“I Know Someone Wonderful”
Featuring artists Aaron Jones and Kristi Williams. Curated by Lindsay Aveilhé.
Courtesy of Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
Overview
“I Know Someone Wonderful”
June 17 - November 1, 2027Mary LeFlore Clements Oklahoma Gallery
Admission is always free; tickets are not required
“I Know Someone Wonderful” is a series of suspended, bell-like domes that represent interior phenomenologies from Vernon AME Church—located in Tulsa’s Greenwood District. These little architectures explore overlaps in storytelling, faux-finishing, and experimental printmaking techniques, and incorporate looping archival audio from the church. These domes become an intimate and immersive performance venue, a portal through which attendees can come to a deeper understanding and engagement with Vernon’s important history.
Historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1905, and the basement of the current edifice was built in 1919. During the worst race massacre in American history, the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, the superstructure, parsonage, and sanctuary still under construction were destroyed, but the basement remained as a symbol of God's persevering power. The congregation completed the current sanctuary in 1925. Today, Vernon AME Church stands as the only surviving Black-owned structure that remains intact from the era of Historic Black Wall Street.
Vernon AME remains an integral part of the community today. Nicknamed "The Grandmother of Greenwood," Vernon is a symbol of strength, a place of refuge, an advocate for social justice, a meeting place for community discussions, and a ministry to those in need.
About Aaron Jones
Artist
Aaron Jones is an artist and registered architect based in Tulsa, where he co-runs Pfeifer Jones Architecture (PfJ/A). PfJ/A is a studio working across a variety of projects that include buildings, interiors, installations, objects—and beyond.
Jones’s creative research is concerned primarily with the development of media structures and often results in deeply themed pop-up theaters, performance art installations, and entertainment portals. This work has been recognized and supported by Art Omi, MacDowell, the Venice Architecture Biennale, ArtPapers, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New Museum’s NEW INC program among many others. He has most recently shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MoCAD), the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) in Colorado and Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center.
Aaron received his master of architecture from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he later taught as a visiting architect in residence.
About Kristi Williams
Artist
Kristi Williams, also known as Orisabiyi, is a descendant of the Muscogee Creek Freedmen, tracing her lineage to the 1874 Supreme Court Justice of the Muscogee Creek Nation, Jesse Franklin. Additionally, she has ancestral ties to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, with her great aunt Janie Edwards experiencing the tragic event firsthand at the Dreamland Theater. As the founder of Black History Saturdays, Williams established a school dedicated to teaching Black history in response to Oklahoma legislation restricting its curriculum in public schools. She is a prominent community activist, Greenwood advocate, political consultant, and executive assistant to her pastor, Keith R. Mayes, Sr., of the Vernon AME Church.
Williams has been instrumental in various initiatives, including serving as campaign manager for Tulsa District 1 City Councilor Vanessa Hall Harper, program manager for Fitting Back In Tulsa with World Won Development, and consultant for Standpipe Hill Strategies—initiating the Standpipe Hill Homebuyers Program in 2022, which facilitated homeownership for numerous individuals. Williams also serves in an advisory role for National Geographic Society’s geography education work in Oklahoma and is a former chairperson of the Greater Tulsa African American Affairs Commission.
She has received numerous awards for her impactful contributions, including “Community Activist of The Year” and the “Community Spirit Award” and is recognized for her advocacy work in documentaries, panel discussions, and national media outlets, amplifying the narratives of marginalized communities.
About Lindsay Aveilhé
Curator
Lindsay Aveilhé is founder and director of Central Standard, an independent contemporary art platform based in Tulsa, presenting artists from Middle America alongside nationally and internationally recognized voices. A curator, writer, and arts advocate with over 15 years of experience in the United States and internationally, she is editor of the Sol LeWitt Wall Drawings Catalogue Raisonné (Cahier d’Art, 2018) and co-creator of the Sol LeWitt mobile app, developed in collaboration with the LeWitt Estate and Microsoft. She has curated exhibitions at the Reykjavík Art Museum in Iceland; Galleria Alfonso Artiaco in Naples, Italy; and Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, and is a contributing author to Locating LeWitt: Between Mind and Body (Yale University Press, 2021). Aveilhé is a 2025-27 Tulsa Artist Fellow.
Images
- Courtesy of Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
- Aaron Jones. Photo by Tony Li.
- Kristi Williams.
- Lindsay Aveilhé. Photo by Lola Serrano.
- Courtesy of Talking Dolls Detroit. Photo by Lola Serrano.
- Courtesy of Talking Dolls Detroit.
- Courtesy of Talking Dolls Detroit.
- Courtesy of Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
- Courtesy of Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
- Photo by Mr. Fred Freeman.
