Community Calendar

Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of Oklahoma Contemporary. Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden's uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect. Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem. Image: Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020. Wire rope and concrete (144 units), 61.5 inches tall. © Maren Hassinger. Photo by Simon Klein, courtesy Aspen Art Museum.

Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Booker slices, twists, weaves and rivets her medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments. For the artist, the varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, while the tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs. Repurposed from cast-off industrial scraps that would otherwise have remained symbols of urban blight or measures of wanton waste, Shaved Portions is a monumental work standing sentinel atop Automobile Alley, which was originally lined with car dealerships. Image: Chakaia Booker, Manipulating Fractions, 2004.

Experience the vibrant flora and fauna of John Newsom: Nature's Course in greater detail! Join us for a free, guided public tour every Saturday at 1 p.m. Gallery guides lead inclusive, conversational tours that encourage curiosity.

Reserve your spot here: okcontemp.org/PublicTours

Ages: All ages

For more information: 405-951-0000, okcontemp.org/PublicTours

Photo credit: Iasiah Pickens

Oklahoma City University’s Norick Art Center hosts the exhibit “Domestic Inquiries” featuring the photography of Sam Charboneau Feb. 23 through Aug. 12, with an artist talk at 6 p.m. March 24.

Sam Charboneau pulls inspiration from stop-motion animators, building puppets and sets to bring her serious yet lighthearted dreams into reality. As a self-taught artist, she uses the traditional methods of trial and error, evolving her sets along the way.

Patrons can visit the exhibit Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm.

Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of Oklahoma Contemporary. Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden's uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect. Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem. Image: Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020. Wire rope and concrete (144 units), 61.5 inches tall. © Maren Hassinger. Photo by Simon Klein, courtesy Aspen Art Museum.

Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Booker slices, twists, weaves and rivets her medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments. For the artist, the varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, while the tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs. Repurposed from cast-off industrial scraps that would otherwise have remained symbols of urban blight or measures of wanton waste, Shaved Portions is a monumental work standing sentinel atop Automobile Alley, which was originally lined with car dealerships. Image: Chakaia Booker, Manipulating Fractions, 2004.

Focusing on the artist’s body of work over the last 20 years, John Newsom: Nature's Course presents large-scale, richly textured, oil on canvas paintings of flora and fauna. The exhibition will include the brand-new, 9 x 18 foot Nature’s Course and Homecoming, another new painting referencing Oklahoma. Newsom’s work layers and combines elements of Abstract Expressionism, minimalist geometric shapes and hyperrealistic representations of animals to create complex allegories of the natural world. The mid-career retrospective of the Oklahoma-raised and New York-based artist runs March 24 to Aug. 15. Image: John Newsom, Love Flies In, 2005. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Oklahoma City University’s Norick Art Center hosts the exhibit “Domestic Inquiries” featuring the photography of Sam Charboneau Feb. 23 through Aug. 12, with an artist talk at 6 p.m. March 24.

Sam Charboneau pulls inspiration from stop-motion animators, building puppets and sets to bring her serious yet lighthearted dreams into reality. As a self-taught artist, she uses the traditional methods of trial and error, evolving her sets along the way.

Patrons can visit the exhibit Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm.

Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of Oklahoma Contemporary. Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden's uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect. Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem. Image: Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020. Wire rope and concrete (144 units), 61.5 inches tall. © Maren Hassinger. Photo by Simon Klein, courtesy Aspen Art Museum.

Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Booker slices, twists, weaves and rivets her medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments. For the artist, the varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, while the tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs. Repurposed from cast-off industrial scraps that would otherwise have remained symbols of urban blight or measures of wanton waste, Shaved Portions is a monumental work standing sentinel atop Automobile Alley, which was originally lined with car dealerships. Image: Chakaia Booker, Manipulating Fractions, 2004.