Momentum Artist: Shannon Smith

Momentum Tulsa 2009 opens Saturday, October 10 with a big party of live music (COLOURMUSIC, Ghost, and Tribes of Soul) and fun. Tickets available in advance and at the door.

Curators selected 93 artworks by 66 artists for the exhibition. Also, three Spotlight artists will exhibit bodies of work, Nick Bayer, Dustin Boise, and Emily Kern. Intern Ashley Romano interviewed the artists to learn about their creative process. Watch for more profiles throughout the run of the exhibition, which remains on display at Living Arts, 307 E Brady, Tulsa, until October 24.

Shannon Smith, Waurika
Crown It
Acrylic, watercolor and gouache

Q: What was your concept behind your work?
SS: The concept behind my piece, Crown It, was solely to show the appreciation and love of a classically aged whiskey that brings generations, friends and family together, almost in a masculine/modern sense.

Q: Explain the technique and/or process you used for the piece.
SS: I was given Crown Royal bags by my family members, friends of all ages and decided to bring them together by cutting each bag and sewing them together to create a canvas as the support for my painting. It took 56 Crown Royal bags. My husband and i built the frame and stretched the canvas across it. I set up a still life of two shot glasses and a Crown bottle for the composition and used vivid color and sporatic brush strokes to symbolize a festive kind of "royal" occasion. Interestingly, the purple background already provided by the canvas, really gave my eyes a challenge. This painting was completely an experiment that I thoroughly enjoyed creating and would do again.