It's Back! - Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition

Morgan Robinson
seed pod/picked up/taken home/all alone
thick & thins/once again/coffee shop/did not
stop
pushed the top/ink drops/sketched a bit/
quite intense
pleasant trip/sang a song/devils claw
felt the need/I let it bleed
in letting go/I trapped some time/I called it
mine/I stared in space/never erased
my hand just sketched/I stretched/my
window home/all alone
I thought of Japan/sensitive land/seems to
know/ thoughts that allow SEEDS to grow
I gave it light/that dimly glows/my
nudging spirit/lets me know/which way we
should go
I try to say/concentrate/don’t stay up late/
you took the bait
watch the leaves/watch the trees/that let you
in/allowing grins
show me grass/sing me songs/quietly sway/
& sing along
take a coffee/take a tea/don’t think too
much/let it be
simple sophisticated/ exchanged & traded/
blessed but frustrated
walk around/ take a seat/suspended shapes
encase me/in the minute’s moon & sun/ one
in all and all in one
Nathan Lee
Most of my sculptures have the look of
something that would more than likely
live on the outside. I use parts of trees and
other things that occur in nature. I try to
make figures that are quite unnatural in
appearance but seem some how familiar. If
I can make people take a second look then I
have accomplished my goal.
I am glad that I participated in this
exhibition because it gave me the
opportunity to show my art in a different
environment and it gave me a new direction
for my art both in technique and execution.
I made a few missteps when creating my
piece but I also learned so much from a
technical standpoint. This has opened a new
door of possibilities with my work and I am
looking forward to gaining more experience
in showing in an outdoor environment.
Brian Fitzsimmons
When Randy invited me to be part of the
exhibit, I was afraid. It had been some
time since I’ve created an object with no
physical purpose or as art in a pure sense.
Although my work in architecture and
furniture design attempts to be beautiful
or intriguing as a piece of art in it’s own
Brian Fitzsimmons
stolen
concrete
right, the function/physical purpose of
the piece always significantly impacts the
design direction. With art, one should
have something to say, or at least create
something worth looking at more than
once. Art has to stimulate the mind.
So I started with trying to make something
worth looking at. Along the way, the
piece started to say something. Issues with
religion and the hypocrisy that often stems
from it began to find metaphor in stolen. The
flightless wing strapped on as a religious
guise, or an angel stripped of its wing
and left powerless, the conflict between
perception and reality. The use of material
and form attempt to strengthen this notion.
Concrete is used as both something heavy,
rigid and solid, and something apparently
fluid and delicate.
That said, I chose to use concrete from the
start. I have done a few concrete sculptures in
the past, though none as large as stolen. The
traditional use of concrete is unforgiving. A
negative form is created to fill with concrete,
making a positive. There are no second tries,
short of starting over. Similar to architecture
and furniture, plan it first, then make it. The
base was created this way.
In contrast, the wing explores the novel
approach of pouring concrete over a wire
armature. This approach allows some
manipulation of the form to happen
during the creative process. The form is
slowly built up, … extending the time for
decision-making.
Michael Hoffner
“Reluctant” might be a good word to
describe the attitude with which I agreed
to participate in this show - I had never
done a sculpture large enough or permanent
enough to stay outdoors. But having agreed,
I was determined to do a good job.
Layers of crumpled paper had figured in my
work lately, and I thought a similar effect could
be made with sheet metal. My first piece of
outdoor sculpture would address the viewer at
eye level, meaning there would probably be some
kind of armature to position the sheet metal at
viewing height. With a list of possibilities and
constraints, I began my usual way of working.
Sketches are done, usually three-dimensional
views - I always try several ideas. When I hit
on something I really like, I draw several views,
details of how materials will come together
and how connections will be made. After my
pencil sketches had me convinced that the
design for Sunflowers was worthy, I modeled it
on my computer. Adjustments were made until
the proportions looked right. Most of what
remained at this point was to focus on the craft in
executing the design.
With the computer model, I was able to make
a scale drawing to give the steel supplier.
As a result of planning, every piece the steel
supplier provided was exactly the right
size, and every piece I needed was there. No
material was wasted and there really wasn’t
anything left to figure out. It was almost like
assembling a kit—except that I didn’t know
how to weld.
Before Randy and Larry taught me to weld,
I didn’t know there was anything missing
from my life. Zoomed in on the finite world
of creating a weld, there was a place where the
sense of time and space was lost, except for
a 3/16” pool of molten metal I was coaxing
down the joint of two steel plates. The act
of fabricating Sunflowers was a more visceral
experience than my drawing or painting. The
physical demands of working with large, heavy
pieces contributed to the elevated focus that
made this experience so enjoyable. Compared
to two-dimensional work, the results are so
much more tangible. If a painting is a diagram
of an idea or an artifact, a sculpture is truly an
artifact. I am no longer reluctant.
Alyson Atchison
I enjoyed this experience tremendously.
Everyone should force themselves at least
once to expand their usual way of thinking
into a new dimension. I literally felt my
brain stretching as I tried to picture how I
would “draw” in the third dimension. In my
drawings, the lines are the most important
part of the image. I didn’t want to lose the
sketchiness and expression that I get with my
lines. So, it was important for me to be able
to see my “style” in what I made. The steel
rods I had available to work with lent well to
this idea.
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