exhibITion: Father & Child, featuring artwork by Mary James Ketch, a contemporary American artist living in Norman, Oklahoma.

The opening took place at amshot’s new location, 1300 N Broadway Dr. in Oklahoma City, on Thursday, June 15 from 5pm to 8pm. The art opening coincided with a grand opening celebration for amshot’s new office space.

The opening of exhibITion: Father & Child benefited Focus on Home, a local nonprofit that provides home furnishings to families in need to help them create a comfortable, dignified home. All wristband donations for food and drinks and 10 percent of art sales benefit Focus on Home.

Mary’s narrative paintings are a visual distillation of scenes of everyday life, in which the figures seem to inhabit a lyrical, dream-like world. She attended the University of Oklahoma before receiving her M.F.A. from the University of Southern California, School of Cinema-Television.

Of exhibITion: Father & Child, Mary says,

Sparked by a terminal cancer diagnosis of my father last year, this collection celebrates the nurturing quality of men.

She notes that fewer artists, herself included, have explored images of father and child compared with mother and child.

Most of the paintings were inspired by photographs that people sent me, so while intensely personal to them, I was looking for archetypal imagery that could speak to many of us,” Mary says. “I’ve also included a few paintings that highlight the nurturing quality in men that are outside the father and child relationship. In a society that values men for their ability to provide and protect, I wanted to broaden the definition of manliness to include the whole person.

We would like to thank our sponsor for exhibITion: Father & Child, Datto. Datto provides products to backup, restore, and protect data; simplify operations; and manage networks. Amshot is proud to be a platinum vendor with Datto.