12 intriguing artworks to look for at the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's 12x12 exhibit

By putting artists in a box, a popular Oklahoma City art show encourages many of them to think outside of one.

For its long-running 12x12 Art Fundraiser, the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition challenges 175 Sooner State artists to create works that are no larger than 12 inches tall by 12 inches across — or no more than 12 inches high, wide and deep for three-dimensional pieces.

For the 34th annual show, the result is an array of small artworks that are as eclectic as Oklahoma's statewide arts community, with artists often using the strict parameters to push their creativity to the limits.

From paintings and photographs to blown glass and handcrafted jewelry, the wide-ranging — but still compact — works will be auctioned during a lively event featuring local food, a cash bar and live entertainment from 7 to 10 p.m. Sept. 16 at Lively Beerworks.

Bids for each piece begin at $200, but art lovers who don't want to risk losing out on a particular artwork have the option to “Buy It Now” and trump the auction.

Ticket sales and donations benefit the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, or OVAC, a nonprofit organization that supports visual artists living and working in the state.

Here are 12 artworks from this year's 12x12 Art Fundraiser that show how creative Oklahoma artists can get — even under strict circumstances:

1. Trent Lawson's 'Order 66'

A longtime 12x12 favorite, Oklahoma City artist Trent Lawson is best known for painting clever pop-culture mashups on velvet. This year's imaginative effort features a certain evil emperor from a galaxy far, far away serving up a special order for a customer of an ice cream and dairy store very, very close to many Oklahomans' hearts — and taste buds.

2. Carrie Kouts' 'Confinement'

Just because the 12x12 parameters are squared off doesn't mean that artists can't create round works within them, like emerging OKC artist Carrie Kouts has done with her concrete and mixed-media sculpture "Confinement."

A 2019 University of Central Oklahoma graduate, Kouts frequently uses cement, construction soil and similar materials in her work, which explores where the natural landscape ends and the man-made landscape begins.

3. Beverly Kirk's 'Exuberance: A Woman's Joy'

A Chickasha native now based in OKC, Beverly Kirk is a master quilter who often shares African American history and culture through her vibrant fabric art.

4. Irmgard Geul's 'A Landscape to Remember'

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Irmgard Geul moved in 2003 to Pauls Valley, where she lives on a horse ranch that boasts an art studio. She creates her "embroidery paintings" like "A Landscape to Remember" with a technique in which she embroiders and stitches over acrylic paintings on paper. The Dutch artist uses the embroidery paintings to share the sights and experiences of her life in rural Oklahoma.

5. William Larason's 'June Coastal Grooves'

OKC artist William Larason painstakingly creates many of his works — including this year's vibrant wildlife portrait "June Coastal Grooves" — out of a most modest material: gum wrapper foil.

6. Kendall Ross' 'Word Count'

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kendall Ross turned her lifelong passion for knitting into an OKC-based business called I'd Knit That. Perhaps playfully poking fun at the parameters of 12x12, the emerging Edmond artist has knitted a sweater with the slogan "There Isn't Enough Room to Say Everything I Need to Say" onto a canvas for the fundraiser.

7. Ben Ezzell's 'Wood Mosaic #2'

An Enid woodworker and printmaker (as well as an attorney and former city commissioner), Ben Ezzell made his geometric "Wood Mosaic #2” out of alder, Bocote, cherry, crepe myrtle, marblewood, olive, padauk, pine, red oak, redwood, Satine, Spanish cedar, teak, walnut, white maple and white oak, plus a brass frame and copper accents.

8. Timothy Walsh's 'Untitled Skull #12'

One of several intriguing 3D works included in this year's show, OKC-based ceramics artist Timothy Walsh's stoneware and glaze piece "Untitled Skull #12" gleams silver and crimson and boasts elegant curves.

Both Walsh and his wife, Osage artist Jarica Walsh, are frequent 12x12 participants, and she is offering this year one of her signature blue cyanotypes prints, which are made by laying objects on paper or fabric treated with photographic chemicals and exposing it to light.

9. Nina Nga Nguyen's 'Inner Self'

Emerging artist Nina Nga Nguyen, of Yukon, uses colored pencils to bring her "Inner Self" to lovely, luminous life.

10. Malcolm Zacariah's 'Coma'

A skilled hand at origami, kirigami and other papercraft, Oklahoma City artist Malcolm Zacariah created his colorful abstract sculpture "Coma" with watercolor and cold-pressed Arches paper.

Both Zachariah and his longtime artistic collaborator Emma Difani, the masterminds behind local artist collective Factory Obscura's recent immersive exhibition "Seed Reef," are participating in this year's 12x12. Difani's pastel-hued mixed-media piece “In, About and All Around” will bring some rounded edges to the often-boxy 12x12 display.

11. R.C. Morrison's 'Cubist Mirror'

Based in the Tulsa area, R.C. Morrison often experiments with the interplay of light emitting diodes, or LEDs, along with acrylic plastic and found objects. Framed in a cobalt glow, "Cubist Mirror" reflects the Oklahoma State University alumnus' ongoing fascination with the color and intensity of light.

12. Sarah Day-Short's 'Seasons'

OKC artist Sarah Day-Short literally captures the essence of autumn by combining foraged leaves, natural pigments and resin on wood.

12X12 ART FUNDRAISER

Benefiting: Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.

When: 7 to 10 p.m. Sept. 16.

Where: Lively Beerworks, 815 SW Second St., downtown Oklahoma City.

Ticket prices: $45 in advance online and $50 at the door. Children 16 and younger admitted free.

Information and tickets: www.12x12ok.org and www.facebook.com/OKart.

Features Writer Brandy "BAM" McDonnell has covered Oklahoma's arts, entertainment and cultural sectors for The Oklahoman for 20 years. Reach her at bmcdonnell@oklahoman.com, www.facebook.com/brandybammcdonnell and twitter.com/BAMOK. Support her work by signing up for her See & Do Oklahoma newsletter and subscribing to The Oklahoman.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma artists create outside the box for 12x12 Art Fundraiser