Take a look inside the new family-friendly, interactive space related to Oklahoma Contemporary's Ed Ruscha: OKLA

A detail photograph depicting a pair of hands working on an arts and crafts project with a red pencil

Connect with the art of Ed Ruscha in the Learning Gallery at Oklahoma Contemporary through book making, text art activities, educational videos and more. Photo: Dennis Spielman.

Want to explore Ed Ruscha's Oklahoma roots in a new light? After you visit Ed Ruscha: OKLA, drop by the Learning Gallery for a family-friendly, interactive look at how midcentury Oklahoma City left its mark on the young man who would go on to become one of the world's leading figures in contemporary art.

Oklahoma Contemporary's Learning Gallery, adjacent to the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery, encourages exploration through hands-on making, interactive displays, art books and other helpful resources to engage visitors of all ages. Beyond that, it’s a place for friends, family and strangers to take a moment to create, discuss and consider contemporary art from a new perspective. Each Learning Gallery design rotates alongside exhibitions to offer a range of entry points for people to connect their own personal experiences with works on view.

A hand manipulates an iPad touch screen depicting images of a street dense with cars and buildings

Individual-use kiosks allow Learning Gallery visitors to virtually page through Ed Ruscha's art books and take a virtual tour down the Sunset Strip that captured the artist's imagination. Photo: Dennis Spielman.

"Meeting visitors where they are is a major goal of the Learning Gallery," said Oklahoma Contemporary Public Programs Coordinator Blair Summers. "It's about creating space for them to have diverse experiences that extend their appreciation of contemporary art."

Current visitors to the Learning Gallery will find themselves transported to the Oklahoma City of Ruscha's youth, where, as a teenage newspaper delivery boy, the artist developed an intimate, street-level understanding of his hometown. From book making and text art activities to educational videos and a virtual tour down Route 66, the space features tons of fun and innovative ways to connect more deeply with the work of this legendary homegrown artist.

Before you reserve your free, limited access timed tickets to experience Ed Ruscha: OKLA and the adjacent Learning Gallery in person, take a video tour with Oklahoma Contemporary Director of Education and Public Programming Jaime L.M. Thompson.