Dennis Spielman

The real and imaginative adventures of Dennis Spielman

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Momentum 2021 at MAINSITE - photo by Dennis Spielman

Momentum 2021

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On March 17, 2021

In Real

Over the course of a week, I worked with the Norman Arts Council and the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition on this series of interviews about Momentum 2021. Momentum is a yearly exhibition of under-30 artists throughout all of Oklahoma. It’s one of my favorite yearly events to attend. For these videos, we interviewed the curators and three spotlight artists.

Pablo Barrera (Wixáritari) was Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center’s inaugural Curatorial Fellow and has recently been named Associate Curator. He is OVAC’s Guest Curator for Momentum 2021. Kristin Gentry is an Owasso-based professional visual artist in the areas of relief and monotype printmaking, painting, jewelry and photography. She is OVAC’s Emerging Curator for Momentum 2021. In this video, Pablo and Kristin share insight into their curatorial process.

Marium Rana (Tahlequah, OK) is a Pakistani-American ink and aqueous media artist. She enjoys working on paper for its versatility and ephemeral quality. Her contributions to the Momentum show are three double-sided scrolls that are suspended from the ceiling. These works are collectively known as “Awaiting Arrival”. These works reflect home as a place, period of time, and memory.

Andrea Duran-Cason (Norman, OK) is an interdisciplinary artist. She has spent most of her educational and professional career in the arts, winning numerous awards and achievements along the way. She earned her BFA from The University of Oklahoma with a focus on painting and printmaking and the human form. In 2018 she received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts where she shifted focus to installation, performance and relational aesthetics. Andrea currently works as a designer and screen printer for Massive Graphics and 2D Foundations Instructor at The University of Oklahoma.

Amber L. DuBoise-Shepherd (Shawnee, OK) depicts contemporary Native American narratives based on her family heritage of Navajo, Sac & Fox, and Prairie Band Potawatomi. Her mixed media pieces and oil paintings reference an illustrative quality. She has an Associates of Art from Seminole State College and completed her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Spring 2016 at Oklahoma State University.

Learn more about OVAC and Momentum at www.MomentumOklahoma.org.

Ed Ruscha Learning Gallery

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On March 5, 2021

In Real

I worked with Oklahoma Contemporary to create this video to promote their learning gallery. Get an interactive look at the Oklahoma roots of contemporary art icon Ed Ruscha in the Learning Gallery at Oklahoma Contemporary.

Uncovering Oklahoma March 2021

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On March 4, 2021

In Real

For the March 2021 episode of Uncovering Oklahoma, I started off with a visit to the flower shop, The Wild Mother, in Oklahoma City’s Arts District. Jeremiah Matthew Davis welcomes people to visit Oklahoma Contemporary to see their exhibition, Ed Ruscha: OKLA. I get some tasty dumplings for the Norman-based food truck, The Dump Truck. Curators Kristin Gentry and Pablo Barrera invite guests to the Artists Under 30 exhibition, Momentum, which is on display at MAINSITE in Norman and will travel to Tulsa in April. Finally, I end the episode with a music performance from Wood Willow.

Shoutout to my superstar supporters, the Keller-Kenton Family and thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon. If you love what I’m doing, be sure to join me on Patreon for extra content.

Namron Player’s Theatre: New Plays 2021

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On February 27, 2021

In Real

Small-town attitudes, down-home traditions, family values— meet Melanie Wilderman, Ted Satterfield, and Sarah King Bartell… Namron Players Theatre presents three brand new one-act plays that dig a little deeper.

“Too Much to Bare” written by Ted Satterfield directed by Jane Gibbons

Bailey is a recent college graduate who has began her first teaching job in a small town. She was recruited to come to this town as the school system struggles to attract and retain new teachers. The recruiting tour had rolled out the red carpet for recent grads and made the sleepy town seem like it was very quaint and welcoming, but Bailey soon begins to see how suspicious townspeople are of outsiders.

“Barely Baptized” written by Melanie Wilderman directed by Sheryl Martin

In his new career path as a youth minister, Jake faces a tough crowd: the teenagers in the youth group who absolutely adored his predecessor. When the overly optimistic new minister tells the teens they can “ask him anything,” the questioning takes some problematic turns, some funny, others heading in a darker direction, ultimately landing Jake in the middle of a biblical debate he never would have predicted.

“Meemaw’s Bear Tales” written & directed by Sarah King Bartell

A grandmother separated from her grandkids tries to entertain them with some good old southern folktales as you’ve never heard them before, with brand-new origin stories such as How the Bear Learned to Hibernate, How the Mouse Got Her Long Tail, and How the Fish Got Her Gills. These charming stories examine Americana and stereotypical American traits such as resourcefulness, cunning, and persistence.

I first worked with Namron Players Theatre back last year during the initial wave of the pandemic to bring their stage play, Lunch Box, as an online production done in the style of a series of vlogs. With COVID-19 still limiting live theatre, the group had me back for their 2021 one-act plays.

For this production, I was the videographer on all three productions, with the exception of the ZOOM scenes in Barely Baptized. I enjoyed working on some creative scripted videos as I haven’t been able to do that in a long time.

I hope you enjoy this series of one-act plays!

Ed Ruscha: OKLA virtual tour

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On February 22, 2021

In Real

Take a virtual tour of Ed Ruscha: OKLA at Oklahoma Contemporary in this video I made for the art center.

This landmark exhibition by one of America’s most important artists looks at the ways in which work throughout Ruscha’s 60+ year career has been connected to his childhood in Oklahoma City and his continued trips back there from Los Angeles. This is the first exhibition to focus on the artist’s Oklahoma roots — his family, his upbringing, and his discovery of his calling as an artist. It is also, remarkably, his first solo museum exhibition in his home state.

Learn more and reserve your free tickets at https://oklahomacontemporary.org

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