Positive Space Tulsa

NEWS! PS Studio Artist Cassidy Frye earns Best in Show of FIBERWORKS2026 at 108|Contemporary! Congrats!

“Better Half”
by Cassidy Frye
Acrylic yarn tufted rug + wood
60 in × 48 in × 48 in
$9,000

“’Better Half’ is a recreation of an abandoned house in West Philadelphia. A former row home that is now missing its other half. When the houses are left to stand alone they become weaker. We are similar in a way as we are much stronger with our communities and support from others.” - Cassidy Frye

View Cassidy’s work through July 25, 2026. Photo credit: 108|Contemporary

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for the opening of “okay love letters,” by erin rappleye! The exhibit continues through June 27. Discover through erin’s work, your own experiences of a missed love connection, relationship misunderstanding, or tired attempts at interaction.

“okay love letters”
by erin rappleye
THRU Saturday, June 27

PLUS: Side Quests + Shenanigans Gallery Edition: “okay love letters”
with Jes McCutchen + Josh Wann + Exhibit Artist erin rappleye
Get into your feelings and workshop a poem based on the exhibition, plus a short talk by the artist, erin rappleye
5-7pm, Saturday, June 27
FREE + All Ages + No Experience Needed

Gallery hours:
TH 6-8PM
FR 5-8PM
SA 12-5PM
+ BY APPT

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa�[email protected]

OPENING 5-8PM, THIS FRI, JUNE 12: “okay love letters,” by erin rappleye.

MEET THE ARTIST: erin rappleye (she/her/hers) is an artist working in small metals/art jewelry and sculpture. She earned an MFA in Jewelry + Metal Arts with Distinction in 2015 from the University of Iowa. In 2019, she co-curated an international contemporary art jewelry exhibition for 108|Contemporary in Tulsa, OK, called “Building on the Body.” Erin is an Assistant Professor of Art at Tulsa Community College. She has exhibited her artwork nationally and maintains a studio practice at Positive Space Tulsa.

“okay love letters”
by erin rappleye
OPENING 5-8pm, Friday, June 12, 2026
THRU Saturday, June 27

Gallery hours:
TH 6-8PM
FR 5-8PM
SA 12-5PM
+ BY APPT

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa�[email protected]

THANK YOU Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson, for sharing your beautiful music and poetry with us on Friday! We will gladly host you again in the future - what a wonderful evening! THANK YOU to all who joined us for this lovely duo’s performances. Stay tuned for future concerts, readings, and more!

UP NEXT: “okay love letters,” by erin rappleye, opening THIS FRIDAY 5-8PM! Rappleye uses jewelry and sculpture as a mediator to explore relationships, gender, behavior, and sexuality. She is particularly interested in moments of cringe, failure, and misunderstanding to find humor and growth in the search for lasting connection.

“okay love letters”
by erin rappleye
OPENING 5-8pm, Friday, June 12, 2026
THRU Saturday, June 27

Gallery hours:
TH 6-8PM
FR 5-8PM
SA 12-5PM
+ BY APPT

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa�[email protected]

Celebrating Four Mothers Collective and their traveling exhibition “Ripple in Traditions,” curated by Carly Treece, Rae Riggs, and Brittany Bendabout! The exhibition just completed its first stop in Wichita at the Mid-America All-Indian Museum! Next stop: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM. Congratulations!

“‘Ripple in Traditions’ is a traveling art exhibition featuring BIPOC women and two-spirit artists who interpret how traditions evolve over time. The show explores generational stories and cultural practices. It was first presented at Positive Space Tulsa in November 2024, and included diverse mediums like film, paintings, digital art, ceramics, and jewelry.” - Mid-America All-Indian Museum

“The various cultures represented in the exhibition have undoubtedly been forced to move through land - been forced to re-member themselves. Yet, if ‘Ripple in Traditions’ is any indication, they have not only moved through very good hands but remain in them.” - Jeromiah Taylor, The Shout Wichita

Images 3 and 4: “Ripple in Traditions,” November 2024, Positive Space Tulsa

Follow Four Mothers Collective to learn more!

NEWS! Local Artist erin rappleye’s Solo Exhibit “okay love letters” Opens Friday, June 12 at Positive Space

“okay love letters” is an ongoing series inspired by the struggle to kindle lasting connections from pixelated sparks on the digital marketplace of love. Repeated repackaging of oneself into six photos, stats, and a series of ice breaker questions becomes a tired ritual where personal identity and physical appearance fall victim to lossy compression. This is compounded by a funhouse mirror of beauty standards and gendered expectations reinforced by algorithms and the occasional IRL interaction.

Rappleye uses jewelry and sculpture as a mediator to explore relationships, gender, behavior, and sexuality. She is particularly interested in moments of cringe, failure, and misunderstanding to find humor and growth in the search for lasting connection.

About the Artist: erin rappleye (she/her/hers) is an artist working in small metals/art jewelry and sculpture. She earned an MFA in Jewelry + Metal Arts with Distinction in 2015 from the University of Iowa. In 2019, she co-curated an international contemporary art jewelry exhibition for 108|Contemporary in Tulsa, OK, called Building on the Body. Erin is an Assistant Professor of Art at Tulsa Community College. She has exhibited her artwork nationally and maintains a studio practice at Positive Space Tulsa.

“okay love letters”
by erin rappleye
OPENING 5-8pm, Friday, June 12, 2026
THRU Saturday, June 27

Gallery hours:
TH 6-8PM
FR 5-8PM
SA 12-5PM
+ BY APPT

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa, [email protected]

Open Call for Artists!!

Brave: The Strength of Soft Masculinity
Presented by Four Mothers Collective

We are now accepting submissions for our 2026 annual exhibition, curated by Hank Cooper (Cherokee Nation).

This year’s exhibition explores soft masculinity through Indigenous perspectives. In a time shaped by patriarchal power and violence, this show asks how masculinity can be redefined through the lens of Tribal and matrilineal communities.

We are looking for work that challenges dominant ideas of masculinity and centers vulnerability, emotion, care, role sharing, q***rness, and connection to community. In many Southeastern Tribal Nations, masculinity is grounded in responsibility to serve and support others. This exhibition creates space for those understandings to be seen and shared.

Open to Indigenous women and q***r Indigenous / Two-Spirit artists living in Oklahoma
All mediums welcome
All experience levels welcome

Location: Positive Space Gallery
Dates: November–December 2026
Opening: TBA

Deadline to submit: June 18th, 2026
Apply here or at link in bio: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1bE-I7H-mbKKHKsfNvSUcqmTpzzSaBc8AWDO2vaeSqvLRIQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=117476044268456848136
(Make sure you are signed in to your google account for link to work)
Message us with any questions!

THIS FRIDAY 5-7PM! Join us for an evening of music and poetry: "In the Folk Tradition" will feature musician Anna La Mare and poet Quinn Carver Johnson. Tickets at the door or in advance: https://tinyurl.com/3bwy488r

ABOUT QUINN CARVER JOHNSON: Quinn Carver Johnson (they/them) is a poet, printmaker, and collage artist from Tulsa, OK. They are the author of "The Perfect Bastard" (Curbstone Books, 2023), winner of the 2024 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Poetry. Their work has also appeared in "World Literature Today," "Rappahannock Review," "Right Hand Pointing," "Cimarron Review," "Red Earth Review," and elsewhere, and was featured on "The Slowdown" podcast hosted by Major Jackson.

Quinn's poetry draws from the labor-driven American folk tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and political poets like Carl Sandburg, Diane di Prima, and Etheridge Knight. Their poetry is rooted in the Kansas plains, the Oklahoma hills, and the Arkansas mountains. Their debut book, "The Perfect Bastard," tackles issues of gender, sexuality, and class against the grit and colorful backdrops of professional wrestling and Middle America.

"In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry with Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson"
5-7pm, Friday, June 5, 2026
Tickets: $10 at the door or in advance: https://tinyurl.com/3bwy488r
Limited seating

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa�[email protected]

THIS FRIDAY 5-7PM! Join us for an evening of music and poetry: "In the Folk Tradition" will feature musician Anna La Mare and poet Quinn Carver Johnson. Tickets at the door or in advance: https://tinyurl.com/3bwy488r

ABOUT ANNA LA MARE: Singer-songwriter Anna La Mare has been described as “emotional honey,” “folky Florence and the Machine,” “indie Joan Baez” and “a soul-driven embodiment of Joni Mitchell.” Her haunting folk Americana, touched by Celtic, Appalachian, and jazz influences, is as vulnerable as it is brave, offering you a home within her stormy and poetic soundscape. With her ghostly, road-worn, and soulful voice, La Mare (Lah MAH-ray) sings the stories she's picked up in her travels, enlivening the wanderer in every listener.

Anna La Mare arrived at folk music from a different direction but with the same conviction. A Third Culture Kid who grew up between Paris, London, Rome, New Orleans, and North Carolina, she approaches her music just like her influences: lyrics first, with everything else in service of the feeling those words demand. Anna's debut single, “Jonna (Find Yourself a Man),” released May 12, 2026, is a Southern Gothic story told from the point of view of an exiled gay woman, the judgmental world’s verdict echoing underneath her story like a bad choir.

Image 1: Credit Geoff Moore

Image 2 and 3: Anna La Mare Credit Ricky Garni

"In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry with Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson"
5-7pm, Friday, June 5, 2026
Tickets: $10 at the door or in advance - https://tinyurl.com/3bwy488r
Limited seating

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa�[email protected]