New Native American Exhibit at Gilcrease
WELL-KNOWN SCULPTURES: Work by Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser is on display at Gilcrease Museum, Feb. 13-June 29. The exhibition, Form and Line: Allan Houser’s Sculpture and Drawings, is a broad selection of Houser’s sculptures.
Courtesy Gilcrease Museum of Art
Gilcrease Museum joins nearly a dozen venues across Oklahoma in celebrating the centennial of the birth of Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser. The Gilcrease exhibition, Form and Line: Allan Houser’s Sculpture and Drawings, is a broad selection of Houser’s sculptures and continues through June 29.
Monumental and tabletop sculptures in this exhibition reveal the range of Houser’s talent. The large charcoal and pastel drawings inform the sculpture, yet are finished artworks in themselves. In addition, the artist’s sketchbooks will be on display, opened to pages of conceptual drawings illustrating the raw, prolific energy that fueled his evolution as an artist. Seeing the small conceptual drawings in the artist’s sketchbooks in company with his massive sculptures is enlightening. Throughout his career, Houser honored changing inner directives, finding an artistic vocabulary in various materials and in diverse stylistic approaches.
The Sacred Rain Arrow, one of Houser’s best-known pieces, commands a central point in front of the museum and embellishes Oklahoma’s license plates.
Numerous Oklahoma museums and cultural institutions have partnered with the Oklahoma Museums Association to present Celebrating Allan Houser: An Oklahoma Perspective, recognizing the 100th anniversary of Houser’s birth. The celebration features exhibitions and events across the state through December to honor the Oklahoma native.
Most of the exhibition works at Gilcrease Museum have been loaned by Allan Houser, Inc., the artist’s estate in Santa Fe, N.M. Title sponsor of the Gilcrease Museum 2013-14 exhibition season is the Sherman E. Smith Family Foundation.
A series of educational programming will be held throughout the exhibition run:
MASTERS
For children ages 3-6
April 10, 11, 1-2:30 p.m.
Mini Masters will explore the exhibition, Form and Line: Allan Houser’s Sculpture and Drawings, learning about shape, color, design and line. After the gallery lessons, children will go to the Creative Learning Center to create a work of art, inspired by Allan Houser’s sculptures, using different clay materials.
SUNDAY MATINEE
April 13, 1:30 p.m. & 2:45 p.m.
Allan Houser Haozous: The Lifetime Work of an American Master
The spirit of Allan Houser’s Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache heritage is the source of his imagery: his father’s stories, his own early memories of women’s shawls and skirts around the bonfire of the Apache Mountain Spirit dance, the bitterly won taste of his tribe’s freedom after a generation of forced relocation and imprisonment. A narrative description of his life (1914-1994) and artwork illustrated with footage of the artist at work and remembrances recorded by friends and family compose this video of a man as teacher, father, spirited musician, and pioneering artist. Phil Lucas Productions, 1998, 54 minutes, documentary, not rated.
SUNDAY DRAWS
For children ages 8 and older
June 1, 1-2:30 p.m.
$5 for members, $8 for non-members
Drawing is the basis for creating all art. It is the starting point for expressing thoughts and ideas and making them visually concrete. Sunday Draws is for children, ages 8 and older, along with their families who want to learn to draw or to learn to draw better and have fun doing it. A teaching artist will guide participants in the different drawing techniques and materials used by Allan Houser. Participants will be inspired by the sketchbooks and finished charcoal drawings seen in the exhibition, Form and Line: Allan Houser’s Sculpture and Drawings. All supplies are provided, including drawing journals to keep.
IN SPIRIT OF ALLAN HOUSER – A COMMUNITY WEEKEND
Saturday & Sunday, June 28 & 29
Activities will be held statewide at all museums and facilities celebrating the commemoration of Allan Houser’s 100th birthday. Gilcrease Museum offers art activities, films and an opportunity to engage with the exhibition one last time.
Updated 04-23-2014
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