Oklahoma Musicians On the Wall: An Edmond artist paints her favorites
EDMOND, Okla. (KFOR) — It’s not a hall of fame, but it could be.
Look around this gallery at the Edmond Fine Arts Institute, and you can find portraits of singers, songwriters, and musicians, all from Oklahoma, and all painted over a two-year period by Artist Marie Kash Weltzheimer.
“I think there is a tie into visual art, and dance, and music,” she argues. “I think they’re all linked.”
She started with small portraits as a fun project.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R25e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R45e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeWanda Jackson was an early attempt, as was cowboy singer Gene Autry.
But she kept painting and, with each portrait, playing their music as she worked.
“To get their feel and know their music,” she explains. “Some of them, I’ve become fans of.”
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“I’m sure it affects the work,” she told us earlier in 2025 as she worked on her series. “Sometimes you want to capture the energy of the artist.”
Most of the portraits, like one of The Gap Band, are shaped like album covers.
Marie points out, “I wanted them to look like they were spinning around.”
She used photos and watched videos to get her ideas.
The paintings are often action shots like Kristin Chenoweth hitting a high note.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2ne4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4ne4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“She’s really bubbly,” Marie tells us. “And I wanted that idea associated with her piece.”
Blake Shelton singsabout that first kiss, or Elvin Bishop beltsout his hit ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love.’
Over months of work, she managed to capture Wayne Coyne’s wild hair, the Queen of Rockabilly in mid-shake, and Chet Baker’s west coast cool.
“I had to have Chet a couple of times,” laughs the artist and a former trumpet player herself. “I love trumpet players.”
At a show opening on a warm Thursday night, as friends and art buyers wandered through the gallery, they heard these artists again from a sound system.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2te4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4te4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeSound, movement, and visual arts are all connected here in a big room through the senses of an artist who brought them to life with the touch of brush to canvas.
Marie Kash Weltzheimer’s show called ‘Oklahoma Sounds’ is on display through July at the Edmond Fine Arts Institute.
For more information, click here. You can also visit her website by clicking here.
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