NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Jan. 3, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov
SELECTED WORKS EXHIBITED BY BRUNEL FARIS AT AT STATE CAPITOL
Oklahoma City, OK – Local artists will remember him from his teaching career at Oklahoma City University, and art lovers worldwide know Brunel Debost Faris for his works in collage and drawing. His exhibit, Selected Works, will be on display in the Governor’s Gallery at the State Capitol from Jan. 7th to March 7th, 2008. Curated by the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Governor’s Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the State Capitol and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30-5:00.
For more than 40 years, Faris was closely involved with the arts in Oklahoma as an artist, teacher and administrator and had a profound influence on the development of Oklahoma’s art heritage. Born in Oklahoma City in 1937, Faris graduated from Classen High School and the University of Oklahoma with bachelor and masters degrees in Fine Arts. A founding member of the Oklahoma City Arts Festival, Faris was the chairman of the Art Department at Oklahoma City University and director of the Nona Jean Hulsey Gallery in OCU’s Norick Art Center. Prior to that position, he served as Art Director of the Oklahoma Science and Art Foundation. He was an active artist right up until his death in 2005.
Many of his students became successful professionals in the fields of arts administration, graphic design and teaching on a global level. In addition to teaching at the college level, Faris taught art in public schools in Tulsa and Oklahoma City and was a great influence to his students and artists. He was actively involved with the arts in a wide variety of venues including the orchestra, ballet, theatre and the zoo.
His interest in collage was spurred by his extensive travels to Europe. “I enjoy combining old materials with traditional painting or drawing techniques. Usually I attempt to develop a general theme in a collage but the message is subconscious. Juxtaposition of old and new, worn and fresh, bright and dull, light and dark, with merging and repeated forms or images are of particular interest to me. I prefer my collages to be games with secret visual puns, a sort of personalized mythology,” explained Faris.
The Oklahoma State Art Collection contains two of Faris’ works. Strike, a mixed media collage is currently on display in the inaugural exhibition of the State Art Collection Gallery also housed at the State Capitol. Other Faris works have been represented in group exhibitions at the Fred Jones Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Oklahoma City Museum of Art; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City; Mabee Gerrer Museum, Shawnee; the Melton Collection, the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, as well as in many private collections in the U.S., Mexico, Israel, Germany, France and Italy.
For more information, contact Ann Dee Lee, Public Relations Director, Oklahoma Arts Council, (405) 521-2931 or anndee@arts.ok.gov.
ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.
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