poster for my show at OSU

I traveled down to Corvalis, Oregon last week for the opening reception of my show, Surface. Form. Stitch. at Oregon State University. I finally got to meet Doug Russell, the curator after months of emails and phone calls. He and the students in his Installation Class did a very nice job of putting up the work. The show looks great. I hadn’t seen most the work in person in a while and it was a little like visiting old friends.

Speaking of old friends, I was happy to see my friend and artist, Margot Lovinger, show up with her son, Eliott. They moved from Seattle to Eugene about two years ago when Elliott was just a toddler. Now he’s four and quite a charmer. It was nice surprise to see familiar faces.

Foster/White usually shows my work in groupings of two or three. Here each piece was hung separately. It gave the pieces breathing room. It wasn’t a better or worse way to display them, it was just different and I thought very effective in the space.

During the reception I gave a talk to the students. I had prepared something but I realized when I got there it was much too formal. So I tried to make my talk more appropriate to students who are looking at making their way into the art world outside of school. They were very attentive and some were even taking notes, I still can’t get used to that. Doug assigns a student “host” to introduce them to the artists. He told me that if I was talking to a faculty member that I should excuse myself to talk with the students, after all, the show is for them. I really liked those priorities.

It was a good trip. I spread it out over a few days and stayed with my sister, JoAnn, in Portland for two nights. I had fun while I was there strolling the galleries, doing a bit of shopping, and going to the art museum. I even squeezed in a visit with Marci McDade and her husband, Eric Wert. I got to visit Eric’s studio where he had just finished a painting. Wow! He does photo-realistic work in oils and the piece I saw was  just stunning! To see some of his work click here.

So a good trip and I’m happy to be home for a week. In a couple days we are leaving for a family trip to Los Angeles. There we will visit family, see some museums, and soak in some sunshine. And then no more traveling until Summer! Hopefully I can finally get to work. It’s been too long since I’ve dyed any cloth.

Surface. Form. Stitch. at the Fairbanks Gallery