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FIRST FRIDAYS: AUGUST 2025

FIRST FRIDAYS: AUGUST 2025

Join us for an evening of open studios, exhibitions, performances, and community as we come together to experience the vibrant creative spirit of Tulsa’s Arts District.

Tulsa Artist Fellowship is proud to partner with the Cherokee Art Market for three special First Fridays. Meet talented artists featured in this year’s market and take home incredible works of art. This month, we’re honored to spotlight Julie Daugherty, Scott Middleton, and Kristin Gentry—plus, try your hand at soap sculpting for a hands-on introduction to Native art and culture. Mark your calendars! The Market will celebrate its 20th anniversary on October 11-12, 2025. Learn more information and subscribe to their newsletter at cherokeeartmarket.com.

Join us at Flagship for With Simone, a live performance of a historical score by Simone Forti, originally published in Womens Work (1975), a landmark collection of experimental compositions edited by Alison Knowles and Annea Lockwood. In this activation, Transitive State, a Tulsa-based movement collective, responds to Forti’s instruction: "At least five and as many as thousands of people walk in and out among each other passing as fast as possible, as close as possible while never touching, and making a buzzing sound." Featuring Alicia Chesser, Michelle Kenny, Sierra Pruitt, Maree ReMalia, Natalia Rojas, and Tyne Shillingford, With Simone takes place in conjunction with the exhibition on view, Spatial Poems, and continues the lineage of experimental, embodied practices that make space speak.

In the studios, awardee Rehab El Sadek unveils Re:Collection—a striking new sculpture series exploring the preservation of personal and collective memories. Inspired by ancient Egyptian methods of her ancestors, El Sadek wraps her forms in gauze and natural pigments, safeguarding both object and story. This tapestry of memories honors the landscapes and experiences that shaped her life before and after immigrating to the United States.

Upstairs, enjoy an evocative DJ set with Minneapolis-based musician, archivist, and Watheca Records founder Justis Brokenrope (Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta). Spinning Indigenous records produced on reservations between 1940 and 1990, Brokenrope’s set revives country ballads, surf-rock riffs, soulful quartets, and jazz improvisations—each recording a testament to the diverse soundscape of Indigenous musical expression. Watheca Records works to preserve and share this music, bringing it back to artists’ families, tribal communities, and new generations eager to listen and learn.

Throughout the studios, see works in progress, including a large-scale painting by awardee Hong Hong for the upcoming Oklahoma Contemporary biennial, Materials and Boundaries. This expansive piece delves into the relationship between water, language, and identity, and is supported by Hong’s 2025–2027 Tulsa Artist Fellowship and a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Art.

Que Gusto will craft a vibrant high summer menu, complemented by refreshing beverages curated and served by our friends at Heirloom Rustic Ales.

We can’t wait to welcome you.

Schedule
6 - 9 PM | Studios | 1st and 2nd Floor | Explore awardee studios and artworks in progress
6 - 9 PM | Studios | 1st Floor | Re:Collection Exhibition On View
6 - 9 PM | Studios | 2nd Floor | Meet Cherokee Art Market Artists + Soap Sculpting Drop-In Workshop
6 PM | Flagship | Door Opens
6:30 - 7:30 PM | Flagship | Performance by Transitive State 'With Simone' 
7:30 - 9 PM | Flagship | Spatial Poems Exhibition On View 
7:30 - 9 PM | Studios | 2nd Floor | Watheca Records DJ Set by Justis Brokenrope (Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta)

ABOUT FIRST FRIDAYS

Since its inaugural year in 2016, Tulsa Artist Fellowship has hosted First Fridays, a free monthly series highlighting our awardees, alum-in-residence, and Tulsa community members. Discover artistic workspaces, exhibitions, workshops, live music, and food throughout our studios, roof terrace, and galleries. First Fridays are free and open to all. Come for the art, stay for the community.

VISITOR EXPERIENCE

Tulsa Artist Fellowship strives to provide a welcoming and accessible experience. Our exhibitions and events are free, documented, and archived. 

Public hours for Flagship (112 N. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74103) are Thursday-Saturday from 12-6 pm. Flagship accommodates wheelchairs and strollers. Variable seating is provided in addition to the areas for distanced standing and wheelchairs. Family-scale private washrooms are available to support visitors with disabilities and caregivers who need access to increased square footage and changing tables. Street-side parking is available using the Park Mobile App and is free after 5 pm and all day Saturday and Sunday.

Archer Studios (109 MLK Jr Blvd E., Tulsa, OK 74103) accommodates wheelchairs and strollers. Variable seating is provided in addition to areas for distanced standing and wheelchairs. Family-scale private washrooms are available, designed to support visitors with disabilities and caregivers who need access to increased square footage and changing tables. The elevator at Archer Studios is located at the main west entrance on Martin Luther King Blvd. Street-side parking is available using the Park Mobile App and is free after 5 pm and all-day Saturday-Sunday.

 
Earlier Event: July 23
AN EVENING OF BOUNDARY-PUSHING SOUND
Later Event: August 1
REHAB EL SADEK: RE:COLLECTION