Stamp of Approval: Robert Peterson
In his short career as a painter of fine art, Robert Peterson has put together some major commissions. From the Oklahoma City Thunder to private owners across the coun-try, the Lawton native has an impressive portfolio. However, in terms of size and scope, it’s hard to imagine any other client having the reach of his latest employer, the United States Postal Service.
The Power of Literati Press
Literati Press Comics and Novels began in 2010 as the brainchild of founder and Creative Director Charles J. Martin, following years of enduring an artist’s worst nightmare: isolation. After suffering in silence for years and finding more artists in the same lonely boat, he and a group of Oklahoma creatives decided to make a “platform for writers doing innovative things with genre storytelling.”
‘Beyond the Frame’ Is Beyond Exceptional: OKCMOA & Abbas Kiarostami
Take heed: You’ve only got until April to experience Kiarostami: Beyond the Frame. The Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s multimedia retrospective exhibition of artworks and films by Abbas Kiarostami, the widely acclaimed Iranian photographer, filmmaker and visual artist, is ambitious, comprehensive and stunning — and you’re going to want to go more than once.
Lighting The World: Ed James
The Business of Giving Back: Making philanthropy a part of corporate identity
Generosity is on the rise, and here’s the proof. Companies large and small, business owners, industry leaders and friends are finding ways to make the world a better place while earning a living.
Jen Jones: A Thriving Hybrid Culture
Oklahoma City is home to so many different successful entrepreneurs. Jen Jones, owner, and CEO of Cordea Consulting. started her IT health care consulting firm 15 years ago in Oklahoma City, and now provides consulting to hospitals, clinics, and health care organizations across the country.
Red Day Run: Keller Williams’ philanthropic race for the community
Brad Reeser had a simple idea: The president of Keller Williams Realty Central Oklahoma was looking to honor Mo Anderson, a valuable member of the KW family. However, what Reeser wasn’t sure of was what to do. His original idea was to raffle off a car and donate the money to a needy charity.
On Clients’ Time: Hayes Legal Group’s personal approach to law
Consulting an attorney is, to put it diplomatically, not an activity that many people enjoy. Which is understandable given that the circumstances are often stressful, complicated, emotionally charged (and frequently expensive) … it can be frustrating. Amy Hayes is working to improve the process — “make uncomfortable situations more comfortable,”
Drawing on Childhood: Madelyn Goodnight
As a child growing up in Oklahoma, Madelyn Goodnight loved books. Whether her parents or aunts read them to her or she pored over them herself, Goodnight said the memories of her youth — from the Amelia Bedelia series by Peggy and Herman Parish or the Frog and Toad collection by Arnold Lobel — are filled with children’s books.
Glenna Tanenbaum: community leader, philanthropist and creative powerhouse
Being Glenna Tanenbaum is clearly a lot of fun. Sitting next to her conveys a contagious rush of excitement from her vivacious, exuberant energy. There’s also a teensy dab of the rebel in her, which has an extra allure all its own. One might say the Force is strong in this one. She’s an unabashed giver. Time, talent, resources — if a cause she believes in needs it, she and her husband Dick will get it, find it or fund it themselves.
Winter Is Coming: The heart behind Project Winter Watch
Ryan Cristelli says he has only one skill. The 43-year-old Seattle native and Ada High alumnus has a talent for storytelling. As the creative director for the Ryan Cristelli Agency, he created content for NASA, The Chickasaw Nation and other clients — all designed to capture people’s attention. This skill allowed Cristelli to build a nice, comfortable life for himself and his family. In many ways, he was living the American Dream.
The New OKCMOA Store: Chihuly, Adler & Ganache
The space formerly housing the café at Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) has transformed into something far more interesting. To step inside the new, extended dance version of the OKCMOA Store is to step into a world of pure imagination, dotted with beautiful objects created by the likes of Dale Chihuly and Jonathan Adler, served up alongside sparkling flutes of Champagne and fairytale-grade pastries crafted by Ganache Patisserie. (Pastry) case in point: the MOA Tart’s pistachio frangipane with dark cherries, milk chocolate ganache, raspberries and gold spark.
Carrie Slatton-Hodges: A New Era for Oklahoma’s Mental Health
All her life, Commissioner Carrie Slatton-Hodges has had a heart for helping people in need. Slatton-Hodges and her team recently launched the 988 Mental Health Lifeline in our state, offering services for mental health crisis calls via a 24/7 hotline. She spoke with us about her personal journey, and the important effects launching the 988 Mental Health Lifeline will have on Oklahoma.
Deus Ex Machina: The Vayanne
After two years on the shelf, the New York International Auto Show found itself back in the limelight in 2022. For 11 days in April, automakers from around the world were in New York City showcasing the next big thing coming out of their factories in the coming months and years. Despite all the major names in attendance, it was an unknown upstart from Austria that stood out from the rest. With its sleek curves, futuristic body and next-level technology, the DEUS-Vayanne didn’t come to New York to just take part. It came to take over.
Jo Lynne Jones and the OKC Ballet
When Oklahoma City Ballet’s John Kirkpatrick Executive Director Jo Jones takes visitors on a tour through the Susan E. Brackett Dance Center, it is with the delicious glee of a little kid showing you her super-cool secret hideout. No doubt she’s led hundreds of tours through the space, but you wouldn’t know it. “I just love it. I mean, it's literally a dream come true, getting to work here,” she says, in between pointing out various rehearsal spaces in the massive, hangar-shaped building on N. Classen.
Javier Leclerc: Cruising Memory Lane
Javier Leclerc remembers vividly the old 1971 Chevelle Wagon his family had when he was a kid. With closer similarities to a tank than a Corvette, it was not something most would have called a work of art. But there was one aspect of the green and brown station wagon that Leclerc remembers fondly.
Brand Builder Naoma Serna-Zahn: In With The Nuevo
Meet Naoma Serna-Zahn — world traveler, visionary, disrupter and owner of the thriving branding and design firm Nuevo Studio. She approaches branding and design with the end in mind and guides her clients through a holistic process that is both fun and energizing, for results that can been seen all over town and throughout the country.
Tunnell Vision: Building Culture’s Austin Tunnell
Something has to be across the street from the Louvre. You can’t have an entire town of nothing but Fallingwaters and Taliesin Houses or they’d lose their impact. And a building can be genuinely admirable as a work of craft without also having to be a work of capital-a Art. But while not every project can be, or should aspire to be, an unparalleled, inimitable icon of design, the opposite extreme — spaces with meager inspiration, with little care in construction, with paltry ambition (beyond, perhaps, size) — is disappointingly common, even at higher price points where bigger does not necessarily mean better construction.
Dr. Chelsea Herr: Holding Space for Indigenous Art
Growing up Dr. Chelsea Herr was a frequent visitor to the local museums and galleries around Los Angeles. Despite living in Riverside County, which is more than an hour away, her school often took field trips to prestigious and world renowned institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty Center, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the Huntington Library and the Norton Simon Museum.
Gene Hopper & The Real Deal
Gene Hopper is a serial entrepreneur and highly successful consultant. Her diverse career began at Apple Computer with time at Harvard Medical School and OU’s Health Sciences Center. She has been a central figure in the Oklahoma community and her footprint can be seen in hundreds of businesses in the community through her consulting, coaching, and training.