Artists explore transitional, transformative nature of human figure

Exhibition opens February 6 with a reception from 6-8 p.m. in Nightingale Gallery

Cory Peeke | Nightingale Gallery Director
(541) 962-3584 | cpeeke@eou.edu

29 January 2009

LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Nightingale Gallery of Eastern Oregon University is pleased to present "Transitions/Transformations," an exhibition featuring seven artists from throughout the United States and Canada.

The exhibition opens Friday, February 6 with a reception from 6-8 p.m. in the gallery located in Loso Hall. The show will run through Friday, February 27. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Transitions/Transformations" will present a selection of works from Lauren Kalman, of Providence, R.I., Aimee Koch, of Richmond, Va, Alison Luoma, of Lawrence, Kans., Candace Nicol, of Sparks, Nev., Susan Palmisano, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Dean Smale, of Alberta, Canada and Jo Topholm, of La Grande.

These seven artists communicate diverse ideas through a variety of representations of the human body and explore representations of the human figure and its metaphoric power to communicate the transitional and transformational intricacies of life.

"The use of the human figure in art has, since the age of the cave dweller, served as a metaphor for the transitional nature of life as well as the transformational effects that living has upon humans," said Cory Peeke, Nightingale Gallery director. "The human form continues to inspire artists to examine the ways in which we as humans both transform ourselves internally and externally as well as the way our bodies and minds transition through time and space."

"The Nightingale Gallery is very pleased to present the work of these artists and to encourage a dialogue regarding the shifting nature of human existence and the way that our existence is portrayed in art," Peeke said. "Each of these artists encourages us, through their work, to examine our own life's progression and alteration."

Lauren Kalman's images and sculptural objects blur the boundaries between adornment and disease. Her jewelry objects take the form of tumors or cysts. These works investigate the often-corrosive relationship between jewelry, commodity objects, the imaged body and the physical body. Kalman completed her MFA in art at Ohio State University and received a BFA, with a focus in metals, from Massachusetts College of Art. She is currently a part-time professor at Brown University.

Aimee Koch's photographic works call attention to the degree that clothing and fashion sway female attitudes and understandings. The desire becomes not so much to wear the outfits as to accrue the status of beauty and conformity that they offer - it is to reach for the unattainable body and to punish the inevitable failure to achieve it. Koch received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and currently serves as the development manager of Art 180, a Richmond, Va., based organization that works to create change in young people's lives through art.

Alison Luoma's sculptural works investigate the ways that social expectations affect personal desire. Her sculptures exaggerate or enhance the intrinsic sensual qualities present in objects, and challenge modes of advertising and display. Luoma holds a BFA in sculpture from Grand Valley State University, and a MFA in sculpture from Penn State University. Luoma has recently joined the faculty at the University Kansas as an assistant professor of art.

Candace Nicol's work consists of large-scale digital prints of the male nude. The largeness of scale combined with a layering of glazes and resin over the images "creates a vista of pleasure, defamiliarizing body parts and emphasizing contradictions to the idealized forms in Western culture," says Nicol. Nicol currently works out of her studio in Sparks, Nev., and is a co-founder of the Northern Nevada Printmakers' conspiracy. She received her MFA from Boise State University, a BA from the University of Nevada, Reno and is an instructor of art at Truckee Meadows Community College.

Susan Palmisano's paintings are filled with opulent color and viscid layers of resin that depict the decadent nature of chocolate. Craving chocolate often triggers conflicting notions of indulgence and abstinence. By evoking the senses of taste, touch and sight, her paintings elicit these confusing desires and question the body's limits. Palmisano earned a MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati and a BFA from the University of Dayton. She is currently a professor of painting and graduate coordinator at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Dean Smale's highly detailed paintings explore the aging process, a state of biological transformation, which ultimately reveals the impermanence of the human body and its relationship to mental activity that lacks physical dimensions. Smale earned a MFA degree from the University of Calgary and currently is a full-time instructor at Medicine Hat College in its visual communications program. In 2006 Smale was a visiting instructor of art EOU.

Jo Topholm's works combine the external self with the private self through the use of transparent layers which creates a blending of the two spaces. In her intimate works she examines the physical construction of her identity and portrays the ideas of acceptance, freedom, and comfort she has found within her own life. Topholm holds a MFA degree from Washington State University and a BS degree in art from EOU. She currently teaches an asynchronous web-based digital design course for the EOU art program.

All of the artists featured in "Transitions/Transformations" have exhibited nationally, received various awards and their work is represented in the collections of universities and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.

In conjunction with this exhibit, artist Dean Smale will present a public slide lecture on Wednesday, February 4 at 6 p.m. in Huber Auditorium in Badgely Hall. In addition, artist Alison Luoma will also present an artist talk Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in Huber Auditorium, Badgley Hall. The presentations are free and open to the public.

For further information about the exhibition call the gallery, 541-962-3667 or visit www.eou.edu/art/nightingale/exhibition0809/GallerySchedule2008-09.html. To request images of artwork for publication or to schedule an interview with the artists please contact Cory Peeke at cpeeke@eou.edu.

[ Print this page ]