Gallery Fantastique

I spoke with Joseph Gierek, owner of Joseph Gierek Fine Art at 1512 E. 15th St., last week about the First Annual Cherry Street Art Walk this Thurs., Sept. 25 from 5 to 8pm.

Gierek organized the event after the Annual Gallery Hop was put on hold for a year.

"I thought, we have enough galleries just on Cherry Street to do this on our own," he said. "There is no other place in Tulsa where you can walk and see the amount of diverse art work we have on this street."

Gierek pointed out that the previous years' gallery hop was just that--people had to hop in their cars and drive to the next gallery. Participating galleries in the Cherry Street Arts District, which runs along 15th St. between Peoria and Utica, Boston's Artists Gallery, Chelsea Gallery, Claussen Studios and Gallery, Gallery Beads, Joseph Gierek, Pierson and Gallery, are all within less than one mile of each other. And, each specializes in something different.

Gierek's goal with the event was to get people out into the streets and introduce them to or remind them of the diverse amount of artwork to be found on Cheery Street. So, each gallery involved in the walk will have a new exhibit opening, rather than just being open. As with just about any opening, light hors d'oeuvres, wine and other refreshments will be served.

Gierek said that he and the other gallery owners decided that, instead of the walk being a one-time replacement for the usual hop, they wanted this to be another event patrons and art lovers could enjoy in addition to the hop. Gierek hopes that, year after year, the walk will continue to grow as more art connoisseurs and gallery operators see Cherry Street as a good place to run their businesses.

And, he hopes this year's patrons will enjoy and appreciate the breadth of art available in this district. One exhibit he pointed out as being especially exciting is Pierson Gallery's Centennial exhibit, "Oklahoma Artists: A Centennial Celebration."

Linda Pierson's gallery specializes in historical art, many of it Oklahoma-based. What will be especially interesting about this event is that Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd., just opened a new exhibit of Charles Banks Wilson's work, after seeing that, one could visit the Pierson Gallery and purchase his sketches and lithographs.

For more information about the event, which is free and open to the public, call 592-5432.

At Other Galleries

Just a little ways down Peoria from Cherry Street, Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Rd., will open a new exhibit by Lucy Gunning called "Focus 4" on Thursday.

Gunning received her training in sculpture but has worked for the past 15 years with film and installation art, focusing on human idiosyncrasies, filming simple, albeit curious, incidents of humans. Focus 4 will be a brand new work, unveiled at Philbrook. I will view it as soon as possible and report back either next week or on my blog.

And, though it's a bit of a trek, the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville is also opening a new, Centennial-themed exhibition, one of work by Oklahoma-based artist and designer Olinka Hrdy.

"Oklahoma Moderne: The Art and Design of Olinka Hrdy" will open this Thursday with a member preview from 5 to 8pm and will hang through January 13.

Czech-born and Oklahoma-raised, Hrdy created many abstract and art deco masterpieces, which decorated some of Tulsa's most historic homes and buildings.

There will be a month of events at the museum for both adults and children centered around this exhibit and Hrdy's work. For more information on those and the exhibit itself, visit www.pricetower.org.

High Octane Estrogen

SuperOVUM is back, with a little help from some soulmate down in Austin.

The local all-female comedy troupe has organized a night of laughs by inviting Austin-based improve troupes Parallelogramophonograph and Girls Girls Girls for this one-night-only performance.

Girls Girls Girls is Austin's only all-female troupe, who, like SuperOVUM, specialize in long-form improvisation, theirs, though, in musical form and accompanied by a live musician. Pgraph also performs long-form narrative improve and does so every week in Austin, in between teaching classes, creating short films and throwing themselves into other creative endeavors.

All of these groups will perform for the low, low ticket price of $10, and it should be worth your money. I can't vouch for the Austin troupes, but SuperOVUM is one group of funny ladies.

The show is Sat., Sept. 29 at the Nightingale Theater. Get more information at HYPERLINK "http://www.nightingaletheater.com"; www.nightingaletheater.com.