Alexander Tamahn

Alexander Tamahn is a Tulsa-based multidisciplinary creative and proud founding member of Black Moon Collective, a preeminent cohort of young Black artists helping lead Tulsa’s renaissance. A Texas native, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, Michigan raised, Tulsa transplant, Alexander began thoughtfully engaging with social impact work through adolescent addictions counseling during his tenure at Tulsa Boys’ Home upon graduating from Oral Roberts University. As his competencies in trauma-informed care grew in the mental and behavioral health field, so did his agency as an emerging artist.

Today Alexander enjoys a fruitful creative practice at the intersections of art, design, and social impact, partnering largely with regional institutions and organizations to provide art instruction, mentorship, and leadership development to youth and young adults through programs like DISRUPT and Tulsa Orbit Initiative. His work has been featured on HGTV and DIY cable television networks; can be seen in collections throughout the US; and is blazoned across the Tulsa Cityscape, as he has public work on a number of building facades.

Among the bevy of artistic achievements to his credit, Alexander recently facilitated the terra-cotta restoration and re-contouring of The Adams Apartments of downtown Tulsa, an iconic landmark on The U.S. Dept. of Interior’s National Registry of Historic Places. This year-long, multifaceted project required the implementation of an array of Alexander’s diverse skill sets, as he scaled some 127 + feet in almost all types of Oklahoma weather conditions.

Alexander Tamahn is among the talented group of artists and community leaders selected to create public art for the centennial of The 1921 Race Massacre, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, under the leadership of lead artists Rick Lowe and William Cordova.

For more insight into the artistry and social impact of Alexander Tamahn, follow @alexandertamahn on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter social media platforms, or visit www.blackmoontulsa.com; www.alexandertamahndesign.com.

Greenwood Ceramic Storytelling Project

For the Greenwood Ceramic Storytelling Project, collaborators Alexander Tamahn and Deborah Richards commemorate stories of the building and rebuilding of the Greenwood neighborhood using discrete 3-D printed forms embedded throughout Greenwood. Primarily placed in public spaces, these ceramic tiles, bricks, and sculptures emphasize the spirit of community and stories of entrepreneurship in Greenwood through geometry and text. Tamahn and Richards build off the entrepreneurial spirit of Greenwood by prototyping a digital ceramics studio in Tulsa where new art and architectural features are created. The artists create 3-D printed ceramics by building layer upon layer of the coil, using the form of the Greenwood Ceramic Storytelling Project to reiterate the connections and unity that originally built Greenwood.

Starting on May 25, Greenwood Ceramic Storytelling Project will be installed in front of three businesses: Fulton Street Books & Coffee, 210 W Latimer St, Tulsa, OK; Tulsa Poppi’s Urban Spa, 302 S Frankfort Ave C, Tulsa, OK; Silhouette’s Sneakers + Art, Facing Archer, 10 N Greenwood Ave C, Tulsa, OK.