I was commissioned again by the Norman Arts Council to create a 20-minute video to promote their new exhibitions for January 2021. This video originally premiered during the Virtual 2nd Friday Art Work and the above YouTube is a slightly shorter but timeless version. I liked how well this video turned out and I was able to keep the pace interesting by switching between the artists on different topics. For the artist answers, I pulled quotes from different questions to summarize some of the topics too as each interview was 20 minutes, so I ended up cutting everything in half.
In this video, Executive Director, Erinn Gavaghan, shares an overview of Katherine Liontas-Warren’s “Water and Land” and “Visual Poetry on the Page: With, Within, and Without the Word,” which was curated by Crag Hill. Both Katherine and Crag also share their thoughts on the exhibitions.
Water and Land is a collection of recent works by Liontas-Warren centered on the passages, time and motion, and the symbolism water and land have come to represent in those concepts.
Visual Poetry on the Page: With, Within and Without the Word explores a movement that asks viewers to read the works as visual art. Unlike concrete, written poems, a visual poem “typically includes many other elements than alphabetic text,” including any number of mediums or artist manipulation, including painting, photos, digital manipulation or any other means to “obliterate the boundary between visual arts and literature.”
These exhibitions are open to in-person viewings from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday until Saturday, February 13, 2021.
Thank you to the Norman Arts Council for commissioning this video!
Hello, Adventurers! Typically, I write my end of the year reflection on New Year’s Eve, but I was working with the Oklahoma City Arts Council on a big live-streaming Opening Night event. This reflection is going to be a little different, but last year was a different kind of year.
This is the part where I share numbers on how much I created, but the statistic that matters the most, I’m reminding myself, is that I made it through the year. Also, I made more videos for other people than myself. I’ve been able to help many organizations connect with their audiences through video content and live-streaming shows. I’m proud of that fact.
In the summer, I live-streamed a concert every week for the Arts Council OKC and then again in the fall, but every other week. For Oklahoma Contemporary, I made them about two videos a month. I helped take a live play Namron Players Theatre had planned and turned it into a movie for them. I worked with Therapy in Motion and the Norman YMCA to do a Healthy Living Series. I got to do a big New Year’s Eve show, which was a goal I noted in my previous reflection. Plus, I helped other businesses with some internal videos too.
To thank my clients for this year, I worked with Design Pickle and they made me this thank you card that I sent (and still sending out) to all of my major clients for the year.
Overall, I am grateful and proud of what I did create in the year, regardless of who it was for.
Uncovering Oklahoma in 2020
At the beginning of 2020, I raised the bar by producing videos in 4K HDR and closed captions on every episode. Pre-pandemic, I started strong with stories in Tulsa and Guthrie. I released 27 weekly episodes along with three art and event pieces.
With my growing library of content, videos I made in previous years picked up in popularity. Even though I didn’t make many new videos, the watch time in hours for the YouTube channel was 2,542.3, which was about what I got in 2019. Subscribers grew by 365, putting me over 1,000! According to my YouTube channel, these were the Top 5 watched videos in 2020.
The title for the most-watched 2020 story goes to The Study in Oklahoma City, which was the second episode I did when the lockdowns lifted. The first story I eased myself back into filming was on the Winchester Drive-In Theatre in Oklahoma City, which was my second most popular 2020 video and most-watched via Facebook. Sergio’s Italian Bistro, Pink Elephant Coffee, Re: Earth, and The Study were the most-viewed via Facebook.
Tales Unveiled in 2020
Jeff and I got three episodes recorded before the pandemic hit. We picked up recording later in the summer and released a total of 11 episodes for our third season. Our episode on Bartlesville was our most popular. Despite the shorter season, we had quality episodes. Great stories from guests all around!
Quarter Minutes in 2020
We made one episode! Go us!
Yes! Science! and Art & Victory in 2020
Due to the audience nature of these shows, I felt it was best to postpone them until the time was right.
The 16th Phoenix Universe in 2020
What’s this? A new category? One of my personal goals was to release a new short story every week for the year. With the exception of A Killer Among the Spaceship Game Show, which was released in two parts and the first part took two weeks, I kept up with my goal. I wrote 48 short stories!
Still, no new books. They were looking good in the first half of the year, but when client work picked up, writing time got spent on short stories.
According to Spotify, which is how I mostly listen to music, this was my 2020 soundtrack. As always, keep in mind I will often put a song (or playlist) on repeat when writing or for inspiration sessions. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite song?
Plans for 2021
Although it’s a new year and I’m optimistic, but I’m going to be careful with my plans as we’re still dealing with a pandemic.
For Uncovering Oklahoma, with COVID cases rising, I’m playing things safe. It’s annoying when I’m filming a restaurant and someone walks past me to go to the bathroom without a mask. On top of all that, businesses are going out left and right. I’m going to focus on retail businesses and concepts where I can control the environment to be safe. I don’t foresee me making as many episodes as I did in 2019. I hope to get back to doing collaboration episodes soon.
For Tales Unveiled, Jeff and I did leave the show open for more episodes. I would love to travel out of Oklahoma this season or next. We plan to start recording season four in the spring with a fall release. (There’s a Friday the 13th in August.)
For the studio audience shows, I honestly don’t know when I’ll start those up again. I might do them without an audience or I might do something entirely different.
For the 16th Phoenix Universe, instead of a weekly short story, they will be monthly. Writing every week has helped me build my fictional universe. I want to take some time on the stories and maybe release longer stories. I want to build upon other stories I’ve written in 2020 for 2021 and allocate writing time to other works. I plan to revisit all the 2020 stories, send them to an editor, and publish a book collection.
Also during the weekly short story creation, I’ve started two new books. One is based on A Question for the Writers and the other is from Upgrade Cave. I want to finish my other books before I get too involved in those stories.
Now, for new projects! Last year, I did start writing a feature film script although my writing time got spent on short stories. I would like to get that written out at least this year.
One of the first major projects I have in the works for the first half of the year is an interactive branching narrative that takes place in Downtown Norman. More about this later as we’re planning an April or May release.
Finally, I’m researching a project that might be a huge move I’ll make to get closer to the studio goal. Way too early for me to say anything about this publicly yet.
Thank you for following me throughout this year! You can join me on Patreon to help support these projects and get special rewards.
For Uncovering Oklahoma, I visited the holiday pop-up bar, Miracle on Boulevard, where people can enjoy food and cocktails in a festive setting.
For reservations and more information, visit their website at www.miracleonboulevard.com and visit them inside Jack Rabbit Slims at 3325 South Boulevard, Suite 175, in Edmond.
For Uncovering Oklahoma, I visited with Becky Weintz at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art to check out two of the museum’s latest exhibitions for their 75 anniversary.
“Beaux Arts at 75” celebrates the interconnected history of the Museum’s Beaux Arts collection and the Beaux Arts Ball, an annual fundraiser organized by the Beaux Arts Society. The Beaux Arts Collection is comprised of 36 eclectic works, 21 of which will be featured in “Beaux Arts at 75.” An additional 7 works are on view in the Museum’s permanent collection galleries. The remaining 8 works will be on view beginning Feb. 20, 2021 as part of a new exhibition “Moving Vision: Op and Kinetic Art from the Sixties and Seventies.”
Featuring photographs given in honor of the Museum’s 75th anniversary, “Shared Lives, Distant Places” highlights contemporary photographers who employ different photography styles—documentary, photojournalism and street photography—to capture the global human experience, offering alternative ways of seeing and understanding the people, places and events that shape the world in which we live. The exhibition provides a glimpse into the everyday lives of people, conflicts and historical events around the world at various moments in time, and explores the working process of six contemporary photographers. The exhibition features works by renowned photographers Donna Ferrato, Peter Turnley, Kristin Capp, Alen MacWeeney, Gary Mark Smith, and Robert von Sternberg.
The Museum is currently operating with limited capacity and is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Learn more at https://www.okcmoa.com
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon for their continued support to keep Uncovering Oklahoma alive! Supporters get awesome rewards, like early access to my episodes, as well as content from my other endeavors. Big thanks to my superstar supporters: Revolve Productions and the Keller-Kenton Family. Join today!
For Uncovering Oklahoma, I visited the family-owned and operated dessert bakery, Sprinkled Bakery, up in Northwest Oklahoma City. In this interview, Soraya Shadwick and Steve Jatala spoke about how they use the finest quality ingredients they can get, baking in small batches, their best sellers as well as their personal favorites.
They feel that every day here at Sprinkled Bakery is a celebration. There are lots of fantastic treats for you to try, including gluten-free and sugar-free options as well. Sprinkled Bakery is located along Northwest Expressway, between Rockwell and Council. Find them online at https://www.sprinkledbakery.com or in-person at 7640 NW Expressway, Suite 111 at the Silver Springs Shopping Center in Oklahoma City.
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon for their continued support of making Uncovering Oklahoma possible! Supporters get awesome rewards, like early access to my episodes. Big thanks to my superstar supporters: Revolve Productions and the Keller-Kenton Family. Join today!
