Every three years, the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) hosts the highly competitive program, Art 365, in which five Oklahoma-based creative proposals are selected to complete innovative artwork in consultation with a nationally recognized curator. In an unprecedented model for the region, the artists receive an honorarium of $12,000. Over the course of the last year, these artists have created a body of work that will culminate with exhibitions in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The first exhibition is opening on July 2, from 6-9pm, at Living Arts of Tulsa (307 E Reconciliation Way, Tulsa, OK 74120).

The artists for this iteration of Art 365 were chosen by guest curator, Grace Deveney, associate curator of Prospect.5 in New Orleans. The selected artists are as follows: Ginnie Baer (Edmond), Crystal Z Campbell (Oklahoma City), Naima Lowe (Tulsa), Mirella Martinez (Stillwater), and collaborators Maggie Boyett (Oklahoma City) and Marwin Begaye (Norman).

In addition to the exhibitions, each artist will lead a free workshop or panel discussion that aligns with the themes of their project. These events aim to teach new skills while also talking about the content and processes the artists use in their work, providing the community a deeper connection to the artwork in the exhibition and the Art 365 program.

“Through these free workshops, we invite the public to engage with the Art 365 projects on a deeper level,” says OVAC’s executive director, Krystle Kaye.“Through conversation, participation, and hands-on interaction, participants are encouraged to be more than just a viewer as they connect directly with the featured artists and the concepts they explore in their work.”

For 33 years as a nonprofit, OVAC has helped Oklahoma artists enrich the state through their creative endeavors. OVAC will present Art 365 in partnership with Living arts of Tulsa and ARTSPACE at Untitled. This program is supported by Mid-America Arts Alliance, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, the Oklahoma Arts Council, George Kaiser Family Foundation, Kirkpatrick Family Fund, and NBC Bank. OVAC is an Allied Arts member agency.

If you require special accommodations to attend or participate in Art 365, contact Alexa Goetzinger at (405)879-2400 Ex. 3. For more information about this OVAC program and to sign up for our artist workshops, visit Art365.org.

ART 365 ARTIST WORKSHOPS:

Ginnie Baer // Edmond, Oklahoma

Artist Workshop: Saturday, July 10, 2-3:30pm, Living Arts of Tulsa

Art 365 Project: Silver Valley

In this workshop, participants will make landscape-based mixed media works in response to open-ended prompts and discussion. Participants are asked to bring digital or printed images of landscapes or places that they have found to be moving or comforting. (Bring printed images if you prefer tracing over drawing).

Naima Lowe // Tulsa, Oklahoma

Artist Workshop: Tuesday, July 20, 5-6:30pm, Living Arts of Tulsa

Art 365 Project: A Token is a Stand In for Something of Value

Naima Lowe explores issues of value, labor, and worth within their Art 365 project A Token is a Stand In For Something of Value. The artist invites workshop participants to take part in an unconventional art sale based entirely on a barter system that they have devised. Participants will be invited to bring material or immaterial goods to barter for artworks (‘zines, prints, accessories, small paintings and sculptures) from Lowe’s personal collection. The workshop will also include discussion of bartering and other alternative economic systems.

Mirella Martinez // Stillwater, Oklahoma

Artist Workshop: Saturday, July 24, 2-3:30pm, Living Arts of Tulsa

Art 365 Project: Payne.

In this workshop attendees are invited to join a roundtable conversation centering around topics of multiculturalism, identity, and mental health as a female identifying person of color in today’s world. For this conversation, Martinez invites and engages with those who identify as female and multicultural in an open discussion on topics frequently addressed in Martinez’s project, Payne. Using the photographs on display as a vehicle for the topics surrounding the discussion, attendees will be asked to share how they have found and use their voice. This workshop will be a space for vulnerable conversation about cultural expectations, mental health, and how the two come together in our lives—both personal and professional.

Crystal Z Campbell // Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Artist Panel Discussion: Thursday, August 5, 5:30- 6:30pm, Zoom

Art 365 Project: Hi, Hi, Hi, Highway

During this panel discussion, attendees are invited to watch a conversation moderated by Art 365 guest curator Grace Deveney with artists Crystal Z Campbell and Naima Lowe. This conversation will directly link the Art 365 projects on display in the exhibition to the artists’ current practice and career goals. There will be time for discussion and Q&A at the end!

Maggie Boyett and Marwin Begaye // Oklahoma City and Norman, Oklahoma

Artist Workshop: Friday, August 6 ^th , 5:30-7pm, Living Arts of Tulsa

Art 365 Project: Body Acknowledgement: The Body as Land

For this workshop, participants will join Art 365 artists Marwin Begaye (Navajo) and Maggie Boyett (Shawnee/Kiowa) to explore unconventional and collaborative processes for printmaking. Begaye will guide workshop participants through experimenting with alternative print methods. Participants will create trace monotypes with paper and ink on plexiglass, as well as a relief print using their feet over the surface of woodblock. Boyett will then lead participants through creating a very short and simple phrase of choreographed movement using games of chance—no dancing experience required. The workshop will culminate with participants collaborating on large-scale trace monotype prints utilizing their chance dances and bodies as the press.

The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition grows and develops Oklahoma’s visual arts community through education, promotion, connection, and funding.