There was no room to park.
I drove in circles through the Plaza District, feeling more like I’d fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole with each pass through the local art scene. A couch shaped like a frying pan displayed two oversized egg pillows, sunny-side up. Ballerinas pirouetted across 16th Street to draw visitors to their open house. There was even a group of mimes, whom I’d always believed to be urbanites, entertaining passersby.
They’re here every second Friday of the month. “LIVE! On the Plaza” brings together a cast of characters that stand out in a crowd by themselves. En masse, the neighborhood looks like a scene from Mardi Gras. Hairstyles in every shape and color wander around the art booths. Handmade clothes and accessories crafted from any number of household items, also in the most vibrant of shades, hit the senses like a peek into a kaleidoscope.
This month’s theme is a tribute to going green, but when I mention this to the event’s host, Stephanie Evans, she laughs. “R.O.A.R. [Reuse Oklahoma Arts Resource] artists have been teaching others to reuse materials for clothing long before going green became vogue,” she states firmly.
Before she rushes off to coordinate the recycle fashion show that will cap the evening, though, she does admit that the popularity of eco-consciousness has helped R.O.A.R. events grow and artists flourish. I press her for more details but am shooed away with the name of the event co-coordinator to hunt down in the sea of second-hand fashion.
Kelli Crocket surprises me. You’ll have to forgive me for stereotyping but I picture the small middle-aged woman with glasses at a blackboard, not spray-painting old shoes and handbags to give them a fresh metallic look. Out of everyone I’ve run into tonight, she is the most helpful. This probably has something to do with the fact that she isn’t partying with the other artists at the free bar across the room.
She studied fashion and graphic design in college but quickly found that she felt more at home digging through junk at estate sales and thrift stores. “It’s odd because my background is in fashion, which is all about the new, but I’m not big on fabric stores,” Crockett said. “Everything I do is recycled.”
Back outside, I take a closer look at the egg pillows and imagine the hernia I would give my ultra-conservative roommates if they were to mysteriously appear in the living room tomorrow. The thought makes me smile and attracts a flirtatious woman who offers to give me a discount for my number. I’m too surprised to tell her I have a boyfriend so I inquire after the artist instead.
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