2015-2016 Exhibitions

Mel Katz: Drawings and Small Sculptures

May 9 – July 19, 2015

Study Gallery

This exhibition has been organized to introduce visitors to Portland artist Mel Katz’s working process and is intended to supplement a fifty-year retrospective exhibition Mel Katz: On and Off the Wall taking place at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art between June 6 and August 23.

Drawing has always been an important part of Portland artist Mel Katz’s working process. This exhibition features several of Katz's large scale drawings and small sculptures that he uses to work out some of the complex visual problems and challenges that he deals with in his final sculptures and offers valuable insights into the artist's creative process.

Tom Prochaska and Christy Wyckoff: In the Footsteps of Charles Heaney

May 9 – July 19, 2015

Print Study Gallery

During September of 2014, Portland artists Tom Prochaska and Christy Wyckoff embarked on a journey to retrace the footsteps of Portland painter Charles Heaney (1897-1981), who often traveled to remote regions of Eastern Oregon in search of artistic inspiration. The exhibition will feature approximately 30 drawings created by the artists’ during their recent road trip.

Mel Katz: On and Off the Wall

June 6 – August 23, 2015

Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery

This major retrospective exhibition of Portland sculptor Mel Katz (American, b. 1932) chronicles the career of this prolific and dynamic artist who has played a prominent role in the Portland art scene for over 50 years. The exhibition features a veritable forest of Katz’s large scale abstract geometric sculptures drawn from public and private collections throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as a number of works from the artist’s studio.

Sherrie Wolf: Object Lessons

August 1 – October 25, 2015

Study Gallery and Print Study Center

Sherrie Wolf is a Portland painter and printmaker whose work juxtaposes traditional still life subjects (bowls of fruit, floral arrangements) with Old Master themes. Organized by Director John Olbrantz, the exhibition features paintings, prints, and other works on paper by the artist drawn from private collections throughout the region.

Stilleven: Contemporary Still Life

September 12 – December 20, 2015

Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery

Stilleven (the Dutch word for still life) features work by 27 contemporary artists from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia who focus on still life in their artwork. Organized by Director John Olbrantz and Collection Curator Jonathan Bucci, the exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, glass, and mixed media by artists Katherine Ace, Holly Andres, David Giese, Norman Lundin, Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, Henk Pander, and Sherrie Wolf, among many others.

An Archaeologist's Eye: The Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab

November 7, 2015 – January 31, 2016

Study Gallery and Print Study Center

Organized by the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University in Connecticut, this exhibition features 35 drawings by Katherine A. Schwab, an archaeologist and professor of art history at Fairfield. This exhibition explores how Schwab has used unique drawing techniques as a fundamental component of her investigations in studying the east and north metopes of the Parthenon, a series of marble panels with relief sculpture which suffered devastating damage in post-Antiquity.

James B. Thompson: Fragments In Time

January 23 – March 26, 2016

Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery

James B. Thompson has been on the art faculty at Willamette since 1986, where he teaches painting, drawing, and printmaking. The exhibition will explore the development of Thompson's work during the past twenty years, from his Medieval and Golf Series of the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s to his most recent work that includes glass created at Bullseye Glass in Portland.

"For Myself": Nudes by Imogen Cunningham, 1906-1939

February 13 – May 1, 2016

Study Gallery and Print Study Center

Artists (Senior Studio Art Majors Exhibition 2016)

April 16 – May 15, 2016

Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery

Andries Fourie: Land/Marks

April 16 – May 15, 2016

Atrium Gallery

Andries Fourie is an associate professor of the art department at Willamette University where he teaches sculpture. Over the years, Fourie's paintings and sculptures have dealt with issues of memory, identity, tradition, and cultural hybridity in South African culture, as well as the ways in which these issues intersect with the landscape and relate to the land. In the current exhibition, Fourie explores the natural and human ecology of the Eastern Cape of South Africa where he was born and raised.

Nelson Sandgren: An Artist's Life

May 14 – July 17, 2016

Maribeth Collins Lobby, Study Gallery and Print Study Center

This exhibition includes 33 paintings, watercolors, and prints created by this important Corvallis, Oregon, artist and teacher. Organized by Professor Emeritus and Senior Faculty Curator Roger Hull, this exhibition draws from public and private collections throughout the region.