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Domesti City and the Seeds of Yesterday

Domesti City, OK: Stop-Motion Animation and Puppetry Installation

Nicole Emmons-Willis

Grand Opening: Sponsor Event April 22, 6pm

Open to Public: April 23-May 28, 2016

Artist’s Talk: Thursday, April 28, 7pm, Free and open to the public

Current Studio

1218 N. Penn OKC, OK

nicoleemmons.com

 

Artist Nicole Emmons-Willis sat on a twin bed in one of the interactive rooms of her art installation. She held a small puppet, named Jane, that she made by hand for the stop-motion animation. Surrounding the pair was a scaled-down community, a menagerie of set pieces from a kitchen to a dreaming room, decorated in avocado greens, butter yellows, and burnt orange tones reminiscent of the 1970’s. Each tiny room had been broken out of a dollhouse and placed on eye-level platforms with stop-motion animation projected on the wall above. But Domesti City is something greater than a dollhouse, being made up of spaces that belong to Jane—in her home, outside her home, and in her mind.

Emmons-Willis started with thin pieces of aluminum wire to construct a body for Jane. Once all of the joints were able to fully articulate, she covered the wire frame with foam rubber and then latex.

In the Kitchen, Jane performs chores alone—sweeping, washing dishes, cooking, and sadly looking out the window. This continues in an endless loop. Emmons-Wills laughs. “Jane does not like chores.”

In the Dreaming Room, Jane stares out of a window and sings with Loretta Lynn, “I wanna be free”. About the choice of music, Emmon-Willis said, “Growing up, I listened to country music with my dad. When I was living in Chicago and LA, it always reminded me of Oklahoma. It was considered very kitschy there, though, so it was a secret pleasure. I love Loretta Lynn. She’s always been a feminist.”

Emmons-Willis returned home to Oklahoma a year ago after living in Chicago and LA, obtaining an MFA from CalArts. Coming home meant that she was spending extended time with her parents and family. “This caused me to think about the stages of a woman’s life. Being back in Oklahoma, spending more time with my family, and being newly married myself, I was thinking about the roles that women play in society and family, and why.

“The first time I became aware of the different roles men and women have in family life, I was eight years old. My sister knocked over my grandfather’s spittoon. And my grandmother ran in to clean up that awful mess. Not my sister. Not my grandfather. I was only an eight-year-old, but I was so angry. I kept asking why my grandmother was cleaning it up, and I was told that’s just the way it was.

“Not of all the pressure on women is external, or societal. I think once we take in certain messages, we choose to perpetuate them. The pressure is coming from within us.”

In an interactive room, viewers/participants will be able to play records, watch commercials on the television set from the 1970’s, sit on the bed, all while their actions are projected on a large screen in a different part of the gallery. Emmons-Willis called this a “psychological space” where viewers are free to rest and play and contemplate.

Gesturing to a book on the bedside table entitled Seeds of Yesterday, she said, “I wonder what strange messages we are teaching the next generation about women. Or will the next generation be able to form their own healthy ideas apart from what we’re doing now?”

In the final scene of the stop-animation exhibit, The Swimming Pool, a mermaid beckons to Jane. It is the only scene where Jane is not entirely alone. Jane hesitates for a few moments before diving in and becoming the mermaid. Emmons-Willis has spent time thinking about the end to this story.

“I realize that the healthiest thing would be for Jane to integrate new ideas about her role into her current life. But water, the ocean, has always represented healing and renewal. I think that Jane needs time to explore new ways of being.”

Emmons-Willis’ art provides viewers with the opportunity to begin that exploration. This interactive exhibit provokes new ways of thinking about the current, and possibly self-inflicted, loneliness of domestic life as well as providing a fun and unique opportunity to see parts of the process behind stop-motion animation.

 

 

Doc Crimson, Love, And Music Festivals

Norman Music Fest is once again upon us. A time where we all get together and good music is to be had and great memories are to be made. A time where we can reflect on our cultural advances and creative heritage…peacefully? The following is a four page preview of the first full-length story for Doc Crimson, which will be out this summer.

 

How To Watch A Superhero Movie

Batman Vs. Superman was fine. Somewhere, deep in their hearts, even the most rabid hater of DC’s latest attempt to close the cinematic gap with Marvel knows that Batman Vs. Superman was a fun movie. Not a great movie, but a fun movie. The set pieces were big, the explosions were numerous, the storyline was weak, but not so weak that it greatly diminished the visceral pleasure of watching meta-humans slug it out with a city serving as their playground.

This movie was deeply flawed. Of course it was. It was directed by Zack Snyder, who is a terrible storyteller but can construct a good adrenaline ride, which is what DC was trying to deliver. High energy. Exploration of the wider DC universe. Introduction of Wonder Woman and other key figures of the Justice League. They hit everything they needed to and laid the groundwork for a series of movies which will make them oodles of money and ensure that DC remains relevant in movie theaters for years to come.

If you hated Batman Vs. Superman, not just disliked the movie, but actually hated it, then the problem may not be the movie but in the way you watched it.

This is popcorn cinema. If you went into the theater expecting taught, character-driven, and intelligent moviemaking, then don’t go see popcorn cinema. You might as well go to Wrestlemania in search of nuance and truth in art. Sure, there are a few superhero movies that have managed to transcend, but there was nothing about the billing of this movie that indicated a transcendent experience.

When watching popcorn movies, you don’t bring critical refinement, you bring your childlike wonder. That’s what this movie, and movies of its ilk, are targeting. Sure, this movie bumbled some critical elements like character motivation and threw in scenes that didn’t need to exist, but we knew that would happen. Snyder always chases imagery at the expense of storytelling, but whatever, it’s fun. This was a fine popcorn movie, worth the price of admission. It wasn’t a good popcorn movie, worth repeat viewing, and certainly not a great popcorn movie which demands obsessive re-watching. But the movie wasn’t terrible.

If you hate superhero movies, this won’t be the film to change your mind. If you hate DC, then this won’t be the film to change your mind. If, on the contrary, love superhero movies, then have no shame for enjoying this movie. It did its job well enough, gave us the fight scenes we wanted and set up a grander storyline that will play out through future movies which might be a bit more streamlined and intelligible. It delivered the bare essentials, but also took a few risks that sometimes panned out, sometimes did not. I enjoyed my viewing but also went in with no other expectations than to be entertained. I was entertained well enough to justify my ten bucks. I probably won’t watch the movie again, but that doesn’t make the movie a failure. Maybe a disappointment, but nothing worth hating. So, leave Ben Affleck alone, already.

 

Finding The Fringe

Fringe: Annual Member’s Group Show

Opening Reception on Saturday, April 9, 2016, 7:00-11:00 p.m.

Show runs April 5-April 27, 2016

Graphite Gallery

1751 NW 16th St. OKC 73106

fringeok.com

“I’m an artist. It’s my job to put beautiful things into the world.” Brandi Downham put down her cup. Her friend and fellow artist, Sarah Day-Short, leaned forward and says, “I’m inspired by street art. The act of creation. And finding art in places and things you would normally never even look.”

Over tea at Elemental, the artists discussed how the all-female art group, Fringe, had challenged and supported them over the years. Both painters remain in near-constant communication with the other members of the group, with the resulting conversations inspiring new ideas and themes in their work.

Founded in 2011, the dream of artist and Oklahoma native, Christie Hackler, Fringe brings contemporary women artists together in Oklahoma. The inclusive collective of female artists evolved from the concept of strength in numbers and formed an alliance to give professional female artists a way to network, brainstorm, boost visibility and provide peer support.

“Many of us are mothers,” Downham said. “Most of us have jobs and families. Without the encouragement and support we receive from this group, we would not be doing art or showing our art as frequently as we do. We recently had an installation artist, Katelynn Knick, join the group. That’s a first for us and we’re thrilled. She currently has an amazing installation in Coffee Slingers.”

The Fringe website features the stories and artwork of all twenty-one members of the group, and discusses the application process for women interested in joining.

Although these women show art in several smaller shows throughout the year, the members of Fringe are presenting their best work to the Annual Show during LIVE on the Plaza Art Walk this Friday, which will feature seventy works of art by nineteen members of the group.

After the yearly show, Fringe has a plan to begin taking their members’ artwork statewide—out of Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Norman. Their plan is to create pop-up galleries in coffee shops on the Main Streets of small-town Oklahoma, bringing art to rural areas far away from museums and galleries where art is normally available. Downham is putting beauty into the world, and Day-Short is allowing others to find art in places Oklahomans would never normally look.

Doc Crimson’s Scorched Earth Tour

Don Rosencrans will be signing copies of his newest comic, Doc Crimson, throughout April. Catch him on Saturdays from 3-6pm at The Paseo Plunge(3010 Paseo in Oklahoma City) or at these special events:

7-10pm Friday, April 8: Live On The Plaza.

Noon-2pm Saturday, April 9: Speeding Bullet 614 N Porter in Norman

Noon-2pm Saturday April 16: New World 6219 N. Meridian in OKC

Noon-2pm Saturday April 30th: Hastings 1105 Garth Brooks Blvd in Yukon

Alterici vs. Fallin

Review: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Anyone can relate to arguing with your husband about the benefits of replacing your garden light with a giraffe neck or the necessity of owning another cat named The President. Although these events may seem absurd, they are, however the feelings that drive each action are so universally felt it’s a wonder none of us have accidentally attended a funeral. Jenny Lawson is the author of two books, writer of The Bloggess, a mother of one, and a collector of taxidermied animals. In her memoir Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things she regales the readers with tales of her absurd battles against depression and anxiety. Each chapter details her day-to-day routines, the tone on the border between manic humor and aggressive passion. Something as simple as watching the snow fall is transfixed into an inspiring and colorful depiction of the human condition. Meanwhile, the standard is deemed abnormal, such as receiving three dead cats in the mail, and it takes a backstage role to the conversation between husband and wife. Readers will be caught in a limbo of gaiety and contemplation. This is not a book to be read quietly on the airplane to your conservative Aunt Judy’s house. This is a book to be read late into the night, uncontrollably snacking on Star Wars Cheez-its, wearing the funkiest reading glasses possible with a yellow tissue box on hand in case of crying from laughter and/or empathy.

Talking Literati, The Paseo Plunge, & Adventures In Stereo On WAFTI

We Apologize For The Inconvenience features great people talking about great things in Oklahoma, the kind of home team spirit which is important in a fly-over state that has, since statehood, struggled with an inferiority complex. But the brain drain is slowing, the creative class is thriving inside the Heartland, and we are in the midst of a golden era that will survive the oil downturn and the ugly political landscape. If you need to be reminded of why this state is worth your emotional investment, keep up with this podcast.

We were honored to be invited onto the show to discuss the many, many, many things we are up to these days such as our musical audiobooks, exciting new releases from Don Rosencrans and Kristen Grace, the breakthrough success of Natasha Alterici, and our brand new bookshop we are starting in The Paseo Plunge. It’s a fun listen and we talk about some of our other favorite people who are doing amazing things in this city.

Release Party: The Stepmother Who Dreamed of Feathers

The Stepmother Who Dreamed of Feathers

Written by Kristen Grace and Illustrated by Natasha Alterici

4-9pm Friday, 3-24 at The Literati Press Bookshop in The Paseo Plunge

3010 Paseo in Oklahoma City

A fairy tale written for modern, blended families, writer Kristen Grace and illustrator Natasha Alterici combine their gifts to tell a magical story about an very unusual royal family.

Unsatisfied with fairytales which routinely vilify stepmothers, author Kristen Grace wanted to write a story that reflected the truth about the families she knew that were centered around strong and loving stepmothers. “My own daughter has a wonderful stepmother. When I couldn’t find a story with a good stepmother in it for her last Mother’s Day, I decided I would have to write my own.”

Illustrator Natasha Alterici is also the creator of the critically-heralded comic series, Heathen, which also utilized a familiar fantasy trope to explore equality and gender-bias.

Kristen Grace says, “It’s a feminist issue, yes. Why don’t we have any Grimm’s fairy tales about bad stepfathers? But at heart, it’s a family issue.” Grace says that it was important that she write this particular story without a villain. “I wanted to create a story that most children could relate to. Children rarely see one parent as the hero and the other as the bad guy. They almost always love all their parents. In the same way, I tried to write a story where drama was created only through misunderstandings.”

“I wanted Natasha to have total artistic freedom, because I’ve seen how incredibly gifted and intelligent she is. And that was the right decision. In some ways, she understood the story better than I did. She created many of the scenes using her own creative input and made the world and the characters so real and very vivid.”

The Stepmother Who Dreamed Of Feathers will be available in bookstores across Oklahoma City and online at literatipressok.com. Kristen Grace and Natasha Alterici will be on hand to sign copies. You can also purchase online HERE.

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We Opened A Bookshop!!!

Literati Press Bookshop in the Paseo Plunge

3010 Paseo in Oklahoma City

Open:

11am-2pm Tuesday and Wednesday

11am-6pm Thursday-Saturday

Literati Press Bookshop is community-curated, meaning that every book on the shelves will be vetted by writers and readers as a way to ensure that every slot in our cozy little shop is well-used, but also to encourage further community among the metro bibliophiles. Each title will have a bookmark featuring a quote from the person who vetted it on why the book deserves to be read. We will, of course, sell Literati’s line of original comics, novels, and zines in the store, but will also be bringing in a wide selection of modern and classical fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and graphic novels.

We are currently located in a cubby hole in the front entry, but will be moving to a larger space on the first floor once renovations of The Paseo Plunge’s first floor are complete.