Mike Larsen

(Chickasaw, b. 1944)

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future in the Studio AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future Visit to Rainy Mountain

acrylic on canvas

both signed Larsen (lower right)

each 39 1/4 x 29 1/2 inches

Property from a Private Collection

Please Note: This lot is located in and ships from our Cincinnati, Ohio office.

These paintings were studies for two works in the Oklahoma Arts Institute's Quartz Mountain Art Collection Walking Tour.

The Future in the Studio

"In this work, Larsen offers the viewer a peek into a dance class at the inaugural Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, where students were taught by America's first prima ballerina, Maria Tallchief. The painting depicts Tallchief leading a rehearsal of a ballet choreographed by her former husband, George Balanchine. By hiring exceptional faculty, such as Tallchief, its first year, the Arts Institute set a high standard that would become a hallmark of the program."

The Future Visit to Rainy Mountain

"In this work, Larsen pays tribute to creative writing and theater by commemorating a visit to nearby Rainy Mountain during the Summer Arts Institute. The painting depicts acting instructors Jane Alexander and Ed Sherin, along with other faculty, staff and students, listening intently to poetry instructor N. Scott Momaday. A Pulitzer Prize winning Kiowa-Cherokee writer, Momaday wrote The Way to Rainy Mountain (1976), which details the history of the Kiowas, beginning in their ancestral Montana home and ending with their Great Plains resettlement near Rainy Mountain, located just east of Quartz Mountain."

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future in the Studio AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future Visit to Rainy Mountain

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future in the Studio AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Future Visit to Rainy Mountain