Breathing New Life Into Humanities At Rose State College
Hi readers and writerly friends!
This week in Artsy Things, I wanted to republish an article I wrote for the 6420 Magazine. They’ve redone their website again so I figured I’d try and post all my writing here! This article was supposed to be second in a three part series, but was adjusted to fit all the core information into one brief article for the magazine. You can learn more from the articles linked at the end of this blog post!
In part one of this series, we looked at the research and development the Fall 2019 Mural class conducted in preparation of the new humanities mural. They visited with Randy Marks from OKC’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Pablo Barrera from Oklahoma Contemporary, and the heads of the Arts Division from OCU to see what the process was like getting a mural up in public spaces, what Oklahoma Contemporary was doing to make public art more accessible, and what new courses and features OCU’s art division had to offer art majors transferring from Rose State College.
The start of an art-covered campus at Rose State
Even though the process for getting a mural up at Rose State was different than the process for public art, they still had to render out their ideas, budget their supplies, and put together a presentation for the Humanities Building Interior Mural Committee on the Rose State College campus. They narrowed down their ideas down to two mural concepts, one done by Fine Arts major, Ashley Gilliland and one done by myself. The committee chose Ashley's design due to time constraints and planned for my mural to be done next semester.
Once all of the prep work was complete, the mural was set to begin. They started sketching the design out on the wall and in days, had the first layers of paint up. Over the past few months, they've been working on it, each Tuesday and Friday, and they made considerable progress for only working two days out of each week of the semester. They just finished the mural and sealed it on Tuesday, December 10th, 2019, so it's officially finished.
Suzanne Thomas described her thoughts on the mural class, how it differed from previous years’ classes, and her thoughts on the mural:
“This mural class was more about the process and procedures that an artist must go through before they create artwork. Especially artwork that is meant to be viewed in public. I think a lot of art students have this idea that art is just about their personal expression, but public art, i.e., like murals, are about the reflecting the values within the community at large. This class was different in that there was more research that had to be done, more collaboration among the students, and Humanities faculty. I am really proud of the mural and their work!” said Thomas.
No Limitations
No Limitations mural in the Humanities building at Rose State College
Humanities Brain Mural Planned for Spring Semester
When the mural class rendered out their concepts for the first painting, at least three of five students came up with a left brain versus right brain type of design. They said this happened with zero communication or collaboration on their part and thought it was a good sign that they were on the same page. However, due to the fall semester moving so quickly, the students of the mural class, Suzanne Thomas and the Humanities Building Interior Mural Committee agreed it made more sense to do Gilliland’s mural in the fall semester and save my mural for the spring semester.
The Humanities Building Interior Mural Committee was torn between the two mural concepts and voted to have both done since they couldn’t pick one over the other. The second design is planned for the spring semester. I will be completing the mural as an honors credit project for my painting class, with the help of volunteer high school students from Midwest City High School. We’re still getting all our ducks in a row but so far, Humanities Dean, Toni Castillo’s approval we have a few students who have volunteered to work on the mural, and Suzanne Thomas’ has agreed to mentor me on the project.
Since I will be spearheading the project, it is my job to organize all the logistics from reaching out to the high school to recruit students, obtaining liability waivers, and getting everything approved between both schools. This project is exciting because it benefits all three parties—the MCHS students who will be receiving recognition for their volunteer work on the project, Rose State College which is using this as a recruitment opportunity for the Fine Arts Department, and myself who will of course receive recognition for the concept as well as an opportunity to participate in a leadership program.
Toni Castillo, Dean of Humanities provided her thoughts on both of the murals and her plan for breathing new life into the Humanities building:
“The mural project is a perfect opportunity for the Humanities Division Art Program to showcase the exceptional talents of Rose State students. I am particularly gratified that the project is completely student driven—their vision, their presentation, their implementation—so that eventually that entire upstairs corridor of our building will be a legacy of their values left for all who come here. Professor Suzanne Thomas, who has headed the project, has shown particularly strong leadership in the way she has structured the class and worked with dedicated Honors Program students to complete the project, as those students have in turn reached out to involve area high school students. The project in that corridor will be ongoing for several years until we finally have a true venue for experiential art here at Rose.” said Castillo
Spring Humanities mural completed in the summer of 2020 due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Unfortunately due to the pandemic, I had to push my mural back until the summer where I was one of the only people allowed in the building. Since then, I have completed it and was awarded honor’s credit for it’s completion. It was an incredible opportunity I will be gracious to Rose State College and Suzanne Thomas for forever. Below is a slideshow of the completed mural.
Humanities
“Humanities” mural in the upstairs back hallway of the Humanities building at Rose State College
Further reading
Exploring Oklahoma Murals Where Public Art Is More Than Paint
Exploring Oklahoma Murals Where Public Art Is More Than Paint
Is there an official opening date? Will there be a special opening ceremony or event for the public?
Oklahoma Contemporary - New Home
Artist VARA Waiver
General VARA Waiver for Works of Visual Art
COVID-19 Delays Oklahoma Contemporary’s New Location Opening Ceremony
New Light—Oklahoma Contemporary’s Plan to Re-Open
Making Space With Oklahoma Contemporary Interview With Pablo Barrera
Making Space With Oklahoma Contemporary: Interview With Pablo Barrera
Thank you for reading my article about murals at Rose State College and fine arts in the OKC area! If you’re in the area and interested in art, I highly encourage you to check out Oklahoma Contemporary and get involved with the art community here in Oklahoma!
—Payton
Exploring Murals In Oklahoma: Where Public Art Is More Than Just Paint
Public art, particularly murals, plays a significant role in enhancing urban spaces and fostering community identity. In Oklahoma, the process of creating murals involves collaboration between artists, city officials, and property owners. Legal considerations, including the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), protect artists’ rights and ensure their work is respected. Additionally, partnerships with local organizations and educational institutions provide opportunities for aspiring artists to gain experience. This dynamic environment encourages artistic expression while promoting cultural appreciation.
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