Schneider Museum of Art

Blog of Contemporary Art Museum of the Rogue Valley. Part of the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon.

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Artist Spotlight: Stephanie Syjuco

Born in 1974, in Manila, Philippines Stephanie Syjuco is a mixed-media conceptual artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area who received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from Stanford University. Much of her participatory work explores strange, capitalistic world of production, consumption and waste, and how different cultures become neutralized.

Neutral Orchids (Phalaenopsis + Dracena sanderana) 2016, 20” x 15”

Photographic series Neutral Orchids consists of living orchids, spray painted with industrial gray primer then photographed against a neutral gray seamless background. Only a small portion missed by the paint exposes its existence as a living being. Orchids, seen as both exotic and domestic, have been cloned and publicly marketed to the point where most households have them shelved on windowsills or end tables. Syjuco uses these orchids, suspended between life and death and using their last bit of strength to bloom before death, to articulate the physical burden of cultural representation.

Cargo Cults (Headbundle), 2016, 40” x 30”

In her Cargo Cults photographic series, Syjuco plays on the consumption and the popular fantasies associated with ‘ethnic’ patterning. Each garment used in the photo shoot, bought from stores like Forever21, American Apparel, Target, H&M, Urban Outfitters, and many others, were returned for full refund as a reminder of how easy it is to lose interest in the fantasy. Pulling from other works, Syjuco uses a WWI technique – called ‘dazzle camouflage’ – of painting battleships with black and white graphic patters to confuse enemies.

These works and other artwork by Stephanie Syjuco, are on view until May 25, 2019 at Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon.

The exhibition is in partnership with the Ashland Independent Film Festival and a celebration of the film Apocalypse Now’s 40th anniversary.

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Artist Spotlight: Matthew Picton

Born in London, England, in 1960, Matthew Picton studied history and politics at the London School of Economics. When Pictor creates his pieces, he works cultural history, geography, and politics of the specific city into his cartographic works of art. Much of his work is made with various types of paper and images, in which he uses an exact-o knife to cut out individual shapes or street labyrinths, some artworks amassing around 700 to 800 pieces. 

Matthew Picton, Apocalypse Now (2018), 34” x 25” 

Picton studies each city and geographical point so that the layers represent the changes human populations force into the land. Whether it is with each building of a town, the diversions of river systems, parsing of land for farming, the scars revolutions and wars leave, or how knowledge in technologies expand the horizons of city limits, he takes the time to keep historical integrity.

Matthew Picton, Congo River #2 (2018), 10’ diameter

Matthew Picton’s artwork is currently on view as part of the curated exhibition APOCALYPSE until May 25, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon.

The exhibition is in partnership with the Ashland Independent Film Festival and in celebration of the film Apocalypse Now’s 40th anniversary.

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Artist Spotlight: Bruce Bayard

Born in the city of Orange, California, self-taught artist Bruce Bayard works with video collage and a branch of mathematics called Chaos Theory. Before switching to digital images, Bayard was an accomplished professional painter, working with collage and mixed media. After a few decades of trying new forms of media, in 2000 he began working with Photoshop.

Bruce Bayard, Triptychs 2019-04, 2019, video collage (html, css, js, png, gif, jpg, mp4), still image

The piece Triptychs 2019-04 has a complex layering of visuals where one may see the movement of clouds beneath layers of honeycomb patterns and flowers and language. Much like this piece, Bayard applies code similar to that found in web pages in order to make complex, non-repetitive, continually changing collages of projected imagery. As with this piece, Bruce Bayard collaborates often with composer Todd Barton on control voltage therapy, in which the two artists create a space with quadraphonic sound. 

Bruce Bayard, Triptychs 2019-04, 2019, video collage (html, css, js, png, gif, jpg, mp4), still image

Bruce Bayard’s artwork is on view until May 25, 2019 at Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon.

The exhibition is in partnership with the Ashland Independent Film Festival and a celebration of the film Apocalypse Now’s 40th anniversary.

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Artist Spotlight: David Bithell

Multi-disciplinary artist and Southern Oregon University professor David Bithell (b. 1976) pulls the worlds of new technology, contemporary music, theater, visual art, and performance into an interactive, multisensory experience. Much of his work revolves around abstract narratives that fall between tragedy and comedy with a hint of ambiguity. His art has been presented at major venues in the United States, Europe (France, Switzerland, and Lithuania), and Asia. Bithell received his BA from University of California, San Diego and his PhD from University of California, Berkeley. 

Timber, 2018. Live performance. 

In 2018, Bithell collaborated with Cody Bustamante Terry Longshore and Left Edge Percussion to perform Michael Gordon’s Timber using six amplified wooden Simantras where each percussionist has distinct rhythms to create the eerie dynamic. Together with Bustamante, Bithell created a generated video work projected onto three screens to compliment the sounds of Timber, in which Bustamante drew the fragments and Bithell animated them. 

David Bithell, Apple Blossom, 2018, generative animation.

This work, along with his unique and delicate video piece Apple Blossom, 2018, is currently on display at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon as part of the curated exhibition From Ignorance to Wisdom which is on view from January 24 until March 16, 2019. For more information visit sma.sou.edu.

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Artist Spotlight: Susan Murrell

Painting focused installation artist Susan Murrell creates site specific pieces that move from nebular portals to the more organic and plastic. Murrell received her BA in visual arts and printmaking at University of Northern Colorado and her MFA in painting at Savannah College of Art and Design. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Eastern Oregon University. In spring of 2018 Murrell became one of the artists running Carnation Contemporary, an artist run gallery in Portland Oregon.

Susan Murrell, we are all cosmic dust (Installation shot), 2017, watercolor, vinyl, and acrylic paint on polymer paper, sign vinyl, pedestals, leather remnants

Susan Murrell uses natural elements such as gravity, evaporation, and time to create her paintings. we are all cosmic dust is site specific and changes in style and appearance with each gallery, yet it still keeps a relative, cohesive pattern. Each section of the installation piece requires painstaking focus and dexterity. It seems almost imperative that the continued changes and reapplications of the opaque dyes act as a second part of the piece, reinforcing the idea of star matter being a part of the human and biological body. Murrell pulls in the technological aspect of today’s world with vinyl acting as passageways or circuit boards between portals and voids.

Susan Murrell, we are all cosmic dust (detail shot), 2017, watercolor, vinyl, and acrylic paint on polymer paper, sign vinyl, pedestals, leather remnants

Susan Murrell’s exhibition we are all cosmic dust, curated under the name Outland About featuring Susan Murrell and Carl Diehl by Patrick Collier, is on view from September 27 to January 5, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu.

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Artist Spotlight: Patrick Collier

Patrick Collier, a multidisciplinary artist, works in poetry, sculpture, painting, and photography, receiving a BA in Philosophy and MA in English from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1982 and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1992.

Patrick Collier, Truck Igniting Burn, 2017, Digital print, Cat. No. 19

Patrick Collier’s Field Burns is a continuous series since 2008 after moving to the Willamette Valley. After experiencing life as a farmer and following the path of smoke, his photographs illuminate the overwhelming power and grandeur of grass seed fields methodically burned. Though natural in appearance, their unique angular and mathematical forms play with the audience, pulling them in. With changes of state law, Collier has become a speudo-documentarian of a dying farm tradition.

Patrick Collier, Road Sign Burn, 2015, Digital print, Cat. No. 10

In Collier’s Visiting Artist Lecture at Southern Oregon University, he mentions geometrical shapes take precedence in how and what he takes photographs of, as well as what catches his interest. By looking at his other works, which can be found here, and his influences such as Paul McCarthy, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Tuttle, Mike Kelly, and Louise Bourgeois, one can see how each has made a lasting impact in form and concept.

Patrick Collier’s current exhibition Field Burns is on view from September 27 to January 5, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland Oregon. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu.

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Artist Spotlight: Vija Celmins

Known for photorealistic drawings, sculptures, etchings, and paintings, Vija Celmins is one of the few artists highly received in both the Pacific and Atlantic coastal regions. With her meticulously imperfect and natural pieces, Celmins has captured a world that leaves the viewer breathless and uncertain of where the boundaries lie.

Vija Celmins, Untitled (Web 3), edition PPIII, 2003, aquatint and drypoint, 21 x 24 1/2 in., 2015.344, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and Hos Family

Born in Riga Latvia in 1938, Celmins and her family fled Soviet occupation to Nazi Germany before emigrating to Indiana after World War II. Receiving a BFA in printmaking at John Herron School of Art and Design, she was granted a fellowship to Yale’s Norfolk Summer School of Art before attending UCLA for a Masters in painting. In 1996, Celmins acquired the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 the MacArthur fellowship.

Vija Celmins, Ocean with Cross #1, edition 50/108, 2005, screenprint, 24 1/2 x 28 1/2 in., 2995.99, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family

Beginning as a Conceptual, Abstract Expressionist Artist, Celmins used color in her earlier works, the azurite blue of Giotto chapel in Padua acting as an inspiration before venturing into the unique monochromatic palette of greys. She has talked at length in interviews of how each art piece is considered done – when the physical exhaustion forces her hand or when there is nothing more to add or take away. Much of Celmins’ showings involve her removing certain pieces from the exhibition walls and meticulously reworking them until satisfied.

Works by Vija Celmins, featured in the curated exhibition Terrain: The Space Between from the Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, are on view from September 27 – January 5, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu.

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Artist Spotlight: Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha, born in Nebraska in 1937, grew up in Oklahoma before traveling cross country to LA, California in 1956, and attending Chouinard Institute (now California Institute of the Arts) until 1960. Often times, Ruscha is called the godfather of Pop Art and Conceptualism and has mastered photography, film, drawing, painting, printmaking, and creating his own books. Though he workplace is centered in LA, much of his work has a western flare, such as his Country Cityscapes series, which are on exhibit at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon and provided by the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. 

Ed Ruscha, Country Cityscapes: You Will Eat Hot Lead PP 2/2, 1991, photogravure with screenprint, 17 7/8 x 14 in., from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation 

In Country Cityscapes: You Will Eat Hot Lead (1991), Ruscha displays a deceptively unassuming image of a treelined dirt road pockmarked by black redaction marks for each word in the title. Known for placing perfectly executed words and phrases into his work, he has completely removed the idea of words, leaving it up to the audience’s interpretation as to whether he redacted the phrase as an enhancement of the harsh title overlaid on the serene image, or if there is an underlying reason floating just beyond the road.

Ed Ruscha, Home with Complete Electronic Security System, edition 73/100, 1982, screenprint, 19 x 47 7/8 in., from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation (2016.118)

One can spend mass amounts of time trying to deduce the meaning behind each piece, large and small. The ironic tone in much of his art creates a unique appeal that lasts long after leaving the museum. Ed Ruscha’s pieces, featured in the curated exhibition Terrain: The Space Between from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, are on display from September 27th – January 5th, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland Oregon.

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Artist Spotlight: Judy Pfaff

Judy Pfaff, born in postwar London in 1946, is renowned for her room encompassing installation art, sculpture, and prints. Many of her pieces are based on general guidelines and what the museum transcribes to her. She uses the rooms around her, lighting systems, what’s visible outside of her space, and anything that may inhibit or support her piece. She says she often goes by quick decision making rather than having a set piece. 

Image from all of the above (2007) from Rice Gallery. 

Her photogravure and print making style is very similar. In an interview with Hudson Valley One she mentioned Tandem Press went into a panic when she would not give them a set idea of her prints, unlike most artists. Each piece, when finished, radiates a strong emotion whether melancholy or exuberance.

The photogravure pieces exhibited in the Schneider Museum End of the Rain (C), (previously titled Blueprint) (2000) and Multnomah (2000) evoke a melancholic, thoughtfully lost wandering. With the handmade frames, one can easily look into their depths and get sucked in, lost in the mysteries just around the bend of trees and buildings.

Judy Pfaff, Multnomah, edition 17/30, 2000, photogravure, 54 x 48 in., from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation (2000.156) 

Judy Pfaff received her BFA from Washington University, MFA from Yale under the tutelage of Al Held, and Honorary Doctorate from Pratt Institute.

Judy Pfaff’s pieces, featured in the curated exhibition Terrain: The Space Between from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, are on view from September 27th – January 5th, 2019 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon. 

For more information visit sma.sou.edu. 

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Artist Spotlight: Esther Ruiz

Well XIII (edition of 5) Neon/ Plexiglas/ MDF/ Paint/ Hardware 24" x 18" x 3" 6.2017

Esther Ruiz had always been interested in sculptural objects and bright, neon colors throughout her art education at Rhodes College in Memphis. It wasn’t until she started working at a neon shop in New York City (the same shop that produces Glenn Ligon’s work) that she started experimenting with sinking neon shapes into concrete forms to create her otherworldly sculptures. These objects are strange in that they seem to come from another planet--organic forms blending seamlessly with fluorescents, sparkling fixtures, and reflective surfaces.

Fiction Rising, Concrete/ Plexiglas. 3.5"x 3.5" x 2.5" 6.2011 

Ruiz draws inspiration from her concrete surroundings living in Brooklyn, fascinated by the juxtaposition between nature and hand crafted objects. Combining plexiglass, neon tubing, and concrete, she creates miniature dimensions to another world with an acute geometric abstraction that references Minimalist ideas. She arranges these sculptures close together, allowing them to ebb and flow in a mesmerizing array of color and shape. There’s a vibrancy of emotion combined with a technical precision that creates s subtle pause in a hectic landscape.

New Stone Age, Cement/ Blue Marble/ Plexiglas/ Neon. 10" x 1' x 4', 10.2012 

It’s only fitting that Ruiz’s work fills the enclosed space of the Treehaven gallery. Viewers enter this starkly lit room of neon lights, transporting themselves to another planet that Ruiz alludes to. Time slows when one gets drawn into the space, losing themselves in the mesmerizing display of color and shape in Hyperion.

Esther Ruiz’s exhibition is on view from June 6 - September 8 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu.

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Artist Spotlight: Nancy Friedemann-Sanchez

Cornucopia, 2016, Ink on Tyvek. 108" x 225"

Delicate, intricate line work weaves over velvety black surfaces that tower over the viewer. Her work, while aesthetically magnificent, is also deeply personal, where her bicultural history and intellectual rigor collide. The Colombian born artist was raised by her mother, who was a cultural anthropologist. She had the opportunity to grow up and see every side of her native country, from the wealthiest to the poorest regions. This class stratification informs her work, along with her close ties to US culture and education.

When Friedemann-Sánchez moved from Bogotá to Los Angeles to continue studying fine art, she became immediately inspired by the pervading 80s feminist movement and sought to incorporate these ideas into her work, intertwining ideas around patriarchal colonialism with groundbreaking feminist thought.

Mestiza, 2016. India Ink on Tyvek, Indigenous Mask and Spanish Comb 45" x 67.5"

Every choice Friedemann makes carries cultural and historical weight that elevates these pieces from aesthetically pleasing to politically challenging. The flowers she works with are symbolically resonant: Floral arrangements were commonly painted by Spanish colonists, and they continue to influence Colombia’s economy through its ties to the floral industry. The artist is an inherent storyteller, and she’s currently working on a mixed media visual novel. She’s never been known to box herself in to one medium, rather, she explores complex ideas through ink, paint, crochet, sculpture, and found object.

India Gentil-from the Casta Paintings, 2017. Tyvek mopa mopa, readymade 80" x 40"

Read Nancy’s bio from her website below:

In her work Nancy Friedemann deliberately manages an economy of materials. Her large scale drawings alude to Minimalism and the Pattern and Decoration Movement but explicitly explore the experience of identity, memory and gender. Nancy Friedemann has a masters degree from New York University; a BFA from Otis Art Institute and undergraduate studies from La Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Friedemann has been awarded a Smithsonian Artist Fellowship; a Pufffin Foundation grant; a Pollock Krasner grant; a National Association of Latino Arts and Culture grant . She has also been nominated to the Rema Hort Mann and to the Anonymous was a Woman Foundation. She has been a resident at Art OMI, New York; Fountainhead, Miami; Tamarind Institute, New Mexico; Yaddo, New York; Gasworks, Triangle Arts Trust, London; Bemis Center for Contemporary arts, Nebraska; Bronx Museum for the Arts, New York and Taller Arte Dos Gráfico, Bogotá. Her work is representative of contemporary feminist expressions and was selected for the Feminist Art Base at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Friedemann is also a member of the Artist Pension Trust, Mexico City since 2009.

Nancy’s work will be on view in the Heiter Gallery from June 6 - September 8 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu. 

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Artist Spotlight: Douglas Melini

Untitled. Acrylic and oil on canvas with hand-painted frame. 74 x 54 x 1.75 inches, 2015.

Douglas Melini was featured at the Schneider Museum in the Fall 2015 exhibition, Breaking Pattern, alongside Michelle Grabner, Michael Scott, and Anoka Faruqee, among others. This show brought together artists who investigate abstract, perceptual, and optical work, and the museum is thrilled to have his work back on our walls again in a gallery space of his own.

Melini’s work explores the dimensions of pattern, color, and space, pointing to Cubism and Optical Art movements by challenging and bisecting the traditional grid with imperfect overtones. Harmonious colors and confident strokes are interrupted by evidence of the artist’s hand in the occasional drip of paint, however there is a clear obsession with detail and perfection of the grid beneath the layers of heavy paint strokes and vivid colors.

Seascape #3. Acrylic and oil on canvas with hand-painted frame. 20 x 24 x 1/2 inches, 2017.

Melini’s hand-crafted frames stretch the bounds of how the framework of a painting can become a part of the piece itself. In New American Paintings, Melini notes that the frames “...reinforce the idea of an interior space, one that moves back without extending left or right or up and down as they continuously open and close. The frames also allow the paintings to be active from all viewing angles, giving them a sculptural presence.” These sculptural frames lead viewers into a mesmerizing dimension of layer, line, and color, all the more enhanced by the way the work is displayed in the Main Gallery: surrounding the viewer from every angle, a window into another world around every corner.

Our Summer Exhibitions open June 6, 2018, and feature Melini alongside Karla Wozniak, Esther Ruiz, and Nancy Friedman-Sánchez. Below is a short bio of Douglas Melini from his gallery representation, Van Doren Waxter Gallery.

Untitled. Acrylic and oil on canvas with hand-painted frame. 29.5 x 27.5 x 1.75 inches, 2014.

DOUGLAS MELINI (b. 1972) lives and works in New York. He was educated at CalArts, LA (MFA) and the University of Maryland, College Park (BA). Melini has had solo exhibitions at Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR (2018); Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO (2017); 11R, NY (2017); Feature Inc., NY (2012), NY; The Suburban, Oak Park, IL (2011); Minus Space, Brooklyn (2009); a White Room at White Columns, NY (2003); and Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica (1998), among others. Group exhibitions include People, Place and Things… at Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO (2018); Breaking Pattern at Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR (2015), Minus Space: A Survey of Reductive and Post Minimal Work, curated by Phong Bui, at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY (2008); andTwo by Two for Aids and Art at Dallas Art Museum, Dallas, TX (2003), among others. His work has been reviewed and featured in The New York Times, The New Criterion, Time Out, and New York Magazine. 

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Artist Spotlight: Karla Wozniak

Karla Wozniak, Woven Peaks, 60 x 60 inches, oil on canvas, 2016

Karla Wozniak brings an intense physicality to a recognizable subject that’s drawn in artists since the beginning of time: the landscape. Using textured layers of saturated mark making, Wozniak brings an explosive representation of hill sides from an almost domestic point of view, depicting imagery such as windows and vases that bridge the gap between human confinement and the reverberating colors of the outdoors.

She’s been compared to the likes of Charles Burchfield, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Arthur Dove, who all bridge the gap between abstraction and representation in the traditional landscape. Her exploratory imagination and intuitive mark making create a space that takes  “visual information from landscape as a jumping-off point; the paintings are personal and almost hallucinatory reinventions,” Karla says about her work in New American Paintings.

Karla Wozniak, Open Window 6, oil on canvas, 30 x 35 inches, 2018

Karla’s work is highly cognizant of the geography within the spaces she occupies. Her time in Knoxville, Tennessee influenced her perception of her oft explored subject, as well as the period in which she spent more time in the home looking outward at the land.

It’s impossible to ignore Karla’s paintings. They demand attention, and once the viewer is drawn in, it’s difficult to look away. One emerges from these paintings with a new perception of light, color, and the spaces we occupy and how we choose to depict them. 

Wozniak’s work will be shown in the Entry Gallery of our summer exhibitions. For more information, visit sma.sou.edu. 

Karla Wozniak, Open Window 5, oil on canvas, 35 x 35 inches, 2018

Karla Wozniak’s distinctions include a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship (2011); participation in the Bronx Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace program (2011); participation in the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program (2009-10); and MacDowell Colony Fellowships (2007, 2005). Her work has been featured in a number of publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Village Voice, and the Huffington Post, among others. Her work is included in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Knoxville Museum of Art permanent collections. Her recent solo exhibitions include The Valley Electric, Gregory Lind Gallery, and Magic Mountain, Colburn Gallery, University of Vermont, Burlington. Recent group exhibitions include Currents, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN; Six, Regina Rex, New York, NY; and Fortune Teller Chatter, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA.  Karla Wozniak is a native of Berkeley, California.

From her bio in California College of the Arts. 

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Employee Spotlight: M.A. Zamani

Mohammad Zamani, who goes by M.A, works with the Art Education department at the museum. He helps plan and coordinate community activities such as Free Family Days and docent-led tours, which is his favorite part of working at the museum, “Each one is unique, and I learn something new every time from the students who come in.” The museum hosts tours for groups and individuals of all ages, including educational tours for grade schools and college students. Free tours are held for the public every Tuesday at 12:30; a great opportunity to spend a lunch hour learning about the contemporary art on view. Tours and visits to the museum are 100% free, which M.A. cannot emphasize enough, and donations are always encouraged.

M.A. is excited to start giving tours for the upcoming Winter Exhibition, especially when he gets the opportunity to discuss Maria de Los Angeles’s work, “[her presence]  is very exciting for me because she plans to engage directly with local youth through educational, hands-on activities during her stay in Ashland.” Maria will be on campus for an extended period, leading Free Family Days and giving lectures, serving as an invaluable resource for students and the community. As an arts educator and parent, M.A. says, “This is a great opportunity for me to learn from a professionally practicing educator and artist.”

“The museum's director brings fresh and exciting work into the museum with intelligent and relevant themes,” M.A. continues, “With the Winter exhibition coming up, we can definitely see that an intentional connection is being made to social and political issues that are at the forefront of national and campus discussion.” The work that will be on view starting this Thursday is politically and socially charged, and shows the ways in which contemporary art both responds and influences culture. “The museum is on the right track to identifying itself and modern art as functional institutions for addressing the realities of our times.”

There is always events and opportunities to engage within the Art Department, however M.A. urges the Art Department to continue reaching out to the greater community. These connections are continually being forged through events like the annual Oregon Fringe Festival, which occurs every Spring. Students from across disciplines are encouraged to bring their artistic practices acrss campus through theatrical performances, pop-up art galleries, and site specific installations.

As a multidisciplinary artist himself, M.A. encourages other creators to “...not limit yourself to being an artist.  Artists are also writers, educators, curators, administrators, critics, historians, community organizers, grant writers, directors, etc.” While making a living off of one’s artistic practices isn’t unheard of, it can be quite difficult to make a living just starting out. “There are many avenues to be totally immersed in art at all times if one so chooses without having to survive solely on one's art.” Jobs at the museum offer that bridge between making a living and being fully immersed in the arts, and M.A. shows how rewarding these professional pursuits can be.

Visit M.A’s website.

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Employee Spotlight: Jessica Hole

Jessica Hole, who goes by Jess around the museum, has been the Assistant Preparator and Administrative Assistant at the museum for almost three years. As a senior Business major, Jess says the museum has offered invaluable experience in arts administration, “Over the past two years I have learned priceless aspects about running an art museum.”

When she’s not working in the back office, Jess is helping other preparators install exhibitions. Even though this requires long hours climbing ladders and measuring walls, Jess says the hard work pays off when she gets to see the final exhibit during the opening receptions. These events are one of her favorite parts of working at the museum, because  “people in the community are so excited to view the show for the first time.” She and other preparators just finished installing the Winter Exhibition, and Jess is most excited for Storm Tharp’s pieces. “He showed great work in the 2016 Portland Biennial and I am sure he will show great work again for the Winter Exhibition.”

Every other year, the museum showcases selections from the Portland Biennial, a major statewide survey of Oregon artists who are currently advancing the contemporary art scene throughout the state. Tharp’s work was a part of this exhibition, alongside David Eckard, Mike Bray, and Brenna Murphy. The show was curated by Michelle Grabner, an artist who was shown in the Fall 2015 Exhibition, Breaking Pattern. These major contemporary art practitioners make frequent appearances in the Rogue Valley, offering one-on-one critiques and lectures with art students to serve as mentors in their fine arts careers.

Jess encourages the community and SOU students to get involved with the museum through the four different volunteer opportunities available: “FREE Family Day, reception, front desk, and Docenting. FREE Family Day involves creating art projects surrounding the current exhibition with children and families from the Rogue Valley. The reception crew works on food and decorations for our opening receptions and other events. Front desk volunteers have two hour shifts at the museum where they greet patrons, answer the phone, and speak with visitors about our current show. Docents are the people who lead tours at the museum.”

Sound interesting? Jess encourages those who want to get involved to contact the museum. There’s always volunteer positions available, and the museum greatly values their volunteers. Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community, get involved in the contemporary art scene, and get to know the artists and curators who keep the museum on its feet.

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Employee Spotlight: Scott Malbaurn, Director of the Schneider Museum of Art

Scott Malbaurn is the director of the Schneider Museum and his job responsibilities revolve around everything from curating, applying for grants, interacting with the community, and handling all the nuts and bolts of running a contemporary art museum. He holds an MFA in painting from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and has taught at both Pratt and SOU, with classes such as Intro to Drawing and Student Gallery Training.

Much like one’s children, Scott has a hard time choosing just one piece of art as his favorite in the upcoming Winter Exhibition. However, his favorite piece in the permanent collection, Alexander Calder's "Red Sun with Fern,” a Gouache on Paper piece, was on view in the most recent Fall Exhibition.

Scott has quite a bit of experience in the professional and educational contemporary art world, and he’s always willing to serve as an aide and mentor to students looking to pursue careers in the fine arts. His biggest piece of advice for emerging artists is to “Get involved. Participate any way possible. Learn from others and push yourself to continue to grow. Be a part of the art community. Connecting is important.”

One way to make those crucial connections is to get involved with the resources you have on hand. Although the Rogue Valley is small in comparison to other metropolitan artistic sites, having an accessible museum is a luxury many universities don’t offer. One benefit of being a part of a small community is the ability to offer numerous opportunities to get involved--the museum is by no means exclusionary. Scott encourages community members to become Members or to volunteer--the museum is always in need of enthusiastic volunteers. They also offer Internships for students, and occasionally student employment, which can serve as a nice byline on a resume. He says, “In general, anyone wanting to 'get involved' should put themselves out there, engage with the community and ask how to be more involved.”

Scott has traveled all over the country and says, “We live in a very special place” here in Ashland. “I am so fortunate to work with an outstanding group in the museum and in the community. I am able to do what I love, and I do not take that for granted. It is the Museum's Members and Volunteers that make what we have here possible.”

Visit Scott’s website here. 

Visit the Schneider Museum of Art.

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We are currently closed for an exhibition change over. We reopen for our Fall Exhibitions Opening Reception on Thursday, October 5th from 5-7. SMA is pleased to present Loren Munk's, "PAINTING about THINKING about PAINTING" with a contributing essay by Thomas Micchelli, Nat Mead's, "The Wait" with a contributing essay by Allen Frame, a special exhibition by the late Clifford Wilton with a contributing essay by Nicholas Wilton along with Highlights of the Permanent Collection in the Main Gallery. Please be sure to stay tuned for some exciting upcoming programming!