Momentum Emerging Curator: Candace Coker

Momentum Emerging Curator Candace Coker
with OVAC Board Member Margo Shultes von Schlageter

Candace Coker has seen all sides of Momentum, from participating to artist and committee member to curatorial intern. Now serving as Emerging Curator alongside guest curator Alison Hearst, Coker said the experience “feels completely different” and is "exciting." 

Coker and Hearst just completed their first visits to the Momentum Spotlight artists’ studios. Coker said she has enjoyed the challenge of talking with their artists about their work. She hopes to push them while ensuring the artists retain control of their projects. Next she and Hearst will select the artwork for the general survey exhibition from entries due by January 31.

Coker serves as Project Coordinator at City Arts Center in Oklahoma City where she assists with exhibitions, youth and adult studio classes, and more.  She received her BFA from the University of Oklahoma. She was a member of the 2010 Leadership Arts Class of the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Working with the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition before, she interned for the inaugural Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship and assisted Momentum OKC’s curators in 2010. She continues as an active volunteer for OVAC as well as Individual Artists of Oklahoma and Paseo Artists Association. Also a photographer, Coker has exhibited her work regionally.

Submissions for Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still are due by January 31 at 5 pm. Oklahoma artists aged 30 and younger are eligible. The event opens March 9 and 10.