AN ART EXHIBIT THAT FEELS LIKE HOME

There’s a tangible sense of place in Carolyn Hazel Drake’s installation, “In This Small Corner Of The Atmosphere,” currently displayed in MHCC’s Visual Arts Gallery.

Drake creates this through a series of prints, textiles, collages, and other mixed media. The colors, textures, and even the titles of her pieces communicate a feeling of being in the Pacific Northwest.

Being a third-generation Oregonian, it’s no wonder she creates this feeling so effectively, whether intentionally or not. Multiple old rotary phones appear in her installations, some still bearing their “area code 503” labels. Elsewhere, titles such as “Wanderers Will Find A Way Home” reinforce the feeling of being in the Northwest.

In her statement of work, Drake poses the question of how can we “Stay in communication with what we cannot perceive but continue to believe exists?” Much of her work displayed at Mt. Hood succeeds, with what she chooses not to show. The patterns of felt that dot “Can We Not Say Then That Language is Folded and Stored in Rectangular Space” are obscured by the canvas folding over on itself. “Let Everything That Binds Fall” uses 35mm film as its canvas; the original images are barely visible beneath the beautiful patterns she creates with whiteout and stamp tabs.

There’s an incredible amount of detail in every piece on display. Drake attempts to create a whole that is “other” from the sum of its parts. While the individual pieces and shapes of her compositions are mesmerizing on their own, they become something else entirely when viewed as a whole.

Drake says “it is an explicit goal of mine to create a meditative state for the viewer – or at least create the conditions. There are several qualities of my work that, I believe, contribute to this. First, the tactile nature of the materials I use: these have an almost seductive quality that draws people in.” 

I strongly suggest any student or MHCC community member looking to experience a meditative and personal portrait of the Northwest pay a visit.

In This Small Corner Of The Atmosphere will be open in the Gallery, open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Jan. 30. Admission is free.