Book Arts Department Head Barb Tetenbaum and book arts faculty Marilyn Zornado screened their letterpress-printed animation short “Old-Time Film” in December at IPRC in Portland. It was followed by a discussion of the process of making the film which they have dubbed “Vander-mation”. The project is supported by a grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council.

OCAC staff member Lena Welker recently had an exhibition of her newest work at North Dakota Museum of Art. Click the link to see the interview with her in conjunction with the show.
http://studio1.und.edu/video/12-09-10/stories12-09-10.html.

Image: Christine Clark
Christine Clark, Metals Department Head, is showing “Collective Object: An Installation by Christine Clark,“ February 3-27, 2011 at Nine Gallery in Portland. An opening reception will take place on February 3 from 6:00-9:00pm at the gallery space, 122 NW 8th Ave.

“Collective Object” is an abstract account of objects in our lives. Objects encircle us daily, tangible elements that make up our homes, which hold an importance that varies with each individual. We collect objects for fun, investment, relaxation, social interaction, nostalgia, control and a host of other reasons reaching back to basic human instinct and the will to survive. The notion of ownership gives us a sense of power and compels us to hold on to those objects. They often serve as markers of time reminding us of something significant that takes precedence in our minds. Even as these objects shift importance from some heightened significance to something forgotten, our desire to hang on to that object still prevails.

As an abstract idea, the objects in the installation transcend from something specific to a generic representation of who we are and why we collect. Each of the 65 hand-made objects that course around the walls of the gallery is white, on white shelves against white walls.

“I want to represent a commonality in people that removes us from the specifics of being an individual transforming us into a collective whole. None of the objects in this exhibition are meant to represent anything specific. The objects transform in shape from one thing into another suggesting the transformation of meaning objects hold in our lives. As a whole, it creates a singular experience of suspended meaning. It resounds with latent memories of things or ideas once felt but become intangible with time. It is a narrative that is no longer yours.“

Image: Michael deForest
Wood faculty Michael deForest will lecture about his recent apprenticeship as a fantasy coffin-maker in Ghana on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:30pm in the Catlin Gabel Cabell Center at 8825 SW Barnes Rd in Portland.

Michael de Forest spent two and a half months in Ghana in the summer of 2009 with Eric Adjetey Anang, grandson of the originator of fantasy coffin making in the Ga community. These wooden coffins are assembled, carved, and painted in many fantastic shapes meaningful to their intended recipient—including fish, trucks, bottles of beer, pens, and boats. While in Ghana de Forest learned to appreciate not only his mentors’ practical techniques, but also the way they make creative choices collaboratively.

In addition to talking about his experience, illustrated by many images, he will speak about how practical knowledge and creative thinking work together in the making of art.

Four OCAC faculty- Anna Fidler, Cynthia Lahti, Michelle Ross, and Heidi Schwegler- and OCAC alumni Ryan Pierce were chosen out of nearly 300 nomination as finalists for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards presented by the Portland Art Museum. Read more at
http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2011/01/portland_art_museum_announces_1.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2011/01/analysis_the_finalists_for_the.html

Image: Karl Burkheimer
Karl Burkheimer, Wood Department Head, is showing new work at Disjecta gallery in Portland February 26-March 26, 2011. Burkheimer writes, “My work, the creative endeavor, lives in the making, the act and art of transforming materials into form and meaning. I challenge myself to create work that addresses explicit functions without adhering to doctrines of performance, suggesting unknown or esoteric use—the contemplative object. While space cannot be created though direct physical acts of making (e.g. cutting, folding, welding, hammering, painting, etc.), it, or the illusion of it, is manipulated through the creation of objects and images. Following the trajectory of my recent work and inspired by vernacular/purposeful architecture this constructed object is aspiring to inhabit and alter Disjecta’s 3500 square feet of exhibition space. The piece, will exists as a sculptural/artistic image, yet it will elicit and rely on a haptic experience from the viewer/user to reach its full potential.“
http://www.disjecta.org