Published: September 06, 2008 12:04 am         

3 artists present ideas for entry railing in Enid’s new museum

About two dozen museum patrons, including several members of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center Art in Public Places Site Committee, heard three artists present their plans Friday for artwork to adorn an entry railing to the new museum.

Two metal artists and a glass sandblaster presented details of their proposals on behalf of the Oklahoma Art in Public Places project. CSRHC President Andi Holland and organizers from the Art in Public Places program asked patrons to submit their comments and vote after the artists’ presentations.

“I’m really thankful you’re here to participate,” Holland said.

The site committee was expected to make a decision Friday night and announce their plans to artists this morning.

Raef Robek, a metal artist from Colorado, showed off a number of projects he’s completed using artifacts significant to his subjects. He proposed using the tools settlers would have been armed with — weapons, saws, shovels, hammers — when they first raced for their homestead.

Robek said if he were selected, he would welcome input from the community on significant artifacts to use in the project.

Robek brought samples of work that includes a warm brown waxed coating on metal.

Kathy Bradford, a glass artist who also hails from Col-orado, showed samples of her work, which included thick glass adorned with blue stem and other native grasses, the state bird, buffalo, teepees and other significant visual representations of the area.

She also showed slides of projects she’s already completed, such as 10-foot pieces for New York’s Russian Tea Room and other works all over the country.

The etching process includes sandblasting the glass. Bradford said native grasses would be a major portion of her project due to their importance to the region.

Lars Stanley, an Austin, Texas, metal artist, explained the hand-forging process of his metals and said he also would include native alabaster in his project, if chosen.

Stanley’s project would include abstract grasses native to the Cherokee Strip.

The site committee was collecting the public surveys and convening immediately after the presentations to make a decision.

Oklahoma Art in Public Places, on behalf of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, organized the search for an artist, or team of artists, to create permanent stair railing panels for the atrium area of the renovated museum. The design of the painted steel railing system creates panels that can be filled in with artwork. The railings will be code compliant, accessible handrails, framed to the floor. The artwork can be of any appropriate media, as long as it complies with safety requirements.

Museum officials hope the artwork will have significant impact upon entry to the museum.

The vestibule will feature an enterprise exhibition area with an original water well drilling rig, a George E. Failing rig, exhibited in the center of the vestibule.

The total artist’s fee for the project is $30,000 and will cover all costs, including design, materials, fabrication, travel, insurance coverage, shipping and installation.

Anyone willing to donate $20,000 will have the opportunity to name the entrance stair rail, according to the CSRHC Web site.

The art project will be the insert of the 30-foot metal stair rail leading up each side of the atrium to the lobby. This will be a one-of-a kind creation, commissioned exclusively for the center.