Uncategorized – Page 5 – A&AA Blog (Archive)

Ruf•fle at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts White Box Visual Laboratory

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Sabina Poole

Ruffled to Abstraction

A short essay on the work by Sara Huston and Jennifer Wall in Ruf•fle

Detail of Permanently Liminal, Sara Huston

Ruf•fle
Open at the White Box July 13-August 24, 2013

Open from July 13 to August 24, 2013 at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts White Box Visual Laboratory, Ruf•fle presents plenty of opportunity for White Box visitors to engage in an examination of perception, identity, and the meaning of objects, complete with psychological and cultural aspects. The exhibition features work from a group of Portland-based women traversing opportunities uniquely afforded to interdisciplinary art and design dialogue. The work in Ruf•fle explores individual inquiry within an overarching collective and shared conversation. It is at once thought-provoking, unfamiliar and recognizable.

The inclusion of work in this exhibition by individuals Sara Huston and Jennifer Wall brings to the forefront the dynamic proximity of conversation and the representation of what it can mean to “ruffle.” Huston and Wall, both UO adjunct instructors in the Portland Product Design Program presented pieces that authentically represent the “diversity and value of collaborative analysis through cross-disciplinary insight” in exhibited pieces, Tiny Parametric Ruffles by Wall and Permanently Liminal by Huston.

Wall’s pieces, painstakenly and metaphorically hung as if 2-dimensional with miniscule brass pins driven into predrilled holes in the four corners of fine book paper, present objects that “chase down the ruffled relationship between parametric modeling software and adornment.” (Wall, White Box Ruf•fle catalogue). Indeed, Wall proclaims herself to be “both metalsmith and designer, both maker and designer” which is a dichotomy that informs her work translating with material eloquence into her designs. One might say, Wall’s work blends the rich and diverse worlds of modernity and antiquity simultaneously transitioning and questioning methods and process both ancient and contemporary. Her works soar from the mere designation of “jewelry” although on first glance what one sees is exactly that: objects in shapes traditionally and culturally recognized as rings, necklaces, small keepsakes, perhaps. But that is the peripheral, shallow view—look closer and see the materials ranging from the brilliant metallic allure of gold and silver, to white ABS plastic, to bronze, to aluminide and the natural, soft, shale-like layers of cuttlefish bone: all materials utilized to explore and push the idea of functionality of the design.

Wall begins her pieces within the technology of a CAD file using Grasshopper, she then moves to the 3-D printer (quite often using the equipment available in the UO PDX FabLab) creating her pieces in metals and plastics. She also works with the ancient technique of cuttlefish casting advocating for the “relationship between the cuttlefish bone texture and the 3-D print.” Wall sees in this collaboration an ambiguity hovering between the two—a pairing of “how things are made and how things appear.” Upon close inspection, the layers of each technique are visible, drawing an almost daring comparison between the two methods. This contrast between process and production as well as the final product, provides the tangible and visual representation of “ruffle”, says Wall, the “use of the 3-D printer and the use of the cuttlefish casting: it’s modernity and antiquity; the ruffles are in the layers; even the cuttlefish, as a living thing, ruffles its fins to propel itself through water.”

Detail of work in Tiny Parametric Ruffles, Jennifer Wall

This play between the textures and the surfaces of the work, encouraged Wall to explore scale and the relationship between culturally-anticipated sized pieces, and pieces diminished or expanded beyond traditionally accepted norms. She also found a means to traverse the concept of adornment and how it functions as a symbol being both mediator and communication device between the wearer and the viewer.

Wall’s work has been grounded in this method of exploration for some time. She comments that she sees this body of work “….not as a departure but as pieces energized by the quality and diversity of 3-D printing. These are pieces that gain identity from materials—the color and reflectivity bringing a definition to the form.” Wall envisions her future work as propelled forward from her venture into scale with the pieces exhibited in Ruf•fle . She sees the potential for future work to embrace larger scale and to investigate kinetics and the adornment of space and buildings, as well as humans. Ruf•fle has also prompted her to observe her inherent fascination with two dimensional representation and the possibility of pieces made purely for the sake of display. As Wall says, “the role of the arts is to shape culture, and as a jeweler I can shape culture….I can work with personal identity and shifting of scale.” She continues, “I have a great interest in how culture can shift off the body, how adornment can be shifted from the body to the built environment, and onto buildings.”

Detail of Tiny Parametric Ruffles, Jennifer Wall

Jennifer Wall’s work represents an elegant dance between two worlds, one of cutting-edge technology and one of ancient techniques. Her blending of these elements enhanced by a quintessential relationship to the materiality of each piece, places her work into a dialectic process of method and understanding. Discernable within her work are the mindful topics of change and interaction between form, shape, size, substance, and cultural meaning. It is through a process of abstraction that meaning is attributed to her work, or the process by which we think about how her work changes and interacts with us and our expectations.

Burrowing deep into the questions of change, interaction, and how all things relate to or define other things (including her work and her own self image and identity), merges Sara Huston, whose work also graces the White Box Ruf•fle space. Part of a self-professed “collaborative, interdisciplinary, avant-garde studio called ‘the last attempt at greatness,” Huston saw her integration into the Ruf•fle exhibition, (an exhibition she was instrumental in securing and curating for the group), as an opportunity to investigate her own feelings of struggle. Huston talks of a dichotomy between the interdisciplinary discussion: the idealistic yet not fully embraced concept of interdisciplinary work. She asserts “there has never been a separation between art and design, in my own work. . . .and this exhibition was a chance “to look into talking about this discussion, exploring it and how to validate it to [her]self and others.” Huston explains her work is “about [her] identity and how [she] identifies as a creative individual” resisting the public penchant to label her as either a designer or an artist—labels she feels she does not neatly fit into. Ruf•fle gave her a chance “to examine the space inbetween artist and designer and to push [her]self with a new medium.”

Having been involved in furniture (from the very literal and naïve definition) “making” projects, Huston’s work, Permanently Liminal was sparked by a sense of frustration from being called a “furniture maker” and the thought that she desired to reach far beyond the limitations of standard creative labeling or as she puts it, “I needed to exorcise or remove the theme of ‘furniture designer’ so as not to be pegged as one or the other.” Indeed, from her work (some viewable on her website), pieces such as Expectation 01 come across as what most would define as “furniture.” But the failure of her audience to look above and beyond the design aspect and not recognize the artistic component, was driving Huston to want to “rediscover how art and design and the space in between are like a religion and a mantra to [her].” Huston says, with a shy smile, “I am a provocateur.” A sense of wanting to question who she is and what she does, prompted her to create Permanently Liminal, a work that makes strong use of audio to get Huston’s point across.

Permanently Liminal demands a closer inspection. The circular threshold, at once familiar and yet oddly inappropriate, confronts the viewer with conflicting invitations: can one step over this threshold? And, to do so, where are you except in a confined and very limited space? Have you traversed some boundary or simply caged yourself within the halo of Huston’s finely sculpted sphere? This element of the circular liminality echoes back to a state of being on the precipice, existing in-between two or more acknowledged, perhaps, unclear, difficult, complex, and real situations. The threshold creates an environment for the individual to experience uncertainty, to be ruffled, to question what happens next, to be temporarily uncomfortable.

In one sense, Huston compels us to think about reality and what we need to do to break it down into comprehendable parts. She puts us in a static ring, unnervingly similar in color and material to the White Box floor, and subjects us to an audio and physical redundancy of her voice telling us what she is and is not; the circumference facing us with the same position from all positions. Huston boldly questions her surroundings by separating out specific features and focusing on and categorizing them in ways she wants her audience to pay attention to.

This confrontational method of abstraction, (“abstract” is from the Latin “abstrahere” meaning “to pull from”) diligently gives us a slice of her, at this stage, somewhat sullen art and creative angst. Huston comments that Permanently Liminal “completely disrupted [her]” and “confirmed [her] senses of who [she] [is].” The creation of this work forced her to examine how she “relates to the professional fields, the idea of interdisciplinary work, and what ways [she] can work with both industry and marketing to create a space for [herself] that is new.”

Maybe yet undefined, Huston’s own arcadian space without the classifications of artist, designer, or furniture-maker but confined only by the blonde circlet defining the grounded component of her installation, compels her to seek clarity by confrontation. Constructed into this installation are the elements of audio, visual, textural as the senses are called upon to test the limits of understanding and tolerance. Permanently Liminal is a collaboration of disciplines, a mélange of experiences. The multidisciplinary approach Huston show us has led her to a “whole new sense of [her]self, blown away the boundaries of media and audio and made [her] comfortable enough to want to manipulate and work within the digital realm.” Installing Permanently Liminal and reacting to it in the White Box space, Huston asserts that she now considers audio to be “a material” and she hopes to explore the medium as a tangible, physical experience “integrating it into the human psyche and conscious as well as subconscious.”

Both Huston and Wall expressed the sentiment that from experiencing their work and the work in the Ruf•fle exhibition, they anticipate their audiences being ruffled enough to gain new ways of looking at the world, at themselves, and at the boundaries, or lack thereof, in artistic and design disciplines. Presenting work like this in an environment receptive to change and experimentation creates opportunities for discovery of the arts and design as socially and environmentally anchored. And, as Huston reminds us, we must never forget the crucial human component and its importance to art and design, and life, influencing our reactions and how we interact and react to work. While we might abstract to attain meaning and relevance from this exhibit, the utmost value of challenging norms and experiencing situations that compel thought and contemplation, is to remember the Socratic philosophical mantra and remind ourselves, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” It is with exhibitions like Ruf*fle that we are provided the moments, spaces, objects and time to question, to pursue answers, to think to the best of our ability, to examine our lives.

Ruf•fle also includes work by:

Albertha Bradley

Ali Gradisher

Diane Pfeiffer

Flo & Goose

JJ Wright

Kari Merkl

Kate MacKinnon

Lydia Cambron

Natalie Barela

Noelle Bullock

Herman D'Hooge and Smart Cities : Innovations for The Portland Plan

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Sabina Poole

Smarter Everyday: From Bits and Bytes to Realtime Knowledge

Herman D'Hooge, Image Courtesy Herman D'Hooge

We have learned to exist in a world that is far from perfect. From diseases to global warming, from feast to famine, from carbon footprints to shameless use of fossil fuels to man’s inhumanity to man, we cope, we innovate, we create, we make and we find new ways to move forward. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this progress inherently entails getting smarter. Whether increasing the knowledge of those around us to better understand a need for global environmental cooperation to creating systems that will opportunistically reach and improve the lives of citizens in our most populated cities, the drive to get smarter and be able to dynamically adjust and do more with less is the new call to action. At the forefront of the modern sustainable revolution and with the admirable goal to improve and begin the long march forward to sustain a living, healthy planet, there are individuals who dedicate their work and creativity to making our world a “smarter” place. Herman D’Hooge is one such person.

Today, Herman D’Hooge hails as a Senior Principal Engineer and Innovation Strategist at Intel. Yet, far from the fast-paced industry, innovation, and technology of Intel, D’Hooge grew up in the small village of Lennik, Belgium-–a place, he notes is known for a charmingly non-technological connection to draft horses. The bucolic landscape of Lennik might have launched an early appreciation for the nature of a village or the possibility of a city within the peacefulness of an environment, but whatever the impetus, Herman D’Hooge’s path led him to an academic background steeped in technology innovation, the accelerated world of information systems, and the concept of smart cities. With graduate degrees in electrical engineering and computer science (University of Ghent, Belgium), D’Hooge arrived stateside at Intel in 1979 as part of an exchange program between Intel and ITT Bell Telephone from Antwerp. In his exchange assignment he worked on the development of the operating system of Intel’s newest microprocessor. The knowledge gained from this project would be invaluable in designing ITT’s first generation of computer-controlled telephone switching systems after his return. As D’Hooge became increasingly immersed in the Intel project he also became increasingly fascinated with leading-edge microcomputer development. He never returned to his job at ITT Bell Telephone. In 1981 he joined Intel as a full-time employee and by doing so started a long journey in technology innovation.

Herman D'Hooge instructs his students in the Smarter Cities UO AAA interdisciplinary workshop in Portland.

For the first few decades, much of this innovation is what we, the public, experienced as a continuous stream of improvements to the PC, or the personal computer. By the mid 1990s, PCs morphed into indispensable office productivity tools as well common household objects. It was also at that time that D’Hooge’s interests shifted from technology invention and development to thinking about what it is people want from future computers. During those years, finding New Uses and New Users for computing was the mantra. Rather than building ever more powerful computers and hoping they (users) would come because they would find a good use for it, Intel wanted change in how to inform future technology roadmaps: determine first what new uses the PC should be providing by trying to peer into the minds of current and future users and have that reveal how PCs should evolve in capabilities. It was the period when Intel started experimenting with ethnographic methods to gain insights into these new users new uses. It became clear that computing would also provide value to people when delivered in forms other than computers. With most every thing in the real world on the path to eventually becoming digital or being touched by the digital revolution, opportunities for innovation were plenty.

One such opportunity occurred in 1998 when D’Hooge co-founded a joint project with toy giant Mattel®. Mattel was perhaps best known for Barbies and Hot Wheels. The venture opened in Portland’s Pearl district and set out to develop a line of PC-connected toys that enabled ways of playing enabling kids to discover, explore and create in ways connecting them to technology. The venture ran for about three years and created and marketed toys such as Intel Play QX3 computer microscope among several others. When the internet bubble was about to burst in 2001, the toy venture was closed and the business assets sold to a small toy company in Atlanta (which to this date still sells computer microscopes). D’Hooge and most of his teammates flowed back into mainstream Intel.

Returning into the fold, the experience gained by this venture in consumer products proved tremendous. D’Hooge comments that the insights gained via the processes for researching, creating, developing and marketing consumer products taught much about how to do it and how to connect all the dots from ethnographic research all the way to computer chip technology definition. He established a user centered design team focused on reimagining the PC by applying these newly learned practices. He grew a mixed discipline team of ethnographers, industrial designers, interaction designers, human factors experts, mechanical/ electrical/ software engineers, and individuals focused on business and marketing. In the years that followed, this team designed and engineered a series of purpose-built personal computer experiences ranging from pioneering all-in-one desktop PCs, PCs for consumers in China, PCs for internet cafes in China, to kiosk PCs for rural India, as well several first-of-kind computer user experience prototypes. Many of these PC designs were picked up and productized by PC manufacturers. Several of the practices by which these computers were conceived and developed slowly started to find their way into Intel’s standard set of product planning and development business processes.

In 2010, D’Hooge joined Intel’s Eco-Technology Program Office where he and the team explored the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for improving environmental sustainability. The approach was based on the simple idea that the adoption and use of ICTs in industries such as buildings, construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, and water would enable those industries to gain better insights into what goes in their systems which would, in turn, lead to better decisions and ultimately a smarter use of resources such as energy and materials, a reduction in cost, and a smaller environmental footprint. One environment where many of these systems all come together and interact which each other creating additional opportunities for innovation is within a city. This initially sparked D’Hooge’s interest in looking at the city as the unit of analysis.

Herman D'Hooge and his Smarter Portland Plan students meet with City of Portland Office of the Mayor Policy Advisor, Josh Alpert.

Curiously enough, this all ties into the University of Oregon and the School of Architecture and Allied Arts —a place that is very fortunate to have Herman D’Hooge on the school’s board of visitors and as an active and encouraging supporter of the UO AAA academic environment. Every seven years Intel offers its employees an eight-week sabbatical. It’s an ideal opportunity to renew oneself and return fully reenergized. Getting ready to start his fourth sabbatical in 2012 D’Hooge asked to spend his sabbatical teaching at UO thereby exploring his interest in integrating technologies, sustainability, product design. He hoped to also delve deeper into the smart cities concept. It turns out that a teaching sabbatical can be extended up to six months which is what ended up happening and timing was perfect for an UO AAA Fall Term course. He saw an opportunity to seamlessly blend these interests with the vibrant interdisciplinary environment of the UO Portland location, where students study in the fields of architecture, product design and digital arts.

D’Hooge, himself forever the open-source diplomat, realized the possibility of teaming up with University of Oregon students who could bring fresh pairs of eyes with insights and connectivity to a city they lived in and cared about. Fall term 2012 saw the first offering of D’Hooge’s Smart Cities workshop at the UO White Stag location in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown, 408|508 Smarter Cities Allied Arts Interdisciplinary course.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales greets Herman D'Hooge and the students of The Smarter Portland Plan.

The goal of the course “was to explore the space of possibility created by the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) in the urban environment.” D’Hooge further explains, “The focus was not on how the technology works, but on how its adoption can contribute to making cities more efficient, more environmentally sustainable, more equitable, more livable, more prosperous.” The workshop had 29 University of Oregon in Portland students. Guest lecturers for the workshop included Joe Zehnder, chief of planning with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability who introduced the students to “The Portland Plan.” Students set about to imagine recommendations they would make for where, how, and why ICT’s could make a positive impact. A report was prepared that details the strongest student suggestions (view the PDF here).

[About The Portland Plan: The Portland Plan presents a strategic roadmap to help Portland thrive into the future. The result of more than two years of research, dozens of workshops and fairs, hundreds of meetings with community groups, and 20,000 comments from residents, businesses and nonprofits, the plan’s three integrated strategies and framework for advancing equity were designed to help realize the vision of a prosperous, educated, healthy and equitable Portland.]

Not only would the students be able to work on their own environment and consider the potential of change and improvement to Portland but they would be able to connect in meaningful ways to Intel future employment opportunities. Intel and D’Hooge envision the university environment as one of forward-thinking, research oriented, open and receptive to new ideas and the intersection of those new ideas with creative people. D’Hooge was excited to explore smarter city technologies and to experience how spaces and objects could be infused with technology. The Smarter Cities workshop with the students from architecture, digital arts and product design advocated an interaction between people and spaces where thinking about technology became more of a “What can I do, as an individual, to enhance my environment? What can I do to make life better and make the planet more sustainable?” attitude. D’Hooge and his students set out to tackle this question from a uniquely Portland vantage.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales talks to students about The Smarter Portland Plan

The original Portland Plan is to be implemented by 2035. D’Hooge and his students saw an opportunity to enhance The Portland Plan by investigating how information technologies can help it be, as D’Hooge simply states, “smarter.” So, what does that mean?

“Smart” explains D’Hooge starts by obtaining better insights into what really happens in a city at the moment it happens enabling humans to make better informed decision about their city. Sensors embedded in a city’s systems (traffic lights, parking spaces, sidewalks, buildings, water pipes, etc.) in real-time communicate their information to a central location. There the information is analyzed, possibly combined with other information, and interpreted. This information forms the basis for decisions. For example: sensors in the water mains under a busy intersection can detect if a water main breaks soon after it happens. The information about the break can be used to dynamically chance traffic lights and update GPS information accessed by vehicles to route traffic away from the intersection while dispatching emergency vehicles to the area. This also illustrates how water and traffic systems can meaningfully interact in a city environment, a system of systems.

Knowing the infusion of student’s ideas into The Portland Plan could propel an evolutionary-like energy, the students enthusiastically welcomed this opportunity. Their recommendations reflect an impulse of vitality and change; their innovation projects a sense of buoyant optimism—youthful, full of promise, hope and vigorous with possibility. The list of “smart” recommendations arrived at by the UO students include such improvements as good student incentives supported by ICT devices, student tutor chats online via Skype chats, matching of students with mentors in the community via databases, new car sharing schemes, safe routes shown on maps controlled by citizens and their smartphones, smart city lighting that incorporates emergency signals and neighborhood celebratory lighting, bike-based sensors to plan cycling corridors and people aware intersections, parking improvements enhanced by the use of pre-assigned parking places, river water quality found on a phone app, and public viewing of cultural performances. “The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan” is divided into three sections, Thriving, Educated Youth; Healthy, Connected City; Economic Prosperity and Affordability.

Students and Herman D'Hooge present "The 'Smarter' Portland Plan" to City Council of Portland, Oregon.

On June 26, the Portland City Council invited Herman D’Hooge and his students to present “The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan” to the City Council. In attendance to represent the UO was Nancy Cheng, Department of Architecture director of Portland architecture program; Candace Horter, VP UO Advancement, Portland; Kiersten Muenchinger, director of the Product Design program; prominent advocates from the neighborhood included Anne Naito-Campbell, Randy Gragg and Paddy Tillett, among others. The council voted to adopt the plan and Mayor Charlie Hales commented that the report constituted a “rich menu of interesting ideas.” In the weeks following the June presentation, the UO in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts was contacted by the City Club of Portland’s executive director, Sam Adams and asked to present the Plan to the City Club at a future date.

D’Hooge’s “”Smarter’ Portland Plan” might hold the key to integrating more and “smarter” information technologies as 2035 approaches. The citizens of Portland might experience a community of well-integrated sensors, antennas, smartphones, and command and control centers—all with the intention of making this place better. The enticing possibility of such day-to-day frustrations such as parking downtown becoming easier by a simple sensor that would send data to a command center and then update an application on one’s smartphone directing and saving a specific parking place might be a more realistic possibility than not in the coming years. The idea that real-time information can be used to improve an experience of an urban environment with everything from road closures, to viewing concerts, to bus delays, to whether or not today is a good day to swim in the river, is nothing short of captivating.

Herman D'Hooge and students present "The 'Smarter' Portland Plan" to the Portland City Council.

The work on The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan also laid a foundation for a continued collaboration between the city and Portland-based UO students. The idea of embedding UO students as “community creatives” in city project teams can be a win-win. The city taps the creativity and passion of the students and brings in their knowledge and point of view. Students get to work of projects that are likely to become real and get exposure to the real world.

To envision a city where, we, the people, are relevant, listened to, informed and would have the possibility of a democratic exchange of ideas and information seems a utopia we all should advocate for. And living in an urban fabric where the city can find ways to share information with no commercial purpose, dare we dream so big? One might say, the time has come. . . .

University of Oregon students in Herman D’Hooge’s Smarter Cities workshop who prepared “The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan are,

Teressa Chizeck

Natalie Cregar

Elizabeth Hampton

Natasha Michalowsky

Eli Rosenwasser

“The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan” is available here. [link to pdf]

Thank you to Herman D’Hooge for his comments and work on this project.

Resources:

Office of the Mayor | Acceptance of the Report “The ‘Smarter’ Portland Plan”

Moore’s Law | Intel

The Portland Plan

2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition "Speaking Between" at Portland's Disjecta May 4-26

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Sabina Poole

Taking A Place in Front of the Public Eye:
2013 MFA Work at Disjecta in Portland

Disjecta is a space where one almost has come to expect a certain élan to the work exhibited. It is a place where a stage of discussion and dialogue is consistently and comfortably set; where the democracy of exhibit, the inspiration of collaboration, and the articulation of idea is given a sphere accessible to public exploration and appreciation. The exhibitions at Disjecta find a realness to their communication delivering works of art to the public with an understanding of the requisite of flow and of quiet observation.

Into this healthy environment of engagement, the 2013 MFA candidates brought the work that would bind them forever to the award of their Master of Fine Arts degree, the exhibition Speaking Between. Mirroring the global focus of the Art Department faculty who are internationally exhibited artists, and complementing the extensive and consistent outreach of the program, which brings internationally recognized artists to the Eugene campus to work directly with the students, the Portland exhibition engages with Oregon’s most globally-recognized metropolis.

Choosing to collaborate with Disjecta for this exhibition and hosting a public reception, the UO Department of Art faculty delivered the student work to a place well-recognized and highly respected in the Portland art context. Disjecta offered a gallery where the MFA students would be thrust into the saturated world of experienced gallerists and the well-trained eye of some of Portland’s most highly respected curators and critics, not to mention a public that dearly loves its art exhibits.

Oregon ArtsWatch writer, Patrick Collier, explained the relevance of the MFA exhibit and exposing the student work to a new community:

In many ways, MFA candidates find themselves between two worlds. As students they are engaged in a somewhat closed dialogue with their mentors while at the same time they are trying to develop their own voice. Having seen very many graduating MFA exhibits over the last twenty years, I can often tell when that conversation favors the teacher’s way of approaching the world more than how the young artist has begun to interpret it. The diversity of work and level of sophistication presented in “Speaking Between” suggests that UO’s Art Department faculty has sufficiently prepared their students for the next step in their education, which is to make art on their own and thereby continue the conversation with a larger audience. After all, this is the purpose of such a show, to introduce these students to their new community.

As Collier notes, “[introducing] these students to their new community” has benefits that far surpass the immediate — effectively catapulting the newly anointed artist into the world at large. Such opportunities for exchange and recognition are greatly appreciated by the students. Wendi Michelle Turchan comments,

I was very excited about having the show at Disjecta in Portland. It was a great opportunity to have larger visibility for my work and I thought the turnout at the opening was amazing. It was a great chance to meet new people and talk with them about myself and my work.

Student Ian Clark remarks,

[Showing] our work in a space like Disjecta is wonderful. It is a beautiful space, and it has garned a reputation for organizing interesting shows. Portland itself is becoming more and more recognized as a legitimate place for artists to live and work, so it’s nice to be a part of that. . . .

Responsive to the occasion was also student, Meg Branlund, confirming:

Having the opportunity to exhibit our thesis work in Portland has been amazing. Being in the small community of Eugene for the last three years, I constantly find myself making the trek up to Portland to be able to see and experience facets of the larger Northwest art scene, things like TBA, lectures at Reed College, and gallery and museum exhibitions. So, to be able to show work directly within this community at Disjecta is something that is great for the visibility of the MFA program overall, and for us as individual artists. It feels like I am able to participate in, and contribute to the greater Oregon art scene, and that feels great….to know that my work reaches a larger audience than it would had the exhibition been held in Eugene.

Gallerist Jane Bebee of PDXContemporary tours the exhibition.

The audience that was privy to the unveiling of this MFA work at Disjecta was, itself, quite noteworthy. Disjecta is warmly embraced, salon-like by the blissfully dernier cri art and cultural partisans of the region and has a sort of vanguardesque following of Portland’s vibrantly artistically active and aware. Along with this is the casual observation that Disjecta is clearly beloved by a youthful urbane population which always helps to solidify an invaluable bohemian-like sophistication let alone reverence. Not only is the venue sort of an “it” place for art seekers and voyeurs of the creative, it is, of course, frequented by some of the regions most respected gallerists and curators. The May 3rd opening was no exception as the MFA exhibitors conversed with attendees such as Jane Bebee of PDX Contemporary and Daniel Peabody director of Elizabeth Leach Gallery, among others.

Student Meg Branlund describes the opening reception and the audience at Disjecta:

It was an overwhelming experience, in the best way. Between the preview reception for friends and family, and the public reception . . . I enjoyed every minute. It was great to see the breadth of visitors at the opening, being able to interact with people from the University, Eugene and Portland art communities that I recognized, and having the opportunity to meet new people and chat about the work and the exhibition overall was great. It really was a perfect evening to enjoy what felt like the culminating event of my career as a Masters candidate.

As the show nears its May 26th closing date, and the Master of Fine Arts candidates complete their final days in the graduate program, the sense of having successfully introduced this group to a receptive audience and a welcoming community exhales with a quiet breath of accomplishment. As MFA candidate Clark explains, “The Department of Art offers tremendous support for us, not only during the process of organizing this exhibition, but during our entire time in the program. It’s really a great place and the people here are incredible.” It has been a good, a very good, few years.

Taking the work and the experience, or considering “the entire time in the program,” Oregon Artswatch Collier profoundly informs us that

Being an artist first requires that one is paying close attention to the world at large and this includes the recent history of art that we would call “contemporary.” What one does with that information is what distinguishes one artist from another.

Indeed, if we are to believe Camille Paglia (“How Capitalism Can Save Art”) part of the salvation, or rather the success of up and coming artists lies in a keenly developed understanding and ability to work within the confines and liberties afforded by a capitalistic, market-oriented society. Paglia confronts us with the query, “Does art have a future” and progresses to “What do contemporary artists have to say and to whom are they saying it?” Lamenting that “too many artists have lost touch with the general audience and have retreated to an airless echo chamber,” we begin to understand the dynamic and even greater importance of bringing our students out into the world, of delivering them into a place where they can reach an audience, and not “retreat into an airless echo chamber,” but as Collier so aptly pronounced, a place where they can “[pay] close attention.”

With a rather bitter assessment of the young artists emerging today, Paglia might seem to damn the new generations with her comments,

Young people today are avidly immersed in this hyper-technological environment, where their primary aesthetic experiences are derived from beautifully engineered industrial design. Personalized hand-held devices are their letters, diaries, telephones and newspapers, as well as their round-the-clock conduits for music, videos and movies. But there is no spiritual dimension to an iPhone, as there is to great works of art.

Without misplaced hubris, the “Speaking Between” work exhibited at the MFA exhibition confidently seems to translate beyond this condemnation. From the onyx-y dust and flake-like whispers of Meg Branlund’s photographic ash to the azure brilliance of Turchan’s oil-on-paper to the Buddhist inspiration of Nance’s work, we can find a thread of depth that might allude to Paglia’s plea for spirituality. These are individuals who are exploring their universe using means other than just the purely technological: look at Robert Collier Beam’s and Katherine Rondina’s silver gelatin prints; or Emily Crabtree’s swirling surfaces of oil, Aubrey Hillman’s gleaming hardware and mythical constructed elements. Even the videos here are revealing examinations of human experience and psychological conditions, see work by Lenoir, Clark and Kaiser. And, as one can’t help but wonder about the heights reached by Katherine Spinella and her fascination for the disgarded and the repurposed; or be motivated to scrutinize Morgan Rosskopf’s cultural concoctions, we find a plethora of exploration. Even Collier lauds the work and singles out that of Meg Branlund and Micheal Stephen, (“I am always on the look out for stand-outs, whether it be a new or seasoned artist, and I do so within the fringes of the territory that is my own aesthetic taste and narrative….”): and boldly proclaims, “This year it is Meg Branlund for her phenomenological investigation of photography and Michael Stephen for his stunning command of the space allotted him in the gallery;” we are invited into a place where these emerging creatives present to us something meaningful, mindful, observant of their world.

The 2013 MFA artists, carefully taught and guided by the outstanding efforts of the faculty of the UO Department of Art seem to be propelled beyond the dismal prediction of Paglia’s. May we be honored to say that perhaps the introduction of their work into the capitalist metropolis of the city of Portland and their time in Eugene, both places rife with lucrative and successful galleries, bursting with all aspects of a society complete with those able to purchase and those able to look and, without a doubt, those willing and able to appreciate, to curate, to critique, to write and to report—our region is rich in offering opportunity for integration and recognition. It is with opportunity and exposure that exhibitions like this at Disjecta will assist in encouraging our graduates into a marketplace where to be a part of an economy and to live in and contribute to that market will play a key role in their assimilation into the art world. Perhaps in some significant way with the “UO’s Art Department faculty [who have] sufficiently prepared their students for the next step in their education, which is to make art on their own and thereby continue the conversation with a larger audience. . . .” (P Collier) will with the carefully planned introduction of the student work to Northwest audiences spawn many experiences for these MFA candidates in a marketplace, and in an arts-loving region.

And that is, certainly, art and artists with a future.

View images at the finish of this blog post and from the opening reception of Speaking Between, on Facebook.

The 2013 MFA Students are,