Month: February 2021

Join SOU Senior Tyler Noland for an introduction to the work of Storm Tharp one the artists in the Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts exhibition ‘What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts’. This exhibition will be on view on the Schneider Museum of Art’s website during the Winter of 2021.

There is something intoxicating about the way ink combines with paper, which is something 2014 Hallie Ford Fellow Storm Tharp is very familiar with. An Oregon native, Tharp has spent the last several years in Japan. His artwork has changed and morphed over his career, matching the evolution of the human experience as one’s life changes with the ebbs and flows of different periods. Tharp is one of the thirteen artists featured in the Schneider’s virtual winter exhibition What Needs to be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts, as well as a participant in the Creative Industries Discussion series currently held via zoom.

Tharp’s work in the winter exhibition entitled Cadre, is a collection of thirty-six ink works on paper arranged in a grid style. Best known for his figurative drawings and paintings which combine hyper realism and splashes of color created with ink, this exhibition is an example of how his work has evolved and grown out of that place. While Tharp’s style and mediums have changed over the years, his work tends to come back to portraiture, and this collection is no exception. The thirty-six rectangles alternate between open spaces influenced by different colored ink, and abstractionist portraits which seem to have an intimate relationship with the space around them. This work steps away from hyper realism, capturing instead the depth and character of the figures in his portraits. Cadre captures emotions rather than realism, evoking a mood in viewers which is less easily explained. Each face holds a narrative, a narrative which seems to even bleed out beyond the edges of the page.

This exhibition is a champion of mood and form, capturing an imperfect kind of clarity which feels more honest and human. Tharp is an artist who challenges his work to never get stuck. His paintings have even diverged further from this exhibition in even more recent collections. This desire to always keep moving and evolving seems to get caught on the page, giving narrative to paintings, and creating portraits worthy of spending time with.

Tharp is the third artist featured in the winter exhibition’s creative industries discussion series, speaking on Thursday February 18th, 2021 at 12:30pm PST. The creative industries discussions give further insight to the artist’s work and practice, as well as providing an opportunity for community questions. This series is now being held via zoom due to COVID-19 safety and restrictions.

The Winter Exhibition What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts will be available to view virtually on the Schneider Museum of Art’s website until March 6, 2021.

Tyler Noland is a senior Creative Writing major at Southern Oregon University. She is originally from the Bay Area, and this is her third year at the Schneider Museum of Art. While not working on her writing she enjoys making collages with vintage magazines.

Join SOU Senior Tyler Noland for an introduction to the work of MK Guth one the artists in the Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts exhibition ‘What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts’. This exibition will be on view on the Schneider Museum of Art’s website during the Winter of 2021.

When most people think of art their minds go to things more classically displayed in art museums like paintings, or sculptures, but that isn’t always the case, sometimes art is about engagement or performance, the non-classical. 2015 Hallie Ford Fellow MK Guth has had a long career making art that’s focus is more on the social rather than applied. Guth is an artist and educator, and one of the thirteen artists featured in the Schneider’s virtual winter exhibition What Needs to be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts. In fact, Guth’s work is where this exhibition drew its title from, referencing her series of interactive books with the same name. MK Guth is one of the winter exhibition artists participating in the Creative Industries Discussion series currently held via zoom.

Guth’s artwork has long been based around public interaction and engagement. Coming from a background of sociology before moving into art, her artwork helps the public to engage with work in a social manner, making artwork about the collective. Her projects have included many different kinds of ideas over the years, from an interactive taxi service, to creating dinner party instructions, but always share the theme of preserving public engagement where she provides the instructions. That is the basis of her work What Needs to be Said featured in the winter exhibition.

What Needs to Be Said is a collection of ten empty books whose titles prompt viewers to fill their pages with their own thoughts and opinions. Half the books share the title of the exhibition, “What Needs to Be Said”, each with their own subcategory including Love, Art, Identity, Politics, and Ecology. The other half of the books are entitled, “A Memory About”, with each book’s individual title being: place, adventure, sorrow, happiness, and love. Each of these books has 1,000 blank pages with the aim that viewers of the exhibition will fill them with their thoughts and lives. Once they are full, they will be sealed and kept as a preservation of the collective experience. While these works cannot be engaged with in the same way due to COVID-19, the concepts of what they ask viewers to participate in are still very alive. MK Guth asks the public to consider the social potential of art in ways that feel fresh and engaging, opening participants to be a part of the experience she designed. Allowing us all to dig deeper into the small moments of our lives.

Guth is the second artist featured in the winter exhibition’s creative industries discussion series, speaking on Thursday February 4th, 2021 at 12:30pm PST. The creative industries discussions give further insight to the artist’s work and practice, as well as providing an opportunity for community questions. This series is now being held via zoom due to COVID-19 safety and restrictions.

The Winter Exhibition What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts will be available to view virtually on the Schneider Museum of Art’s website until March 6, 2021.

Tyler Noland is a senior Creative Writing major at Southern Oregon University. She is originally from the Bay Area, and this is her third year at the Schneider Museum of Art. While not working on her writing she enjoys making collages with vintage magazines.