Til Death we do ART—the annual Northern Oklahoma College student art exhibition is on display through May 6 in the Eleanor Hays Art Gallery in the Kinzer Performing Arts Center at NOC Tonkawa.
Art students Jonnie Carson, Ponca City; Keeley Roop, Caldwell, KS; and, Greg Viveros, Blackwell, planned and organized the exhibit as part of the requirements for their Portfolio/ Gallery Seminar. Under the director of Audrey Schmitz, gallery director and art instructor, the students gained experience in developing the infrastructure of the exhibit, including the show title and poster design. Each prepared their own work to be exhibition-ready, prepared title cards and installed dozens of works submitted by other students, all as part of their professional growth as working artists.
Til Death we do ART highlights the work of 2019 graduate candidates Carson, Roop and Viveros along with works of 41 other students enrolled in art, photography, creative writing, and digital imaging classes during the 2018-2019 academic year. The wide variety includes watercolor, acrylic and oil painting; sculpture; photography; pastel, pencil, charcoal and ink drawings; pottery and ceramic forms; digital images; masks; bas relief tiles and mixed media works. Many items are available for purchase. Also on view are a selection of poems by NOC students whose work was published in the Salt Fork Review, a literary journal published by the college’s Language Arts Division.
Blackwell native Viveros advanced his technique in the media of painting and ceramics while at NOC. A featured ceramic work in the exhibit is Duamutef or Anubis canopic jar, a high-fired glazed coil-built stoneware vessel. He favors both coil and slab-building with clay and Raku glaze firing techniques. Viveros explored painting processes such as palette knife technique as seen in the canvas
Morning Over the Countryside. He states, “I look to nature for color schemes and composition, and when in an artistic mindset, I feel I can be the person I’ve always strived to be.” Viveros plans to continue his education in Art and Psychology at University of
Central Oklahoma with a goal to become an art therapist.
Roop believes that art expresses emotions and ideas through a physical form. She shares, “Every piece I make has a little bit of myself in it. My oil painting, Home of the Blue Jays is a tribute to my school mascot, the Caldwell Blue Jays, as well as honoring my grandpa who was a big supporter of the school and to the ...