START NORMAN05.10.14

04.11.14

S P A C E :THRESHOLD: THE PROMISED LAND

ABOUT: START NORMAN

StART Norman was born out of the idea that the arts can affect positive and lasting change through placemaking – the act of bringing the “community” back to the Community.

Through a series of art exhibits and installations and temporary improvements to a designated area of Downtown Norman, we will attempt to explore concepts like “walkability,” “bikeability,” green space, enhanced retail offerings, and arts experiences in order to welcome and attract PEOPLE to Main Street.

StART Norman is inspired by The Better Block and No Longer Empty projects.

HISTORY: THE LUMBERYARD

START NORMAN TEAM

227 W Main Street

Norman’s Original Townsite was first platted on December 8, 1890.

Norman was incorporated as a municipality on May 13, 1891.

The legal description of 229 W Main is Lots 10-16, Block 72 of Norman’s Original Townsite plat. This plat includes seven 25-foot individual parcels.

Four of the lots that eventually become the heart of the lumberyard were first sold in 1891 and twice sold in 1892.

The first mention of the owner being a lumber company at 227 W Main is a sale filed in 1909 by Brittain Lumber, a company owned by Mrs. Sirrilla A. Brittain, who is identified on the deed as a widow.

A 1911 deed indicates that Brittain Lumber sold to Barker Lumber Company.

A 1916 deed references the sale of the parcel to Minnetonka Lumber Company which now encompasses the seven parcels that today make up 227 W Main.

A Norman Transcript ad attributed to January 22, 1914 trumpets “Own a Home of Your Own This Year! Minnetonka Lumber Company, tel. 51”

Jim Adair, Adair & Associates, heather ahtone (Curator), Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Susan Atkinson, City of Norman, Carol Beesley, Norman Arts Council, Judith Blake, Community Volunteer, Joshua Boydston (Communications Director), Norman Arts Council, Tessa Breder, Norman Chamber of Commerce, Rob Crissinger, Bumbershoot PR, Jonathan Fowler, Fowler Holding Group, Ron Frantz, University of Oklahoma College of Architecture, Erinn Gavaghan (Executive Director), Norman Arts Council, Susan Greer, Norman Arts Council, Shane Hampton, Institute for Quality Communities, Amyie Kao, Mariposa, Daniel Kao, Mariposa, Stephen Koranda, Cleveland County Fairgrounds, Taylor Mauldin, Norman Convention and Visitors Bureau, Richard McKown, Norman Arts Council, Laura Reese (Curator), Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Amber Roth, Norman Arts Council, Melissa Scaramucci (Chair), Norman Arts Council and LOCAL, Tim Stark (Project Manager), Norman Arts Council, Mike Tower, Larry Walker, Norman Arts Council, Tracey Zeeck, Bumbershoot PR

CURATOR STATEMENT

Threshold: the promised land explores the Lumber Yard space as a site for transformation. We chose the title Threshold because it implies an opening, a boundary yet to be crossed, and the maximum or minimum point of change. The phrase “promised land” brings to mind hope and new beginnings, as well as reflection on local history. The artists have created work that examines themes around building and construction, natural for a lumberyard, which also reminds us of our future potential. What blossomed most boldly within the core of each installation is the importance of “home” and how we set roots wherever we live long enough to do so. In the early years of the city’s second century, the artists join Norman’s citizens as we express the vibrancy of our community and to celebrate the diversity that makes it an amazing place to live. Through this project, as curators we created opportunities in which the artists could work as a group and one-on-one with us, we discussed themes and ideas that responded to the place, history and potential future of the site. Though the timeline was uniquely limited, the goodwill and dedication of the artists and community have made this project a success we can all share in celebrating. These skilled and talented artists revealed new insights into the themes we offered and have provided thoughtfully constructed projects for the audience. Threshold, as the visual arts component of the START Project, has been a way to give artists the space and tools to inspire our community, create change, and imagine a new promised land for us to live in.

heather ahtone & Laura Reese

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MAIN STREET

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UE T H E

LUMBERYARD

1. ALEXANDRA KNOX

2. C. MAXX STEVENS

3. SARAH HEARN

4. HEATHER CLARK

HILLIARD

5. CEDAR MARIE

6. ERIN LATHAM

7. LEIGH MARTIN

8. ALAN ATKINSON

9. FILM ROOM

10. MURAL

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ARTISTS

MAP

ALEXANDRA KNOXHomage to S. Britton

C. MAXX STEVENSLayers

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ARTIST STATEMENTI became very interested in the general history and life of the Minnetonka Lumberyard. I was fascinated that a woman, S. Britton, was the original founder of the property and owner of the thriving business, especially for the time period. Conceptually, pastels can be considered “feminine”, I see the colors as an homage to S. Britton. I have chosen to use text and audio as components of the installation, allowing the audience to travel through the space, while manipulating the surfaces to invite prolonged investigation. For this purpose, I have used historic advertisements for the Minnetonka Lumber Co., encouraging Normanites “to build and own your own home,” which were targeted for a male audience and creating an interesting dichotomy for content. The anticipated wear and tear on the painted floor from viewers walking through the space will serve as a metaphor to the transcendence of history and memory of Minnetonka Lumber Company through place and time.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTExploring the history and documentation of the space and its management, Alexandra Knox’s installation uses text and audio to recall the former atmosphere of the land. Through her interest of history in the “widow woman” who ran the business, Knox’s Homage to S. Britton pays homage not just to the history of the space, but the history of women. The installation uses “feminine” pastel painted text to draw the viewers’ eyes around the room while the ambient noises of a lumber yard affect the reception of the advertisements. Knox’s work touches on gender dichotomy and societal imbalances through disparate aesthetics and textures, visually and audibly. Her ambient works gently guide the viewer through space and time, and allow us to pause and reflect on history through the present.

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ARTIST STATEMENTLayers and multitudes of elements can create tension to one’s threshold. The concept of threshold for my piece is based on the psychology element of history and time for the native cultures, specifically the Seminoles.

Going from the back wall to the front of the stage; First layer: the ghost light is used to put a lite center to the piece and also playing with the idea of how it is used in theater - a ghost light enables one to navigate.Second layer: hanging 2-D house with printed birds on the surface to give one a sense of place. The home is important to me as family grounds me and how the birds are used in my work are important as they are always a part of our daily encounters. Usually I use crows in my work but for this piece the scissor tail will be used. Third Layer: floating transparent Seminole dress. The transparency of the dress as it floats in front of the house gives a psychological effect of time and change for our culture. Fourth Layer: the floor. Inside a circle are play money and horsehair balls representing the balance between culture and money.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTAs an installation artist, C. Maxx Stevens has exhibited across the continent, always working in a visual vernacular that addresses identity, contemporary experience, and with an arresting honesty. Working with imagery and materials that invoke both intimacy and shared experience, Layers speaks to the construction of our internal sense of belonging and the symbolization of home. As an internationally acclaimed artist, Threshold is honored to host Stevens’ as a guest artist.

SARAH HEARNColonization

HEATHER CLARK HILLIARDon and on and on and it goes

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ARTIST STATEMENTFor Colonization, I installed six site specific lichen colonies made of cut photographs throughout the interior and exterior of the Lumberyard space. Although these colonies are made of artificial materials, they are installed as if they are growing, living organisms and are disguised to compliment or blend in with the architecture of the space. Expanding on the idea of Thresholds, I would like to “grow” these colonies in liminal spaces on site.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTThrough research that is akin to scientific research, Sarah Hearn investigates the boundary between natural and fabricated organisms. By recognizing the Lumber Yard as an evolving site, Hearn imagines the role of lichen in that transformation. Colonization roots fabricated lichen colonies throughout the space, rooting each with six selected sites. Her installation serves as a metaphor for the symbiotic relationship that has been created for the viewer and this historic site, creatively transforming an unused space into a place of welcomed engagement. As a nationally exhibited artist, Hearn celebrates Norman as a guest artist from Oklahoma City.

ARTIST STATEMENTInitially, I was captivated by the life of the widow who purchased the parcels of land that became the lumber yard and the relationship between women and economics during the early 1900’s. I am developing a way to create an internal light in the bundle to represent the spirit and internal glowing light of the life cycle on this site. This cycle is also paralleled in the relationship with the wood and water. Water nourishes the trees, the trees provide habitable life vital to our existence, the wood is harvested by humans- ethically and unethically or it naturally proceeds through its own life death cycle. Either way, wood and water are vital to one another and to us.

Everything becomes something different than what it once was: time, an object, a memory, a place- everything transforms. The lumber yard was native central great plains prairie on the cusp of the cross timbers, then city parcels supporting commercial transactions and residential lives, then a community art project and then something...... something far from it’s beginnings. And on and on and on and on it goes....

CURATORIAL STATEMENTOn and on and on and it goes is Heather Clark Hilliard’s synthesis of the weathered wooden structure into a support for metaphorical water, represented by the synthetic twine, chosen as a bright contrast to the weathered wooden structure, the contrast between man made and natural. The installation speaks to the transformative power of water and time, and our shared experience of both. Her continued exploration of organic form and symbolism have made Hilliard’s continued artistic practice a stalwart cornerstone within Norman’s artistic community.

CEDAR MARIEOrigins/Home

ARTIST STATEMENTFor Threshold: The Promised Land this installation responds to the history of the lumberyard site, through its remaining materials, by constructing a series of houses that reveal the changing identity of community. The media stand was left at the site and repurposed to house poems/prose about home and community that visitors can take with them; visitors can further engage with the site by leaving their own personal messages of what home and community means to them.

Artists working in the community make important contributions to social awareness and can help people respond to cultural change in insightful and inventive ways. Origins/Home is meant to foster unique dialogues that can help build connections between people who share similar concerns of community resiliency by both reflecting on Norman’s past while considering its hopeful future.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTCedar Marie has been working as a storyteller of sorts, using stories from the communities with which she works, and translating them into photographs, objects and installations made from repurposed materials. Origins/Home continues this work, as each of the homes was constructed from materials found on the site and transformed into symbols of our own community. Marie works thoughtfully to present her concept so that it rests just at the edge of conceptual and communal. As a professor at the University of Oklahoma, Cedar Marie teaches her students the importance of thoughtful use of materials and the role of reciprocity as an artistic value.

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ERIN LATHAMThe Current Imminent Antecedent

ARTIST STATEMENTFor Threshold, I am considering the history of the space as well as the future of the space. I plan to explore native plant life and the some of the history of agriculture (on the small scale) in Oklahoma. I intend to do this by creating a garden that incorporates themes from the past as well as, what the future could be, through recycled, reclaimed materials. The pieces in the garden would be delineated by past and present through different materials and plants. By looking to the past as inspiration, I want to illustrate how a “dead space” can be used to better people’s lives with a little collaboration and hard work. I want to explore the history of the space and what could be the future of the space and spaces like this in Norman. Unlike my past work, in which I fabricate nature from manmade materials indoors, this work allows me to create my own environment from scratch, and watch it transform.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTErin Latham’s community project explores history in living matter. By researching native agriculture and planting new from found materials on the site, Latham’s The Current Imminent Antecedent, asks viewers to simultaneously imagine the past of the space, and the potential future of the space as a site of community good and change. Latham’s work previously built environments out of man-made materials, and in this new direction, she pushes the real environment in our view for us to appreciate and care for. By giving us the responsibility of a garden, Latham trusts us to be the caretakers of a new season of life with community pride.

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LEIGH MARTINSuccession

ALAN ATKINSONCarpet Battleships

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ARTIST STATEMENTResponse to a man-made venue, abandoned from use and neglected in upkeep, typically incites a perception of decay, loss and idleness. Infrastructure may fall into ruin, while nature returns to claim what is hers. The lumber yard pivots here, springing from a state of decline into a climb of renewal. Like a post-destruction ecosystem, a natural community of organisms begins a new stage of succession, bringing the scene into new life.

The two trees at the east end of the compound are long gone, leaving behind only remnants of past vitality. Despite this demise the trees' remains provide sustenance for another niche, creating signs of new life - a promised land for the cycles of nature.

Abundant. Productive. Placing value on what once was. Much like the planned revitalization of this historic site into something modern, yet reminiscent of its fascinating past.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTComing from a background in urban forestry and knitting, Leigh Martin uses fiber and living matter to highlight the natural processes of change in our environment and gives a natural example to show the value of renewal and revitalization. In Succession, knitted fungi confuse the eye with their faithful accuracy, ushering the viewer to carefully examine each detail in the installation. Martin’s work places esteem in the complicated processes that go unnoticed in our daily lives. These processes of production through decay, and their skillful rendering and curation in Succession, give hope that we can follow nature’s lead and create, out of blight, new life.

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ARTIST STATEMENTMy grandfather was a naval engineer from Barrow, a ship-building port on the west coast of England. My father was raised on tales of the British navy and those recollections fed my childhood imagination. The era of the carpet battleship began when I had a son. Though he has long out grown the desire to play with them, I haven’t outgrown the need to make them. In form these ships echo the steam powered navies of the pre-dreadnought era (1880-1905), when battleships were the peak of technological accomplishment for almost every country with a coastline. As beautiful tools of modernity they gave mankind the power to wage war on a truly global scale. I see these ships as homage to the craftsmanship of the 19th and 20th century shipwrights that I am descended from, and curious relics of mankind’s fascination with playing war.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTCarpet Battleships embodies Alan Atkinson’s efforts to reclaim both the wood used and the family history through the form of ships. This intimate view into the artist’s family history reveals an aspect of our shared relationship through materials to our families as constructions, sometimes through objects but more often through stories that are passed through generations that continue living in our memories, sometime of mythic and epic proportions. Atkinson shares the story of the ships, but more importantly shares the ships with our community, engaging us in play and imagination. The act of sharing allows us to stretch our own imagination in the game of war. However, and more powerfully, the act of sharing is an extension of Atkinson’s humanity, a quality that can be found among many Normanites, and one that Threshold celebrates through the arts.

JOSEPH ERB EYAKIM GULIALT

THE WRIDERS GREENLEE BROTHERS, ROBERT JOHNSON & TREVOR MCCAANFilms: Past, Present, Future

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We Prayed in WaterJoseph Erb

(2012, Animation, 4:30 min.)

We Prayed in Water is a black and white animation about going to water. This piece is about some of the issues and fears of the pollution of the local water streams and rivers in Cherokee communities.

ActuallyEyakem Gulilat

(2010, Video, 2:43 min.)

Two heart-shaped balloons are pushed towards each other in windswept fate. In Actually, the Oklahoma landscape and wind create change and advance the direction of lives and circumstance.

Road 2 SuccessThe Wriders(2012, Documentary, 24:23 min.)

This documentary is about a young Iranian rap group in Oklahoma and their history as rappers since they started back in 2006. The goal of this documentary is to show how hip hop has evolved to a form of expression and how this group is planning to influence its listeners.

LandmarksTodd Greenlee, Alex Greenlee, Robert Johnson, Trevor McCaan, (2013, Live Action, 10:22 min.)

A man, with the help of a guide, travels across vast and dangerous landscapes to retrieve the body of his dead brother.

CURATORIAL STATEMENTFilmmaking in Oklahoma is a burgeoning creative force. As our community members receive acclaim at national and international festivals, they often are overlooked in our local community. The Film Room was conceived as an important component for Threshold to share a selection of work by local filmmakers to celebrate this important and growing medium for Norman. We are very pleased to present these projects and to have the cooperation of Joseph Erb, Eyakem Gulilat, The Wriders, and The Greenlee Brothers & Rob Johnson.

MARWIN BEGAYE

ELLEN MOERSHEL

MICHAEL WILSON

The Promised Land

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CURATORIAL STATEMENTThreshold is a celebration of art for our Norman community. The muralists are Marwin Begaye, Ellen Moershel, and Michael Wilson were invited to participate because of their distinctive personal painting style and an expressed interest in working with the Norman community. They began by planning an image that celebrated Norman, incorporating elements of our local experience within the image. Each muralist contributed to the overall composition, which is titled The Promised Land. The mural includes locally found rose rocks, the beautiful sunrises, several of the birds that annually migrate through our community, and the importance of the railroad to the founding of Norman. The grid-like lines in the background are a map of the city’s main travel routes. Orion, the constellation, has been incorporated because it watched over the mural during its creation. The artists planned how to work together while maintaining their own distinctive styles. This kind of collaboration and shared goodwill is a testament to the fabulous individuals who live in our beloved town. Through these various elements, including those represented in the image and the active hands that painted it, the mural represents the best of Norman.

This mural would not be possible without the many hands that contributed to its completion. Thank you to the volunteers who came because they wanted to contribute to this good cause:

Alan AtkinsonGwyneth AtkinsonMikoiyan BegayeTalullah BegayeAngelyne ConnywerdyGeovante DuboseWinter FryarDaniel HaydenTrep HetheringtonKelley LunsfordPrairie MitchellJulia Satepauhoodle-MikkananMichael SparksSilas Wolf

START NORMAN PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE:April 11, 2014

6-10 p.m. – START Norman Opening Reception

6–10 p.m. – Better Block Norman7–10 p.m. – Jazz in June presents

the Paseo Street Walkers, Das Boot Camp Bier Garten

7–10 p.m. – Audra Elizabeth, LOCAL Café

April 12, 201412–8 p.m. – Better Block Norman2-3:30 p.m. - Artist Talk with C. Maxx Stevens, Cedar Marie &

Marwin Begaye5-8 p.m. – The Oompapas, Das

Boot Camp Bier Garten

April 13, 20141-4 p.m. - Better Block Norman

1 p.m. – Norman Singers presents Singing From the Heartland

1-4 p.m. – Tunes by DJ Timmy B

April 16, 20147 p.m. – University of Oklahoma

English Department presents Crag Hill Poetry Reading

April 17, 20147 p.m. – NAMRON Players

presents On Puppets, a Staged Reading of a New Play

April 18, 20147 p.m. – Center for Medieval and

Renaissance Studies and the Medieval Fair presents “And They

Sang a New Song"

April 19, 2014:Family Arts Day at START!

1-4 p.m. – Arts Activities with the Firehouse Arts Center and

Vanessa Rudloff1 p.m. – The Depot presents Jennifer Kidney Poet and

Storyteller6 p.m. – Cimarron Opera presents

Tales from the Brothers Grimm7 p.m. – The Depot presents

Nathan Brown, 2013-2014 Oklahoma Poet Laureate

April 22, 20147 p.m. – The Fred Jones Jr.

Museum of Art presents Fred Talks: Threshold

April 23, 20147 p.m. – Cimarron Opera

presents An Evening with Brett Payne and Friends

April 24, 20146 p.m. – Oklahoma Film and

Music Office and the Norman

Music Festival Panel Discussion

April 25, 20147 p.m. – Norman Music Festival

Spectacle Stage

April 26, 2014All day – Norman Music Festival

Music Triage Center and Open Jam Session

May 1, 20146:30 p.m. – Lindsey Allgood

presents presence8 p.m. - University of Oklahoma English Department presents

Todd Marshall Fuller Poet

May 2, 20147 p.m. – Robert Mansfield

presents Primed Accordion

May 3, 20131-5 p.m. The Norman Arts Council and the Pioneer

Library System present the annual Writers Workshop:

Threshold with author William Bernhardt

5-6 p.m. Writers Workshop: Threshold with Nathan Brown6:30- 9:00 p.m. – Threshold

Open Mic Lounge

May 4, 20141 p.m. – Madison Morrison’s Engendering, a Marathon

Reading, interpretive poetry reading & live painting performance

May 6, 201412-4 p.m. – The Sketchbook

Project: a library of sketchbooks from across the country.

Visit: sketchbookproject.com

May 7, 20147 p.m. – The Songwriters

Association of Norman Open Mic

May 8, 20146 p.m. – “Black Wall Street 1921” an Artistic Interpretation of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot by Gregory

Jerome and Eric Humphries

May 9, 20146-10 p.m. – START Norman

Closing Reception featuring DJ Timmy B

Visit the START Norman SPACE exhibit: Threshold: the promised

land Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. April 11, 2014 – May 10, 2014 and during all

program times.

PRESENTED BY: