Dreaming Like a Beehive

Kate Wagle

May 22 – June 2, 2023

Gallery hours: Monday – Friday from 12:00-5:00 p.m.

Reception: Friday, June 2 from 5:00-7:00 p.m., remarks at 6:00 p.m.

510 Oak Street, Main Space Gallery
Eugene, OR 97403

Dreaming Like a Beehive

This show is new work, in a new medium that has allowed me to move swiftly through a breathtaking range of ideas and image making.

I’m interested in visual practices that inform both scientific and contemplative products of knowledge; art and science – two ways of understanding the same world. I photograph the botanical environment of an iconic 1903 park in Portland, Oregon, examining it as a carefully curated collection. I also researched, documented and considered the origins of historical botanical illustrations from collections in England, France and the USA.

Much of this work is comprised of layers of pigment printed images from multiple sources, paralleling the physical process of discovery in the historical research. Most recently, work with botanical color palettes lead to complex structures; ‘plaids’. Research into those patterns in textiles revealed a disturbing colonial history, requiring consideration of the transactional drivers of western science and colonial exploration. 
– Kate Wagle, 2023

This exhibition is made possible by the Center for Art Research, a Career Opportunity Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation, and a Finrow Research Award from the UO School of Art and Design.

Research Credits: Royal Botanic Gardens – Kew Library, Trustees of London Museum of Natural History; National Museum of Natural History, Paris; Smithsonian Museum of Natural History; Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Artwork with light blue watery swirls surrounding a historical portrait in the center.
Colorful plaid design with negative space and stripes of blue, pink, green, yellow.

Image 1: Poor Sydney, Pigment Print, 6”x 9”, Image Credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
Image 2: Palette, Pigment Print, 40”x60” 

Headshot of Kate Wagle.

Kate Wagle has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally since 1980. Her work has been the subject of numerous articles and reviews, and is included in collections in Massachusetts, Illinois and Washington among others. She was awarded a regional artist fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts by Wisconsin Arts. As a UO professor of art, she served as Director of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon in Portland 2008-2015, prior to that as Head of the Department of Art at UO in Eugene 1999-2008. She previously held faculty and administrative positions at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, New Mexico State University and Montana State University. She launched, with The Ford Family Foundation, Connective Conversations, Critic and Curator Tour in 2011 and managed the program until 2018.