Norman artist Mike Wimmer, who teamed with former Gov. Frank Keating to illustrate “Will Rogers An American Legend,” and Steve Gragert, Will Rogers Museum director and historian, will share the program for Claremore Will Rogers Friends of the Library Monday, Sept. 17.
The program will be open to the public at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, where visitors can tour the museum and see Wimmer’s work.
The artist will be available starting at 6 p.m. to autograph books available for purchase in the Museum store. Which will remain open until 6:30 p.m. Friends of Library will meet at 6:30 for a short business session, followed by the program in the museum auditorium.
Works by Wimmer in the Keating 2002 children’s book have been given to the Claremore museum by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of Houston and include 18 original illustrations and a giclee’ reproduction of Gov. and Mrs. Keating. They hang in the gallery named for the book, the entry to the time tunnel leading to the Little Museum for children on the lower level.
The artist will talk about his journey with the paintings and the opportunity to work with Keating on the book about the Cherokee Indian boy on an Indian Territory Ranch, Will’s love of the land, his travels and career as a writer and actor. The two teamed again in “Theodore,” the young life of Teddy Roosevelt, released in 2006.
Another of Wimmer’s works, The Last Farewell of Wiley Post and Will Rogers,” hangs in the gallery designated for the “Lonely Death” and “Last Takeoff,” and is the backdrop for a Jo Mora diorama showing a single Eskimo man looking at a downed plane.
He has work 22 works in the state Capitol, illustrated the cover for the ”Lion King” soundtrack, and had artwork on Celestial Seasonings boxes and Huggies diapers packaging and updated “Mr. Clean.”
Wimmer is a visiting artist at Cameron University at Lawton.
Gragert, who was named director of the Claremore and Will Rogers Ranch Museums in December 2006, had been on the staff as archivist, library, associate director and interim director two and a half years.
He has been associated with the Museum in various capacities since 1976, first serving as director of the Will Rogers Research Project at Oklahoma State University. He edited or co-edited 17 of the 23 volumes in the scholarly series “The Writings of Will Rogers,” published by Oklahoma State University Press.
He and Jane Johannson from Rogers State University co-edited the final two books in the five volume “Papers of Will Rogers” series.
He will talk about his experiences as an author and director of the Memorial.