Page 61 - August 2017

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Mikel with wife Christie at the Will Rogers High School 2017 Hall of Fame Induction.
Mikel and granddaughter Evelyn.
His Formative Years
Looking back at Mikel’s childhood, it’s easy to see how he got to where he is. His mother’s dad painted and drew as a hobby and deeply loved western art. “He’d come to Tulsa (where Mikel grew up) and would want to go to the Gilcrease Museum, and when we’d go to their place after the Cowboy Hall of Fame (now
the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum) opened in Oklahoma City, we’d take him there,” Mikel says.
His dad’s father was a rancher and farmer in north-central Oklahoma, and a cowboy in his early days. “Growing up in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, I became indoctrinated with Roy Rogers and Gunsmoke and the westerns of the day,” he says. “It was hard not to be influenced by it some.”
As a child, the thing he loved to draw was horses. “They’ve always been an amazement to me,” he says. “They’re just an incredible animal and very interesting artistically as well as physically: how strong and agile and incredibly graceful they can be, and at the same time, how fragile they are.”
After graduating from Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Mikel earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tulsa, then went to work for Ad Inc., one of Oklahoma’s largest advertising agencies. A multiple award-winning designer, he worked on campaigns for national and Fortune 500 companies throughout his career.
A New Direction
In the fall of 2001, looking for a race stallion for a mare that he had, Mikel called a breeder in Purcell, Oklahoma. The woman who answered phones there was busy, so her sister, who was there on her lunch, answered the call. The sister took down some information to pass on, and she and Mikel talked briefly. The next day, Mikel called back and the sister answered again. “The next thing you know, we were setting up a date in Oklahoma City,” Mikel says. “The rest, as they say, is history.
“We met, had lunch, and, feeling awkward and nervous, I took Christie to the Cowboy Hall of Fame, where I felt comfortable. Our first
few dates were at art museums. That should’ve been a red flag for her,” he says, half joking. Not long after that, Christie “borrowed”
one of Mikel’s paintings and showed it to Jana Trotter. “That was the catalyst that got me into the business of showing art again,” Mikel says. “Christie really encouraged me and got the fire going, and if she hadn’t done that, I’d never have (made the change). I’d just been doing it because my boys were getting older and were off on weekends doing things with their buddies, so I had some time to draw and paint.”
Christie and Mikel married in 2003. A business manager for an electrical contractor, she has recently found her own creative outlet: jewelry design. “She likes to explore new things,” Mikel says. “So when I was showing at the Prix de West (at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum) in Oklahoma City a few years ago,
she took a class one Saturday at a local jeweler’s. She came back with this ring she’d made that afternoon. It was really impressive and she really enjoyed it, and she’s learned very quickly, despite the little amount of time she’s had to devote to it.”
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