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L.A. artist’s work chosen for new student center
Story written by Kristy McCreary of the ORU Oracle
The new Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center will display artwork from L.A. artist Tyler Ramsey.
The former Tulsa resident has collaborated multiple times with Toms Shoes, the company known for its business model in which with every pair of shoes purchased, a pair is given to a child in need, one for one.
A new series of Ramsey Toms is coming out soon.
“I have been blessed to have joined the Toms movement,” Ramsey said in a recent interview.
Ramsey has created artwork for the Armand Hammer Foundation in the past and was asked to participate in the new Alumni-Student Center at ORU.
“The Armand Hammer Foundation has been incredibly generous towards Oral Roberts University,” Ramsey said. “And I’ve been honored to play a very small part in the new student center, which I am ecstatic to see open.”
Ramsey said that he views the artwork he is creating for the Alumni-Student Center not as separate works, but as one giant piece of art.
“I am drawn to the school’s tremendous fountain of faith,” Ramsey said. “And this will be my response to a school with an intense and exciting history and future.”
The paintings will express what Ramsey felt while listening to President Mark Rutland speak about the future of the building.
“King David dancing and celebrating through the streets comes to mind,” Ramsey said.
“I’ve always had tremendous respect for the impact Oral Roberts made, and the university has always seemed a special part of Tulsa. Those hands!”
Ramsey was born in San Francisco, but lived in Oklahoma City until second grade. After that he moved to Tulsa where he lived until 1996. Ramsey attended Grimes, Jenks and Holland Hall schools.
“I love Tulsa, and I’m proud to be from Oklahoma,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey moved to the West Coast right after graduation. He turned down Bear Stearns, a former investment banking and brokerage firm on Wall Street, and raced to California before his parents could stop him.
Ramsey said he felt very fortunate to be friends with all of the Hammer family, and that their faith “has been an inspiration” to him.
“Hammer is one of the most respected names in art,” Ramsey said. “Armand Hammer has made a cultural and philanthropic impact that only similar titans as Rockefeller and Carnegie might relate.”
ORU will soon open the door to this new building named after Armand Hammer. The name has no relation to any kind of cleaning supply.