From small galleries to primetime TV, Dawn Okoro is shining under international spotlight

As a "tall, thin and quiet bookworm" with a love for fashion and culture magazines in Lubbock, artist Dawn Okoro said she always felt like a black sheep in the small, northwestern Texas city. 

While others her age played on playgrounds, she spent hours flipping through the pages of Vogue, Essence, Jet and Ebony magazines.

Her artistry blossomed as she studied the covers and spreads of the iconic publications, with the images of models like Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks broadening her scope and sparking her creative talents.

"For me, my window to the world was in magazines," Okoro said. "My grandma would get them and my mom had a subscription to Jet Magazine and Ebony Magazine, and every month there would be a couple of pages dedicated to fashion. They featured Black fashion designers and some of the Black models and I would just think, 'Wow.'"

With each weekly or monthly issue, Okoro was inspired to replicate the images captured by editorial photographer Richard Avedon and other creative minds of the time. 

In elementary school, she began making drawings of the clothing designs from the magazines, sometimes filling the skin with a mahogany shade where it did not previously exist. And by the time Okoro, 42, was in high school, she took her fashion-centric style to the canvas. 

But Okoro said her family didn't believe a career as a full-time artist was sustainable. 

"Where I grew up, people heard of (Pablo Picasso) or whatever, but my family was kind of like, 'That's a nice hobby, but you need to go be a doctor or a lawyer or engineer,'" Okoro said.

To appease her family, Okoro pursued other avenues. 

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in psychology and a minor in fashion design. She later earned a law degree from Texas Southern University, but despite the opportunities that bloomed from her academic success, her creative passions were always on her mind.

After graduating from TSU, Okoro uprooted her life in Austin to start anew in New York with the hopes of making it as an artist in the Big Apple. 

Okoro began meeting with different artists and curators, but after a year, she and her then-boyfriend — now-husband — were forced to move back to Central Texas due to family and financial strains that worsened with the Great Recession in the late 2000s. 

With no interest in practicing law and to please her family, Okoro put her artistic pursuits on hold and decided to start a career in journalism.

"In my heart, I knew I wanted to do art, but there was still that drive to feel like I'm actually doing something with my life in a way that my family would understand," she said. 

'I thought there would be less struggle and anxiety'

While working at Spectrum News Austin, Okoro said, she wouldn't pick up a paintbrush for months or even years at a time. 

"It was a process," Okoro said. "When I moved back to Texas from New York, I just decided to give up on art. I liked making work, but I think I had a vision of what an artist was. I thought there would be less struggle and anxiety. But it's impossible not to see art in your life. You really can't avoid it; it's everywhere."

Okoro eventually found time to create new art series and finished paintings she hadn't touched in years. 

Her creative revival came at a time of emptiness.

After experiencing the death of loved ones, Okoro recognized the fragility of life and decided to turn to a paintbrush and canvas again. 

"It felt like something was missing," Okoro said. "After maturing, seeing life and experiencing the death of people close to me, it kind of felt like life really is short and I need to start living and I started small from there." 

In 2018, Okoro showcased her "Punk Noir" exhibit at the George Washington Carver Museum, a show that featured towering canvas paintings inspired by local artists and influencers in and around Austin that exuded a "punk spirit," Okoro said. 

The exhibit also included music from Austin-based band BLXPLTN to coincide with the artist's vision. And with the exhibition's success, Okoro drew the attention of local and international gallerists. 

Among her many admirers was Phillip Niemeyer, owner of Northern and Southern Gallery, who marveled at Okoro's eclectic style. 

"When I first saw Okoro, I thought she was amazing from the get-go, and everything she's doing now is just reinforcing that," he said. "I love the way she's constantly exploring her work. She doesn't stay in one place."

Mauve Doyle, the artistic director at Maddox Gallery in London, said she was drawn to Okoro's transparency and creative mind. 

"I like her confidence and her ability to engage with people, take chances and trust in the process of things," Doyle said. "Her future is really bright, and her work is uplifting."

Doyle said Okoro's background in fashion bleeds into her artwork, with many of her subjects painted in deeply enriched colors and positioned in ways that mirror the covers of editorial magazines.

Where to see Dawn Okoro's work

The relatively withdrawn artist has come into her own.

Since 2017, the Houston-born artist has held residencies and exhibitions in Seattle, Miami, New York and London, and she recently collaborated with PepsiCo to have her artwork placed on the brand's Lifewtr bottles. Her work also has been featured in Season 2 of NBC's "Law & Order: Organized Crime." 

"When I watched the episode where Jennifer Beals said my name and showed my painting, I squealed a little," she said. "I’m happy to see some of my goals begin to come to fruition. There is so much more that I can do with art. I’m just getting started."

Okoro has continued to expand her artistic reach since becoming a full-time artist in August 2021, with works such as "VantaBlack," "Kool-Aid Drawings," and "Crown and Glory."

Along with international exhibitions and TV show appearances, her contributions to the arts also have been recognized by Austin organizations.

In February, CapMetro placed portraits from Okoro's "Kool-Aid Drawings" project on city buses, and a wooden bust of the artist was placed inside the Carver Museum for the center's "Peace to the Queen" exhibit of work by artist Jamel Shabazz. 

Given her success as an artist, Okoro said her mother and other family members have applauded her chosen path and accomplishments.

"I think they're proud of me," she said. "I think now that I have more opportunities that are more tangible to see, they understand it better now. I think they're happy to see me happy and doing what I love to do."

After her career pivots and periods of artistic inactivity, Okoro said she's now fully embraced her artistry and individuality. 

"It's taken me years to come to that conclusion, and there are still some times as an adult when those feelings creep in again. But I think just doing my art has helped me a lot, and getting my art out there lets me know it's OK just to be who I am," she said. 

Okoro said her goal is to inspire other artists to accept their differences as their superpowers and to add beauty to the world. 

– Austin American-Statesman

'An earworm that never left': Columbus jazzman embraces musical gifts to inspire others

For jazz musician Miles Smith, the poignant sounds of classical strings and soothing tunes from the likes of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and other legends of the genre echoed through his home. 

There was never a moment of dullness, Smith, 21, said. Every morning, his ears were filled with the reverberating sounds of trumpets, saxophones and piano keys, with jazz seemingly becoming an inescapable fix.

And with both his parents dedicated musicians and music professors at Ohio State University, the Fort Collins, Colorado native — who moved to Columbus at age 12 —said his  culmination as an instrumentalist was a near formality.

"I like to joke that I was either going to become a musician or be disowned by my parents," Smith said jokingly.

Named after American trumpeter Miles Davis, Smith, now a Dublin resident, picked up the drums at age 3 before switching to the trumpet in sixth grade. From there, "jazz was an earworm that never left his body," Smith said.

"That was the turning point," he said. "I pick up the trumpet in sixth grade and think, 'Maybe this will work.' I picked it up, notes started coming out, it was feeling pretty good."

Instead, his affinity for jazz music soaked deep within him, becoming a sequential part of his every day. And while many his age gravitated to other popular R&B and hip-hop artists, he leaned toward the genre that got its start in the backwaters of New Orleans. 

"It's something to be prideful about," he said. "With jazz becoming a lost art, but still very present even in 2021, is something I'm very proud of. It found its way to me, and jazz music just felt right." 

An affinity for teaching

Now, Smith is a member of the OSU Jazz Emsemble and the OSU Fusion Jazz Ensemble, led by his father Mike Smith.

As he held a picture of a younger Miles Smith resting in his arms as he conducted a band, Mike, 61, looks at his son's artistic growth in awe. 

“He has an absolutely amazing ear," Mike said. "He can hear (the sounds) and spit them out. He formed an intimate relationship with the trumpet. He could figure them out and play them out.”
Mike, a lecturer and jazz professor at OSU, said even during those early stages, he knew Miles would morph into an incredible artist.

That never shocked him. What surprised him is Smith's affinity for teaching, a role he vowed he’d never do.

“I'm thrilled by it," Mike said. "I really am.

"Me and his mom laugh at it because they seemed to do anything but teach. Both of them have found they excel at it. It’s funny but it's heartwarming to see it happen. I hear him giving lessons on Zoom to people and I marvel at how good he is at that.”

Between his commitments at OSU, Smith works as an instructor at various Columbus-area schools and previously held teaching stints at the Lincoln Theatre, a place he frequented often as he built up his own command of the leadpipe. 

Smith's influence on local musicians

Gamal Brown, associate director of The Lincoln Theatre, said Smith’s involvement there has been an incredible addition and has provided assistance toward to developing local musicians through practice and education.

“I'd love to see organizations use (Smith) as the poster child for what jazz is in the city," Brown, 49, said. "They would benefit from him as a source,"

Smith said he works as an instructor to inspire other young, Black kids to embrace their inner musician, just as his professors and mentors did for him. 

Along with his parents’ influence, Smith credits the mentor-to-mentee relationships he’s developed with famed musicians and former professors for his musical maturation. 

Having met and briefly instructed Smith when he attended OSU, Jon Lampley, 32, said he had the talent from the start.

‘He had talent from the start’

Lampley, who currently plays with the house band of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," quickly recognized Smith's desire to be great in the time they spent together.

From listening to Smith, Lampley said he knew he had the tools to be a great musician.

"I gravitate towards people who are inspiring and uplifting, and to be able to have a direct line of inspiration at an early point is really cool," he said. "I'm excited to see how Smith progresses, and hopefully, we can make some music in the not-so-distant future."

Anthony Stanco, 32, Smith's former trumpet professor at OSU, said the young musician's budding talents are only surpassed by his dedication to the craft.

"I've always been blown away from his talent," said Stanco, who currently works as a professor at Michigan State University. " To play this music, you have to be around the culture, and Smith does that."

From transcribing the solos of Miles Davis and fellow trumpeter Clifford Brown, Stanco said given Smith's love of the genre, the sky is the limit.

"If you take care of the music, the music will take care of you," he said. "That is huge, and I don't see him having a national name as a far stretch. As his previous instructor, I'm going to help as much as I can."

As his young musical career marches forward, Smith said there are many things he wants to pursue. While grad school is a possibility, he's thought about a full-time role at the Jazz Arts Group or the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and, more recently, teaching on the collegiate level like his two parents. 

But above all, Smith said he wants to reach the heights of Lampley and others who have inspired him. 

– The Columbus Dispatch