the arts

Searching for a new way to spend your Friday evenings? Look no further than First Fridays on the Paseo. Each first Friday of the month, more than 80 artists in the Paseo Arts District, Oklahoma City’s art community, will offer exclusive, themed exhibits and a variety of entertainment opportunities during an art walk through the district.

The walk this month is on Friday, May 3, starting at 6 p.m. The event costs nothing to attend and parking is available in the surrounding Paseo neighborhoods. Live music, food trucks and light refreshments are available as you peruse galleries and exhibits.

– Meaghan Hatch, Jones PR

Approximately 90 works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Sir Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens and other 12th- to 16th-century artists are on display at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art until Jan. 21, 2018.

Master Strokes: Dutch and Flemish Drawings From the Golden Age is on its first tour outside of Great Britain. Its collective works span 400 years and include stained glass, architectural designs, tapestries, prints, portraits, figure studies, genre scenes, landscapes, botanical studies and more.

The exhibition is organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. To learn more or reserve your tickets, visit the website.

– Kelly Hughes, Jones PR

Celebrate Oklahoma’s 110^th anniversary of statehood with a diverse collection of art created by Oklahomans, or about Oklahomans. The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is opening “The Art of Oklahoma” on Thursday, Nov. 16 to highlight the day of statehood.

In addition to the museum’s permanent collection featuring cities and landscapes, Oklahomans can enjoy a large oil sketch depicting the iconic Oklahoma Land Run created by major American regionalist painter John Steuart Curry. The installation also features artists Nellie Shepherd, Woody Big Bow, Oscar Brousse Jacobson and David Fitzgerald.

The exhibition is free with admission. Find more details here.

– Ashley Ross, Jones PR

The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa is featuring a special exhibit, “Hope & Fear: Propaganda of the Great War.”

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I, the Philbrook is showcasing propaganda art from that time period. One of the exhibit’s galleries shows highly positive and nationalistic pro-war posters used by the government to persuade citizens to embrace U.S. involvement in what many saw as “Europe’s War.” Another gallery features lithographs by George Bellows, which show brutalities of the “Great War.”

Learn about this fascinating time in history before the exhibit leaves in November.

– Tori Garrett, Jones PR

Sam Slater is the co-founder of Burn Later Productions, behind hit films, including “Drinking Buddies,” “The Intervention,” and “Adult Beginners.” He loves living in Boston close to friends and family, and collecting lots of frequent flyer miles.

How did you begin in the film industry?

I got involved in film when I realized I had a good creative sense and I didn’t want to learn golf. Instead my efforts went into a new business and career.

What does your ultimate day off look like?

My perfect day off involves sweatpants, my couch, and Netflix … doing market research of course!

– JoJo Gutfarb, The Boston 100 & Sam Slater, Burn Later Productions

Ireland boasts a rich vocal history and song tradition passed down from generation to generation. Oklahomans will have a chance to hear it for themselves when The Five Irish Tenors visit Armstrong Auditorium. Not only will they showcase their Irish heritage, the quintet will feature contemporary songs from the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel and Billy Joel.

Each singer in the group is a different type of tenor, including traditional, lyric bel canto, spinto, Mozart and buffo.

Audiences will have the opportunity to see this treasured recital titled “Ireland Calling” on Feb. 21 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available.

– Emily Anderson, Jones PR

There is a hidden gem in Tulsa by the name of the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art.

In the early 1960s, Tulsa Jewish families worked to establish the Gershon and Rebecca Fenster Gallery. It housed a collection of Judaica that would become the museum’s foundation.

Opening in 1966, it was housed at the B’nai Emunah Synagogue until 1998. In 2000, the museum was renamed after Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, after its first curator. Then the collection was moved to the Jewish Federation of Tulsa’s Zarrow Campus.

See the exhibits as this unique treasure celebrates its 50th year.

– Emily Long, Jones PR

Oklahoma’s own National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has a long-standing history with its annual premier western art show Prix de West. Now in its 44th year, Prix de West is a celebration that includes artist demonstrations and seminars, live auctions and more.

Prix de West will feature over 300 paintings and sculptures by some of the nation’s most respected and talented contemporary western artists.

The museum was founded in 1955 with the goal of preserving the legacy of America’s ever-evolving story as it unfolds across the West. Prix de West takes place June 10-11 in Oklahoma City.

– Jake Pasdach, Jones PR

Matt Stansberry & The Romance is one of Oklahoma’s most successful bands. Inspired by blues, jazz and soul, this 10-piece ensemble rocks out with their own unique modern sound that Stansberry calls “a little old meets new.”

Recently, the band was invited to historic Sun Studio, the birthplace of rock in downtown Memphis where Elvis, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, Chris Isaak and U2 have all recorded, to do two sessions – one of which will air on PBS next year.

With shows in St. Louis, Tulsa, OKC and Dallas over the next few weeks, this is an act to be experienced.

– Chip Carter, Jones PR

Whether working as a globally known artist or crisis management specialist in the Balkans, D.G. Smalling has a similar philosophy that he’s used in both paths of his life.

“I think things through thoroughly and I execute the plan once,” he said during a recent interview. “It’s the way I grew up and I think it has to do with my time in the Balkans.”

Before becoming a professional artist 10 years ago, Smalling worked with defense contractors in Bosnia and Kosovo during political and military upheavals. Today, his Native American artwork provides him with a more subdued lifestyle.

– Don Swift, ionOklahoma