), and act as a voice crying in the wilderness (Luke 3:4)—a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15) of unbelief, no longer a sign of the times (Matthew 16:3) but a verbal stumbling-block (Leviticus 19:14)?

So many familiar maxims and adages that have become a part of our English-speaking experience have come from the King James Bible, such as an eye for an eye; the Lord is my shepherd; Blessed are the poor in spirit; and Love your neighbor as yourself to name a few. The KJV can be heard on

the highways and byways of our lives, from inaugural addresses to rock-and-roll lyrics.

The KJV was not an instant success. The Geneva Bible was published in over 140 editions and remained in print decades after the appearance of the KJV. Shakespeare, Milton, and others incorporated passages primarily from the Geneva Bible, not the KJV. Even the notes of the Geneva Bible were rather quickly incorporated into the margins of the KJV and lived long after the Geneva Bible became obsolete.

One of the greatest ironies of this story is that the KJV translators most frequently relied on the translation work of William Tyndale, executed 76 years prior. Around 80 percent of Tyndale’s translations were employed by the KJV committee, [but Tyndale] who being dead, yet speaketh (Hebrews 11:4). Shakespeare did not shape the English language, nor did the King James translators, directly. Tyndale mastered the ancient languages at a time when such an achievement was extremely rare. He also knew English: the vernacular of the street and the majestic language of the court. He was a biblical bard and religious fugitive. He had an uncanny sense of measure, rhythm, and the majesty of the task. Tyndale’s incredible skill makes the KJV memorable and is the major

reason why it is both endearing and enduring. Forgotten by many, this condemned criminal unwittingly had more to do with the formation of the English language via the KJV than any poet laureate.

This is the story behind the production of the KJV, something of its incalculable impact, and why anyone interested in culture should know something about this fascinating book.

The general title page of the 1st edition King James Bible of 1611 is an engraved masterpiece. The iconographic work was done by Cornelius Boel and depicts all twelve Apostles, Moses, Aaron, and the Holy Trinity but, ironically, not King James I. The New Testament title page was crafted from a woodcut and was used as a general title page in later editions.

Passages, highlighting the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible, is on view through October 16, 2011.


CATERING | FINE DINING

BRUNCH | MUSEUM CAFE TEAEXTENDED HOURS THROUGH OCTOBER 16, 2011

SUNDAY 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. MONDAY 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

TUESDAY–SATURDAY 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. MUSEUM CAFE TEA 3 – 5 p.m. (Tues. – Fri.)

For more information, call (405) 235-6262. Make reservations or view menus at okcmoa.com/eat

Special event approaching? CALL FOR CATERING!

Roof Terrace Season closes on Thursday, October 27! The next season will open on May 3, 2012. Bands finishing out the season include:

SEPTEMBER1 Born In November8 Maurice Johnson Quartet15 Brendan Parker & Todd Parsons22 Born In November29 Bruce Benson

OCTOBER6 Born In November13 Phil Brown & Body Language20 Brendan Parker & Todd Parsons27 Born In November

COMING UP! October •Beer Dinner to be announced!

November •Order your pre-packaged Thanksgiving dinners.

December •Buy $200 in Museum Cafe gift cards and receive

a complimentary gift card for 10% of your entire purchase.

•Order your pre-packaged Christmas Dinners.New Year’s Eve •Cafe patrons get free admission to the roof terrace

to see Opening Night fireworks!


THE MUSEUM’S PRIZED Calla Lily (Lily – Yellow No. 2), 1927, by Georgia O’Keeffe will travel this September to Rome, where it will begin an international tour as part of the major exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: A Retrospective. The Arthemisia Group at the Foundazione Roma Museo in Rome, the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftlung in Munich, and the Helsinki Art Museum, in collaboration with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, are organizing this major exhibition. Part of the Museum’s Westheimer Family Collection, O’Keeffe’s Calla Lily is an important, early floral painting by the artist and will be one of the key images for the exhibition.

The work of Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986) is among the most well-known in America, as is the artist herself. From the 1920s, when she became recognized as one of America’s leading modernists, until her death, she and her work have garnered extraordinary interest in the American art community and with the American public.

O’Keeffe’s work, however, is generally unknown beyond American shores, a situation for which her husband and dealer, Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), was primarily responsible. As America’s first modernist photographer and its first advocate of American art, Stieglitz resented the fact that American art was not regarded with the same degree of importance as that of the Europeans. As a result, he refused to send the work of any of the artists he supported to exhibitions outside of the United States. He introduced O’Keeffe’s art to the New York art community in 1916, and he became her dealer that year and her husband in 1924. As the most ardent promoter of her work, Stieglitz made O’Keeffe’s art accessible to New Yorkers with the annual exhibitions of it that he organized from 1923 until his death in 1946.

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Retrospective will introduce a diverse international audience to this beloved American artist and will be made up of work from European and American collections, including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The exhibition will include examples of her work in charcoal, watercolor, oil, and sculpture. It will provide an overview of the kinds of subjects that interested her, from her abstractions of the 1910s to her innovative and famous large-scale paintings of the 1920s, which include flowers, other natural forms, and depictions of New York City, to her famous paintings of bones, skulls, and the highly colored and dramatic landscape configurations of New Mexico. Additionally, photographs of O’Keeffe made by Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Todd Webb, Andy Warhol, and Don Worth will be on view.

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Retrospective will travel to the Fondazione Roma Museo, Rome (October 5, 2011–January 22, 2012), Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftlung, Munich (February 2–May 13, 2012), and Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki (May 31–September 9, 2012).

Museum’s O’Keeffe to Travel in Major International Retrospective

Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887-1986). Calla Lily (Lily-Yellow No. 2), 1927. Oil on canvas, 20 x 9 in. (50.8 x 22.86 cm). Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Westheimer Family Collection, 2005.056 © The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Traveling Collection

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art lends works to numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. Recent highlights include the loan of American artist Alice Neel’s painting Carmen and Judy (1972; oil on canvas) to Alice Neel: Painted Truths, a major exhibition that traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and the Moderna Museet, Malmo, Switzerland throughout 2010. One of the Museum’s key paintings, Gustave Courbet’s Gorge dans une Forêt (le Puits Noir) [Gorge in a Forest (The Black Well)] (ca. 1865; oil on canvas) traveled to the Complesso de Vittoriano in Rome for Impressionism and the Ecology of Landscape in 2010. In 2011, the Museum lent Charles Garabedian’s First and Second Estate (1998; acrylic on paper) to Charles Garabedian: A Survey, a major retrospective of the artist’s work, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Over the past two years, works from the Museum’s collection have also appeared in exhibitions throughout the state, including Constructing a Human Comedy: The Art of Honoré Daumier at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa and Sooners in the Land of Enchantment: Oklahoma Artists and New Mexico at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. From the permanent film collection, the Museum loaned a 1934 Popeye cartoon, A Dream Walking, to the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal this past spring. Artworks currently on loan from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art can be found in the following exhibitions:

September 10–November 13, 2011In Memory Still: A Kiowa Legacy in Art at the Muscarelle Museum of Art, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

Alexandre Hogue (American, 1898-1994). Soil and Subsoil, 1946. Oil on canvas, 36 x 52 in. (91.4 x 132.1 cm). Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Purchase with matching funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1971.027

Oscar Brousse Jacobson (American, 1882-1966). Fall in Oklahoma, 1954. Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm). Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Purchase, 1968.036

September 24–November 27, 2011Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History


ON OCTOBER 5, 2011, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art welcomes architect Jon Pickard FAIA, RIBA and his discussion “Place Purpose Form,” as part of the James C. Meade Friends’ Lecture Series. Pickard is Principal and Cofounder of Pickard Chilton, a firm that practices exclusively as Design Architect in collaboration with Architects of Record. The firm is located in New Haven, Connecticut, across from Yale University.

Throughout his 33-year career, Jon Pickard has been recognized internationally for his achievements in architecture. He has designed or collaborated in the design of some of the world’s most recognized buildings, including such prominent projects as the ExxonMobil Office Complex in Houston, Texas; The Atrium (LEED Gold), a luxury residential tower in Dubai; 1180 Peachtree (LEED Gold) in Atlanta, Georgia; 300 North LaSalle (LEED Gold) in downtown Chicago, Illinois; the US Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters (LEED Gold) near Washington, DC; and Four Seasons Place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Prior to the founding of Pickard Chilton, he collaborated with Cesar Pelli in the design of numerous landmark and award-winning projects, including two of the largest commercial developments ever built—the World Financial Center in New York and Kuala Lumpur City Centre in Kuala Lumpur, a development that includes the Dewan Filharmonik, Malaysia’s National Symphony Hall—and two of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers.

Jon Pickard received his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Iowa State University and his Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. Iowa State University awarded him its Design Achievement Award (1989) for distinguished contributions to the arts, and the Christian Petersen Design Award (2007). In conjunction with William Chilton, he is corecipient of the 2011 Iowa State University Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor given to alumni by the University. The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston recognized Jon Pickard as its 2006 Honoree. He regularly serves as a visiting critic at Yale University and has led an advanced design studio at Iowa State University. He has lectured extensively at academic institutions including Rice University, Louisiana State University, Iowa State University, and Harvard University. He currently serves on the Yale School of Architecture Dean’s Council.

In 2008, Devon Energy commissioned Pickard Chilton to design the company’s new corporate headquarters. Upon its completion in 2012, the iconic, 50-story, 850-foot Devon Energy Headquarters will play a significant civic role in downtown Oklahoma City. As the largest private development in Oklahoma history and the tallest building in the state, Pickard’s design will positively contribute to the public realm with a series of exterior and interior public spaces reuniting an underutilized site with the surrounding neighborhood and a major public park. Mayor Cornett cited the project as “a proud symbol of the strength and beauty of this great city.”

Friends’ lectures are free to Museum members at the Friend, Friends, and Sustainer membership levels. Seating is limited to 250, and reservations are required. Prices are $5 for general membership levels and $10 for nonmembers per ticket. For more information, contact Jim Eastep at 236-3100, ext. 215, or visit tickets.okcmoa.com.

PLACE PURPOSE FORM

JAMES C. MEADE FRIENDS’ LECTURE SERIESThe James C. Meade Friends’ Lecture Series brings three speakers to Oklahoma City annually to present lectures on special topics related to art and culture.

2011-12 Season Speakers

Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 6:30 p.m. “PLACE PURPOSE FORM”Jon Pickard FAIA, RIBA, principal and cofounder of Pickard Chilton

February 2012Sarah Thornton, is a writer and sociologist. She is the author of Seven Days in the Art World and writes about contemporary art for Artforum.com and The Economist. See http://sarah-thornton.com/ for additional information.

May 2012Sheila R. Canby, Patti Cadby Birch Curator in charge of the Museum’s Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; formerly curator of Islamic Art and Antiquities at The British Museum.

The James C. Meade Friends’ Lecture Series supports the Museum’s mission of enriching lives through the visual arts. Named for Lifetime Trustee and Friends supporter James C. Meade, the series features internationally-recognized speakers, including curators, critics, collectors, and cultural figures that engage and educate audiences with current perspectives in the visual arts.

This image shows the juxtaposition of the ornate cornice detail of the Colcord Hotel and the Devon Energy Tower glass and metal curtain wall. The architectural details found throughout downtown Oklahoma City were thoroughly studied and considered before designs for the Tower were completed. Photo courtesy Pickard Chilton

Jon Pickard FAIA, RIBA. Photo courtesy Pickard Chilton


THE OKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART film program, in collaboration with Tulsa’s Circle Cinema, was awarded one of eight grants to implement Science on Screen programs at their theaters. This national grant initiative is an outgrowth of the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Science on Screen series that creatively pairs screenings of feature films and documentaries with lively presentations by scientific experts and technological innovators. With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the program will be implemented at art house theaters in a cross-section of cities including Oklahoma City and Tulsa; Seattle; Huntington, NY; Tucson; Paducah, KY; Hartford; Tampa; and San Rafael, CA. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation sees Science on Screen as an extension of its mission to advance public understanding of science and technology through film.

“We are pleased to collaborate with our friends at the Circle Cinema to present a statewide Science on Screen program in the spring of 2012. This is a great opportunity to connect audiences to the outstanding scientific research being done in Oklahoma in an accessible way,” commented film curator Brian Hearn.

ARTONA BEER TASTING EVENT!TAP

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2011 | 7:30-10:30PM

THE 8TH ANNUAL ARTonTAP promises to be another “green” year. In 2010, the Museum implemented recycling and composting at ARTonTAP. This made the event one of the first waste-free events ever held in the state and earned it an ECO Gold Standard rating. The Museum worked with organizations like the Department of Environmental Equality (DEQ); ECO (Encouraging Conservation in Oklahoma), which is a branch of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism; and Closer to Earth Youth Gardens to diminish waste at the event. With a few simple changes and a cooperative audience, 780 pounds of cardboard and glass, 23 bags of plastics, and over ten bags of compostable materials were recycled. “With a great group of Museum staff and helpful volunteers, it was easy to cut down on waste—we even saved some money,” says Whitney Cross, event coordinator.

This year’s ARTonTAP will be even greener! To cut down on the use of plastic materials, each guest will receive a collectible ARTonTAP glass for tastings. Additionally, invitations will be printed on recycled paper and participating restaurants are being encouraged to source local ingredients. “The Museum hopes to educate audiences that with a little organization, recycling and composting is very easy to execute,” says Cross.

The 8th Annual ARTonTAP will be held on Friday, October 14, from 7:30–10:30 p.m., at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The event will feature great food from area restaurants, fantastic art, and over 80 different beers from around the world and many made right here in Oklahoma. The Stella Artois Roof Terrace will feature live music by Born in November, dancing, and unbeatable views of downtown Oklahoma City. Tickets are $45 for members and $50 for non-members—PRESALE ONLY! For questions or sponsorship information, please contact Whitney Cross at 405-278-8207. Tickets on sale at tickets.okcmoa.com.

Film Program Receives National Grant for “Science on Screen” Collaboration

Photos by Paul Houston


Projection Perfection Campaign Gets Underway with Lead Gift from The Fred Jones Family FoundationMARY EDDY AND FRED JONES believed that if one had extra money to give back to the community, it was very important that they help lead the way. It was their goal to build a better Oklahoma.

The Mary Eddy Jones Signature Gift is leading the way for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s 10th Anniversary Projection Perfection Campaign. The focus of this project is to update and improve the digital cinema projection system in the Museum’s theater. “Our digital video projector, purchased in 2002, was equal to the task,” say Brian Hearn, film curator. “However, ten years later, the technology is marching on and obsolescence is nipping at our heels.” This generous donation will provide the resources to keep pace with a new generation of motion picture technology. The new equipment will offer twice the resolution, and the 20,000 film lovers that visit the theater every year will literally be able to see the difference on screen.

“We want to express our sincere appreciation for this lead gift from The Fred Jones Family Foundation,” says Hearn. “The Foundation’s mission to increase the quality of life in central Oklahoma through projects dedicated to cultural growth and beautification is exemplified through their commitment to our film program.”

To follow the lead of The Fred Jones Family Foundation and contribute to the Projection Perfection Campaign, please contact Development Director Sandy Cotton at 405-278-8227.

FREE ADMISSION with a student I.D. during the month of SEPTEMBER at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art


IN THE SUMMER OF 2002, Robin and Dennis Nauman sought out something fun and unique for their daughter Laura that was not a typical day camp. They enrolled her in the Museum’s first-ever Video Production summer camp. This was one of Laura’s first memories of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which had recently opened in its new facility in downtown Oklahoma City.

Laura’s favorite part of the camp was editing the video, “Treasure Hunt,” and making a new friend. “I did not have art in school, so this was an escape for me, a place where I could be myself,” Laura recalls.

Her love of visual art developed when she was very young. While in grade school, Laura attended art classes and camps at the Edmond Fine Arts Institute, City Arts Center in Oklahoma City, and the library. She says that she enjoyed art because it was expressive and creative.

Laura applied and was accepted into the Visual Art program at Classen School of Advanced Studies in the fall of 2002. There she began a study and developed a strong interest in photography. “I took my first photography class and was immediately drawn to the process. Learning to recognize photographic opportunities and how to assess content, perspective, and lighting as well as experimenting with various darkroom techniques were all exciting to me. Soon I began taking and experimenting with digital images.” Since then, several of Laura’s photographs have received awards, and six have been published in calendars.

Her relationship with the Museum grew during junior high and high school, as she advanced with the Museum to the position of assistant to the video camp instructor. “This volunteer role allowed her to share

her skills and knowledge and to serve as a mentor to the students,” adds Chandra Boyd, senior associate curator of education. Since 2004, Laura has assisted instructors with several of the Museum’s other visual arts camps for children, providing guidance and helping to carry out the activities related to each session. Additionally, the Museum’s family programs have benefited from Laura’s volunteerism, including Family Days, where she helped guest artists in carrying out hands-on art-making activities for the public.

Shortly after graduating from Classen SAS in 2008, Laura began her studies at the University of Central Oklahoma as a Museum Studies major. This choice was greatly influenced by an experience she had at the Museum. “I was given the opportunity to spend a day shadowing various Museum employees. One of my favorite experiences that day was participating in a design meeting for an education program brochure,” Laura says.

In addition to Museum Studies, she pursued courses in graphic design. “Ultimately, I would like to use my photographic and design skills while working in a museum setting.”

In 2008, Laura also became employed by the Museum as a visitor services associate before taking a position in the Museum Store. However, during the summer of 2011, she was promoted to the position of AmeriCorps Member—Summer Camp Assistant, where she provided the day-to-day oversight of children participating in the Museum’s summer camps, supervised volunteers, and assisted instructors in making sure their lessons were carried out effectively. After completing her summer appointment at the Museum, Laura returned to UCO to complete her studies in advertising with a graphic design and photography minor as well as her position in the store.

“She has come full circle,” comments Boyd. “I can’t help but feel like Laura’s experience at the Museum throughout her youth influenced her choice of career. I have enjoyed getting to know her over the past nearly ten years, and I look forward to working with her in the years to come.”

Editor’s Note: In anticipation of the Museum’s 10th anniversary in 2012, a series of feature articles are being developed to celebrate and highlight the people and programs that have made a significant contribution to our success over the past ten years.

FROM STUDENT TO CAREER A Product of 10 Years of Educational Programming at the OKCMOA

A self portrait by Laura Nauman

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ENDOWMENT GIFTS The Oklahoma City Museum of Art has a large base of donors and members—a merit badge earned by a disciplined and tenacious adherence to fiduciary responsibility. The main indication of donor trust and respect is the Museum’s growing endowments. With 15 permanently restricted endowments, the Museum is better positioned to ensure essential support for strategic priorities, including collections, education, exhibitions, film, public programs, building maintenance, and general operations. One new funding opportunity is that of named endowments for key professional staff positions, including Curator of Collections, Curator of Film, and Curator of Education.

The benefits of endowments to OKCMOA are indeed many. They ensure continuity in programming during periods of financial uncertainty and can provide shelter from shifting priorities of corporate and foundation funders. In addition, they also provide the necessary resources to allow the Museum to confidently plan for the future. For you, the donor, the benefits of endowment giving are equally compelling—an opportunity to provide a permanent legacy benefiting the Museum far into the future. Additionally, endowment gifts provide the donor with a certain brand of “immortality,” knowing that their gift will touch the lives of future generations.

PLANNED GIFTSMaking a commitment to the Museum through a planned gift can be an alternative way to establish an endowment. A properly planned gift to the Museum may result in significant savings of income and estate taxes and have considerable benefits for you. This type of giving provides financial resources for the future.

Your planned gift may take one or more forms: a bequest in your will, life insurance policy, charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, charitable lead trust, or retirement plan beneficiary designations to mention a few.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the art of planned giving and the importance of securing funds that will have a significant impact on our future and our mission of enriching lives through the visual arts.

Please contact the Museum’s development office if you have questions or would like additional information regarding endowment and planned giving opportunities.

Sandy Cotton, Development Director, (405) 278-8227Jim Eastep, Senior Development Officer, (405) 278-8215

The ART of GIVING

Dr. George with Alison Amick, curator for collections, at the 25th Annual Dean A. McGee Award Ceremony on May 19, 2011.

Hardy George curated numerous exhibitions at the Museum and contributed to scholarship in the related fields through his publications. His first major exhibition for the Museum, Americans in Paris 1850-1910 (2003), was a great success and met with critical acclaim. This was followed by George Washington: Military Leader, Statesman, and Legend (2003–04), an exhibition that contextualized Gilbert Stuart’s painting of George Washington known as the Lansdowne Portrait (1796), on loan from the National Portrait Gallery. Other highlights include Artist as Narrator: Nineteenth Century Narrative Art in England and France (2005); Tempests and Romantic Visionaries: Images of Storms in European and American Art (2006); Breaking the Mold: Selections from the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, 1961-1968 (2007); Paris 1900 (2007); and La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art from North American Collections (2010–11).

The Museum remembers a wonderful colleague and his many contributions to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. To donate to the Dr. Hardy S. George Memorial Fund, visit tickets.okcmoa.com and click “donate” or call the development office at (405) 278-8227.

IN MEMORIAM Hardy Sloan George1932–2011

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NEW FRONTIERS Series for Contemporary Art | February 16–May 13, 2012

Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Next Artist to be Announced!

connect vol. 2011, issue 3

Documents

hardy george

oklahoma city museum

university of london

temple university

university of california

concordia university

important exhibitions

professor of art history