One year ago, our beloved Harold Stevenson (March 11, 1929 – October 21, 2018) joined the beautiful boys of his past.
Harold Stevenson is an artist who wielded the paint brush, the spray can, and the canvas as his voice for social commentary. That legacy lives on. Harold left us with images of friendship and caring and love. I will always miss him. I will miss what he stood for. Harold stood up. He was reared (never raised – like livestock) in the south and what was the Indian Territory, the Choctaw Nation. It would have been easy for Harold to perpetuate discrimination. Influenced by his grandfather, Dove Stevenson, Harold chose to follow in his footsteps, leading by example. Harold chose to fight racism, ageism, sexism and elitism. Society was not always ready for his message which might contain an “unbounded ocean of flesh.” Our tribute to Harold is to keep sending his messages as big as The New Adam.
And I cling to you, and you cling to me,
Charles Henri Ford
Said the fig, said the olive, said the grape, said she.
Harold graduated high school in 1947. He was a young and beautiful boy. He read the poems of Charles Henri Ford and inspired the poet Tom Jones who penned “Alexandrian Dialogue: The Death of Lightning Billy.”
Death is too small for you. The world is too small for you.
Tom Jones, Yale Review
We will see you on the other side, Harold, where ever that is.
Exhibition Schedule
The Great Society, through December 29, 2019 at Fred Jones, Jr., Norman OK.
Art in Community, March 10 – June 7, 2020 at Museum of the Red River, Idabel OK.