I'm delighted to announce our upcoming exhibition, Visions of Time & Transformation, featuring works by photographer Don Thompson.
I've admired Don's work for years and am thrilled to present the first major survey of his work at the gallery. Spanning nearly six decades, from 1968 to the present day, this exhibition brings together photographs that reveal the remarkable breadth of Thompson's vision and the enduring curiosity that has guided his career.
With very few exceptions, the photographs in this exhibition were made in and around Tulsa. Over the course of his career, Thompson has returned again and again to the people, neighborhoods, landscapes, and everyday moments that make up this place, creating a body of work that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. Rather than remaining tied to a single subject or style, he has continually explored new ways of seeing and responding to the world around him.
The exhibition includes portraits and documentary photographs made throughout Tulsa and the Greenwood District, images that reflect Thompson's gift for observing people with empathy, patience, and genuine curiosity. These photographs feel less like observations from a distance and more like the result of conversations, relationships, and years of engagement with the communities around him.
The exhibition also includes selections from Thompson's Polaroid Manipulations, a body of work that pushes photography beyond straightforward documentation. Through intervention and experimentation, these pieces transform familiar images into something more painterly, dreamlike, and open to interpretation.
For the first time, Thompson's most recent photographs will also be exhibited publicly. Marking a return to the documentary approach that defined much of his early work, these images revisit familiar Tulsa streets, neighborhoods, and landscapes through the eyes of an artist shaped by nearly six decades of looking. Together, they create a meaningful dialogue between past and present, revealing both how the city has changed and how Thompson's vision continues to evolve.
A special section of the exhibition is devoted to Thompson's Flora still lifes. Here, the camera replaces the lens of the human eye, allowing nature to take control of the image. The resulting works reveal flowers and plant forms in ways that feel unexpected and almost otherworldly, inviting viewers to encounter familiar subjects as if seeing them for the first time.
What connects all of these works is Thompson's enduring interest in transformation—how people, places, and even photographs themselves change over time.
Please join us for the opening reception with the artist on Saturday, July 18, from 5–7 PM. We look forward to sharing this remarkable exhibition with you.