Hugh Pickens recently added four paintings to the Northern Oklahoma College Pickens Learning Commons collection on the Tonkawa campus.
The art work is part of the Pickens Learning Commons in the Vineyard Library/Administration Building.
The new additions are the work of Yatika Starr Fields.
“I am grateful to Yatika Starr Fields for continuing to inspire young minds,” Pickens said. “I am pleased to have contributed to that goal.”
NOC President Diana Morris added, “I am so excited about the addition of Yatika’s paintings in the Pickens Learning Commons. Our Vision Statement at Northern says we will be a model institution and leader in academic quality and cultural enrichment. We remain grateful to Hugh Pickens for partnering with us to offer our students cultural enrichment opportunities.”
Yatika Starr Fields is an Osage Painter and Muralist.
According to Yatikafields.com and the Book, “Fluent Generations, The Art of Anita, Tom, and Yatika Fields” while attending the Art Institute of Boston from 2000 to 2004, Fields became interested in Graffiti aesthetics, which has been integral to his knowledge and process along with Landscape painting and continues to influence his large-scale and studio works. His compositions are often spontaneous and left open for interpretation so that multiple stories can be drawn from them. His kaleidoscopic imagery, with its dynamic pop, symbolism and culture aesthetic, reference both historical and contemporary themes- tied together with traditional affinity but provoked by general concerns of world differences. His canvasses and Murals are alive with movement and filled with images that rely on vibrant colors and swirling patterns to build narratives that carry the eye.
Four new pieces of art created by Yatika Starr Fields have added to the NOC Pickens Learning Commons at NOC Tonkawa. The pieces were commissioned by Hugh Pickens. Pictured (L-R): Sheri Snyder, NOC Vice President for Development and Community Relations, Hugh Pickens, NOC President Diana Morris.
Fields is from Oklahoma and currently living and working in Tulsa in conjunction with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Fields has spent the last decade on the East Coast, New York City and most recently Seattle where the energy of urban life inspires and feeds the creative force in his artwork. He seeks to influence his viewers to rethink and reshape their relationships to the world around them.
Three sets of murals, created by Fields, were dedicated at Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa’s Cultural Engagement Center in December of 2024, making a total of six murals in the Cultural Engagement Center and Pickens Learning Common at NOC Tonkawa.
The murals encompass over 5,000 square feet.
Fields was commissioned by Hugh Pickens to create the murals as part of the existing art collection in the Pickens Learning Commons in the Vineyard Library Administration Building.
Pickens also has art on display at the Pickens Museum in Ponca City and Woolaroc Museum in Bartlesville.
Northern Oklahoma College, the state’s first public two-year community college, is a multi-campus, land-grant institution that provides high quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities and services.
NOC serves nearly 3,100 students through the home campus in Tonkawa, branch in Enid, and NOC/OSU Gateway Program in Stillwater. Of these students about 80% receive financial aid and/or scholarships. 75% of NOC students complete their degree with zero debt.
The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers associate degrees in three general areas: Arts, Science and Applied Science; the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs; and the Accreditation Commission for Education and Nursing.
For more information about Northern Oklahoma College please call (580) 628-6208 or visit the NOC website at www.noc.edu.
