Written by Page Finch

The Paseo Arts and Creativity Center is thrilled to announce three new art exhibits for you to explore! September features The Other Side by VC Torneden and Melinda Green Harvey, Paseo Photofest juried by Andy Mattern, and To Be Continued by Brother Joshua. Exhibits are on display from September 6 through 28, 2024. These shows will open with a reception on September 6 during First Friday, from 6-9pm at 3024 Paseo.

Photos by Melinda Green Harvey (Left) and VC Torneden (Right)

VC Torneden and Melinda Green Harvey’s The Other Side can be found in Gallery I. It’s a photographic exhibition documenting the changes along Route 66 within these past five years before the centennial in 2026. This show brings a new perspective, seeking the overlooked and forgotten of America’s highway: “the other side of the road.”

This show was created by two artists: VC Torneden of Oklahoma and Melinda Green Harvey of Texas. Both photographers shoot in comparable styles, one shooting in black and white and the other in color. As a result, they create a strong narrative for their exhibition as a whole but still manage to capture their own voice and perspective along this journey.

Torneden has made Route 66 one of the primary subjects of her arts for more than a decade, delving within the long forgotten segments. Whereas, Melinda Green Harvey, who never before traveled Route 66 at length, has brought fresh eyes to this iconic road.

The hope of the these artists is to lead viewers into a reflection on the continual change and legacy of the Mother Road, as well as its impact throughout the whole of American society.

Next, in Gallery II, visitors can enjoy work from our Paseo Photofest. Paseo Photofest is a juried photography exhibition that takes place each September showcasing all types of photography. This year is slightly different as some of our artists think outside the box within photographic mediums. We have mediums ranging from digital photography, cyanotypes, infrared photography, photography and digital collage, cinematography print, pigment ink print, other mixed media and much more!

*Catching Rays* by Mark Cheek

Let’s look at Mark Cheek’s photo, *Catching Rays*! His photograph was taken with Lomography turquoise 35mm film, and with this specific medium, he is able to capture a dreamy, retro vibe utilizing the vibrant turquoise hues within the trees and water and a warmer orange hue from the sky and foreground. In doing so, he transforms, what is otherwise, an everyday scene into his own mystical world.

All Oklahoma artists featured: Althea Lackey, Amber Bachiochi Thompson, Amy Lesher, Ashley Holland, Clarence Long, Cody Helton, Destiny Green, Emily Singleton, Garrett Dressler, Hannah Hannah, Inge Vautrin, Jennifer Hustis, Jiya Chopra, Jordan Nicks, Karsten Moore, Leanne Trivett S., Mario Winston, Mark Cheek, Mark Wittig, Marsha Mueller, Mirella Martinez, Nicole Montgomery, Samuel Ventura and Shevaun Williams.

Andy Mattern (*Photo* by Chaz Mottinger)

The exhibition is juried by Andy Mattern, a visual artist, whose work reconfigures expectations of photography’s basic ingredients and convention. He received his MFA in Photography from the University of Minnesota and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico.

*Average Subject / Medium Distance* by Andy Mattern

His work is held in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He has also had his work reviewed in publications such as Artforum, the New Yorker, Camera Austria and Photonews. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Photography at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

This year’s Paseo Photofest is sponsored by Red River Digital, a fine art print shop that serves the greater Oklahoma City’s artists, designers and business community, located at 3224 S. Boulevard in Edmond.

Gallery III features Brother Joshua, an artist who creates paintings as his main form of expression and thought. His mission is to create work that build a sense of connection, seeking to provide absolute truths, whatever those may be.

*Image of Brother Joshua (Joshua McDaniel)*

His current focus is towards sociological issues that create an emotional response to viewers. A truth seeker by nature, Brother Joshua values the introspection that art has to offer, and attempts to represent the social classes' tensions as well as the juxtaposition between a viewer’s experience that addresses within oneself, in other words, perspective truths versus their actualized reality.

Within his show To Be Continued, it is a visual allegory of how mass incarceration affects BIPOC communities and continues the lineage of slavery even today. He chose the title because it insinuates the continuation of something, and within the context of the 13th Amendment, there is a conversation to be had about a section that further allows slavery in terms of punishment and confinement, specifically stating, “...except as punishment for a crime.” With this line, Brother Joshua believes that no matter one’s personal views, it is important to understand this lineage so we don’t repeat these wrongdoings. Through the exhibition, he hopes that these pieces can offer you the perspectives of the criminalized, making them not just people portrayed in painting but actual individuals with thoughts and feelings.

Some questions you may ask yourself after viewing these paintings are:

1.  Am I okay with slavery in the form of punishment and/or incarceration? 

2. Do I believe people are their worst mistakes?

3.  What is true justice? 

4. How can I ensure history does not repeat itself?

Wake Me Up When September Begins

Fall into the Paseo this October

Let August Be August…