Gallery features promising OCU student's art
Gallery features promising OCU student's art

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By M.J. Van Deventer

Published: February 8, 2008

It's unusual for a college student to be asked to show their work in a commercial gallery. But Shannon Crider is ecstatic about the opportunity. The Istvan Gallery, at 1218 N Western, will feature Crider's work at an artist's reception and open house from 6 to 10 p.m. today. The work of Annalisa Campbell also will be featured.

Crider is a senior at Oklahoma City University and will receive a bachelor's of fine arts degree in May. A native of Houston, Texas, she claims a "rebellious streak” and didn't want to attend a large school such as the University of Texas, where her parents hoped she would be a student.

"My mother and I toured the OCU campus and it just felt right. I wanted to attend a small school where I knew I would get special attention. I feel like I've flourished here. As an emerging artist, I have had some wonderful opportunities in Oklahoma City's art community.”

Even a few months shy of her college degree, she is building an impressive portfolio.

She has participated in the Individual Artists of Oklahoma's past five shows, winning an "Honorable Mention” in the organization's recent "Momentum” exhibition.

During her college journey, she has become an intern for the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, headed by Julia Kirt. During a group critique of student art, Stephen Kovash, creator of Istvan Gallery, took notice of Crider's work and invited her to be in this upcoming show.

Crider's work is both figurative and narrative. What she has done for the Istvan show is create portraits in oil of her family — people who have populated her life and made an impact on her.

During an interview at the Norick Art Gallery at OCU, she gingerly handled each painting, as if she was showing a treasured family heirloom.

And she was. The paintings are the beloved people of her family's past. She calls the series, "Family Legends.”

"These are portraits of family members who were dear to me or whose achievements have impacted my life,” she says. "In my art, I'm trying to tell a story about the person. I want to give a glimpse of their life. I'd like to think I'm a storyteller with my art.”

And she is.

The painting of her grandmother, Eugenia Rosa, a native of Poland, is both sweet and bittersweet. Rosa was orphaned before she was a teenager and grew up in an orphanage in Africa. The painting is haunting and hints that Eugenia's teen years in the orphanage had dark times.

A painting of her great grandfather, Stanislav Rosa, captures the joy and enthusiasm he felt about life. He could not speak English, but her painting shows his kind spirit and his zest for life.

A painting of her grandmother's brother, Alvin Rosa, features him in his World War II uniform. He is standing tall, erect, proud to be serving his country. "I wanted this painting to show him as an iconic figure of the 1940s,” Crider said.

A great-grandmother was a celebrated actress in Chicago in the 1920s. Her second husband was Robert Breene, who brought the world tour of the play, "Porgy and Bess” to the United States. "I wanted to paint her as a red and fiery person,” Crider said.

One of the unusual features of Crider's art — a mix of collage and fine art painting — is her love for handmade and specialty papers.

Many of the backgrounds for her paintings feature the genteel scrolls and patterns of handmade paper.

Other times, her art reflects the use of torn paper, stretched, squeezed or squished into a tiny space to make a dramatic and artistic statement for a special space in a painting.

In this exhibition, Crider has not only shown her talent. She has exhibited her love for her ancestors, her genealogical roots that will become works of art for her family to treasure for years to come.

For those who buy her art, they are purchasing what interior designers like to call ‘instant ancestors' — the look of familiar family portraits.

But for Crider, these paintings are of real family – grandparents, aunts and uncles.

These are people whose memories had a place in her young life and this exhibition celebrates the role of their importance in her life and her art.

Related Topics: Visual Arts, Painting