McClintock’s Saloon and Chop House in Stockyard City may not have hitching posts, dancing girls, player pianos, or even swigging doors, but they have a saloon with some of the state’s finest woodworking and a dining experience that’s best described as French meets West. The French Cowboy, Michel “Stockyard Mitch” Buthion, and Lindsay Ocker talk about their new restaurant and bar in Oklahoma City’s stockyard district.
Out of all of the various origin stories I’ve heard about businesses, the one for McClintock ranks high as one of the funniest. The craftsmanship of the bar is incredible. Overall, it’s a neat place to visit in Stockyard City.
No longer an obsolete form of entertainment, the viral trend of table games is officially sweeping down the plains. However, The Boarding House Game Lounge in downtown Guthrie is taking the movement a step further. Along with the hundreds of popular game titles and the snack and beverage choices typical of table game cafes, The Boarding House has created an eclectic oasis of cozy lounge areas, interesting art, and other creative touches to form a truly unique atmosphere.
Housed at 124 West Oklahoma Avenue in the heart of historic downtown Guthrie, The Boarding House is one of the key new businesses helping Guthrie make an economic resurgence. Greeting guests at the door is a large stage to the left, which is used for live music events such as their Fusion Friday nights, as well as for events. Most of the east wall is covered with shelves of every game imaginable, and over at the bar is a wide range of snacks and drinks including real-ingredient frappes and pizzas. Upstairs in the mezzanine level amidst the low ceiling, exposed brick walls, and vinyl-and-book store, is more seating and eclectic fixtures—a favorite haunt of RPG gamers playing Dungeons & Dragons. Back downstairs, peppered between the mismatched tables and comfortable lounge furniture, are homey touches like potted plants, vintage lamps, and—of course—more games.
The Boarding House’s game library currently boasts over 375 titles. Board, card, and dice games as well as vintage, classic titles, and new releases are all available for a small daily fee.
John Pagonis talks about his new haunted house attraction, Insomnia, part of the Guthrie Haunts Scaregrounds. Insomnia is their brand new interactive haunt where guests will have to interact with the actors in order to escape.
I filmed this yesterday during my trip to Guthrie. I love getting to see the behind-the-scenes of haunted houses to learn what makes them scary and fun. The video doesn’t contain any spoilers. While in Guthrie, I also did an interview with The Boarding House, which will be next week’s featured video.
Be sure to check my script horror/comedy series, Quarter Minutes.
Not For Sale presents accomplished artists from the graffiti community in a showcase in Oklahoma Contemporary’s gallery setting. This one-of-a-kind show included 10 artists who have been integral to the Oklahoma graffiti scene, each of whom painted their works directly on Oklahoma Contemporary’s gallery walls.
Featured artists include: SKER, JASPYR, CODAK, SADAT, HEK, SEAPO, GERM, ENTAKE, MANIK and RHAK.
I filmed these interviews with Chris and Angel when the artists were working on the art last weekend. Today, Oklahoma Contemporary had a media preview where I filmed the b-roll of the finished art. If you can, go see it for yourself. It opens tonight and will be around for a few months.
Holly Hodge talks about the all-female made exhibits, Fluvial Terra and Altered Classics, on display at [Artspace] at Untitled.
Fluvial Terra features paper and installation work by Megan Singleton that was inspired by her travel west from Missouri to Oklahoma. Singleton utilizes locally foraged soil and plant fibers to create artistic interpretations of the landscape and vegetation found in Oklahoma. Material and scholarly research is a critical component in Singleton’s practice. She considers her method of collecting, testing and transforming the plants to be a way of honoring them as living organisms while also engaging and educating the viewers about the importance of species awareness.
For this body of work, Singleton selected crossover plants that have been designated ‘problem species’ and ‘invasive species’ by state government agencies in Oklahoma and Missouri. Through her work, she invites the viewer to connect to the growing, living environment, seeking to inspire them to foster growth and revitalization of our landscapes and their natural systems.
Kelly Campbell Berry is an Oklahoma artist who is a master of altered books. Her artistic practice started out of necessity when a house fire in 2006 claimed all but two books in her vintage collection. After taking the damaged antique books from the rubble, Berry assembled the remnants in her first book sculptures, sparking a desire to rescue damaged and discarded books by turning them into works of art. Throughout the course of her artistic career, Berry has been commissioned to create altered books for clients in Brazil, England, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Hungary, Singapore, Germany, and across the United States. The pieces for the Altered Classics exhibition were commissioned by the Koller Gallery in Budapest, Hungary, where they will be on display next after the closing reception at [Artspace].
The illustrations used within the Altered Classics series are primarily engravings. The idea of cutting and repositioning the subjects of these prints profoundly changes the way they are viewed. Berry is interested in the transformative quality of creating a sculpture out of a traditional two-dimensional object. Her altered books are created with a laborious technical precision that is apparent when observing the detailed sculptures on display.
The material for Altered Classics has been sourced from the illustrations of Gustav Dore, which Berry collected from several classic works such as The Divine Comedy trilogy by Dante Alighieri, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge, and Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables. The sculpted books for this exhibition are displayed alongside several individual scenes, visually conveying the narrative within the novels they represent.
The show will run from September 7th to October 28th, 2017.
Today’s video I’ve been holding onto for awhile because I’ve had so many other videos that were more time-sensitive to be published first. I’ve been busy editing my stockpile of videos for Yes! Science! and Quarter Minutes, which will be debuting next week! You can become a patron to get early access.
