During the First Friday Art Crawl on June 2, Tulsa Artist Fellowship opened the exhibition “Sunodos: Act of Attention” at the Flagship x Tulsa Artist Fellowship performance space (112 N. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74103). The exhibition displayed work from Steve Blesch, Shane Brown, Darren Dirksen, Yatika Starr Fields, Nic Annette Miller, Hayley Nichols, Rachel Rector, Joseph Rushmore, and J. Preston Witt to engage exhibition goers in their participation with ecology. 

Walking into the exhibition, the curatorial statement greets the visitors. It says, “As we are changed by the stories that happen in a place, so do we change a place by the stories we tell. Sunodos is the intersection of both. The artworks on view evoke the meeting grounds between their makers and the natural world, welcoming viewers into these intimate story-spaces and inviting us to consider our place in nature.” 

The exhibition opens with two video projects, “The Land” and “All I Can Do, Murmurmotion,” both by Nic Annette Miller. The video projects have a calming effect, exploring nature through sign language and sculpture.  

The next work is “Oh Oh Oh” by Preston Witt. The artwork is a poem on a split flap display that occasionally drops its phrases in the gallery. The flipping poetry examines the theme of a middle ground with phrases about trees and other important ecological statements. 

The exhibition also mixed artwork with photographs and paleontological objects. For example, “Washed Out Bridge, CR 2750, Grady and Caddo Country Line, OK” examined how nature was repossessing the bridge.  

Side by side with paintings by Yatika Starr Fields, “Arkansas River, West of Sand Springs” and “Illinois River near Oaks, Autumn 2018,” were fossilized bones of bison, shark teeth, and American mastodon. The contrast brought about a feeling of preserving the past as an important practice of ecology.  

Overall, the exhibition meditated on the nature of art and ecology and the intersections between being an artist and living alongside nature. More information about the exhibition can be found on the Tulsa Artist Fellowship Facebook page.