Creativity can be unleashed in a number of ways but rarely does it involve the non-stop energy, quick thinking and creative problem solving demanded by the Living Arts' 24 Hour Video Race.

Friday at midnight marks the start of the 6th Annual 24 Hour Video Race, an event that inspires all levels of Oklahoma filmmakers to emerge from the woodwork to write, shoot and edit a short film for one of the Living Arts' most anticipated events.

Teams of no more than eight with a designated captain meet at the Living Arts. 307 E. Brady, on Feb. 4 to learn the three mystery elements -- theme, prop and line of dialogue -- required of all films to be approved for submission. The final films cannot exceed five minutes and must be completed and returned to the center in 24 hours. Each team must sign up under one of five categories: student (18 & under); college; videophile (19 & over, nonstudent); experimental and animation.

The 24 Hour Video Race has proven to be extremely successful since it began six years ago. The inaugural event included 31 submissions and has increased in size each year. Last year's race brought in 43 videos including Michael Champlin, winner of the experimental category.

"There's a lot of coffee involved, a lot of 3am runs to QuikTrip for drinks and snacks," he said. "When you finish, there's a lot of emotion and a lot of well-deserved high-fives, followed by about 16 hours of comatose sleep."

The inspiration for this video race stemmed from the center's relationship with the Dallas Video Association, an organization with a 24 Hour Video Race already in place. Living Arts brought the idea to Oklahoma, where it has received an supportive response from local filmmakers and cinema fans. The Philbrook Museum of Art partnered with Living Arts right away to support the event, and for its second year the Independent Artist Organization in Oklahoma City jumped on board to make the contest a statewide event.

All films that meet the required criteria are shown at the Philbrook on Thursday, Feb. 17, at a screening event that begins at 5pm. Winners are announced at the Living Arts immediately following the showing at an awards ceremony and reception. A $300 Judges' Choice Award will be awarded to the best film and six other monetary awards will be given to best film in each category as well as a Viewers' Choice Award.

"The film and video community is such a tightly knit circle in OKC and in Tulsa, that it's nice see what people are doing each year, and how they're evolving as artists," said Beau Leland, captain of last year's Judge's Choice Award winning video. "Anyone who is yearning to get involved in a project, but never seems to get it off the ground for whatever reason would greatly benefit from participating in the race. It is a great fire-starter, and I can honestly say that my involvement in the first race five or so years ago plays a profoundly large part in my productivity today."

For more information, visit livingarts.org.

Brad Birchett and Constance Thalken at Living Arts

In addition to kicking off the 24 Hours Video Race the Living Arts will also be opening two new exhibits by artists Brad Birchett and Constance Thalken. The two exhibits employ different technique and material, but are tied together a mutual exploration of time, entropy and decay. The opening will take place on Friday, Feb. 4th from 5-9pm and will continue through the Feb 17.

Birchett's Earth and Time exhibit involves all variety of mediums including drawings, audio works, documentation, objects and installations. His work is the result of an artistic process that is constantly moving between the environment and the studio. In his artist statement Birchett said, "The movements and installations are recorded and left to endure time -- to become ruin -- so at various intervals they define their own creation and visually reference their original state."

A native of Virginia, Birchett lives and works in Richmond, Virginia as an Assistant Professor for Virginia Commonwealth University School of Arts. Birchett has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as Philara Gallery in Dusseldorf, Germany, Imagine Gallery in Bejing, China, and The Center for Book Arts in New York.

Thalken's body of work, entitled Purge, consists of images that depict piles of yard clippings found on the curbs of Atlanta homes for city disposal. These images symbolized the life and death cycle that exists in nature. "I find a peculiar poignancy in these collections and perceive them as 'small deaths' on public display," said Thalken. As a way of abstracting her subject matter Thalken shoots the images in a tight, close frame in order to disassociate the subject from any identifiable location.

Thalken lives in Georgia where she is an Associate Professor of Photography in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design. Her work has been featured in over 80 exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, France, Greece and Brazil.

Paintings by Judith Emerson at NSU Broken Arrow Gallery

Twenty-four paintings and drawings by writer and artist Judith Emerson are on display at the art gallery on NSU Broken Arrow Campus through February. These pieces make up a body of work entitled The Shape Shifter Series and reflect of the Cherokee beliefs in shifting between human and animal forms. A former student of the Artist Student League in New York City, Emerson's paintings are rich and vibrant in color choice and express the delicate relationship between human and animal species. In addition to creating artwork, Emerson recently finished a historical novel titled, "The Mythmakers." The novel is based loosely on the lives of her Cherokee ancestors and explores the rich culture of the Cherokee Indian.

For more information about Judith Emerson, visit jhoustonemerson.net.