Faculty art exhibit is back in session

The Visual Arts Gallery held an “opening” on Thursday for 13 faculty members that showcased their diverse art which will remain on display through Oct. 16.

The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

According to former student and fourth-year Visual Arts Gallery coordinator, Miles Browne, there is no constant theme.

“We don’t have themes,” Browne said. “We have four annual shows and four that are open to outside proposals and local artists (right now) for future shows.”

Browne, an artist himself, takes pride in an artistic form to assemble and display everyone’s work.

“I love this job and it’s an art in itself,” Browne said. “I look at scale, subject matter and everything. It’s kind of like piecing together a puzzle. It’s a tricky one… Every show is so different. I’m trying to (showcase) their voice.”

Mt. Hood instructor Lori Lorion has one painting in the exhibit. “This painting is one that took quite a while and I’d like to spend a little time with it – find out what it is,” she said. “I finished it only a few days before the exhibition so it’s revealing itself to me a little at a time.”

Lorion said the driving force behind the exhibit is to get students interested, and other faculty members involved.

“Hopefully the show is a motivator,” she said. “Students get to see what we do and observe that we are all working artists. We want them to know us as mentors as well as instructors.”

Lorion didn’t focus in on one artist, she said. Instead, she gave due credit to all of the artists.

“I like a lot of the work in this exhibition, each for its own reasons. The Visual Arts faculty are all very different from one another as artists and teachers. It’s a generous department in that way,” she said.

“There is genuine enthusiasm for a wide variety of teaching styles and art. I think that is because we all are working artists and we know intimately the struggles, as well as the small victories that are involved in bringing some big idea, or passion, or vision into physical form. It is no small thing,” she said.

Lorion explained this would be considered a “victory” for all 13 artists involved, continuing a longtime MHCC tradition.

Janet McIntyre, dean of integrated media, performing and visual arts, also has work exhibited in this show.

She said “the mission of our gallery is to create a welcoming center for artists of all genres to raise student, staff and public consciousness about the value of art in our community and in our world.”

McIntyre said it has been a humbling experience.

“MHCC faculty are an inspiring group, committed to their students and to exploring their own art practices outside of the classroom,” she said. “We hope the Faculty Exhibit demonstrates that commitment – creating new dialogue between colleagues and (deepening) MHCC’s understanding of who are collectively.”

Georganne Watters has been at Mt. Hood going on 15 years now, and has long been a fixture in the art world, including art shows in Portland, Salem and Vancouver, Wash.

She said her art has been shown in other areas such as Bulgaria and Italy, besides shows throughout the U.S.

“I have been working as a printmaker for over 25 years now,” Watters said of her legacy. “My work is in permanent collections in the places I’ve exhibited. Exhibiting here at MHCC is a privilege and honor, and I hope my work demonstrates to my students that possibility, opportunity and dreams come true.”