In Fall 2020, students led by Associate Professor Louise Siddons created a digital project documenting the art exhibition history of Oklahoma State University, with the assistance of Digital Scholarship Librarian Megan Macken. Students used the digitized archive of the student newspaper, the Daily O’Collegian—today the O’Colly— to construct a database of exhibitions held between 1960 and 1999.
Here on the collection blog, we’re featuring reflective essays written by students about their work on this project, based on the research they did to compile the online exhibition history. This week’s essay is by Lena Bowen. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The exhibitions held at OSU during the span of five years between 1990 and 1994 mostly consisted of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs. However, there were two exceptions—one was the Wearable Art Show in 1990, and the second was Weapons of Southeast Asia in 1994—that used the decorative art forms of jewelry and weapons. The goals these exhibitions seem to share is educating and inspiring the viewer in the world of art; many of the shows focus on cultural heritage.
Most of the exhibitions took place on Oklahoma State University’s campus, such as in the Gardinery Gallery of Art. As far as the organizers go, there was an overwhelming number of students or alumni involved as well as faculty, especially when it came to annually held art events. This brings about a sense of pride when one sees OSU’s involvement with the arts. There were also a few outside organizers that had no ties or connections to Oklahoma. When it comes to the audience’s reactions, the reporters and editors for the Daily O’Collegian (orO’Colly for short) offered factual reports instead of their own personal opinions on an exhibition. They did, however, offer statements that contained opinions from the organizers or involved artists that they interviewed before or during a show. These statements were effective and really persuaded the reader about what to expect from viewing the exhibition.
James Drake: The Border/La Frontera opened at the Gardiner Gallery of Art on February 26, 1990 and lasted through March 21, 1990. The featured artist, James Drake, “focuse[d] on the crossing of the Mexico/Texas border by illegal immigrants.” The art forms present were “sculpture and works on paper [that] draw from art history to create allusions to contemporary Texas” (“Campus”).
Drake’s exhibition is relevant today because of how he “produce[d] startling indictments of the present situation along the border” (“Campus”). Although this was written in 1990, thirty years later in 2020 there are still issues with immigration along the Mexico/Texas border. This creates problems of racism and discrimination. The attitude this exhibition took toward this current event was one of understanding of the plight and hardships immigrants face due to how the “story in this show is one of struggle and death, which is reality for many impoverished Mexicans who try to escape to the United States” (Baker). This is seen in Cinco de Mayo, as guns are pointed at immigrants who have their hands raised in surrender.
Another equally relevant exhibition, due to its focus on the relationship between people and the environment, is Ted Ramsay’s Paper: Image, Material, Metaphor. This event also happened in Gardiner Gallery of Art, from September 22, 1994 through October 12, 1994. Ramsay’s son, Chris, was the organizer of his exhibit and he was also the director of the Gardiner Gallery at the time. Like Drake, Ted Ramsay also did sculptures, but his were made out of paper. He made a statement about his exhibition that it “questions the fate of nature and focuses on the balance between man and nature” (Guthrie). Just as with immigration, we find that decades later, the environment is still a central concern for people in the US and around the world.
Citations:
“Campus,” Daily O’Collegian, February 26, 1990.
Baker, Caroline. “Emotions, nudes, guns: Art show brings dynamics of machismo to OSU gallery.” Daily O’Collegian, March 1, 1990.
Guthrie, Stephanie L. “Environment focus of art display, Daily O’Collegian, September 26, 1994.
Oklahoma State University Art Collection 