Journal

Donald G. Longcrier, Artist Journal/Blog

Art Now Shine at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center

Art Now Shine opens today at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and runs through February 7. The Gala event and fundraiser is Friday, January 24.

Here is a peek at one of my small sculptures chosen for the exhibition.

Photography: ©Brett Deering

Art Now Shine at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center

Art Now Shine 2014 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, January 20 - February 7, 2014. Gala event January 24.

I am fortunate to have been chosen to participate in Art Now at Oklahoma Contemporary for the third consecutive year.

"ArtNow is the contemporary art exhibition for Oklahoma, showcasing work by the state’s top artists. This event, Oklahoma Contemporary’s premier fundraiser, has impressed audiences for more than two decades."

"At the gala event, guests will have the opportunity to interact with Oklahoma's most respected artists and purchase their newest works"

Art Now 2013 at City Arts Center

Art Now 2013

City Arts Center

GALA EVENT: January 25, 2013

Exhibition dates: January 21 – February 8, 2013
Curator Talk: January 28, 6:00pm

Untitled (Chalk Box), 60" H. x 60" W. x 6.5"D., Acrylic and encaustic on wood with objects

Art Now 2013

City Arts Center

"Art Now is the contemporary art exhibition for Oklahoma, showcasing work by the state’s top artists. City Arts Center’s premier fundraising event, Art Now has impressed audiences for more than two decades

2013 Guest Curator: Louise Siddons

Assistant Professor and Curator of Collections at Oklahoma State University, Siddons is an art historian specializing in American art and the visual culture of modernity. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Stanford University in 2005 and joined the OSU faculty in 2009. Before coming to Oklahoma State, Siddons was a visiting assistant professor and adjunct curator at Michigan State University and the Kresge Art Museum for two years. Prior to that, she was an assistant curator of works on paper at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for several years. Siddons continues to have a museological role at OSU, where she is curator of an art collection that has particular strengths in twentieth-century and contemporary American art. She is currently involved in the planning process for a new museum of art at the university."

http://cityartscenter.org/Web_v2/events/cafe-city-arts/

Untitled (Chalk Line), 60" H. x 78"W., Acrylic and encaustic on wood, Carpenter's chalk

Untitled (Fundamental Principles), 44" H. x 37"W. x 1"D., Acrylic and encaustic on wood with objects

Untitled (Grindstone) Installed

Here are some Hipstamatic images of Untitled (Grindstone) installed at new location.

Art Now 2012 Video, City Arts Center

A new video about Art Now 2012 at City Arts Center www.cityartscenter.org by Christopher Hunt of Midwest Media and Marketing and www.chrisopherhuntfilm.com

Art Now '12 from christopher hunt on Vimeo.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center

Taking down Art Now 2012, City Arts Center.

All packed up and loaded. Thank you to Curator Romy Owens, Mary Ann Prior and the staff and Board of Directors at City Arts Center, and those whose support enables City Arts Center to fulfill its mission of providing a free contemporary art exhibition space and educational facility in Oklahoma City.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center

Final evening at Art Now 2012, City Arts Center.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center Opens Monday January 16

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center Opens Monday January 16 and runs through February 3, 2012.

Opening Event will be Friday January 20, 2012.

Curator Talk with Romy Owens: January 24, 2012, 6:30pm

"For the first time ever, City Arts Center is featuring a guest curator, Oklahoma City artist and independent curator, Romy Owens. She has selected 25 Oklahoma artists from across the state and in a variety of mediums to participate in this exciting exhibition. Painting, photography, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, video, and installation will be represented. This is an event and exhibition that you will not want to miss!" -City Arts Center website http://cityartscenter.org/Web_v2/?page_id=2795

Hipstamatic Photos on Facebook at Donald G Longcrier

Check out a few Hipstamatic photos on my Facebook page. Click Facebook tab on this page.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center, Preview

Some photos of work delivered to City Arts Center for Art Now 2012.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center, Preview, in the Studio.

For some images of the work for Art Now 2012 at City Arts Center being constructed in the studio, go to the "Studio" page in the Navigation Bar above and click on the Art Now 2012 link in the drag down menu.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center, Preview

A preview of the work to be exhibited in Art Now 2012, at City Arts Center, January 14 - February 3, 2012.

Art Now 2012, City Arts Center in OVAC's Art Focus

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's Art Focus. January/February 2012

Check out Jennifer Barron's Article; In the Moment: Art Now Takes a Snapshot of Current Art-making in the State. The upcoming exhibit Art Now 2012 at City Arts Center, curated by Romy Owens is previewed in OVAC's January/February2012 issue of Art Focus: http://issuu.com/ovac/docs/artfocus-janfeb12/14

Untitled (Enciclica)

Untitled (Enciclica), 44” H. x 37” W. x 2” D., Encaustic on wood with objects, 2009

Central to the piece is a Spanish translation of the final papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) bound against a steel plate by a steel bar and fishing line.

Untitled (Enciclica),Detail

The full title of the encyclical is On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty and was often referred to as the "peace encyclical". It was the last encyclical John XXIII issued before his death. It was the first encyclical addressed not only to the Catholic faithful, but also to “all men of good will”.

Front to back: Untitled (Line Drier) 2009, Untitled (Fid) 2009

From: Donald G. Longcrier
Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery at City Arts Center
November 19 through December 23, 2009.

I work with materials that are familiar to me; rope, wood, beeswax, carpenter's tools, and fishing tackle. Individual pieces are often quiet. Everything is simple. Objects are presented in the simplest possible way, without embellishment, or decoration. These are humble pieces and there is no pretense or attempt at anything profound.

Front to back: Detail, Untitled (Line Drier) 2009, Untitled (Fid) 2009

Artworks in this exhibition, like most of my works, are untitled. Titles are eliminated to avoid confusion, attempts at cleverness, or wordplay. Parenthetical titles are used for the purpose of helping me keep track of various works. Objects described in the titles may or may not be accurately named, but describe the individual piece to me.

The late Nobel Prize winning physicist, Richard Feynman, told a story of his youth at camps in the Catskills. The fathers of the children would visit on the weekends, and all the fathers would hike the trails teaching their children the name of this bird or that bird. On Mondays, the children would ask Feynman, "What kind of bird is that?" He would answer, "I haven't the slightest idea." So the kids would say his father did not tell him anything. "But it was the opposite" his father "had "taught him. His father would look at a bird and say, "Do you know what kind of bird that is? It's a brown throated thrush; but in Portuguese it's a ____, in Japanese it's a ____, in Italian it's a ____, etcetera. Now," his father says" you know in all the languages …what the name of that bird is and …you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You only know about humans in different places and what they call the bird. Now" says Feynman's father, "let's look at the bird."**

I believe we are all capable of learning something if we look at the bird.

** The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman, 1999

Detail: Untitled (Line Drier) 2009

Untitled ( Enciclica), 44"H. x 37" W. x 2" D., Encaustic on wood with objects, 2009