Winter Exhibition Features Oregon Artists Selected by New York/Wisconsin Curator

Schneider Museum of Art

This winter, the Schneider Museum of Art presents Exploring Reality, an exhibition curated by Shane McAdams and Scott Malbaurn that consists of nine artists who delve into and explore reality to complement the Southern Oregon University (SOU) campus theme. The participating artists work in many mediums, including painting, printmaking, installation, and sculpture.  The community is invited to the opening reception of Exploring Reality on Thursday, January 14, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM.

SOU’s Center for the Humanities has assembled a series of academic events throughout the year to investigate the theme of exploring reality with the goal “for the campus and our larger community to engage in rigorous intellectual conversations about this challenging subject, informed by the latest research, scholarship, and insights from a wide variety of perspectives.”  The Schneider Museum of Art is happy to collaborate with them this term to provide the insight of artists and curators.

By working with an outside curator, Shane McAdams, who is based in Wisconsin and New York, the Schneider Museum of Art is not only bringing great art from the state of Oregon to our region, but bringing national exposure to these Oregon artists. This type of reach helps to cultivate Oregon’s artistic ecology and further the careers of Oregon artists.  Co-curator and Schneider Museum of Art Director Scott Malbaurn writes that “A vital component of this exhibition includes an outside curator and a spotlight on Oregon artists.  We acknowledge the boundless talent that Oregon has amongst its contemporary art scene and we have made note of the need to expose others beyond the borders of Oregon to this talent.”

Nine artists will be featured in Exploring Reality: Shane McAdams, a writer, curator, artist, and professor who splits time between Cedarburg, Wisconsin and Brooklyn, New York; Laura Vandenburgh, a Springfield, OR based artist who recently exhibited in Wolkenschauen, a traveling group exhibition in Germany; Charlene Liu, a printmaker based in Eugene, OR who has been reviewed in The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times; Tia Factor, a Portland, OR based painter who has exhibited internationally from Oregon and Chicago to Denmark and Tasmania; Robin Strangfeld, a faculty member at SOU whose ceramic work has been exhibited in such places as Wayne State University and Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan; Laurel Bustamante, a painter based in Ashland who was a finalist for the Portland Art Museum’s Contemporary Northwest Art Awards in 2013; Ellen Lesperance, a Portland, OR based artist whose work is in the public collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Kadist Art Foundation; Ryan Pierce, an artist from Portland, OR who, aside from his painting, is co-founder of Signal Fire, a group that facilitates wilderness retreats for artists; and Malia Jensen, a sculptor from Portland, OR who explores complex themes such as the intersection of reality and myth through her work. Jensen has been publicly commissioned multiple times by the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Oregon.

The installation by Laura Vandenburgh is part of the Southern Oregon Site Project. This project, funded in part by The Ford Family Foundation, Roseburg, OR, is designed to support the development and presentation of new art by Oregon artists. Southern Oregon University students served as assistants to the artists during the installation process.  This experience is providing students insight into the artistic process, as well as valuable experience working with professional artists as they construct their works in place.

Please join us for the opening reception of Exploring Reality on January 14 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Quady North will be generously donating pouring wine at the reception. In addition, free public lectures are scheduled to take place in Meese Auditorium with co-curator Shane McAdams on January 11 at 5:30 PM, artist Ryan Pierce on February 8 at 5:30 PM, and artist Malia Jensen on March 7 at 3:30 PM. Three FREE Family Days will complement the exhibition this season on January 23, February 20, and March 19 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The Museum will also hold Tuesday Tours – weekly docent-led educational tours for the public on Tuesdays at noon. The Museum provides docent-led tours for school and community groups, please call to schedule a special tour for your group.

The Schneider Museum of Art’s winter exhibition is generously supported by Pyle-DeForest Charitable Foundation, supporting the arts of Southern Oregon, Southern Oregon University Center for the Humanities, The Ford Family Foundation, Roseburg, OR, the Oregon Arts Commission, and Quady North.