Gallery #706

They came from all over Oklahoma to audition, bringing their hope, their talent and their instruments.  In April of 2006 nearly 400 high school band students from around the state stepped up to the music stand to try out for the Oklahoma All-Star Centennial Band.   Only 150 made the cut.   They are the best of the best, but they were made better by world class music and live performance directors.   Millions around the globe would see them perform the opening ceremonies for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, the only high school band to enjoy such an honor.  

Gallery cameras were there from the beginning, from the first audition to the band’s march down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California.    Join us for a special one hour Centennial Celebration of the spirit of Oklahoma’s future as we take the journey of a lifetime with young men and women who took on the demands that come with the honor of being an Oklahoma All-Star. 

Contact Info: www.OkCentennialBand.com

Airdate: Feb 13, 2007

Gallery #705

The Light Bender

    His work is a pallette for light. Solidly clear and gloriously radiant, glass is his
medium of choice. Oklahoma City Artisan Jim Triffo is considered an American
Master of stained glass art. He has worked for more than three decades
setting shades of the sun ablaze inside cathedrals, monuments and homes. But it is the Oklahoma State Capitol that is his pride and joy. Triffo calls it his private gallery, a showcase for his greatest stained glass work. Gallery takes you down a lesser know pathe to the modest studio of this master artist who colors the sun.

 Contact Info:

PLUS:

"Custom Made"

Contact: Carroll Cox
                 (405) 686-0090

Airdate: Jan 16, 2007

Gallery #704

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Dance Magic 

He’s taught over 10,000 people to dance and has choreographed over 100 television dance programs.   Nick Felix is an award-winning artist who’s worked in Hollywood with celebrities like Frankie Avalon, Mickey Rooney and even a dinosaur named Barney and when he’s not dancing, he’s writing plays for stage and screen.   For the past 16 years, Felix has worked from his studio in Oklahoma City, teaching students how to tango, foxtrot and waltz.    We’ll partner up with this 72 year old artist who believes the fountain of youth could lie on the dance floor.  

Contact: Nick Felix, Dance Magic
                 (405) 722-8222
              NickFelix.com

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Artitisic Eye

They say art is in the eye of the beholder, for Nancy Townsend, that’s more than a saying.   Townsend literally puts her artistic talents to work to create…eyes.  The Ocularist works for Ocular Prosthetic Services in Oklahoma City.   Her deft hand lightly brushes shades of blue, brown and hazel onto small spheres that will serve patients in need.   Her work is constantly on tour, viewed by everyone her patients meet.    Join us in Townsend’s own unique studio to see how she creates a substitute window to the soul.

Contact:  Dean Mcgee Eye Institute
             

Airdate: 11/21/06

Gallery #703

Young at Art

At the age most people think about retiring, Mary Spurgeon began a new career.
At 71, she discovered she could turn clay into masterful works of art. Now at 88, the panhandle artist has gained national recognition with her realistic bronze cowboy sculptures. Gallery visits Mary at her ranch in Gate, Oklahoma to find out why she discovered a latent talent so late in life. It’s a gift she says was born during a cowgirl's childhood in No Man’s Land.

Contact: Linda Spurgeon - Trails West Gallery
                                                             Dodge City, KS
                                                  (316) 225-1824

PLUS:

"All That Glitters"

The Flames of creation burn bright.

Glass blower Ron Blankenship forges fragility from fire, spun glass from a molten, moving material that is untouchable in the very moment of it’s creation.

Join us as we take you on a wondrous journey with this artist who must move quickly to capture the art he sees inside a cauldron of 2000 degree, molten glass.

Contact: Ron Blankenship at (918) 778-3243
             baroncreek@aol.com

Airdate: 10/4/06

Gallery #702

Museum of the America's

It’s called "The Museum of the Americas". Tulsa’s world renown Gilcrease Museum is best known for its collection of western art. It tells the story of the American West beautifully. Artist such as Remington, Moran, and Russell artwork fills the musuems galleries. The musuem boasts one of the most extensive native american collection in the western hemisphere.

The Gilcrease collection is ranked in the top twenties of collections in the United States with over 14,000 works of art, 100,000 pieces in it's archives, and over 300,000 artifacts from the Pre-Columbian, Anglo American, Hispanic and Native American cultures.

The Gilcrease was built by Tulsa oil man Thomas Gilcrease. Early vistors to the museum frequently saw Mr. Gilcrease in the galleries. His home is on the museum grounds and has been fully restored. The Gilcrease also features perfectly manicured gardens where hundreds of Tulsa couples have been married over the years.

The "Museum of the Americas" is certainly a musuem worth touring. Now with it's "Print on Demand" technology, you too can have a replica of any of the Gilcrease's art on display.

Contact: (918) 596-1400
              www.Gilcrease.org

PLUS:

The Long Way Home

Everyone has been touched by someone or some place while walking a path of our futures. Artist and native Oklahoman, Melvin Smith, wants you to meet the people and places that shaped his life. The artist takes us to his old Oklahoma City community of "Sandtown", where his childhood influences become evident in his artwork. It's an interesting journey through sculpture and collage, color and emotion utilizing what artist call, found objects.

Contact: MelvinSmith@aol.com
              

Airdate: 9/5/06

Gallery #701

Living Legends

In an early celebration of the Oklahoma Centennial we’ll see history come to life. Actors portray some of the most iconic figures in state history. Belle Starr, remembered as “The Bandit Queen” for her exploits in eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. Marshal Bill Tilghman, one of the famous “Three Guardsmen” of Indian Territory and perhaps Oklahoma’s most famous lawman. Carry Nation, the axe-wielding, bar destroying woman who would as she put it, carry a nation out of the depths of alcoholism. And Woody Guthrie, the greatest folk singer-songwriter who ever lived. All were either born in Oklahoma or lived part of their lives here. But as far as the vast majority of us are concerned they are but pictures on a page, stories in a book and the subjects of old movies. The Chautauqua experience takes these characters out of the pages of history books and puts them on stage for
all to see.

Contact: Oklahoma Humanities Council at (405) 235-0280.

PLUS:

Flying Paintbrush

Tom Palmore, part surrealist, part wildlife artist, likes to approach each painting as if it were a portrait commissioned by the animal itself. He’s found this method can be as tantalizing as it is challenging. For more than 35 years Tom Palmore has focused his attention, creative energies and masterful skills on the creatures that share the planet with us. His works hang in galleries and museums from coast to coast including the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and the National  Wildlife Museum in Jackson, Wyoming. Born in Ada, Tom Palmore now paints from his Flying Paintbrush Studios in far north Edmond.

Contact: www.FlyingPaintBrush.com

Airdate: 7/4/06