After years of filling Capitol with art, artist leaving state
Mike Wimmer, an acclaimed artist whose canvases regularly grace the walls of the Oklahoma Capitol, is leaving the state to teach.
Wimmer, a native of Muskogee who lives in the Oklahoma City metro area, recently told Facebook friends he’s accepted a job at the Savannah College of Art and Design. SCAD, as it’s known, is one of the premier art academies in the world with two campuses in the state of Georgia, plus sites in Hong Kong and the south of France.
For years, Wimmer has been commissioned to paint portraits and historical scenes for inclusion in the Capitol art collection. More than 20 of his pieces have hung in the Capitol but, along with other artwork, have been warehoused during restoration of the century-old building.
His first piece put on display at the Capitol was an portrait of Wiley Post, the pilot and friend of Will Rogers whose achievements made aviation history. Wimmer has also painted large scenes depicting President Teddy Roosevelt signing Oklahoma’s statehood proclamation and the transfer of the Louisiana Purchase to American hands.
Wimmer said he hopes this isn’t the end for him in Oklahoma because the state is still home. However, there’s not much business here.
“In all my career, most of my clients have always come from outside the state,” he said. “Except for the things for the state Capitol, I’ve had such little success trying to find clients from Oklahoma.”
Only after receiving national representation, he said, did clients from New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other major cities seek him out.
“I’ve been lucky enough to keep Oklahoma as my home,” he said. “It’s getting harder and harder to be able to do that from Oklahoma.”
He’s been a teacher before, first at Cameron University and then at Oklahoma City University. Recently, he’s led portrait workshops at the Skirvin Hotel.
Now Wimmer will be a professor teaching portraiture, children’s book illustration and business principles.
“They’ve asked for me for the past three or four years, and so I finally said yes,” he said.
His wife remains a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, so he expects to travel home regularly. He also expects to continue painting for Capitol commissions, and is working on a portrait of Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz.
The Capitol’s director of visual arts and collections wants to hire Wimmer again, too. Alan Atkinson praises Wimmer’s influence at the Capitol.
“We could not have represented the history of Oklahoma’s evolution as a state as effectively and as beautifully as we have without having an artist of Mike Wimmer’s caliber working here in the state of Oklahoma,” Atkinson said. “He’s still on my list of artists to continue to do work in the Capitol, so I hope to call on him again. Who knows how long he’s going to want to be in Savannah; it’s a hot, muggy town.”