Affix Your Eyes

Get out your running shoes. You're going to be busy this weekend.

We'll begin on Brookside at M.A. Doran Gallery, 3509 S. Peoria. Thursday, Nov. 6 the gallery opens "Everyday Paintings," new works by Jonathan Sobol.

Sobol's work has become quite popular locally, and his paintings are abstract-like. His style and technique resemble that of an abstract artist, but his subjects and inspiration are easily recognizable to the regular viewer.

The bold color palettes and layered brushstrokes are both striking and inviting at the same time.

This new collection of "Everyday Paintings," according to information found at madorangallery.com, "are meant to be a means of communication between the observer and the artwork. Painting is a creative question that invites the audience to participate."

According to Sobol's artist's statement, "By the time I was 13, I knew that I was an 'artist,' but I wasn't sure what that meant. Now, after being an artist for 40 years, I don't think I can describe what that means beyond the most personal translation. Art is not technique, nor is it marketing. Art is how one does things. Art is attitude."

Sobol's background lies in portraiture. When he was 26, he said, he dedicated himself to becoming a "world-class portraitist" and painted more than 2,000 commissioned portraits.

"I left portraiture because it became too restricting," said Sobol. "I feel that painting is discovery. When one knows how the painting will look in advance, there is no adventure. I still love the human form and paint figuratively, if not 'realistically.'"

Many of the works included in "Everyday Paintings" involve some aspect of the human form, the human connection. The exhibit will hang through November 29. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30am to 6pm. The event is free and open to the public. For more, visit the gallery's Web site.

Pieces

Also opening Thursday is a new exhibit at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, 621 E. 4th St., featuring local artists Cindy Swanson and Sharyl Landis. The exhibit opens with an artists' reception November 6 from 6 to 9pm.

Swanson's medium is mosaic, and she studied the art form in Italy under two master mosaic artists.

Landis works in mixed media, with a history in beadwork. She uses the beadwork now to offer a three-dimensional element to her paintings and hand-dyed textiles.

The exhibit hangs through the end of November, and gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 3 to 9pm. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information about Oklahomans for Equality's mission and monthly art exhibitions, visit okeq.org.

Itty Bitty

Gilcrease Museum's annual event "American Art in Miniature" went up in mid-October and continues through November 9, but the sale is Thurs., Nov. 6.

The evening opens with a patron preview at 5:30pm, where patrons have an opportunity to meet the artists exhibiting work and purchase it directly before it goes on sale via silent auction. The silent auction begins at 6:30pm.

The exhibit features artwork by 220 artists from across the U.S. Each work of art is no larger than 9 by 12 inches unframed, and sculptures are no taller than 12 inches without the base. Prices range from $275 to $6,200.

Tickets to the reception and auction are $150 each. Tickets to the action only are $50 for Gilcrease members and $75 for non-members. The events benefit Gilcrease's educational programs.

Art not sold at the reception or auction will be available online through November 16.

The museum is at 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road. For more information about the event and to see a gallery of the works available, visit gilcrease.org.

From the Plains

On Fri., Nov. 7, the Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery, 9 E. Brady, will open a new exhibit called "Painted Notes: The Tallgrass Prairie and Recent Work by Mark Lewis" with a reception from 6 to 9pm.

Lewis is an applied associate professor at the University of Tulsa but is perhaps best known for his installation of 25 paintings depicting scenes from the Tallgrass Prairie Reserve in the BOK Center.

Of his BOK commission, according to a release from TAC Gallery, Lewis said, "The project has been a unique opportunity and an extension of the studio work. It's given me the opportunity to make a public installation of some work I've been doing privately for the past seven years."

Lewis said he started the project in 2001, and he's been traveling back and forth to the preserve for the past seven years.

"I originally started going to the Tallgrass Prairie because I wanted to respond to the open horizon and Oklahoma's transitional skies, getting away from the fixed urban sites where I had been working," said Lewis.

Lewis does most of his painting on site because of the amount of discovery involved in the process.

Painting at the preserve, he said, "I really enjoyed discovering the nuances of the environment, the atmosphere and the changing vegetation, being surprised from one day to the next."

Lewis said some days at the preserve would be spent painting and others just exploring and not painting at all. Some days, he said, he'd paint two or three pieces.

"The prairie paintings usually come about in several hours, rather than several months," Lewis said. "I think of the prairie paintings as painted notes or even possibly lyrical visual quotes from the landscape."

In addition to his work at Tallgrass Prairie, Lewis will display a collage and a self-portrait.

The work will hang through November 29. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 6 to 9pm, and both the reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public. For more information, visit tacgallery.org.

Festival Arts

Also beginning on Friday, Garden Deva Sculpture Company hosts its 9th Annual Open Studio Arts Festival at its 317 S. Trenton location.

The event is Fri., Nov. 7 from 10am to 8pm and Sat., Nov. 8 from 10am to 6pm and involves more than 35 local and regional artists displaying work in media including wood, sculpture, jewelry, glass, steel, paint and screen print. The work will be displayed inside Garden Deva's shop and along Trenton between 3rd and 4th Streets.

The event will also include live music from local acts Jared Tyler, The Farm Couple, Cairde na Gael, Sisters In Song and more.

The event will be catered by Elote, Cosmo Café, Queenie's and Dave's Cheesecake Bakery.

The event is free and open to the public, and Garden Deva touts it as an opportunity to shop for unique Christmas gifts while supporting local artists. Prices for the art start at $5.

For more information about the event, including artists whose work will be displayed and a complete music lineup, visit gardendeva.com.

On Stage

This weekend in local theatre, the Theatre Club opens its first run of The Bald Soprano and The Lesson at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. 4th St., November 6 through 8.

The two plays are the work of Eugene Ionesco, the father of absurdist theatre.

In The Bald Soprano, Ionesco's first play, Scott Heberling directs Heath Crofut, George Romero, Dale Sams, Billie Sue Thompson, Craig Walter and Susan Webb. In the play, the Smiths have invited their friends the Martins over and are joined by the Smiths' maid and the fire chief.

They engage in meaningless banter and nonsensical exchanges. (Remember, this is absurdist theatre. You're not supposed to get it. Not right away, anyway.)

In The Lesson, a professor attempts to tutor a particularly thick student. George Romero directs Heberling, Webb and Samantha Lake.

Performances begin at 8pm, and tickets are $10. The show continues November 13 through 15. For more, visit nightingaletheater.com or call 557-8012 to make reservations.

Masters in Art

Also opening this weekend is Theatre Tulsa's Master Class. The play, written by Terrence McNally, is based on the life of famous 1950s opera diva Maria Callas and her transformation from an ugly duckling of sorts to a celebrity.

The play is set during a two-year period in which Callas taught master classes at The Juilliard School. Donald W. Armstrong directs.

See Master Class November 7-8 at 8pm and November 9 at 2pm in the Liddy Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. 2nd St. The show continues November 13-15. Tickets are $10 to $20. For more and to make reservations, visit tulsapac.org.