Wordplay exhibit presents new perspective

“Wordplay: Print/Text/Image” is the newest exhibition in the Visual Arts Gallery at MHCC, open for viewing through Nov. 22, free of charge for Mt. Hood students and all others.

Edie Overturf, printmaking and drawing instructor at MHCC, co-curated the exhibition with Kevin Haas, a Washington artist and instructor.

Text is a key and notable component behind the artworks included, Overturf explained.
“We wanted to bring together a collection of artists that utilize text and language in a myriad of ways. Though not every work in the show is traditional printmaking, there is a distinct consideration of the influences of printmaking processes, graphic design, and graphic culture,” she said.

“When choosing the work, we were focusing on visual culture, how the written word and image pairings are an ever-integral part of contemporary life.”
This exhibition can bring viewers a non-superficial way to look at words and text, Overturf said.

“I hope that viewers leave the gallery with an enhanced curiosity and observations about image and text relationships in our daily lives.”

She specifically mentioned the display provided by Portland-based artist Christine Miller, which comes from her “Intentional Definitions of Black” series.
“I’m very excited for the MHCC and local community to see the work of Christine,” she said. “In these six pieces, she appropriates advertisements from vintage “Ebony” magazines. (She) has paired these with Webster’s Dictionary definitions of ‘Black.’

“The work prompts the viewer to consider the power of words, and how they can impact perception. She is challenging the historical use of language, some which upholds white supremacy, racism, and social inequities,” Overturf said.

“I’ll use Christine’s words directly from her statement about the work, as it reflects it most succinctly:

“To attach moral definitions to a word which also ‘defines’ a group of people was intentional design and enough time that has passed for this to be re-evaluated/updated.”

There is another interesting component to this month’s exhibition: The Quarantine Public Library, a web-based database of single-page zines (specialized, nontraditional forms of magazines). Through the interactive display in the Gallery, they will be available to the audience to create their own zines to keep.

Overturf noted it was her first experience co-curating an exhibition – with Haas, who also focuses on printmaking and drawing and teaches at Washington State University. And like any artist, or fan of art, she grew from the experience, she said.
“Kevin and I both use text in our creative practices, so we were interested in bringing artists that use different approaches to utilizing text. We brought our individual ideas and ‘dream’ artists to the table…  based on the work they have available and the balance between our selections,” she said.

“At any moment that I collaborate, whether it be on (a) physical project or curating, I learn something from my collaborator. Regardless of our field, we all get in a rhythm of methods and processes.

“Collaboration can shake up our regular routine and get us to see a different way of working and seeing.”

The Visual Arts Gallery is open, free to all, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and by appointment only on weekends).