Norman Arts Invites Oklahoma Muralists to Apply for Pre-Qualified Mural Artist Pool

The Norman Arts Council’s Public Arts Committee with funding from the City of Norman, is launching a Mural Incentive program for businesses and commercial property owners in Norman, Oklahoma. Through an application process, the NAC will consider requests for funds of up to $10,000 for mural projects in the City of Norman.

To connect businesses and property owners with muralists, we are inviting muralists to submit their qualifications to a pool of artists. We invite muralists from Oklahoma to submit their portfolios and a statement that describes their mural style and technique. 

Businesses may opt not to use one of our pre-qualified artists, or they may ask the NAC to assist in a selection process. The process would begin with a review of the pre-qualified pool and a short list of appropriate artists for a specific project. 

Businesses who apply to our Mural Incentive program must agree to pay artists a minimum of $25/square foot for a mural commission. 

To be considered for the Pre-Qualified Mural Artist Pool, please complete the application and submit by February 29, 2024. 

We will have future windows to apply to the Pre-Qualified Pool available at dates TBD. 

Norman Arts Seeks New Grants Review Panelists for Upcoming Grant Cycle

Norman Arts Council is seeking new Grants Review Panelists to review grant applications from the upcoming hotel tax granting cycle. Panelists help ensure the most effective use of the grant funds available, steering our local creative future with their recommended allocations — using NAC grant guidelines as the basis for review — in hopes of achieving an exciting, enticing, equitable and interesting landscape for our Norman arts community.

The grants review work takes place from February through April with two required meetings and an electronic review of all grant applications (approximately 25-30 each year).

Those selected to serve on the Grants Review Panel will receive a $100 honorarium.

Elected members will serve a three-year term and shall not be eligible for reelection until the expiration of one year following the last year in office.

More guidelines below:

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The sole purpose of the Grants Review Panel will be to review the grant proposals submitted in compliance  with NAC guidelines and to make awards recommendations to the NAC Board of Directors.  

Although the Grants Review Panel will be autonomous in the review process, it must use NAC grants guidelines as the basis for its review process and for recommending award amounts.

The Panel shall consist of nine seats nominated by the Arts Roundtable and elected by the NAC Board of Directors with sensitivity to community diversity.  The Panel shall select its own Chair. Criteria for selection of the Panel shall be as follows:

• Knowledge or expertise in the area of arts or humanities,

• Knowledge or expertise in the area of financial management,

• Objectivity in the selection of organizations for grants and awards.

• Residency in Norman for at least one year

• Knowledge of or experience with grants and/or grants procedures is recommended.

To achieve a broad perspective, the makeup of the panel shall be representative of the diversity of the Norman community. The distribution between the nine seats shall be:

• Two seats from the business community (e.g. restaurants, banking, service or retail).

• Two seats from the education community (e.g. University of Oklahoma, Norman Public School System, Home Schooling Association, or private teachers).

• Two seats from the arts and humanities community (cannot be a current employee or board member of any Norman arts organization)

• One seat from the hospitality industry (e.g. Norman Hospitality Association, hotels, motels, inns etc.).

• Two alternates elected to substitute for any elected panelist who is unable to serve. The alternates must be individuals with the proven ability to represent a wide cross section of community interests so as to represent the balance intended by this Section.

Artists Invited to Invade MAINSITE with Call for Artists for Area fiftyONE Exhibit, Auction

Call for Artists: Area fiftyONE Exhibition + Auction

DEADLINE: 11:59 P.M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9
SUBMIT HERE

Artists are invited to participate in the Norman Arts Council's annual art auction! This is an exhibition and auction of works to support the Norman Arts Council. Deadline to confirm participation via the form below is Friday, February 9, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Artists will be notified on Monday, February 12 of acceptance of work in the Auction.

Artwork MUST be delivered to the Norman Arts Council between Tuesday, February 13, 2024 – Saturday, February 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. - No Exceptions! The gallery is closed on Sunday and Monday.

A final listing of available drop-off times will be included in the notification of acceptance. Artwork must be delivered ready to hang or display. Artwork must include Title, Artist, Medium, and Dimensions clearly marked on the back of the piece.

Auction:

Works of art in the auction will be available for bidding in-person and online beginning Friday, March 9, 2024 and through the end of the event on the evening of Saturday, March 23, 2024.

Exhibit Opening Celebration:
2nd Friday Norman Art Walk on March 9, 2024, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Free and open to the public)
Exhibit Closing: 11:00pm, Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 (Area fiftyONE Event, ticketed)

Unsold Artwork MUST be picked up between March 26-30, 2024 (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) - No Exceptions!

Details

• Artists may submit up to two (2) works of art for ONE - each submission must be on a separate form!

• We will only accept artwork 36” x 36” or smaller

• We would love for artists to consider “Area fiftyONE” as a theme in their donated work! Think all things space, sci-fi, future, extraterrestrial or otherworldly!

• The Norman Arts Council reserves the right to decline any work submitted for the auction for reasons including, but not limited to: work that is not exhibition-ready, work that is deemed inappropriate by the ONE Committee, or submissions that do not meet all the requirements.

Artists who donate 100% of proceeds to the NAC will receive:

• Two tickets to the event

• Work will be listed as Featured Work in the online Auction and include a link to your artist website (if applicable)

Artists who donate 50% of auction proceeds to the NAC will receive:

• One ticket to the event

• 50% of final sale price of work

Norman Arts Opens Up Third Round of Artist Grants for Local Creatives

Norman Artist Grants
DUE BY 11:59 P.M. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5
DEADLINE EXTENDED! DUE BY 11:59 P.M. FRIDAY, JANUARY 19
Apply for Community Project | Creative Project | Education Grant

Norman Arts Council is back with a third round of grants of its new artist grant program to serve Norman-based artists and further our creative community. While the longstanding Norman Arts Grant Program has benefited local artists through its support of dozens of arts organizations around town, this furthers NAC’s commitment to directly benefit local artists in a variety of ways.

The program offers three grants of $1,000, each in a different category.

The categories include Community Project, Creative Project and Education.

• Community Project grants help artists initiate a community-based project that leads to artistic creation. Evaluation is based on quality, the community impact and overall concept.

• Creative Project grants support creation of new work or body of work. Evaluation is based on quality of creative opportunity, career building potential, and overall concept.

• Education grants support opportunities to participate in conferences, residencies or workshops that provide education and further one’s artistic practice. Evaluation is based on quality of educational opportunity, career building potential, and overall concept.

Artists can apply for all three grant opportunities in each cycle, but a maximum of one grant will be awarded to any artist in a given grant cycle.

Only artists who have resided in Norman for the past 12 months are eligible to apply for the Norman Arts Council Artist Grants. Applying artists must be at least 18 years old.

Questions may be directed to Programs & Development Manager Cher Duncan.

Oklahoma Artists to Brighten Up MAINSITE with Final Exhibition of 2023

With respective histories swirled with art, toys and everything between, Ander Cardinale and Kevin Stark will bring their playful creative perspectives to MAINSITE Contemporary Art with two solo exhibitions — with some thematic ties — for the final exhibition at the gallery in 2023.

Welcome to My Dreams by Ander Cardinale and Welcome to My Reality by Kevin Stark will fill the main gallery space while Print(“Hello Wordle”) by Tess Elliott is shown in the back Library Gallery room. All three exhibitions will run at the gallery from December 8, 2023 through February 9, 2024 with an opening reception set for 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, December 8.

Another artist reception will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, January 12 with the closing scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, February 9. All receptions are a part of the 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (though MAINSITE will close from December 23, 2023 through January 3, 2024 for the holiday). All receptions and gallery hours are free and open to the public.

Ander Cardinale with his toy creations. Photograph by Shevaun Williams.

Cardinale’s Welcome to My Dreams finds the toy artist showcasing pieces that celebrate beauty, love, diversity, magic and dreams. His work is inspired by his own experiences and childhood toys, and while celebrating their color and whimsy, also challenging and exploring dominant narratives against the LGBTQ+ community.

Cardinale began making toys with traditional clay sculpting skills, but has recently branched out into different mediums and techniques, including 3D software and printing to make more complex figures with more intricate details.

He was born in Mexico City in 1984. He began working with toys at a young age and his talent was quickly recognized by his family and teachers. He studied architecture in Puebla, Mexico and after graduating he began exploring the world while he was working for the Walt Disney Company in Orlando and Paris. In 2015, he moved to Oklahoma to live with the love of his life. He currently works as the Community Arts Manager for Norman Arts.

His work has been featured in a variety of venues in Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the Art of Toys Museum in Sacramento, California, and in Disney’s D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California. He is currently working on a series of toys representing the importance of love, dreams, diversity, and inclusion.

Kevin Stark, Salmon Chevy, Ivory Keyes, Jett Black and Red Kittens

Born and raised in the small town of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, Kevin Stark has created art his entire life. At the age of fifteen he began working at an Ad Agency and by the age of eighteen he was the head of the art department. At OU he expanded his interests and worked to achieve skills in many different styles and mediums. These skills led him to jobs as a toy designer, a comic book artist, a billboard artist, a portrait painter and many other art related projects for clients in Hollywood and around the world.

Stark has been a professional artist most of his life and in the 1980’s moved back to his hometown and opened his studio and gallery, Stark Art. From there he has produced many works of art and sometimes, because of his interest in Performance Art, he dreams up different artist “personas” in order to create works in totally different styles and subject matter.

Though these works Welcome to My Reality are all created by Kevin Stark, you will see Pop Art by “Red Kittens,” bird paintings by “Ivory Keyes,” abstract storm paintings by “Jett Black,” graphic poster style paintings by “Salmon Chevy,” and finally classical, yet contemporary portraits under Kevin Stark’s own name.

Stark says of the exhibition, “Apologies in advance for any confusion that this shit might cause.”

Stark will host a number of artist talks throughout the duration of the exhibition. All will be free at MAINSITE and open to anyone to attend.

7 p.m. Thursday, December 21: Kevin Stark: Welcome to my Reality

7 p.m. Friday, January 19: Red Kittens: The Art of Cats

7 p.m. Friday, January 26: Salmon Chevy: Can’t Speak? Make Art!

7 p.m. Tuesday, January 30: Jett Black: Storms at Night

7 p.m. Thursday, February 1: Ivory Keyes: Bird Spirits

Monoprint by Tess Elliot

Tess Elliot makes images, objects, film, animation, installations, and interactive experiences, using both traditional media and emerging technologies. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including at Aggregate Space Gallery in Oakland, CA, the Ann Arbor Film Festival in Ann Arbor, MI, Vinegar Contemporary in Birmingham, AL, Oklahoma Contemporary in Oklahoma City, OK, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL, and MOTOR in Los Angeles, CA, among others. She earned her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in 2008 and completed an MFA in Art & Technology at the Ohio State University in 2017. Tess lives and works between Norman, OK, Queens, NY, and currently Santa Cruz, CA. She is Associate Professor of Art, Technology, & Culture at OU’s School of Visual Arts.

Print(“Hello Wordle”) presents a series of monoprints depicting screenshots of a very trivial digital product, the viral online game Wordle. The five-letter entries in sequence usually make no sense, however highly poetic phrases can emerge by chance. This exhibition celebrates some serendipitously vivid verse happened upon through a casual, low-stakes collaboration between code and human. The poems parody our current interactions with and conversations about authorship regarding AI by inverting our roles, and explore language, meaning, and psychology.