Tulsa Oklahoma – Between 2021 and 2026, Gilcrease has purchased 20 new acquisitions. These pieces have played an important role in shaping the museum’s new narrative, while connecting with Gilcrease’s history and sense of tradition. Every acquisition made in the past two years has been by a living artist of color, a testament to Gilcrease’s investment in diverse and authentic perspectives.
As the museum prepares to open in 2027, visitors can expect to see themselves and the stories of their ancestors reflected in the galleries’ narratives. The new acquisitions demonstrate Gilcrease’s investment in community.
After closing for construction of the new building in 2021, the museum’s first purchase was a mixed-media painting by Crystal Z Campbell, who spent much of their life in Oklahoma. Commemorating the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, “Notes from Black Wall Street: Infinity Doesn’t Interest Me” is part of a series in which Campbell blends archival images and texts with acrylic paint, glass beads and kiln-fired clay.
Several Caddo ceramics were also acquired by Gilcrease, including “Still Resilient, Still Powerful” by Raven Halfmoon. This piece builds upon the generations of Caddo ceramic artists who preceded her as a source of inspiration.
“Still Resilient, Still Powerful” is a bust-length sculpture that retains visual evidence of the artist’s hands in the clay.
With “Gourd Friend II – Caddo Effigy Pot,” Chase Earles invokes the form of a Caddo gourd vessel to portray the loveable repair droid BB-8 from the “Star Wars” universe.
Both pieces exemplify how many artists continue to honor the legacies of those who preceded them, such as ancestral Caddo pottery that has long been a part of the Gilcrease collection, while building upon those foundations to hone a unique artistic voice.
Several paintings on canvas have also found a new home in the Gilcrease collection. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh created “Trae and Dynasty” as part of a series of works in which she invited friends and community members to visit her Brooklyn studio to talk while she painted their portraits. Fazlalizadeh’s practice of conversing while creating these portraits adds an additional layer of vitality to the work. Similarly, Tiffany Alfonseca’s dynamic piece “Hazme Olvidarla” portrays a figure who looks directly at the viewer, engaging us in a visual conversation that the artist facilitates.
Every piece Gilcrease brings into its collection complements and grows what already exists here. The “Spire” series earrings and bracelet by Adrian Standing-Elk Pinnecoose extends the collection of Southwestern silver jewelry, bringing it into the 21st century. Standing-Elk Pinnecoose uses 3D-printed sterling silver to create unparalleled works of wearable art. He adeptly weaves designs from Diné textiles and jewelry that have been passed down from his elders with the dramatic, soaring details of Gothic architecture from Europe.
These artworks are not the totality of new additions to Gilcrease’s collection over the past five years, but they are poignant examples of how museum administrators envision the institution growing as it moves forward.
