ART SKIP IN SERVICE C OF THE STORY MKINSTRY kip McKinstry was born in Arkansas, went to junior high S and high school in Hannibal, Missouri, and has lived in Oklahoma since 1982. He has been a part of the extended family of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame since 2005, when historians Bob Blackburn and Paul Lambert recommended him to design their Oklahoma Centennial book, You Know We Belong to the Land. That project began a fruitful collaboration with the OHOF that has lasted nearly two decades. A recognized designer and writer in the Oklahoma City advertising community, serving several years on the board of the Oklahoma City Ad Club and a term as president. McKinstry also taught as an adjunct instructor in the art and design departments at Oklahoma Christian University and the University of Central Oklahoma. In recent years he has begun a return to his roots in the fine arts. We asked him to talk about the differences between the fine arts and art for commerce. PHOTO COURTESY GEORGE FERRIS, STARBOARD & PORT PHOTOGRAPHY, SPRINGFIELD, MO. Tom Wolfe, the late American novelist and social commentator, once argued that art directors and INTERVIEW BY CHERIE MCKINSTRY designers were the true artists of the 20th century. What led you to utilize your artistic gifts in graphic design and advertising? For the record, Tom Wolfe was married to a very successful New York City graphic designer, so he kind of had to say that. But I do agree with him. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the patrons of the arts were the church and the aristocracy. Sadly, the church has almost completely dropped out of the picture in the modern era. Now, the patrons of the arts are business and the aristocracy, even though we no longer believe in an aristocracy; and while there are exceptions, when business funds art, we usually call it advertising. My career began in 1970 as a writer, photographer and designer for The Grapevine, a “counter cultural” off-campus newspaper at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Substitute “hippie” A portrait of the for countercultural and you’ll have a better idea what the paper artist as a very was like, which makes it more than a little surprising that the young man. paper lasted over two decades. But that is a testimony to the many Photo courtesy of talented people who worked on it. Skip McKinstry 18