Oklahoma
Cherokee artist Mendoza’s first Oklahoma solo exhibition opens at OSU’s Gardiner Gallery of Art – Oklahoma State University
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu
An exhibition of works by Kansas-born Cherokee artist Hattie Lee Mendoza opened at
the Gardiner Gallery of Art in the Bartlett Center on Oklahoma State University’s Stillwater campus on Tuesday,
Jan. 16.
“Hattie Lee Mendoza: Gathering Joy” is the first solo exhibition in Oklahoma for the
Illinois-based artist. It features roughly 100 artworks across a variety of media,
including drawings, prints, sculptures and paintings, using techniques such as weaving,
quilting, etching, appliqué and beadwork.
As a part of the Cherokee Nation diaspora — in addition to her Swiss-German, Scotch-Irish
and other ancestry — Mendoza investigates through her body of work how culture and
tradition is often diluted due to history and cultural climates or locations, and
how they can be relearned and revalued. This results in a broad array of works that
blend vibrant abstracted patterns, personal imagery, traditional craft techniques
and cultural symbolism into a collaged and layered expression of joy.
“Visitors to the Gardiner Gallery will experience the spiraling nature of Mendoza’s
work, which covers the walls and, even in some cases, the floor of the gallery in
visual and thematic echoes of one another,” reviewer Emily Christensen wrote in Art Focus Magazine’s winter 2024 issue.
Although Mendoza has never lived in Oklahoma, this is a homecoming of sorts for her;
Mendoza’s grandmother was born and raised in White Oak, Oklahoma, and much of her
art is inspired by her grandmother’s legacy. This includes Mendoza’s “Intertwined
(Wedding Quilt)” and “Dickies (Grandmother’s Tribute Series),” the latter comprised
of a set of her grandmother’s dickies — or detachable shirt-front inserts — decorated
to represent different things that her grandmother loved.
“In the two generations between us, it wasn’t emphasized,” Mendoza told Art Focus
Magazine. “It was, ‘Oh, we’re Cherokee, and grandma’s very proud of being Cherokee,’
and that’s kind of where it was left. I always grew up interested in my Native heritage,
but I wasn’t in a position to know what to do about it.”
Solidifying her ties to her Cherokee heritage, Mendoza won first place in the Emerging
Artist category at the 51st Annual Trail of Tears Art Show and Sale in Tahlequah,
Oklahoma, for her gouache and watercolor work “Winter Has Passed,” which is featured
in the Gardiner Gallery exhibition. In 2023, Mendoza also won first place in the Contemporary
Basketry category at the 28th annual Cherokee Homecoming Show. Mendoza has consistently
shown her work across the U.S. over the past five years and was recently included
in the inaugural exhibition “Native Futures” at the Center for Native Futures in Chicago.
“Hattie Lee Mendoza: Gathering Joy” is on view through Friday, Feb. 16, and is free
to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A closing
reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, with an artist talk
at 6 p.m. Mendoza will also be offering an artist workshop to OSU art students at
Prairie Arts Center as part of her visit.
This Gardiner Gallery of Art special exhibition is sponsored by OSU Student Fees,
OSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Oklahoma Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Story By:
Lindsay Aveilhe, Gardiner Gallery Director | lindsay.aveilhe@okstate.edu
Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Hometown/High School: Washington, OK (Washington H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★★ (92 Rivals — No. 123 player overall)
Notable Offers: Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Utah
Not very often Penn State goes into Oklahoma and gets a prospect, let alone one that is a four-star that the Sooners very much wanted. Fortunately for Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions here, the familial relationship paid off, as Case’s brother, Cooper, is a rising redshirt sophomore tight end at Penn State. Doesn’t take a lot of dot connecting to imagine how much that played a part in Case deciding on the Nittany Lions. Still, given the ebbs and flows of the recruiting cycle, not sure you can take any recruitment for granted. So despite the connections Penn State had here, getting a top 10 kid from Oklahoma that the Sooners wanted is a big victory for the new staff in recruiting cycle #1.
Beyond on who his brother is, there’s a reason Case was maybe *the* top linebacker target for Penn State this cycle. This kid is an absolute beast. Tremendous linebacker frame at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds that will allow him to play up to 240 pounds easy, Alexander is what you think of when you imagine the modern day middle linebacker. He has the speed and fluidity to drop back into coverage, but has the physicality and bruteness to win in tight. The first play on his highlight film is his giving a Spinebuster to a poor opponent that rivals that of Arn Anderson’s Spinebuster on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 18.
Kamden Mantooth caps wild week by leading Mustang to 6A baseball title
It was a wild week for Kamden Mantooth, who helped Mustang beat Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 for the 6A baseball title. After being forced to sit in the semifinals due to an ejection in the quarterfinals, he pitched 5 2/3 innings Saturday.
Joe Patterson was hoping it would be different this time.
The Mustang baseball coach is no stranger to state championship games.
But as Mustang headed into its Class 6A title matchup against Edmond Santa Fe in May, a state championship victory remained a goal that hadn’t been fulfilled for Patterson as a player or head coach.
“That was all together — playing and coaching — my (sixth) state championship game, and I was 0-5,” Patterson said.
Patterson can now revise that record to 1-5 as the Broncos beat defending champion Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
An unforgettable day for Patterson.
An unforgettable season.
After leading Mustang to its third title and a 39-6 record while playing a brutally difficult schedule, Patterson is The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year.
“It was one of those years where it felt like I wasn’t working the whole year,” Patterson said. “Just a special group and everybody involved did such an amazing job and the players got along and the senior leadership was just unbelievable.”
A year after going 19-16 and falling at regionals, this season was vastly different for Patterson as Mustang dominated from beginning to end.
The Broncos won 11 of their first 12 games and ended the season the exact same way, claiming victories in 11 of their last 12 matchups.
They thrived in tight games, going 12-3 in matchups decided by two or fewer runs.
“We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Patterson said. “We didn’t have as great a season as we wanted, so we talked about trying to change the team morale and change the culture just a little bit in the fall, and we really focused on that. Just trying to make the place a more positive place for the kids and emphasize them having a little bit more fun but still working.”
Born and raised in Duncan, Patterson’s love of baseball and sports in general go back to those days.
His dad, Bill, was Duncan’s head football coach from 1997-2003 before accepting an assistant position at Owasso and serving as the Rams’ head coach from 2007-2016.
A standout in football and baseball in high school, Joe Patterson was at Duncan as a freshman and sophomore before spending his final two years at Owasso and then playing college baseball from 2007-2010. He went to Oral Roberts for one year, Seminole State for a season and Texas A&M for his final two.
Patterson was named the national junior college player of the year at Seminole State and had a successful stint at Texas A&M, hitting .362 with 21 homers and 100 RBIs with the Aggies.
He’s been at Mustang since the summer of 2019 after coaching at Westmoore.
Former OU shortstop Brandon Zaragoza played for Patterson during his senior year at Westmoore and was a Mustang assistant for the last four seasons before recently being named Westmoore’s new head coach.
Patterson has had a huge impact on Zaragoza, who will take what he’s learned from his former coach into his new gig.
“He just brought pure joy to the game for me, especially with just his ability to, one, obviously coach the game, but two, to allow his players to go out there and perform,” Zaragoza said. “The coolest thing about Pat was his ability to just pick up on player knowledge. Just kind of knowing what he has in terms of personnel and then of course his ability to just game plan, strategize, just get his guys ready to play.”
Patterson always wanted to coach at a one-high school town like Mustang.
He has his wish now, and Zaragoza says it’s a well-oiled machine.
“That’s kind of how I describe it a lot to people,” Zaragoza said. “Just a well-oiled machine in terms of just the coaches that are over there and the attention to detail and the preparation. There’s no loose ends at Mustang. And given how big the school is, you can always get kind of lost in personnel or all that stuff, but just the way that Mustang operates, it’s top tier.”
Mustang didn’t necessarily have big names this season like some teams in the state, but the Broncos had several guys who shined.
Outfielder and Northern Oklahoma College-Enid signee Nate Sutton hit .449 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs.
Fellow senior Kamden Mantooth was second on the team with a .442 batting average. A shortstop, Mantooth started at pitcher in the title game and held Edmond Santa Fe to eight hits and four runs — three earned — over 5 2/3 innings.
“It means everything for us,” Mantooth said after the championship win. “We’ve been working for this since we were in seventh grade. We’ve been working for this, and we finally achieved our goal that we wanted.”
For Patterson, it’ll forever be a special moment as he had his 6-year-old son with him in the dugout and his dad watching from the stands.
Patterson had lost two title games as a player at Owasso and three as a head coach — two at Westmoore and one at Mustang.
The outcome was different this time, and it was well worth the wait.
“It was just a feeling of relief and happiness,” Patterson said.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Crews responded to a fireworks stand after it caught fire in Broken Arrow Saturday night.
Authorities urged people to avoid E. Kanosha Street near S. 236th E. Avenue as the road is closed and fireworks could spread in the area due to the fire.
Broken Arrow Fire Department released a statement confirming no injuries were sustained as a result of the explosions or fire.
Fire crews quickly controlled the fire in about 20 minutes according to Broken Arrow Fire Department.
The initial cause of the fire is under investigation.
Viewer Leslie Maxey, who lives close to the fireworks stand, sent in video of the ongoing fire.
“We were putting our daughter to bed with a book when we heard an explosion that was gradually getting louder and louder,” Maxey said.
This is a developing story.
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