Firehouse Art Center creates Children’s Art Wall – Love, Hope, Peace

Join Firehouse Art Center (FAC) educators and volunteers as they inspire and guide Norman’s children to express their thoughts and feelings about love, hope, and peace through the creation of a community public art installation this Friday. The Children’s Art Wall – Love, Hope, Peace, a free visual arts event hosted by the FAC and sponsored by the Norman Arts Council and Republic Bank & Trust, will be created during pre-screening activities at Norman Parks & Recreation’s Outdoor Movie Series in Lions Park on both September 20 and October 4, 2019. Activities begin at 6 PM.

The FAC will have opportunities for 80 children to paint their individual concepts of love, hope, and peace on the Art Wall, helping to create a final art wall that shows our community's embrace of unity and inclusion. Participants ages 5 – 14 will sign up for a designated space on the night of the event. At the conclusion of the two nights, Lions Park will feature a new collaborative 40’ mural that conveys Norman’s shared positive community values.

Participating children ages 5 - 14 will be entered into a scholarship competition for the FAC's Art After School program. Merit scholarships, valued at $810 total, will be awarded to nine children. Award winners will be those artists whose works best exemplify the project’s goals of fostering tolerance and acceptance through the community values of of love, hope, and peace, and who demonstrate the importance of creativity and personal expression through art. This special visual arts opportunity is made possible by the Norman Arts Council Sudden Opportunity Support, Norman Parks & Recreation, Republic Bank & Trust, and the City of Norman.

The Firehouse Art Center (FAC) is funded in part by select grants from the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Norman Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Norman, as well as corporate sponsorship from Republic Bank & Trust and Fowler Automotive. The FAC’s programming would not be possible without the support of individual donors and memberships.

NAMRON Announces Storytelling Workshop Series

NAMRON Players Theatre announces its Storytelling Workshop Series, YourStory, for the Autumn of 2019. The series will consist of three workshops, September through November, as a part of its documentary theatre project, Lunch Box. The workshops will all be presented at the Norman Public Library East, 3051 Alameda, Norman.

“The YourStory workshop series are designed to get participants talking about and telling their own stories.” Sheryl Martin, Artistic Executive Director of NAMRON Players Theatre said,“We hope the telling of their stories in these workshops will be the beginning of the process of some of their stories finding their way into our final production of Lunch Box in the Spring.”

Participation in the YourStory Series is open to the public and admission free, thanks to grants from the Norman Arts Council and Oklahoma Arts Council.

The workshops to be presented in the YourStory Series will be:

YourStory I—Write Out Loud, Saturday, September 21, 11am-1pm.

This workshop explores the written word to find stories that want to be told out loud. Storyteller and poet Shaun Perkins blends poetry, stories, and creative writing to help you develop your oral storytelling skills. The workshop will include several exercises designed to promote creative thinking and generate ideas, along with discovering ways to structure a story for an audience. Saturday, 9/21 11am-1pm in the Community Room at Norman Public Library East

Shaun Perkins is the founder/director of the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry in Locust Grove and the webmaster/liaison for Oklahoma’s state storytelling organization the Territory Tellers. She is a Teaching Artist with the Oklahoma Arts Council, former Teacher of the Year, poet, newspaper columnist and rummage store owner. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Oklahoma.

For more information about her work, visit journeyinwords.org or ROMPoetry.com

YourStory II—Powered by Improv, Thursday, October 10, 6:30-8:30pm

Participants will discover the power of “Yes, and…” Sue Ellen Reiman and J. Shane McClure will help participants discover how improv games and techniques can enhance storytelling skills. Sue Ellen is Managing Director of OKC Improv and half of the improv duo, The Grown Ups. Shane is an OKC actor, director and writer, as well as a regular performer with Everybody and Their Dog and The Artful Codgers improv companies. Thursday, 10/10 6:30-8:30pm in the Community Room at Norman Public Library East

YourStory III—Timeless Tales and Brand New Stories, Saturday, November 16, 10am-12pm

Find a new story in an old favorite. Ms. Dwe Wiliams is the Founder and Director of Rhythmically Speaking, and one of Oklahoma’s most in-demand professional storytellers. In this workshop, she discusses familiar and not-so-familiar fairytales, folktales, and legends. Participants should be ready to share and delve into your own favorite tale. Saturday, 11/16 10am-12pm in the Community Room at Norman Public Library East

All of the performance and teaching artists presenting these workshops are on the Oklahoma Arts Council Performing and Teaching Artists Roster. NAMRON Players Theatre is a Norman nonprofit theatre company dedicated to presenting the original works of Oklahoma literary and performing artists. Most recently, NAMRON presented its 8th Annual 24 Hour Plays to a packed house at The Depot in downtown Norman. The YourStory Series is a part of NAMRON’s year-long Oklahoma StoryWorks Project, Lunch Box. Lunch Box is NAMRON's newest entry in this documentary theatre project which creates a new play with the stories of Norman and Oklahoma residents. It is modeled on the successful, independent theatre production Potluck, which presented the food stories of Norman residents at The Depot in June 2018.

Potluck was the result of a Mid-America Arts Alliance Artistic Innovations Award to Norman theatre artist, Sheryl Martin. Ms. Martin, currently the Artistic and Executive Director of NAMRON Players Theatre, plans to create a new documentary play each season as the Oklahoma StoryWorks Project continues. "Themes may change," Ms. Martin said,"but the process will always be the same. We want to listen to Norman's stories, to Oklahoma's stories, and put those stories onstage."

NAMRON Players Theatre and the Oklahoma StoryWorks Project: Lunch Box are made possible through the generous support of the Norman Arts Council / Arts Projects Grant Program, the Oklahoma Arts Council Project Assistance Small Grant Program, Republic Bank & Trust, 2x4 Productions, David Slemmons and the Friends of NAMRON / Oklahoma StoryWorks.

The Depot Announces 2019-20 Winter Wind Concert Series Lineup

The Winter Wind Committee is pleased to announce the initial lineup for the 14th season of Winter Wind Concerts in the intimate listening room atmosphere of The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave.. The artists listed below will be coming from across the United States to share their outstanding talents with Winter Wind audiences. Additional information and concert tickets are available at www.normandepot.org.

Sept. 29, Jeff Black, 7:00 pm, $20.

Jeff Black's songs have earned Grammy recognition, radio chart-topping stats and numerous BMI awards. Although flying below the radar as a performer himself, he has been recognized by NPR as a musical pioneer in the digital age. Black has forged a reputation as a true folk troubadour entertaining audiences globally for over three decades. A master songwriter and performer in the tradition of the great storytellers, his passionate, soul driven live performances of songs from his vast catalog are not to be missed. Boston's WUMB listeners voted Jeff Black as one of the top 100 most important Folk artists of the last 25 years.

Oct. 20, Smokey & The Mirror, 7:00 pm, $20

Smokey & The Mirror is husband & wife duo Bryan and Bernice Hembree. Based out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Smokey & The Mirror have toured nationally/internationally over the past decade. They tour most often as a duo, but also play many shows as a four-piece band. Whatever the configuration, the interplay of their two unique voices coupled with engaging, accessible songs, form the foundation of Smokey & The Mirror. It is obvious that they truly treasure what they do, exuding a sense of positive energy right out to the audience.

Nov. 10, Slaid Cleaves, 7:00 pm, $30

Slaid Cleaves' songwriting has never been more potent than on his new album Ghost on the Car Radio, released in June. It is his first release since 2013's Still Fighting the War, which was praised as "one of the year's best albums" by American Songwriter and "carefully crafted...songs about the struggles of the heart in hard times" by the Wall Street Journal. The New York Daily News called his music "a treasure hidden in plain sight," while the Austin Chronicle declared, "there are few contemporaries that compare. He's become a master craftsman.” Described as "terse, clear and heartfelt" (NPR Fresh Air), Cleaves’ songs speak to timeless truths.

Nov.17, Susan Gibson, 7:30 pm, $20

Susan Gibson’s naturally buoyant melodies and warmly reassuring, conversational singing and writing voice light up any song, room, or mood. Her refreshingly clear-eyed perspectives on matters of life, love, work, and loss illuminate a spirit-charging current of resiliency. She's had that in her all along, from her days in the beloved Amarillo, Texas-based Amerciana band the Groobees back in the ’90s and from the get-go of her solo career in 2003. It was all there at the very beginning, when in college she wrote "Wide Open Spaces" which (with a little help from the Dixie Chicks) became one of the biggest country songs of all time. Come hear for yourself!

Nov. 24, Radoslav Lorkovic, 7:30 pm, $20

Drawing from a multitude of influences ranging from elegant classical and jazz styles to the rawest, most basic blues, country and soul, Radoslav Lorković has taken on an unusually broad musical spectrum and refined it into his distinctive piano and accordion style. His tenure on the R&B and folk circuits has culminated in five critically acclaimed solo recordings and numerous appearances on the recordings of, and performances with, many well known artists. His thirty year touring career has led him from the taverns of the upper Mississippi River to the castles of Italy...and to Woody Fest and again to The Depot.

Dec. 15, Nobody’s Girl, 7:00 pm, $20

Nobody’s Girl is a new trio formed by award-winning songwriters Betty Soo, Grace Pettis and Rebecca Loebe. Luscious harmony singers, effortless instrumentalists, seasoned touring artists – they recognized what each can accomplish individually could be made all the stronger by collaboration. The harmonies are thrilling. The songs are powerful and spare. The stage presence confident and assured. Now, the spark has been set, the fire lit and their individual and collective fans are eating it up.

Feb. 23, Chely Wright, 7:00 pm, $25

Richell Rene "Chely" Wright is an American country music singer and activist. On the strength of her 1994 debut album, the Academy of Country Music (ACM) named her Top New Female Vocalist in 1995. By 2010, Wright's seven albums and 19 singles had sold over 1,500,000 copies and 10,000,000 digital impressions in the United States, charted more than fifteen singles on the country charts, and earned a gold album certification. This year, a new EP, titled “Revival” was released in May, and in August Wright made her return to the Grand Ole Opry. Now she is coming to The Depot!

The Depot is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to create and present excellent and innovative fine arts programs for the enrichment and education of the community. For additional information about Winter Wind Concerts, Summer Breeze Concerts in Lions Park, The Depot Gallery, Poetry Readings, Artist Workshops, Drama productions and other programs at The Depot, visit www.normandepot.org or phone 405 307-9320.

Winter Wind Concerts are made possible, in part, by The City of Norman, grants from the Norman Arts Council and Oklahoma Arts Council, and individual and corporate sponsors.

Call for Entries: We Belong to the Land Exhibition of Oklahoma Artists in Clermont-Ferrand, France

Call for Entries:
We Belong to the Land/Nous appartenons á la Terre

Due: Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Curated Exhibition at Norman’s Sister City of Clermont-Ferrand, France
APPLY HERE

Oklahoma Artists are invited to submit works of art that describe Oklahoma in some way – culture, geography, industry, history, or other aspect that define and speak to “place” as it relates to Oklahoma. 

Selected unframed, unmounted, works on paper and photographs will be exhibited in Clermont-Ferrand, France in December 2019

Contact Erinn Gavaghan at erinn@erinnfgavaghan.com for more information.

Irmgard Geul and Skip Hill Share Art Created Out on the Ranch in Between Pastures & Skies

Nestled among mares and stallions on an acreage just outside of Pauls Valley, two artists — from different worlds but sharing a penchant for globetrotting across them — found an unexpected creative home and wellspring of inspiration.

Between Pastures & Skies: Art from the Ranch, 2014-2019 is the culmination of a vision born from the unique creative relationship and special friendship of the artists Irmgard Geul and Skip Hill, featuring select original mixed-medium works, paintings, drawings, installations, photos and videos produced by the artists over the last five years in their studios on a picturesque 120-acre horse ranch in Oklahoma. 

The exhibition debuts with an opening reception from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, October 11 and runs through Saturday, November 16. A closing reception takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, November 8. Both receptions are free, open-to-the-public and coincide with the 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk taking place in Downtown Norman each month. 

The mixed-media works of international artist Irmgard Geul are best viewed as colorful aerial maps capturing, on paper and canvas, a bird’s eye view of her internal creative explorations scanning the tracts of landscape below and the unfathomable ocean of sky above.

Her paintings serve as visual diaries that document her external observations of the rolling landscape, the daily rhythm of life and the changing seasons on the horse ranch that has been her home and a source of inspiration since arriving in 1998 from her native country, The Netherlands.

Having built and established an internationally renowned equine import and export facility in the heartland of America, Geul always felt a yearning to reconnect with the creative urges from her early love for art and fine arts education in the Netherlands; her unforgettable recollections of India and her life as a graphic designer for corporate brands around the world.

Today in her light-filled studio overlooking open pastures and a wide horizon, Irmgard devotes herself full-time to fulfilling those creative urges in acrylics, ink, oil crayon, collage and photography for an audience of devoted collectors throughout the United States, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Colombia and Israel.

Free of any didactic or moral intent, tortured conceptualism or social agenda beyond the politics of love, Skip Hill is a professional visual artist who creates rich, lyrical works of art that exude a graphic fragrance and a sensuous line.

Using acrylic paints, markers, inks and cut paper from a collection of source materials,Hill has produced a body of work that includes mixed-medium drawings, paintings on canvas and wood, collages on paper, and large scale interior and exterior murals.

Thematically poetic, and subtlety narrative in content, the art of Hill is a visual journey through verdant gardens featuring feminine figures, flocks of birds, exotic fauna, mesmerizing moods, rich textures and vivid colors of an imagined environment he invites his audience to explore.

Hill’s art focuses on the beauty of composition, the exuberance of process, on positive and negative space, on contrasts of mood, colors and flowing line work. Some of the most captivating parts of his mixed-media drawings are in the peripheral details sourced from Art History, elements of folk art, Tattoo-like expressive patterning, looping graphic lines, kinetic scribbling, Asian calligraphy, Pop culture and African motifs. 

In the highly productive years since returning to the U.S. from The Netherlands, Hill has created and sold hundreds of works, participated in museum group exhibitions, selected art fairs, and shown in commercial galleries. He has illustrated several award-winning children’s books including A Gift From Greensboro and On Tying A Shoe from Penny Candy Press. 

His original paintings, drawings and murals are found in public spaces and private collections throughout the United States, France, The Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.