Why Tulsa? Our friend Chris Curtis, who is a well renowned sculptor from Stowe, was delivering his sculpture to a client here in Tulsa. Chris conceived of this sculpture, then built it with a 3-D printer and had it fabricated in Vermont. It is entirely made with stainless steel. His idea was to tour with the sculpture, stopping along the way to erect it at various museums. His truck is outfitted with a hoist and he has it all fitted very carefully to the back of his truck and the trailer. He has called this sculpture “That Place in the Stars,“

We met Chris at the Philbrook museum around 3:30 pm, as the raising of the sculpture was to happen at 4:00. I expected more people to be there, but the only other person was Chris’s daughter who flew in from San Francisco. It took Chris about 45 minutes and it was finished. It will stay at the Philbrook for a week and then it will be installed in his client’s garden just around the corner from the museum. Meanwhile, the public gets to enjoy this spectacular sculpture reaching its arms to the clouds, pointing to whatever star you wish upon.

We drove in from Bentonville, AK where we spent three VERY rainy days. It poured almost the entire time, I thought our camper would float away. I never thought I would say this, but I could move to this town. It is really amazing with all of the trails, parks, dog parks, and museums. The Crystal Bridge Museum of Art is not to be missed. Nor the walk through the botanical gardens to get there. Sculptures everywhere, and creeks overflowing with water from the rains. Before you even get into the museum your breath is taken away by the architecture. Curves, and arches with interior walkways stretching out from the center lobby. Every turn there is a new form created either by shadows, or reflections or glass or wooden curved ceilings. I cannot even begin to describe it.

Once you are in the museum you start from a central circle with soaring ceilings. The museum is free. There was a special exhibit called the “Dirty South” which should not be missed if you are in the area. I believe it is a traveling exhibit, if it comes near you do go. The South is recorded in the art through various mediums, which emphases a culture steeped in tradition. Having gone to West Africa, a lot of the art resonated with me. I could trace the similarities in the dances, effigies and costumes worn in the Ivory Coast.  As I go to these various exhibits of Black culture I leave with a sense of despair for my ignorance. As a child of the 60’s and a child who grew up with integrated schools, friends that were black, I thought I was enlighten, but the more I read, the more exhibits I go to, I realize more and more the privileges I have been awarded by being white and how flawed is my thinking.

If you find yourself in the South, make it a point to go to Bentonville. I will never move there because of Arkansas politics but I would love to have the museums and parks planned out in such a spectacular way in Stowe. It could be done but we do not have the Walton’s to pay for the amount of money it takes to create such a place. This could be bad or not. We will never know.