Remembrance + Renewal: Celebrating Ethiopian-Oklahoman Connections through Art
March 31 – April 1, 2026
Charles M. Russell Center for Art of the American West, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, Old Faculty Club, 409 W Boyd Street, Norman, OK, phone: (405) 325-5939 https://www.ou.edu/finearts/visual-arts/about/charles-m-russell-center
This the full event schedule. Sessions were recorded and links to the respective YouTube videos are embedded below.
MARCH 31
9am Coffee, breakfast, and registration
9:30am Welcome from Prof. Emily Burns, Prof. Bekele Mekonnen and Dr. Kate Cowcher
10am-12pm Panel One: Reflections on the life and times of Gebre Kristos Desta
Prof. Bekele Mekonnen (Director, Gebre Kristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa University)
Konjit Seyoum (Independent Curator) – Art, Space, and Legacy: Celebrating Gebre Kristos Desta
Wosene Worke Kosrof (Independent Artist) – Gash Gebre: My Mentor
Prof. Wendy Kindred (Professor Emerita, University of Maine at Fort Kent) – Revisiting Gebre Kristos
Chair: Dr. Kate Cowcher
12-1.30pm Lunch at the Russell Center
1:30-2:30pm Lecture
3pm Depart for OKC
Memorial activity at Fairlawn Cemetery followed by dinner catered by Queen of Sheba / hosted at Crown Heights Methodist Church, fellowship hall, 1021 NW 37th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73118
Poetry Recital
Community reflections on Gebre Kristos’ life
APRIL 1
9am Coffee, breakfast and registration
9:30am-11am Panel Two: Creative Legacies of Gebre Kristos Desta
Elizabeth Habte Wold (Independent Artist) – Image-Making in Time and Space: Leaving Something Behind
Prof. Kebedech Tekleab (Associate Professor of Art (Tenured), The City University of New York [CUNY] / Queensborough Community College) – Lyrical Articulation: Gebrekristos Desta as a Painter and a Poet
Dr Kate Cowcher (Lecturer, School of Art History, University of St Andrews) – In Search of the Addis Spring in Exile
Chair: Prof. Dan Mains (Professor of Anthropology and African Studies, University of Oklahoma)
11am-1pm Visit to the 3 OU exhibitions related to Ethiopia-Oklahoma exchange
Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, Making and Collecting: Ethiopian Material Culture in Oklahoma Collections, Mar 11-May 15, 2026
SoVA, Spotlight Gallery, The Long Pour: Coffee and Decades of Ethiopian-Oklahoma Connection, Mar 23–April 3, 2026
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Focus Gallery, Beyond the Sky: Ethiopian Artists in Oklahoma, Mar 27-Aug 15, 2026
Informal lunch at the Russell Center
1:30pm-3.15pm Panel Three: Oklahoma-Ethiopia Legacies
Eyakem Gulilat (Tulsa Artist Fellow and Independent Artist)
Dr Olivia Murphy (adjunct instructor, art history and women’s and gender studies departments, and research lead for the Black Artists of Oklahoma Project, University of Oklahoma) – Histories of Black Artists in Oklahoma
Prof. Jason Cytacki (Associate Professor of Painting, University of Oklahoma), and Prof. Bekele Mekonnen (Director, Gebre Kristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa University) – A Memorial Mural for Gebre Kristos Desta in Norman, Oklahoma
Prof. Emily Burns (Charles Marion Russell Memorial Chair and Associate Professor of Art History, University of Oklahoma) – Exhibiting Ethiopian-Oklahoman Histories
Chair: Prof. Robert Bailey (Interim Associate Director and Associate Professor of Art History, University of Oklahoma)
3:30pm-5pm Keynote Lecture
5:15pm – Closing reception at The Gebre Kristos Desta Mural, Porter and Main St., Norman, OK
Dinner at The Resonator Institute, 325 E Main St, Norman, OK 73069
Dinner funded by the Black Artists of Oklahoma Project at the University of Oklahoma, sponsored by the National Archives and the Mellon Foundation