CHOOSE YOUR OWN ARTVENTURE
This weekend's Oklahoma Art Crawl will showcase artists, who will be exhibiting their work outdoors, in 33 cities across the state
Oklahoma art lovers, start your engines.
Part road rally, part drive-in arts festival and part treasure hunt — complete with handy map — this weekend's Oklahoma Art Crawl is designed to rev up state artists and art lovers idled by the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is a Choose Your Own Adventure. ... People can explore other neighborhoods if they feel like getting in the car and going for a longer drive. But the idea really was that people could be surprised by where artists were living or where their studios were ... and hopefully discover the art next door,” said Krystle Brewer, executive director for the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, which is organizing the event.
Billed as the state's biggest art crawl, the event will showcase artists all over the state, who will be exhibiting their work outdoors from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. More than 225 artists in 33 cities will be showing their stuff in their yards, under their carports and in their driveways.
“The idea was that artists could choose what level they feel the most comfortable with and curate their own space at how close or distant they want to be with the community. So, it can be as simple as hanging work in your window ... or pinning it on clotheslines,” Brewer said.
Following the spring COVID-19 outbreak, Jennifer Scanlan, an independent Oklahoma City art curator, read about similar art crawls in Los Angeles and New York. She thought the concept would be a good fit for Oklahoma City.
She took the idea to OVAC, where notions like porch placemaking as well as the organization's annual Tulsa Studio Tour informed the Sooner State version, including OVAC's decision to issue a statewide call for artists.
“I wasn't expecting it on this scale at all, and I wasn't expecting a lot of the smaller towns to have even two or three artists. I was really excited by the breadth of support from artists who are really from all over the place.”
Sprawling map
The more than 225 participating artists are marked on the interactive map at OKArtCrawl. org. Since she learned about several artists she didn't know while planning the event, Scanlan said she hopes OVAC will leave the map online after this weekend as a resource for the arts community.
“I think people are going to be really proud when they see how many artists are out there doing things that they can discover. It's pretty great to see that broad range of artists who are really passionate about what they're doing and want to share it,” Scanlan said.
Although many people might want to stick close to home during the event, she said art lovers tired of sheltering in place during the pandemic will find plenty of road trip options.
OVAC was forced to cancel its March “Momentum” exhibit for artists 30 and younger as well as this month's Tulsa Studio Tour because of the pandemic.
“So, we really wanted this to be about community building and connecting with each other ... and it's fun because the artists have started sending us pictures of their signs that they've made, so we're really excited. We hope it's a big explosion on social media, too, because you can't possibly go to all of them ... but we can all share pictures,” Brewer said, adding the event will use #OKArtCrawl on social media.
The OKC artist collective Factory Obscura will be among the participants, inviting people to its Automobile Alley headquarters to check out its familiar giant interactive boom box.
“There are six new murals in the alleyway on the west side of the building that have just been finished. So, those are also part of the attraction for the art crawl,” said Kelsey Karper, Factory Obscura co-founder and director of logistical creativity.