In this episode, Jeff sits down with Jeremiah Davis-Artistic Director and Jennifer Scanlan-Exhibitions & Curatorial Director at Oklahoma Contemporary.
We begin the conversation with information about Oklahoma Contemporary and what their mission is and what they offer the public.
Oklahoma Contemporary encourages artistic expression in all its forms through education and exhibitions, and their vision is to endeavor to instill in the public a lifetime appreciation of the arts and enthusiasm for creative practice.
Throughout the year, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center enriches the lives of tens of thousands of people, young and old.......from budding artists to seasoned creators, many of whom might not otherwise receive this exposure. They offer a variety of classes and workshops for adults and children six days a week in the arts of painting, pottery, weaving and more.
We continue as they both emphasize the fact that they see themselves as a "crossroads of art, expression, and creativity."
After that, Jennifer and Jeremiah both share information about their new facility at 11th and Broadway and that they plan to open the new building fully in the Fall of 2019, and Jennifer speaks about the fact that they do have some exhibitions in place at the new facility and have done so for some time. We hear from them that they are very excited to bring all of their exhibits and programs closer to the downtown area as there is so much growth and so many exciting things happening in the downtown area.
We then transition into hearing from them about their upcoming exhibit, which opens on Thursday, October 5th and is called Not For Sale: Graffiti Culture in Oklahoma. This will be a group art show and will feature 10 artists who have been an integral part of the Oklahoma graffiti scene. Artists will paint their pieces directly on the walls of the gallery, transforming Oklahoma Contemporary into an amazing display of styles. These artists are part of a culture that promotes creative expression to individuals who have not always had access to the art world.
Jeremiah and Jennifer both share an overview of how the idea of this exhibit came into being and also give us a very detailed overview about the exhibit itself. They both speak to the importance of how this exhibit gave them an opportunity to do a lot of outreach to various community organizations to get their input and how that will hopefully lead to more collaboration between all of them for the good of all.
After that, we then discuss the evolution of graffiti throughout history and over the last 40 years and how they are really focusing on the aspects of this art form and the values that bring people together and help people change their lives for the better. They explain that graffiti is one of the four elements of hip-hop culture and speak to how their programming associated with this exhibit will be focused on the other three elements as well. We talk briefly about examples of other outdoor areas in OKC that are featuring similar types of this art form.
We then hear from them about how all of the artists featured in this exhibit are all from Oklahoma originally and how this particular exhibit may very well be the first one with graffiti-based art being painted directly on the indoor walls to be exhibited in this particular manner.
We wrap up this segment hearing about all of the various programs that are planned around this exhibit over the next couple of months.