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Members’ Preview Celebration Schedule:
Friday, February 17
5 pm Light Bites and Cash Bar Available | Museum Lobby
6 pm Conversation with Virginia M. Mecklenburg, PhD | Noble Theater
8 pm All Galleries Close
OKCMOA members are invited to preview two unique exhibitions before they open to the public: Art and Activism at Tougaloo College and Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice. Join us for an exclusive preview opportunity, entertainment, and conversation with Virginia M. Mecklenburg, PhD, Senior Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and curator of Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice.
This Members’ Preview Celebration is free for members! Tickets can be reserved in advance online or by calling 405-278-8237. Seating in the Noble Theater is first-come, first-served. Members are also welcome to preview each new exhibition between 10 am-5 pm on Friday, February 17.
Not a member?
Guests can attend the Members’ Preview Celebration for $24.95+tax (admission passes not valid). If you decide to join on-site, Admissions Desk staff will apply the cost of this event ticket towards your new membership! Click here to learn more about membership levels and benefits, including:
- Free exhibition admission
- Invitations to preview new exhibitions before they open to the public
- 10% Museum Store discount
- Discounted member rate for film tickets, programs, and special events
About Art and Activism at Tougaloo College:
Established in the 1960s as Mississippi’s first collection dedicated to modern art and while civil rights protests swirled across the fiercely segregated state, the collection of Tougaloo College was envisioned as “an interracial oasis in which fine arts are the focus and the magnet.” Comprised of approximately thirty-five artworks in a range of media by artists such as David Driskell, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Pablo Picasso, Richard Mayhew, Charles White, and Hale Woodruff, the exhibition gives insight into a complex American collection at the intersections of modern art and social justice. This exhibition is on view February 18-May 14, 2023.
Click here to learn more.
About Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice:
Painted in the mid-1940s, William H. Johnson’s Fighters for Freedom series pays tribute to black activists, scientists, teachers, performers, and international heads of state working to bring peace to the world. Some of his twenty-eight Fighters—such as Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, Marian Anderson, and Mahatma Gandhi—are familiar historical figures; others are less well-known individuals whose determination and sacrifice have been eclipsed over time. Johnson celebrated their accomplishments even as he acknowledged the realities of racism, violence, and oppression they faced and overcame. This exhibition is on view February 18-May 14, 2023.
Click here to learn more.
About Viriginia M. Mecklenburg, PhD:
Virginia M. Mecklenburg is Senior Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she oversees the exhibitions, acquisitions, and collections research programs and the Lunder Conservation Center. She lectures widely, and has written on George Bellows, Richard Estes, William Glackens, Edward Hopper, Robert Indiana, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Rockwell, John Sloan, and other twentieth-century artists for exhibition publications and American Art, American Art Review, and The Magazine Antiques. She has organized more than 30 exhibitions that have traveled to over 100 venues in the United States and abroad. Current projects include Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice (2022), Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women (2024), Masterpiece Amish Quilts (2024), and Botanical Watercolors by Mary Vaux Walcott (2025-26).
