Praise and Acclaim: Momentum Tulsa Artist Daniel Giles Helm

Daniel Giles Helm, Tulsa

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
Daniel Giles Helm: I wanted to make a piece that more or less congratulated the viewer just for engaging with the work. Sure, there is a list of rules for which you could be told "Good Job," but they are completely arbitrary and setup to be ubiquitous. If you ever do anything to feel better about yourself, you get to be praised by the piece.

Detail shot from Daniel Giles Helm's Good Job

Please explain the technique and/or process you used to create this work.
The piece is 16' x 8' of panels with a total 984 blinking light bulbs in it. They were each soldered together by hand, a task that wouldn't have gotten done without my mom and girlfriend helping me pull some absurd hours. In front of the piece is a special camera which helps the software detect the shape of the user's body. If they raise their hands all the way above their head, the piece then cheers and lights up to support them.
For anyone looking to do similar, it's a Kinect camera processed by OpenNI via Processing, which controls some relays through an Arduino.

participant interacting with Daniel Giles Helm's Good Job

Where else can the audience see your work?
 Hopefully at Momentum OKC, but in the mean time, I have digital works scattered across the internet. My personal site is mid-facelift, but can be found at http://danielgileshelm.com.

You can see video from the installation here.

Momentum Tulsa features visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Spotlight Artists will speak to the public on October 24th at 6:30pm at Living Arts. Learn more at www.MomentumOklahoma.org

Word Play: Momentum Tulsa Artist Kerry Azzarello

Kerry Azzarello, Oklahoma City

Laura Reese:What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
Kerry Azzarello: The concept behind Stand-In (Peyo Word Play) stems from my own identity and interests in language, sociology, and pop culture. For a variety of reasons, there are times when we choose to have a word stand in for what we really want or mean to say. This happens on a very intimate, personal level and also on a larger scale such as in mass media. The words in the middle section of Stand-In (Peyo Word Play) are varied, powerful, and thought-provoking. However, they are reduced to a single word – “smurf” – in the movie The Smurfs. I outlined what would have been said in the absence of any substitution

Kerry Azzarello, Stand-In (Peyo Word Play), Digital Print, $185

Please explain the technique and/or process you used to create this work.
After honing the concept, it involved watching the movie, noting each substitution, and re-inserting the original text/meaning. The font, color palette, and frame were all chosen to provide a fun, agreeable delivery system for a very powerful message, while also remaining true to the concept and source material. The subtitle is a nod to the creator of the Smurfs comic strip, Peyo. While a viewer may not immediately make the jump to understanding the piece in its entirety, it was important to provide a pathway to connect the multiple meanings.

How is this piece similar or different to your other artwork?
This piece is actually a bit of a departure from my previous work, which has focused on photography of the built environment and material abstraction. Nevertheless, I think themes of exploration, curiosity, mystery, dichotomy, risk-taking, and altered viewpoints remain. This new direction is definitely one I’m going to continue exploring! 

Momentum Tulsa features visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Spotlight Artists will speak to the public on October 24th at 6:30pm at Living Arts. Learn more at www.MomentumOklahoma.org

Moments into drawings: Momentum Tulsa Artist Brian Dunn

Brian Dunn, Norman

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
Brian Dunn: The content of sometimes girls from New Jersey puke in garbage cans comes from a photo I took while waiting on the PATCO train back to my parents house. Scenes like this play out often and I felt like that moment needed to become a drawing. 

Brian Dunn, sometimes girls from New Jersey puke in garbage cans, lithograph, $300

Please explain the technique and/or process you used to create this work.
The medium that this piece is produced with is called lithography. It is a discipline of printmaking that functions under the scientific fact that oil and water don't mix.

Where else can the audience see your work?
People interested in viewing my work online can access my tumblr page.

Momentum Tulsa opened October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Spotlight Artists will speak to the public on October 24th at 6:30pm at Living Arts. Learn more at www.MomentumOklahoma.org

Conquering Obstacles: Momentum Tulsa Artist Craig Swan

Craig Swan, Norman

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
Craig Swan: The ideas behind A Man, A Memory and the Blank Page, really did not become clear until after I had made it.

Each element in this piece contributes to the larger metaphor and creates meaning beyond its literal description. I intend the right outstretched arm as a symbol of masculinity, strength and struggle. It is a recurring image in my sketchbooks, and also represents self-evaluation. It represents struggling with the expectations of masculine archetypal thinking and actions - and my success or failure to meet them.

In the context of the painting it is about doing something with good intentions, regardless of imminent failure. It is about masculinity, which is simultaneously serious and ridiculous. It is about wanting to be something more than you are, about conquering the thing that holds you back, about powering through obstacles.

Craig Swan, A Man, A Memory and the Blank Page, Acrylic Paint on Panel, $550

 Is this work part of a series?
I think one has no choice but to work in series, because I can’t get everything I want to say or feel into one piece, and trying to do that just stops everything completely. Even when you figure out a way to do it, when you make a thing you like, when you feel like it speaks with concision, you start looking for a different way to do it. So, yeah, this is part of a series, but not in a sequential or planned way. It’s more of a part of the continent of my personality that I just recently discovered and is taking me to an interesting part that I don’t know yet, a kind of meandering series.

Where else can the audience see your work?
I have some other work posted on my Tumblr. I teach drawing and sculpture at the Fire House Art Center in Norman, and I recently put out a second edition of my first book of poems, Three Girls available for sale here. The cover is a painting of mine. You can also see my sculpture Sundial on the north corner of the intersection of Webster/Main St. in Norman, OK. 

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Spotlight Artists will speak to the public on October 24th at 6:30pm at Living Arts. Learn more at www.MomentumOklahoma.org

Concealed Transformation: Momentum Tulsa Artist Micah McGahan

Micah McGahan, Oklahoma City

What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
My concept for incognito is based on a monarch butterfly that while in a developmental stage in its life has concealed itself in a cocoon. My inspiration for incognito is how a being can be transformed into a whole new creation. 

Micah McGahan, Incognito, Glass, Copper, Steel, and LED pulsating light, $2,900

Where else can the audience see your work?
I have work at Dean Lively Gallery, Paseo Original Gallery, and at Italian Jim's& Bella Forte Glass Studio. 

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Learn more or buy tickets at www.MomentumTulsa.org

Altering Narratives: Momentum Tulsa Artist Elliott Robbins

Elliott Robbins, Muskogee

What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
The pieces that were accepted into Momentum center around the exploits of a character I created. This character in many respects is the antithesis of the average grand narrative protagonist, primarily because of his apparent blackness and Africanized features. For me, this series evolved out of a series of observations and research I had been doing into race in art history, particularly that of the American Southwest and early American Illustration. What seemed most apparent to me in doing this research was a vacancy or marginalization in regards to African Americans. I tend to look at this omission of blackness as an act of aggression more so than passive disregard. It is with this in mind that I attempt to challenge the traditional landscape of the grand narrative adventurer. I want the viewer to look at each image and see the familiar setting but also recognize that there is a broader subtext contained in each scene.

Elliott Robbins, A Storm on the Horizon, lithograph, watercolor, pastel, $450

Is this work part of a series?
Yes, both images are lithographs. I chose the medium because of its historical relationship to illustration in America. I feel that by producing work in this style and with this medium I can more effectively “enter” that narrative and defy its norms. I want it to be clear that the character is in conflict with the landscape, and all of the abstract notions associated with it. I think of each image in the series as both existing as a part of a personal narrative and being somewhat allegorical. 

I want the work in this series to address the fantasy of hyper masculinity commonly found in western art, the racial exclusivity, and the psycho-sexual overtones in this genre.

Of the images that I have attempted to produce in this series I feel that these two are the best examples of what I am trying to get at in the work, which is why they were the only two I submitted to Momentum Tulsa. I hope to continue this series until I have exhausted all possible options with this theme.

Elliott Robbins, Anxiety in a Foreign Land, lithograph, watercolor, pastel, $450

Where else can the audience see your work?
You can like my facebook page or follow me on tumblr.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Learn more or buy tickets at www.MomentumTulsa.org

To Escape and Overcome: Momentum Tulsa Artist Blake Stewart

Blake Stewart, Ada

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?

Blake Stewart: My piece for Momentum, Disconnect Complete, is a painting I made earlier this year as the third piece in a series of three paintings.  

The paintings are based around the theme of Capture, Torment, and Escape.  In these paintings the central character is represented in a simple silhouette, who is interacting with his "tormentors" who are represented as figures in robes or other strange garments that are covered in geometric pattern and various design.

These scenes and the characters depicted within them, all exist in an alternate world from our own where all of my paintings are set.  The characters themselves represent any number of 
personal emotions, trials, and life events that I may be exploring through my work at any given time.  

Blake Stewart, Disconnect Complete, Acrylic, $700

Is this work part of a series?
In this series in particular, I am using the [above themes] to represent my own struggles with the repeating cycles and battles with addiction that I have dealt with in my past and overcome.  
Disconnect Complete is the third painting in the series, representing "Escape", and is a painting I wanted to make to express my personal feeling of rising above, and the reclamation of a personal strength and identity that had at one point in my life been taken from me by the tormentor of addiction.  

Where else can the audience see your work?
My work can be found on my website: blakestewartart.com.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Learn more or buy tickets at www.MomentumTulsa.org

Hope after Loss: Momentum Tulsa Artist Katy Seals

Katy Seals, Norman

Katy Seals, Jarrell, Texas 1995: Dairy Queen Deluxe, serigraph

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this work in Momentum?

Katy Seals: Jarrell, Texas 1995 series is loosely based around an F5 tornado that cleared out the town of Jarrell, Texas.  In May of 1995 I remember taking shelter after school twenty miles north of Jarrell.  The devastation from the storm effected people in my life and effected the way I perceive weather. In May of this year the tornado that hit Moore reminded me of the terror that struck the town of Jarrell and the paranoia that shook the surrounding towns. 

Katy Seals, Jarrell, Texas 1995: Kerri, serigraph

Please explain the technique and/or process you used to create this work.

Working with reductive style screen print, I use vibrant pinks and blacks to create Jarrell, Texas 1995.  The arrays of pink counterbalance the heavy-handed themes of loss from natural disaster and show a glimpse of hope and optimism.  

Other prints and textiles I have made can be seen at katyseals.com. 

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Learn more or buy tickets at www.MomentumTulsa.org

Mythology and Transformation: Momentum Artist Samantha Franklin

Samantha Franklin, Tulsa

Laura Reese: What is your concept and inspiration for this piece in Momentum?
Samantha Franklin: My inspiration for this piece is from Ovid's Metamorphoses--the story of Phaethon, the son of Helios the sun god, who goes to find his father and ends up crashing the chariot that drives the sun across the sky. The passage that caught my attention was "When the father noticed that the morning star was setting, and the world was growing red, and the Moon's pale horns were vanishing, he ordered the passing Hours to prepare his steeds." My emphasis was on the transformation of night into day (and of course the beautiful words of the passage that jumped out at me) so I wanted to take a photograph representing this mournful change. The Moon's work is done and she is receding to allow the next phase to take place. 

Samantha Franklin, Moon's Pale Horns, Photography, $125

Please explain the technique and/or process you used to create this work.
My emphasis was on creating everything in camera with very little post-processing. I worked for a month or so to create the horns, trying to mold them using clay and other materials, and ended up painting and aging a pre-made set of horns. The dress was created with chiffon fabric. We tried to achieve a Greek-inspired but timeless, natural look, hence the unfinished edges and rough drapery. My closest friend, Taylor Cluck, who did the makeup for the photo, found the perfect model, Emily Purdom, who came up from Oklahoma City to participate. We drove to Skiatook Lake on an overcast day and in the course of two hours, with bugs crawling all over our ankles but the absolute perfect light, the picture was made. 

Where else can the audience see your work?
I had a solo show at Creative Room in the Pearl District [of Tulsa] in July of this year and plan to show again in the future. The best place to see my work right now is at www.sgfphoto.com.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12 with live music, performance and visual art by 51 young Oklahomans. The exhibition remains on display until October 24 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady. Learn more or buy tickets at www.MomentumTulsa.org

Vagua Bisbille: Momentum Tulsa 2013 Spotlight Artist Stuart Whitis

As a part of Momentum Tulsa, three artists received $2,000 Momentum Spotlight commissions to create new artwork. The Momentum Spotlight artists receive cash commissions and three months of interaction with the guest curators. Selected Momentum Spotlight artists are Leigh Martin of Edmond, Stuart Whitis of Norman, and Molly Youngblood from Norman.

Using technology and traditional painting techniques to refer to historical painting styles, Stuart Whitis’s received one of three Spotlight awards for Momentum Tulsa for his work Vagua Bisbille, which will debut October 12.

Artist Stuart Whitis painting in his studio

Whitis digitally manipulates the coding of images of famous classical artworks in order to glitch the colors and formats of the file, then meticulously paints the pixels. In Vagua Bisbille, Whitis works from William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s famous neo-classical works and comments on “state-of-the-art” technology, in past painting, and in new artistic media. 

Two of Bouguereau’s works are digitally paired and distorted to complete the image for an eight foot by twelve foot oil painting, separated into three panels. Through high-key colors, Whitis’s blend of old and new challenges the source material’s style choices.

Digital mock-up of Vagua Bisbille

Just as Bouguereau aimed to challenge the Impressionists, who were inspired by photographic technology to diverge from realistic painting, Whitis aims to “confound the timeline of visual documentation” through large “digitally impressionistic imagery”.

Whitis comments on the nature of classical standards while distorting the reality of the piece, and playing with idea of what is permanent, and thus commenting on the decay of his own artistic media.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12, 8-midnight with a ticketed event full of music and performances.  Curated by Emily Kern from 108 Contemporary and emerging curator Krystle Brewer, the exhibition continues at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady with free gallery hours through October 24. 

Saprobia: Momentum Tulsa Spotlight Artist Leigh Martin

As a part of Momentum Tulsa, three artists received $2,000 Momentum Spotlight commissions to create new artwork with feedback from guest curators. Selected Momentum Spotlight artists are Leigh Martin of Edmond, Stuart Whitis of Norman, and Molly Youngblood from Norman.

Artist Leigh Martin observes and contemplates the natural world through installations of fiber and plant materials. Martin received one of three Spotlight awards for Momentum Tulsa for her project “Saprobia,” which will debut on October 12.

Knit fungi installation by Leigh Martin, a preview of her Spotlight Project Saprobia

“Life feeds life”, says Martin. Her work depicts the natural processes of life and rebirth through decay, and the self-sustaining processes and cycles that generate our natural environments. Fungi, though small, play a large part in our ecosystem, and Martin’s curiosity and love for the complexities in nature shine through her fiber installations.

Saprobia will include an installation of plants, decaying wood, and knit fungi, along with large photographs, and specimens of the process from Martin’s studio. 

Leigh Martin received her BS in Urban and Community Forestry from OSU and has shown in Momentum OKC where she received the Curator’s Choice award.

Martin in her studio, knitting for her installation

An artist as well as a forester, Martin brings a piece of the natural world to the audience, and allows viewers to learn through aesthetics and biological inquiry. 

Through her attention to small details in her environment, Martin brings the viewers a slice of that curiosity and excitement, and allows us to participate in a greater appreciation of our surroundings.

See this article in our Art Focus Oklahoma magazine for more about all three Momentum Tulsa Spotlight projects.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12, 8-midnight with a ticketed event full of music and performances.  Curated by Emily Kern from 108 Contemporary and emerging curator Krystle Brewer, the exhibition continues at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady with free gallery hours through October 24. 

Semblance of Society: Momentum Tulsa 2013 Spotlight Artist Molly Youngblood

As a part of Momentum Tulsa, three artists received $2,000 Momentum Spotlight commissions to create new artwork. The Momentum Spotlight artists receive cash commissions and three months of interaction with the guest curators. Selected Momentum Spotlight artists are Leigh Martin of Edmond, Stuart Whitis of Norman, and Molly Youngblood from Norman.

Exploring culture through integration and theatrics, Molly Youngblood received the Spotlight award for Momentum Tulsa and will debut her project “Semblance of Society” on October 12.

Youngblood’s project will inquire into four different subcultures, each for two weeks. Through video and photographic documentation of performance, Youngblood analyzes the way culture, context and habits play in our lives to make us each unique. The artist plans to explore subcultures in Oklahoma that she is not familiar with, e.g. hunting, casinos and religion.

The artist at a gun range in order to learn about gun and hunting culture

While the artist will use common assumptions and stereotypes to form the initial personality of the character, each character will change. Through interactions with others in that subculture, her characters will act as a constantly shifting learning experience to create a formed knowledge of these subcultures through the artist's lens.

Four large-scale portraits of the artist immersed in various subcultures will be on display in the gallery, along with writings, collected objects and media documentation to give a sense of the process the artist went through while exploring each subculture.

The culmination of the project is a final performance the night of the event October 12^th, in which Youngblood performs live as a character. The audience will be active as a context to inform and influence the performance in progress.

Molly Youngblood posing as a hunter

Youngblood holds her BFA from the University of Oklahoma, where she studied New media and curated the exhibition, Redline, for her senior capstone. She will also be featured in Continuous Present-Tense, a curated performance at Living Arts Tulsa October 4th, 7pm.

See this article in our Art Focus Oklahoma magazine for more about all three Momentum Tulsa Spotlight projects.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 12, 8-midnight with a ticketed event full of music and performances.  Curated by Emily Kern from 108 Contemporary and emerging curator Krystle Brewer, the exhibition continues at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady with free gallery hours through October 24. 

Momentum Tulsa Emerging Curator: Krystle Brewer

Submissions for Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still are due by September 5 at 5 pm. Oklahoma artists aged 30 and younger are eligible.

Guest curators for Momentum Tulsa are 108 Contemporary Director Emily Kern and emerging curator, Krystle Brewer. The curators selected three artists for Spotlight awards, for which the artists receive $2,000 and three months of curatorial guidance. Momentum Tulsa opens 8 p.m. until midnight, October 12th, 2013 at Living Arts, 307 E. Brady in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gallery hours will continue through October 24.

I had the privilege of communicating with Brewer via e-mail to understand more about her background and process as Emerging Curator of Momentum Tulsa 2013. Below is the question and answer session from our conversation.

Laura Reese: What is your educational/professional background?
Krystle Brewer: I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Oklahoma City University in 2009 with a focus in ceramics. After graduating, I did an internship with OVAC and then worked with the Cultural Development Corporation as Project Manager. I currently work as a Graduate Research Assistant at the OSU Museum of Art as I pursue a Master's in Art History.

Momentum Tulsa 2013 Emerging Curator Krystle Brewer

What brought you to this current point in your career?
I applied for this opportunity four times before I was chosen. After repeated rejections, I … began creating curating opportunities Each of the shows I have curated have been so drastically different that they have each taught me a different set of skills.


What is your interest in curating? Where do you think this stems from?
Curating has been the bridge between the art world and the world of academics for me. I see myself as being a part of both communities and through curating I get to both work with art and artists while still researching and writing about the works.

You have interned at OVAC, how might this affect your process in curating Momentum?
My internship at OVAC has broadened my understanding of the show. You don't realize how much work goes into the shows or to what an extent it is a communal effort. I think the way artists and art supporters join together for a common goal of promoting the arts in Oklahoma, especially for the young artist populous as in Momentum, ensures that in years to come, we will continue to have a thriving arts community here in Oklahoma.

How does your role as an artist affect the way you look at art?
You have a better understanding of mediums and processes that includes identifying choices that artists have made in their work.

Krystle Brewer, I Always Wanted to Live in a Yellow House
 So I Could Pretend to be VanGogh, Ceramic, fiber

As a past Momentum Artist, what do you think you can bring from that experience to curating?
I think it is helpful to have been on the other side of this process because it gives a greater understanding of the process the artists have gone through in the Spotlight Artist proposals and the general submission.

What do you find to be the most important thing about Momentum in the role of young artists?
I really believe in the role Momentum has as it gives an opportunity for young artists to show their work in a venue that is supportive and understanding of the learning process that artists go through. It isn't something that is often thought of when you are a young artist, but you have to learn how to show your work. Whether you get into Momentum or not, you learn from the process.

Emily Kern: Momentum Tulsa Curator

Serving as the curator for the 10^th anniversary of Momentum Tulsa, Emily Kern directs the 108 Contemporary showcasing fine, handmade contemporary craft in a wide range of media as one of the newest galleries in Tulsa’s Brady Arts District.

Momentum Curator Emily Kern

Kern earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting and sculpture and her Masters of Science in Entrepreneurship. With this background she managed a variety of business and worked in the fine art print studio of Universal Limited Artist Editions in New York.

“Working at ULAE gave me more appreciation for artistic processes, helped me understand more about the business of selling art, and gave me experience working with artists," Kern noted.

With this high caliber print studio experience, she got 108 Contemporary’s gallery up and running. Her combination of business expertise and art sensibilities allows her to oversee the organizational aspects, such as memberships, as well as the artistic aspects, such as monitoring exhibition installation, and organizing workshops.

Artwork by Curator Emily Kern

A past Momentum Spotlight Artist and OVAC intern, Kern has a unique perspective in curating the exhibition and mentoring the artists.

“I hope to help this year's Spotlight Artists clarify their point of views so that their pieces are as strong as they possibly can be,” said Kern.

For Kern, “Momentum was "crucial in helping me develop my concepts and body of work,” and she knows how hard it is for emerging artists.

Kern observed, “Encouragement can be hard to come by when you are emerging, and Momentum provided that for me and hopefully will provide that for the 2013 artists.”

Submissions for Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still are due by September 5 at 5 pm. Oklahoma artists aged 30 and younger are eligible. 

Guest curators for Momentum Tulsa are 108 Contemporary Director Emily Kern and emerging curator, Krystle Brewer. The curators selected three artists for Spotlight awards, for which the artists receive $2,000 and three months of curatorial guidance. Momentum Tulsa opens 8 p.m. until midnight, October 12th, 2013 at Living Arts, 307 E. Brady in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gallery hours will continue through October 24.