In January 2012, Sonya donated a major oil painting to the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University. Sonya is an alumnus from OSU and wanted to give back to the University and to Oklahoma. The title of the painting is “Just One More Chapter” and depicts a cowboy taking a break from work to read. 

Study for “Just One More Chapter”

On January 26, 2012, the Dean of Libraries, Sheila Johnson, and her executive staff hosted a reception at the library to unveil the painting in its new permanent location in the Mark and Lisa Snell Gallery just inside the iconic south entrance to the library.  

           Mark and Lisa Snell Gallery, OSU Library

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The painting was unveiled by Sonya and OSU President, Burns Hargis. President Hargis spoke about Sonya and her donation saying, “She’s a wonderful artist as well as a wonderful person.”

Sonya and OSU President, Burns Hargis,
unveil “Just One More Chapter.”

 Also presenting at the event was Chuck Schroeder, Executive Director of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, in Oklahoma City. Mr. Schroeder recognized Sonya’s 17 years as an invited artist to the Prix de West and noted that she was a favorite of both collectors and the museum staff and volunteers.
 

Chuck Schroeder, Exec. Dir. National Cowboy
and Western Heritage Museum

  

Dr. Chris Ramsay, Head of the OSU Art Department, spoke eloquently of Sonya’s story-telling and use of light in her paintings. He said she had come full circle from being a student at OSU to teaching each viewer to see the world in color and light.

Dr. Chris Ramsay, Head of OSU Art Department

 

Display cases in the gallery were filled with prints of Sonya’s past work to introduce her paintings to viewers meeting her for the first time. Accompanying each print was an artifact or antique depicting an aspect of that painting. Most of the artifacts were loaned for the reception by library staff and the entire display was designed and installed by library executives Debbie Clemons and David Thompson. One of the sections was dedicated to Sonya’s artist-in-residence experience at OSU’s Doel Reed Center for the Arts, in Taos, NM in 2010.

    

  

As an added experience for the viewers of the display, many of the painting title cards had QR codes. The codes linked viewers with smart phones to an audio segment of Sonya speaking about that image or something related to the image. The recordings are segments from an interview conducted with Sonya for OSU’s Oral History Research Program and were edited and linked by Dr. Mary Larson, Head of that program.