One Work, Many Voices: T.C. Cannon
Saturday, November 14 | 2-4 pm
OKCMOA’s Portraiture gallery
$5 Members | $10 Non-Members
Not a member? Join today at okcmoa.com/membership.
How does a single work of art change when viewed through different eyes?
One Work, Many Voices invites visitors to experience a single work of art through the perspectives of guest speakers from our community. Rather than a traditional lecture, this conversation-based gallery program encourages curiosity, thoughtful discussion, and audience participation, reminding us that every viewer brings something meaningful to the experience.
This session explores Grandmother Gestating Father as the Washita River Runs Ribbon-Like by T.C. Cannon, joined by Kira Hayen, artist and writer, and Molly Murphy Adams, exhibiting artist and art historian. Together, they’ll examine themes of identity, culture, memory, belonging, and visual storytelling while inviting guests to share their own observations and experiences. As new perspectives emerge, the artwork becomes a starting point for deeper understanding—not only of the work itself, but of one another.
Following the gallery discussion, guests are invited to join us for an Ekphrastic writing workshop inspired by T.C. Cannon’s poetry. Ekphrastic writing vividly describes, interprets, or responds to a work of art.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Kira Hayen is enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and is of various indigenous and settler descent. As an artist and writer, her work is largely inspired by the political and personal intersections of her identity. As a writer, Kira received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2023 and later won the 2024 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award for fiction. Most recently, Kira Hayen combined her experience as an educator, artist, and writer to complete the Caddo Educational Workbooks project funded by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 2025 Powerhouse Thrive Grant.
Molly Murphy Adams is an exhibiting artist, scholar, community maker, and advocate specializing in contemporary sculptural beadwork. Murphy Adams was raised in western Montana and earned a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from The University of Montana in 2004, and a master of Art History from Oklahoma State University in 2023. Murphy Adams’ work illustrates the blending of culture, identity, and histories. She freely borrows from multiple disciplines to create fiber and mixed media art pieces reflecting her mixed background and traditions. Currently, Murphy Adams focuses on merging her art history research and art-making in the form of curatorial and educational work with collections and institutions holding Indigenous beadwork material culture and art.
—
Installation photograph of Portraiture Rotation 8 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 2026 – 2027, photo © Oklahoma City Museum of Art
T.C. Cannon (1946-1978), Grandmother Gestating Father and the Washita River Runs Ribbon-Like, 1975, oil and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 in. Art Bridges. © Estate of T.C. Cannon
