Oklahoma Murals
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1.) OKLAHOMA CITY’S PLAZA WALLS
The epicenter of Oklahoma muraling is, without a doubt, Oklahoma City’s Plaza Walls, which earned the top spot for public art nationwide by USA Today in 2021.
Every October the Mural Expo sees national artists come and go over a weekend of art, music, and food to re-do the walls on the back alley, just off NW 16th Street. We were there last year and put together this short piece for Gallery America Online
It’s run by the Oklahoma Mural Syndicate, which helped Miami, OK plan its mural fest that is covered in Gallery America’s July 2022 episode.
Another key Oklahoma City–area mural event is Sunny Dayz, featuring self-identifying female and non-binary artists. It’s next scheduled in Edmond, Oklahoma in August 2022.
See SunnyDayzMuralFest.com for more details.
2.) OKLAHOMA CITY’S THIS LAND
Perhaps the biggest mural in the state is Rick Sinnett’s “This Land,” adorning an old grain elevator near Bricktown in downtown Oklahoma City. A past episode of Gallery America covered the difficulty he had to fund such a grand-scale project, and how the community (led by the heroic efforts of the late Robbie Kienzle) rallied around it. Watch it here:
3.) TULSA
Of Tulsa’s many murals, a few stand out as must-sees, notably the 30-foot Black Wall Street Mural, painted in 2018 by Kansas City artist Donald “Scribe” Ross alongside I-244 off Greenwood Avenue, and the Woody Guthrie mural outside the Woody Guthrie Center in the Tulsa Arts District.
For an expanded list, check out https://www.tulsa.tours/murals-tour
4.) MIAMI
Yes! The Miami Mural Fest 66 (covered by our July 2022 episode), held every April, began in 2017, and has quickly instilled a sense of local pride that’s turned the northeast Oklahoma town into a state highlight of public art.
You can follow some of the featured 2022 muralists on their Instagram pages, including:
5.) ANADARKO
Modern murals, as we know them, got a huge boost from Mexico muralists like Diego Rivera, who in the 1920s started making giant murals for the public at large. A decade later, the US got in the swing of it during the WPA era, when famed Kiowa Six painter Stephen Mopope added these stunners inside the Anadarko Post Office – the best place to send an Oklahoma postcard.
6.) HOMINY
The Osage town of Hominy features a surprising number of murals – 40 by one count – on and off its main street buildings. The project began in 1990 – well ahead of the mural craze – with many the work of local Blackfoot artist Cha’ Tullis, whom you can meet at his studio/shop on Main Street - chatullisgallery.com
7.) ERICK
A quarantine-era addition to old Route 66 in Erick, off I-40 near the Texas border, tributes the “King of the Road” composer and Erick native Roger Miller. It’s the work of Brian Lewis, a North Carolina muralist whom you can follow on Instagram here.
Rhys Martin, the Tulsa-based president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, has long hoped Route 66 towns would add murals like this so road trippers could have something to see even on days when businesses are closed. He told us recently that mural fever is affecting town after town in Oklahoma – and hopefully more. He said, “You have communities like Erick, way out by the Texas border, who said ‘we don’t have a lot, but we can do a mural.’ And they have this great new mural.”
Here’s to more great new murals!