Exploring Murals In Oklahoma: Where Public Art Is More Than Just Paint
A photo of the students from the Fall 2019 Special Topics In Art: Murals class paint the finishing touches on a mural. This mural is set to be the first of a series of murals as part of the ongoing project, “Breathing New Life Into The Humanities.” This project is expected to continue into 2025 and draw nearer to completion with each following Special Topics In Art: Murals class taught by Suzanne Thomas. Photo by Ken Beachler.
Hello readers and writerly friends!
If you’re a returning reader, welcome back and if you’re new to the blog, thanks for stopping by! In this blog post I’ll be doing an in-depth article discussing the murals and public art scene in Oklahoma. This article was originally written for The 6420 Magazine at Rose State College in 2020 and is the first part of a three-part series spanning a range of topics to do with Oklahoma’s public art stage. You can find the next two articles in the series linked in the “Related Topics” section towards the end of this post.
In Suzanne Thomas’s Fall 2019 Course, Special Topics In Art: Murals, students learned all the ins and outs of getting a mural up in public space when they met with the Randy Marks from the Oklahoma City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. The same day, they met with Pablo Barrera, Oklahoma Contemporary’s inaugural Curatorial fellow and the Division heads of the Fine Studio Arts at Oklahoma City University. After learning about the public art process and different opportunities for art in Oklahoma, the students began preparing for the mural they’d be painting in the upstairs, back hallway of the Rose State College Humanities building.
Insights On Artists’ Rights and How To Get Murals Approved In Oklahoma City, From The Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs
Putting up a mural in public spaces or on private property doesn’t just consist of slapping some paint up on a wall—at least not in the beginning. Since the canvas is often property of the city as well as private owners, there’s several steps an artist must take before ever picking up their paintbrush.
When the mural class met with Randy Marks from the Oklahoma City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, they learned that the process for getting not only murals, but other forms of public art installed is a much more extensive process than slapping paint up on a wall. First, one must go through Oklahoma City’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs to get their artwork approved, if it’s going to be on public property or on the external surface of a building. Indoor murals are at the discretion of the property owner.
The mural artist must build a presentation which includes the stages of execution, mockups, expected start and finish date, location, and a budget for the project if it will require public funding from the city. The presentation must be formally presented in front of the Oklahoma City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee and approved. Once approved, the artist will begin preparing for the mural process; this includes gathering materials, preparing the workspace, and getting the necessary paperwork and waivers in order.
The next step in the process is the VARA Rights Waiver and muralists as well as sculptors and other visual artists must have one. The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which allows artists to prevent certain actions regarding their artwork, was enacted in 1990. This act protects visual artists' moral rights by prohibiting the distortion, mutilation, modification, or destruction of their work in a way that could damage their reputation. Oklahoma City’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs recommends that property owners commissioning visual art for an interior/exterior space should ask the artist to sign a VARA Rights Waiver before the work has begun and have it reviewed by an attorney to ensure that the rights for the artwork are clear, legally binding, and transferrable to future owners of said property. Conversely, muralists and other visual artists should be familiar with The Visual Artists Rights Act, the VARA Rights Waiver, and other applicable copyright and property laws that may affect their rights as artists creating public works of art.
When the mural class met with the Oklahoma City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, they learned the importance of VARA waivers. The need for VARA waivers was highlighted when a new company, Alotta Action Advertising, moved into the building on the southeast corner of Northwest 46th Street and Western Avenue and painted over world-renowned and beloved Oklahoma artist, Bob Palmer’s 2-year old mural. This mural was a legacy piece by one of Oklahoma’s most acclaimed artists, and the idea that it has been covered up has a lot of artists upset at the lack of respect for the internationally revered painter. After this poorly-received decision had district leaders, local artists, and OKC citizens alike seeing red, both literally and figuratively,
The mural class also learned about Kent Twitchell, the Los Angeles artist who settled his lawsuit against the U.S. government and 11 other defendants, for $1.1 million, for painting over his six-story mural—“Ed Ruscha Monument,” that was painted on the side of a federal government-owned downtown building.
Once all of this has been done and the artist gets the green light, work can commence on the project—and that’s when the paint finally goes up on the wall.
Making Space With Oklahoma Contemporary
After their meeting with Oklahoma City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the class stopped by the newly constructed Oklahoma Contemporary building to check out the building-in-progress the murals adoring the fences around the construction site, and to chat with Pablo Barrera, the Director of Oklahoma Contemporary. He told them Oklahoma Contemporary’s new building would be open in March 2020 (the opening has since been postponed due to the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic), that the building’s exterior was made to reflect Oklahoma’s picturesque sunsets and sunrises. He also showed us the murals that they’ve set up along the construction site, called Making Space.
Visiting The Fine Studio Art Division at Oklahoma City University
When the students finished their visit with Pablo Barrerra at the Oklahoma Contemporary construction site, they visited briefly with Bryan Cardinale-Powell, Associate Professor and Chair of Visual Art and Film, and Jeff Price, Professor of Game Design and Animation at Oklahoma City University. They learned about their extensive art programs, saw their high-tech graphic design studio, and some of their projects for upcoming courses—notably their motion capture room which was under construction during the students’ visit. The class got the opportunity see an all-encompassing art studio with every tool one could imagine for bringing artwork to life from fine studio art, to digital art, and animation. Beyond that, students saw the fine arts department even had their own art museum and exhibit hall. To compare, OCU’s student art gallery was bigger than the student art case in the Communication Center at Rose State College and smaller than the Fred Jones Museum at the Oklahoma University campus in Norman.
More Murals To Come To Rose State College In Spring 2020 With “Breathing New Life Into The Humanities”
After the class met with the different local art communities, they decided to get to work on their own mural. You can read more about their process and experience—as well as Dean of Humanities, Toni Castillo’s vision for revitalizing the Humanities department by covering nearly every inch of the building’s interior hallways in murals—in the second part of this series, “Breathing new life into Humanities at Rose State College” which is featured in the Spring issue of The 6420 Magazine and linked in the “Related Topics” section below.
Thanks for reading my article about murals and fine arts in the OKC metro area! If you’re in the area and interested in art, I highly encourage you to check out Oklahoma Contemporary and to get involved with the art community here in Oklahoma!
Bibliography
Hayes, Payton. “No Limitations Mural Progress Photo.” December 11, 2020.
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Written by Payton Hayes | Last Updated: March 25, 2025