George Washington Carver In Tulsa
by Mike Wimmer
Born into slavery, George Washington Carver became one of the most prestigious scientists of his time, revolutionizing the research methods and agricultural processes of the day.
Breaking racial barriers, he became the first African American faculty member at Iowa State University, and later joined Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. He received many honors and awards in his lifetime, including a museum at the Tuskegee Institute and a national monument at his birthplace in Diamond Grove, Missouri.
In May 1929, George Washington Carver attended the dedication ceremony for the junior high school bearing his name in Tulsa, Oklahoma. More than three thousand citizens, black and white, were present.
When he saw the Carver School’s magnificence, the meek and gentle Carver was awestruck and said it made him feel unworthy—more than any honor he’d received before. In his speech, he made a point he hoped would help the youths in Carver Junior High and all who came to hear him speak: We each determine how our lives proceed, by choices that we make.
George Washington Carver In Tulsa by Mike Wimmer was dedicated on May 20, 2004. The commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The painting is located inside the North hallway of the Oklahoma State Senate wing on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30 when the Senate is not in session.
The Artist
Born
and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mike Wimmer began his career as
an artist during the seventh grade. He earned his B.F.A. from the University
of Oklahoma, where he met Don Ivan Punchatz. Wimmer later moved to
Arlington, Texas to be Punchatz apprentice at Punchatz famous Sketch
Pad Studio. Wimmer learned valuable knowledge regarding the
business aspect of illustrating as well as various painting techniques
and the working methods of the local Dallas illustrators. After his two and a half year apprenticeship, he moved back to Norman, Oklahoma and
set up his own studio using all that he had learned in Texas. Since
then Wimmer has become very successful illustrating children’s
books such as “Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh” by
Robert Burliegh which was the winner of
the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children in 1990. He also illustrated “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan which
was published in 1994 and won the Oklahoma Book Award
for Best Illustrated Children’s Book 1995. Wimmer’s latest
book, “Will Rogers” by Former Governor Frank Keating, was
published in 2002 and has won the 2003 Spur Award from the Western
Writers Association of America. Even though Wimmer has worked for some
of the largest corporations in the world including Disney and Procter
and Gamble, Wimmer finds the greatest artistic pleasure within his
creation of fine art.