New Orleans-born, South Carolina-raised Grace Grothaus moved to Tulsa only four years ago, but her influence in the artistic community is already palpable. After earning her degree at the Kansas City Art Institute while simultaneously running a gallery there, Grothaus accepted a position at Philbrook–though she’d also been accepted at a gallery in San Francisco.  Of Tulsa, Grothaus says she “came for the job, stayed for the community.”

A self-proclaimed “synthetic landscape painter,” Grothaus combines different mediums, playing with plastic, LED lights (some of which have motion censors so that they interact with the viewer), painting, and photography to create a multi-media experience.

The artist has recently transplanted to Norman to pursue a graduate degree in art.