MEDICINE PARK, Okla. (KFOR) – Longtime friends Jean Schucker and Torrie Dean both walk this town’s main street just about every day, separately or together.
They both feel deeply connected to this old resort.
“It’s always been a meeting place and a gathering place,” says Dean.
They both argue this area has always held a special place for creative inspiration.
Torrie and her husband, sculptor Robert Dean, moved here close to 40 years ago.
Many of Robert’s works still stand proud all over town.
“He left a piece of his heart and his soul here,” she says. “Not just his work but his blood and tears.”
Jean and her husband moved to this area in the ’80s as well.
She recalls, “We came to Medicine Park for the first time with a six-pack of beer and a couple of folding chairs to listen to a band.”
She still specializes in the rounded and lichen-covered rocks of the Wichita Mountains.
Her home sits in the shadow of Mt. Scott.
Her heart is here too.
“Like Torrie says, It’s always had this feeling of where you can escape, and do your thing.”
Torrie’s husband Robert has been gone for more than a decade now.
Jean closed her Red Door Gallery to concentrate on her own work, but the artist community remains strong.
“Oh yeah,” Jean states, “through thick and thin.”
Travis Komahcheat draws breath for his flute playing from Medicine Park air.
Other photographers and painters draw inspiration from here.
Rounded stone, clear water, and blue skies have always drawn all kinds of people to this spot in southwest Oklahoma.
It’s lasting impressions take many forms.
Dean says, “To me, art is an amazing thing. It’s a beautiful thing because you get to see through the eyes of the creator.”
Jean and Torrie both mention several other professional artists who call Medicine Park home.
They include painters Sandra Dunn and Candace McCoy, and a young photographer, Haddix New.
A festival of the arts takes place in October.
Great State is sponsored by Oklahoma Proton Center