Galleries open for Winter Term

At a Glance

What: Galleries open for winter term.
Who: Featuring the work of Kurt Norlin, Jim Adams, Robin Cushman, Bill and Jane Siebler
When: Exhibits open Jan. 4. Norlin’s exhibit closes Jan. 29 and Adams’s and Cushman’s closes Feb. 26. Siebler exhibit closes March 19.
Where: North Santiam (Adams and Cushman)and South Santiam Hall (Kurt Norlin) Siebler Glass (Library and South Santiam Hall)
Gallery Hours: Weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More information: Phone: 541-917-4638.

What do students do when they are waiting for classes in North Santiam Hall or South Santiam Hall? Visit the galleries!

At least that is what some do.

Diedra Peters says, "Actually, I like looking at exhibits. They're more entertaining than looking at white walls!"

Alyssa Johnson, who says she looks at the exhibits almost every day, quickly points to Robin Cushman’s painting entitled “Caravanserai” and says, “My favorite one is that one!”

"Actually, I look quite often," says Jeremy Cornforth. "I take the time to stop and look one or two times a week when I'm walking around the building."

While some shows generate more interest than others, the galleries are one way students and the community gain exposure to culture. That is one goal of the department. Everyone cannot travel the world, the region, or even the city to find the work that is displayed. By bringing a variety of shows on campus, culture is brought to the campus community.

This term, the works of photographers Kurt Norlin and Robin Bachtler Cushman, artist Jim Adams, and Bill and Jane Siebler's glass collection are featured.

Adams' and Cushman's exhibit, "Twist", and the Siebler's "A Passion for Glass" display are located in the North Santiam Hall gallery. A portion of the glass collection is also located in the library.

Norlin's display, “Desert Dance”, is located in the South Santiam gallery.

The Art Selection Process and Purpose--
The art department’s selection team has a specific interest in showing high-quality art created by artists in the Pacific Northwest each term. However, it is not just there "to collect dust," or break up the monotony of bare walls.

Gary Westford and Rich Bergeman (gallery coordinator and former LBCC instructor) are part of the team that selects the artists and the works that will be displayed each year. Westford says, “The team is specifically interested in showing high-quality work featuring Pacific Northwest artists that we can share with students and the community in general.”

Westford, Fine Arts instructor, says, “All of us are extremely busy with life—classes, kids, the economy—and I can see where it is easy to not take time to look at works of art. We are over-stimulated in our culture...we need to take time.”

Bergeman says, “Everybody who passes [the exhibits] and even takes a casual glance might have a nice break in their day. It only takes a little bit of art to plant a seed for the future. It enriches our outlook on life.”

Librarian Brian Miyagashima is very supportive of using library display areas for exhibits and commented, “It’s good to integrate art into the environment of this campus."

The Artists and Their Displays--
If you like rather abstract, kind of "weird" types of art, Jim Adams gives you several opportunities to try to figure out where his mind was or what he was thinking as he was creating.

Adams, a California native, has taught at Oregon State University and LBCC.

In a recent LBCC news release he said, "My artwork is a kind of spontaneous expression of some sort of inner tale that wants to be told. I am not telling specific stories so much as presenting a state of mind. My goal is to create imagery that will be intriguing to the viewer in its complexity, humor, and technical excellence.”

And that's one good reason to view his work. You can actually spend a lot of time trying to discover the state of mind Adams was in at the time or the state of mind he wants you to land in as you study his work. The imagery is definitely complex and humorous.

His figures remind me of dolls made from cotton-filled nylon stockings. They are whimsical, fanciful, and yet, if you look long enough, you can see some of life's realities portrayed. One instructor saw his family life.

If it is your cup of tea, you will find it intriguing.

Kurt Norlin, an Oregon native and former LBCC instructor stated, “Photographing the land is kind of a dance between the photographer, the camera, the land, the light and the weather.” He is also a former LBCC instructor.

His work takes you into the great expanses of the high desert. It is almost as though you were there to see it yourself--to feel the wind blowing your hair. Your eyes search for the distant horizon.

On Thursday, Jan. 21, Norlin will present a gallery talk at a reception from 7:30-9 p.m. in the SSH Gallery, "where he will discuss his own work as well as the tradition of panoramic landscape photography in the American West," according to LBCC's news release. Students and the community are invited.

Cushman, another Oregonian, is a commercial and fine art photographer who reportedly says that she is "interested in the ways in which nature is repackaged and re-presented and how humans interact with such artificially constructed nature.”

Her work shows the incredible possibilities you can create in your own space, if you have the imagination. If you don't she shows you what others have done with theirs. Like other students, I wanted to make changes to my own yard space.

Bill and Jane Siebler, retired educators and current Corvallis residents, have been collecting glasswork since the late 70s. Their collection includes the works of artists from the Northwest and from around the world. There are several pieces made by Bill, who has now become a skilled marble maker.

Marbles are supposed to be "cats' eyes" and such things. These artists create flowers and the put them inside a glass ball and call that a marble.

Who could play a game with such a fantastic item?

The glass pieces range from vases, to plates, to creatures and paperweights--each with amazing form and colors. They really make you want to take a trip to the nearest glass factory to watch or even try your hand at making a piece.

Those opportunities are available not far away in Eugene (studios and a glass school) and Newport (studios, galleries and classes).

“Desert Dance” will be on display through Jan. 29 in SSH. “Twist” can be viewed through Feb. 26 and will occupy both floors of NSH. "A Passion for Glass" can be seen until March 19.