The Prairie Arts Center is excited to host this year’s Stillwater Arts Festival of 2023, with the support of the City of Stillwater and the Arts and Humanities Council of Stillwater! The Stillwater Arts Festival will take place on Friday, April 21st from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, April 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Prairie Arts Center has been operated as a partnership between Oklahoma State University and the City of Stillwater since 2017.
The Prairie Arts Center looks forward to welcoming over forty regional and national artists with a wide range of media, including ceramics, glass, fiber arts, metals, jewelry, photography, painting, and drawing. Artists from the following states will be present: New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Indiana, and Oklahoma. The two-day event will include an art exhibition, art making activities, food trucks, live music, and much more!
New this year is the art exhibition, “I Made Art,” showcasing the work of children from Stillwater elementary schools. “I MADE ART” takes inspiration from Japanese artist On Kawara’s postcard series, “I GOT UP.” From 1968 to 1979, Kawara sent two postcards a day to friends and colleagues with a time stamp of when he “got up.” Kawara’s work is a meditation on time and the relationship between art and life. The subject matter and media of the work in I MADE ART was left open to each student, in hopes of revealing their personal relationship with the art-making process. The “I Made Art “will be displayed inside the Prairie Arts Center during the festival.
Live music, provided by City of Stillwater, will include artists Bruce Benson, Morgan and Val Gladden, as well as groups like Misspent Ukes and the Stillwater Big Band. The festival will feature multiple art activities, including tote printmaking, raku firing, soap making, and more. The Stillwater Public Library will host its annual Friends Book Sale next to the festival site. Stillwater Martial Arts has generously offered to operate two of their karate vans to pick festival goers at designated van stops.
The Prairie Arts Center is located at 1001 S Duck Street.
