Artistic Landscape Intermingling: The Intonations Of Middle Oklahoma - Feature

The sweeping plains and long sloping hills in Oklahoma usually bring to mind rumbling storms and flying houses seen floating to distant lands. Interspersing notions of art within the structure doesn't usually intonate the first thoughts. However as certain artistic visions, both in cinema and architecture, continue to flourish, the inspiration of middle America holds true buoyed in section with its hearty cuisine.Bartlesville seems inevitably off the beaten path. While the nearby Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is undeniably the great open space where buffaloes roam and stop to look at the gigantic vehicle that has invaded their territory, this landscape speaks to the art based fuel that inspired frontier explorers to capture the landscape in their own ways.Most recently, Terrence Malick, known for capturing both humanistic and esoteric perceptions of frontier perspectives whether they be in Guadacanal in "Thin Red Line" or in the heart of Texas in "Tree Of Life", shot his new movie "Argo" [working title] quietly in this quaint town located about two hours outside Oklahoma City. The film which stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Jessica Chastain shot heavily throughout the town allowing the stars to interact with many of the local people.One of the locations they used, primarily the tier with the Copper Bar Room inside, is the Price Tower, which was the only skyscraper ever build by Frank Lloyd Wright. Originally set to be constructed in NY, transforming it to the middle of Oklahoma is a stark change but undeniably interested.Built-in functionality as a multi-use building, the rooms were constructed both as apartments and as offices depending on what side Wright selected. The use of triangles and green interspersed throughout the building give it an eccentric feel which entangles itself both in the design of the rooms and especially of the top floor office that screams with unfettered attention to the rage of fashion that inspired "Mad Men".Another spot that both Affleck and wife Jen Garner as well as McAdams and current beau Michael Sheen visited while in Bartlesville was the Woolaroc Ranch. The destination also houses its namesake museum  which contains a cross-section of artists ranging from Navajo to Western Impressionism with textures such as the sculpture of "Sugar For The Trail" [Joe Beeler] to the dark plain darkness of "West Wind" [Wilson Hurley] to the original version on which the Lincoln Memorial was based made by Daniel Cheater French. The overlooking tenderness of the land through a beautiful panoramic view lends itself to the luscious chicken fried steak which intonates with such a staple in this local gem.Within the ideas of town, interesting spots pop up with Dinks BBQ definitely a grand spot with stringy onion fries served with an alioi sauce that simply rocks out to the max while a half loin rack of ribs sauteed with a sweet sauce perfectly compliments the vinegar enriched cole slaw that paints the way to dreamland.Not to be undone, near the Price Tower, the Solo Club rings late in a town that retires early in many ways. Originally a members club for the nearby airport where old school fliers back in the 30s and 40s earned their wings, the airplane lore still hangs levitated on the walls as the Shock Top flows with pint eccentricities to the witching hour.Just across part of the plain lies Marland Mansion which brings to mind the infinite structure of 1900-era oil baron power. Originally built to emulate a palace of the West in comparing the intrinisic economic bluster of a 150-million-dollar fortune built by crude, the story of this eccentric personality gusto is matched only by its intrinsic soap opera stylings. After traveling the world, Mr. Marland constructed the palace as an ode to his first wife who never lived to see its completion. Once it was done, he only lived in it for two years.Adding technicalities to bluster, he and his first wife could not have any children so they adopted through her sister's kids. With the kind of money that warps minds, these children were brought into this lush life of privledge. However, with a kind of irony that usually only populates Hollywood, he lost nearly everything in the crash of 1929 (like he had once lost real estate fortunes in 1907) which is no small part was unhinged by JP Morgan who held a sense of vendetta against him and vice versa.Around this time, a romance had bloomed between Marland and his adopted daughter Lide which resulted in the annulment of that legal tender and the establishment of another one in marriage. Marland succeeded in becoming a Congressman if only to annoy JP Morgan before returning to Oklahoma to become governor with his new daughter-cum-wife as his first lady. Undeniably enough both he and his adopted son did not die too far apart.Parties were had as the undeniable underground corridors show (as the real party occurred during Prohibition with secret whiskey rooms behind safe controlled doors, poker dens, secret passageways and lakefront interludes.Despite this wonderment, Marland, close to his death, had to sell the Mansion to provide for his young wife, now 40, because he was nearly broke. While he built the home for close to five million dollars, he sold it in 1940 for barely $60000 to a group of monks under the condition that his wife be allowed to stay on the cottage at the edge of the property. The monks didn't want much of the priceless art since it was not "Catholic" so the pieces ended up being moved to Lide's garage where it stayed for years. A few years after, the mansion was sold to an order of nuns by the monks. Lide and Mother Superior didn't get along. At one point in the middle of the night, Lide took off in her Studebaker with some of the priceless art. She eventually started having Christie's sell them off but she literally stayed on the road for 25 years living off the selling of the art (and probably sneaking back into the house on occasion in the middle of the night). The only reason they knew that she was not dead or kidnapped is that she payed the property taxes every year with cash.When the mansion was eventually bought by the city, she eventually returned but kept her adventures to herself, forever lost among the Zietgeist.Swinging through the spectrum, Tulsa, another two hours roundabout further north in the state, swirls with hidden possibilities to be uncovered as the life continues.The Boston Avenue Church swirls in the notion of art simply in its architecture, both Art Deco and Gothic in its notions of structure. Designed by a 40-year-old woman in 1920s, the use of circled arches and interrelation of the color mauve indicates a notion of lightness almost with a sense of foreboding.The Gilcrease, relegated through an interlying idea of Venetian Gardens, lingers in notions of stillness reflected more in the intonations of its lithe sculptures presented in the libations of "The Three Graces" swirling through a vivified dance nymph scenario progressed in "Joy Of The Water" [Harriet Whitney Frishmuth/1917].The Philbrook, located nearby, relished more in the painted irony of danger versus the idea of redemption. In terms of Native American reflection, "The Sorcerer" [H.F. Farny] underlies the little seen mysticism reflected through a colonist's eyes while "The Night Rider" [Frederick Remington] captures a balance of night in portrait that is uncannily genuine.While the music district remained largely unexplored, the Back Alley BBQ lingered in though with a down home structured begun with a chocolate essence of the Left Hand Stout with predicated bacon-wrapped artichoke and a luscious helping of potatoes skins.The multi-pronged main course balance with meat and two sides realized that the necessity need not lie in overwhelming portions but in the texture of the taste as notably exercised in the beer chicken with had the right amount of spice to mix with the sauce while the sides of mac n' cheese and an iceberg slice covered in ranch, bacon and bbq sauce lit the motivations with a sense of doing.Returning through Oklahoma City through the ideas of history, one cannot help but mention the architectural mirror that reflects from a period of national mourning that pre-dated the 9/11 Attacks which was the bombing of the Federal Building itself.Fifteen years later, the site of the tragedy is now reflected in chairs and pools of contrition and prayer that pepper the site that once housed the charred shell ironically while the Berson Tower, soon to be one of the tallest skyscrapers in the Midwest towers above, its superstructure built to withstand 600 miles an hour of tornado force.By consideration, Norman, an hour and a half out by car, houses the National Weather Center which provides warnings of impending tornadoes interrelated in the campus of the University Of Oklahoma.Situated in simply trajectory is the Fred Jones Museum, which again provides a different perspective of the perception of art ranging from the simplicity of "Early Morning On The Oize" [Daniel Knight/1913] to the abstract fundamentalism of "The Medusa" [Charles Howard/1945].Nearby, in the center of campus, Blackbird provides a brief respice with straight lines determining a sense of stability through undeniable draw of its wild mushroom and fontina burger with a lemon alioli that strikes with a bit of pinache.Oklahoma, in the simple progression, from its namesake city outwards, relies in a notion that art flows everywhere and stories rise with a necessity of living that reflects a bevy of history interacting with the modern to both understand and preserve.