Recapping the 2019 Oklahoma Modernism Weekend
text and photos by Lynne Rostochil unless otherwise stated.
Well, the fourth annual Oklahoma Modernism Weekend (OMW) is in the history books! This year’s event was even bigger and better than in previous years, with more activities, the reissue of the Friday night party, even more Mod Swap vendors, and so many amazing helpers at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church who were on hand to assist us. Let’s not forget to mention that it was also so nice for everyone to have air conditioning and working bathrooms this year after the sweat fest at the Gold Dome in 2018.
Thank you all for supporting the weekend through your participation and attendance — we love you!
Let’s begin our recap with a few images of the vendors arriving on Friday to get set up for the Mod Swap — they brought some amazing goodies for us to drool over:
What lucky person got this beauty from Retrospectiv?
That aqua chair!
And all of that fun sparkle!
With the indoor vendors all set up, it was time to head over to the stunning Casa Opal for the Friday Night Patio Party … and what a party it was. I mean, how can you not be in a happy party mood when you’re in such an oasis of a backyard?
Let’s start with the food — there was a lot of it and it was all delicious!
No wonder my very furry son, Jack, wanted to stay there and hang out all evening:
Christy Duane, who worked with Terri at the bar all evening, grabbed this photo of Terri, Jack, and Melissa from the Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture giving the table one last look over:
The first party goers arrived and Melissa was on hand to greet each person:
Things really got swinging when Debbie Ellis (a.k.a. The Junk Fairy) got the ball rolling with the first round of the Flashback Fashion Show. I mean WOW!! The hair, the make-up, the fashion! It was complete vintage perfection:
Christy grabbed this photo of the fashion show while also serving up drinks:
She also got this one of the enraptured audience:
The party continued while the models got ready for Round 2 of the fashion show:
Azure and Tiffany sent us this fun shot from the party:
I don’t know how it’s possible, but Round 2 of the Flashback Fashion Show was even better than the first — love the psychedelics!
A-MAZ-ING!!
By this time, the feast was in full swing and lively conversation was happening everywhere:
During the break between the rounds, we held our first-ever Oklahoma Modernism Weekend raffle. The first winner received a shopping spree at RemodernOK and Bad Granny’s!
The second winner won a Pub Crawl package. A limo will pick up her and her pals and take them to The Pump, Ned’s Starlight Lounge, and Hacienda Tacos for food and beverages. Yum! (This photo from Azure and Tiffany):
The winner, Azure, is getting married soon so maybe she’ll use this prize to celebrate.
A huge thanks to all of the companies that donated gift certificates for our raffle!
Debbie definitely saved the most dramatic fashion for the last segment of the show, which was devoted to vintage loungewear and swimwear. Here’s one Azure got of my son Will in the skimpiest bathing suit ever. Obviously, he didn’t seem to mind showing off his abs one bit:
Here’s another one of him:
So many amazing loungy things:
Love this shot Melissa took of the best go-go ensemble of the evening:
Thank you so much to Debbie and everyone who participated in the Flashback Fashion Show this year: Diana Harris at Bad Granny’s, hair and make-up artists Carole Perry, Rose Swift, Kila Madison Owen, and Ashley Mann, photographers Jared Kinley and Ryan Humphrey (you’ll see some of their images in next week’s Mod Blog about the fashion show), and all of the charming models: Zhiane Dempsey & London, Iris Alexis Perry, Josie Pierseon, Brooke Taylor, Mandy Fleming, Ashlyn Rawls, Lindsay Yeager, Megan Carpenter, Meaghan Syrjälä, Aubrey Ariana Khalilian, Zella and Vivian Martin, Brayson, Will Hodges, Drew Cockrell, and Roger Resendiz. You guys are AMAZING and we adore you!!
Back at the party, the fun continued until sundown:
The next morning, it was St. Patrick’s turn to host all of the fun.
The outdoor Mod Swap vendors had just two hours to set up — the calm before the storm:
Terri and Lisa enjoyed a moment of quiet before the chaos began:
And our helpful concierges, Bren and Jennifer, were all ready to go when the doors opened at 8:00 a.m.:
Let the shopping begin!
Although it was small this year, the Wheel-o-Rama attracted some pretty spectacular rides:
That Sunliner!
With all of the browsing and presentations/panel discussions, we definitely needed Junction Coffee on hand to serve up their magical brew. I’m happy to say that they’ve been with OMW since the beginning and we love them dearly:
This year, we added quite a few presentations/workshops/panel discussions to our Calendar of Events, and I’m thrilled to say that all of them were very well attended:
Speaking of panel discussions, we got started early with a fascinating discussion about preservation in Oklahoma featuring historic property developer Marva Ellard, Katie Friddle an historic preservation officer with the OKC Planning Department, Amanda DeCort with the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, and Cayla Lewis with Preservation Oklahoma:
This panel discussion was followed by one about remodeling mid-century modern homes. We invited interior designer Dustin Dorr, local contractor and builder Gary J. Randolph, architect Ken Fitszimmons of Task Design, landscape architect Brent Wall of LAUD to chat with people about their experiences with modern design:
These were followed by OU professor, Stephanie Pilat’s presentation about the OU School of Architecture’s American School program. We featured this presentation last year, also, and it was so popular that we thought a second year of having the presentation would be a good idea and it sure was! For the second year, we another standing-room-only crowd for the presentation. Another presentation that was very popular was Austin Hacker and Bryan Bloom’s talk about Herb Greene’s Prairie House in Norman and their plans to work with OU to restore it. While that was going on, Lisa Allen with Hideout Art was next door teaching people all about trowel art painting. The participants had a great time and went home with some very impressive pieces of modern art (photo courtesy of Ann Solinski):
While all of that was going on, the shopping at the Mod Swap continued unabated — Melissa snapped these photos of the fun:
And Mike Ford took this one of a girl who fit right in at the Swap:
One of my favorite events of the day was the St. Patrick’s presentation and tour. Although the church has been around since 1962, very few people know that we have such an incredible architectural marvel right here in the heart of OKC, so I’m always thrilled to tell people the history of the church, which was largely built by the congregation, and let them walk through the doors and hear their gasps of delight when they see it for the first time. Here, everyone looks like they’re ready for me to get finished so they can go check out the church for themselves, and I don’t blame them:
And here we are inside. Church secretary Ann Allen and parishioner Nancy Parker chat a little about all of the symbolism in the sanctuary:
And then we were free to meander and gawk:
I adore this shot by Jeanne Lowrey:
And these by Eric Lehnert:
Even while we had a great crowd on the tour, the shopping at the Mod Swap was still going on:
All of this shopping can really make a person hungry, so the kids of St. Patrick’s seized the opportunity to sell all kinds of food, including homemade tamales that rivaled any restaurant anywhere:
More shopping, shopping, shopping:
Our last workshop of the day was an upholstery demonstration by Brook Stroud of OKC Vintage Upholstery that was VERY popular:
By the end of the day, people were pretty well pooped but not this little cowboy:
For an evening event, we invited people to drive to Norman to check out the Prairie House in person. There was great food and drink, and musician Adam Ledbetter was on hand livening up the place with his magical piano work:
I can’t imagine a better setting in which to tour the completely unique home, which reveals itself in a myriad of ways with the changing positioning and light of the sun:
Great times with great friends:
And that’s it for this week’s Mod Blog recapping the Oklahoma Modernism Weekend. Next week, we’ll feature more of the Flashback Fashion Show with photos by Jared Kinley and Ryan Humphrey, and then we will cover the most amazing Mod Home Tour yet in the following Mod Blog. In other words, there’s a lot more OMW to come!
A huge thank you goes to:
The movers Nick, Nathaniel, Jack, and Will, who were on hand Friday to help move the Mod Swap vendors
Margaretta and Leonardo Baez for hosting the Friday Night Patio Party
Christy Duane and Jack Hodges for working so hard before, during, and after the party
DJ John Mooneyham for spinning all of the fun music that made the gathering so hoppin’
The raffle sponsors:
The Pump
Ned’s Starlight Lounge
Hacienda Tacos
Kings Worldwide Transportation (for the limo)
Bad Granny’s
ReModernOK
Debbie Ellis and all of her gang for putting on one heck of a show
The staff and members of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church for being so easy to work with and so incredibly helpful and friendly. We love them!
All of the people who gave their time to be on our panels or who were presenters and demonstrators
Junction Coffee for keeping us very happy with all of the caffeine they provided
Austin Hacker and Bryan Bloom for opening up the Prairie House to us Saturday evening
FiveNine for creating amazing t-shirts for us every year — they are the best!
Our OMW sponsors, who make everything possible:
Okie Express Auto Wash – Choctaw
Gentry Service Heat & Air
Fitzsimmons Architects
American Leak Detection
the Deatsch family
Funky Shway
RemodernOK
Midtown Vets
Preservation Oklahoma
The Mod Swap vendors:
RemodernOK
Retrospectiv
Mid Century Mafia
Atomic Home Supply
Kenny Blackketter
Hansel Brown
RetrOKC
Space 20th Century Modern
Full Circle Books
Renee Curry
Dustin Dorr
Mike Ford
Michael Hopkins
Tiffany Howl
Josh Hubbard
Tamara Jones
Stephanie LaFevers
Orange Rex
Fran Porter
Ben Pren
Brandon Roper
Andrew Taylor
Jim Weinland
Our planning committee, all of whom worked tirelessly to pull of the weekend:
Terri Sadler
Joe Jeldy
Melissa Hunt
Jim Jordan
Jennifer Hopkins
Bren Johnston
Debbie Ellis
Everyone who came out to enjoy the fun at OMW. We couldn’t do it without you, friends!