Artwork Created by Northwestern Visual Arts Minor to be Featured in Oklahoma City Exhibition

March 4, 2022

Samantha Friday's artwork will be featured in the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition "Momentum" Exhibition March 25-27 in Oklahoma City.

Samantha Friday, a Northwestern Oklahoma State University junior psychology major and visual arts minor from Dallas, was one of 62 selected visual artists to have their artwork featured in the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition “Momentum” Exhibition March 25-27 in Oklahoma City.

The three-day event will take place at TAP Architecture at 415 North Broadway Ave. in Oklahoma City. On Friday, March 25, there will be a ticketed event featuring live music by the Nelson Gonzales Quartet from 7:30-10:30 p.m.; on Saturday, March 26, there will be a ticketed event featuring live music by Pretty Well from 7:30-10:30 p.m.; and on Sunday, March 27, from 2-5 p.m. there will be free public hours featuring a Gallery Talk with guest curators and spotlight artists from 4-5 p.m.

Admission is $10 per ticket until March 20 using the promo code: Momentum at www.ovac-ok.org/momentum. The price of tickets at the door or requested after March 20 is $15.

Friday was selected for the exhibition after submitting three paintings for review. She said she had been declined from last year’s 2021 Momentum, so she was very surprised and pleased to see she was selected this year.

“It means so much to me to be accepted into this exhibition because it means someone out there finds my work interesting,” Friday said. “With art, you can be your harshest critic, and I’ve had trouble in the past with thinking my paintings were never good enough or could never be at such an amazing level. So, this definitely gave me a big confidence booster and told me I’m going in the right direction with my art.”

During her time at Northwestern, Friday has taken several of the classes within the visual arts program including Fundamentals of Two-Dimensional Art, Life Drawing, Digital Illustration/Graphic Design, Beginning Painting and Intermediate Painting, and is currently taking Advanced Studio, which is required for graduating art minors.

She said the Beginning Painting class was the first time she had ever painted with oil paints, and the class and her professor Kyle Larson, director of visual arts and associate professor of art, taught her a lot of useful fundamental information on painting.

Friday said she has two plans set away for the next couple of years.

“There’s the idea of staying here at NWOSU for a master’s in psychology and use that in a school counseling type of way,” Friday said. “There’s also the thought of applying to an MFA program for painting after I get my bachelor's, but, there is always the option of pursuing art in the future and keeping it on the back burner for now. It’s all really confusing when it comes to picking what to do for a good chunk of your life, but I love my options!”

Larson said he is proud to see Friday representing Northwestern’s visual arts program so well at the OVAC Momentum 2022 Exhibition in Oklahoma City.

“Samantha has learned to hone her technical skills as a painter and coupled with her vast imagination and excellent sense of humor,” Larson said. “She makes honest and personal paintings that reach the viewer on multiple levels.”

For more information about Northwestern’s visual arts program, visit https://www.nwosu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/fine-arts/visual-arts or contact Larson at (580) 327-8108 or krlarson@nwosu.edu.

-NW-