Nightingale Gallery Exhibition-Quietude

The Nightingale Gallery of Eastern Oregon University is pleased to present the exhibition Quietude. Curated by Cory Peeke the Nightingale Gallery’s director, the exhibit presents the work of six artists whose works communicate a decidedly quiet attitude.

The exhibition opens Friday, February 8 with a reception from 6-8pm in the gallery located in Loso Hall.  The show will run through Friday, March 1. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11am to 4pm.

Quietude exhibits a selection of works by Nathan Abels, Amelia Hankin, Armin Mühsam, Nate Orton, Rachel Richford and Arun Sharma. The artists, who work in a variety of media including video, painting, drawing and mixed media, each produce works that explore how silence expresses itself visually.

Denver, Colorado artist Nathan Abels will present a selection of his ephemeral images. Abels’ paintings express what the artist calls a “paused narrative” and elegantly capture fleeting moments such as the play of light through a veiled window.

Amelia Hankin’s drawings begin as observations of microscopic imagery and evolve into meditations on the power and meaning of the natural world.  The Virginia artist’s works encourage viewers to disconnect from the virtual world and reconnect with the natural.

Armin Mühsam, a German native who resides in Missouri presents a selection of his paintings that depict mankind’s assertion of control over the land. The solitude in Mühsam’s lonely landscapes encourages viewers to reflect on their impact on and place in the natural world.

Oregon artist Nate Orton presents a selection of his drawings and mixed media works on wood. Orton’s enigmatic images explore the harmonious relationship between the experienced and the observed.

Rachel Ritchford of Brooklyn, New York is represented by several of her idiosyncratic landscapes. The paintings connect the disparate motifs of abstraction and representation and as Ritchford says, “become meditative environments.”

American artist Arun Sharma who currently resides in Australia presents his compelling video (de) composition. The film depicts a clay bust, a self portrait of the artist, slowly disintegrating in a pool of water. The slow-falling flakes of clay and the floating tendrils of clay fog create a spiritual, calm and highly engrossing image.

“Some works are meditative, some explore the possibilities of isolation and yet others give viewers an overwhelming sense of calm, but all of the works on exhibit are pervaded by a quiet stillness,” said Cory Peeke, the exhibit’s curator. “Both formally beautiful and conceptually engaging each artist’s work will provide viewers with a respite in which to reflect away from the auditory and visual noise of our everyday world.”

Prior to the exhibition opening, Armin Mühsam will visit campus and do two presentations about his work. The first will be a short talk about twelve of his paintings that were recently purchased through the state’s Percent for Art program and are on permanent display in Inlow Hall. Mühsam will present his talk about these specific works at 1pm on Wednesday, February 6 in the first floor corridor of Inlow Hall. Mühsam’s second presentation will be a slide lecture about his larger body of work and studio practice. The slide talk will take place Thursday, February 7 at 6pm in room 101 of Zabel Hall. Both presentations are free and open to the public.

The Nightingale Gallery is located in Loso Hall on the campus of Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, OR.  Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 11AM-4PM.  For more information please visit our website: https://www.eou.edu/art/nightingale-gallery/ or follow us on Facebook.