Past Exhibitions

A close-up photograph of a hand with visible veins and textures, resting against a textured background. The hand appears to be part of a larger artwork, with a focus on the detailed rendering of the skin and fingers.

What We Leave Behind

Morris Graves Gallery

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What We Leave Behind evaluates the network of forces that compel many to leave “home” and the challenges encountered through borderization.

Includes resources
A black-and-white photograph of a young person wearing a baseball cap and a fur-lined jacket, with a medallion necklace, looking directly at the camera.

Lonnie Graham A Conversation with the World

Artist Project Space

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Lonnie Graham is a photographer, installation artist, and cultural activist investigating methods by which the arts may be used to achieve tangible meaning in people’s lives., A Conversation with the World comprises work done in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Europe, and the Americas. Graham meets individuals and, through mutual trust, makes a portrait and records a conversation. Regardless of age, gender or nationality, all were asked the same eight questions pertaining to origins, family, life, death, values, tradition, and thoughts on Western Culture.

Includes resources
Painting of a medium-skinned woman with dark, short hair, wearing large gold earrings and an off-the shoulder black formal dress standing with arms crossed in front of an orange sky and green foliage

Many Wests Artists Shape an American Idea

Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Gallery

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"Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea" examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of this region, which too often has been dominated by romanticized myths and Euro-American historical accounts. , Featuring artwork from the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and four partner museums in the western region of the United States, Many Wests is the culmination of a multi-year, joint curatorial initiative made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation. , This exhibition presents an opportunity to examine previous misconceptions, question racist clichés, and highlight the multiple communities and histories that continue to form this iconic region of the United States., |, Angel Rodríguez-Díaz, The Protagonist of an Endless Story, 1993, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1996.19, © 1993, Angel Rodriguez-Diaz

Includes resources
A colorful Japanese woodblock print depicting a scene with elegantly dressed women and a man in a military uniform. The scene is set in a richly decorated interior with intricate details.

Fit to Print II Constructing Japanese Modernity in Action and Body

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This is the first JSMA exhibition celebrating the extremely generous donations of 520+ Meiji prints from the Lavenberg Collection and the first group of over 150 Japanese prints from the Michels Collection. Together, these magnanimous gifts have transformed the JSMA into a major resource for the study of Meiji graphic arts.

A traditional painting featuring a central Buddha figure surrounded by numerous attendants, all in rich colors with gold accents on a weathered background.

Devout Prayers Korean Religious Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty and Beyond

Wan Koo and Young Ja Huh Wing and Jin Joo Gallery of Korean Art

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The JSMA owns a remarkable Korean painting of the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings of Hell that was donated by museum-founder Gertrude Bass Warner (1863-1951). A bodhisattva is a compassionate Buddhist deity that postpones its own enlightenment to assist others along the same spiritual path, and Ksitigarbha—who is always depicted with the shaven head, robes, and staff of a Buddhist monk—i

A group of young people sitting at tables outdoors, engaged in an art workshop. Two mentors stand behind them, overseeing the activity. The setting is lush and green, suggesting a creative and inspiring environment.

Art of the Athlete Pay it Forward

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This year’s Art of the Athlete (AofA) exhibition highlights 4 alumni of the AofA program and their contributions as they returned to share their time and talents to work on the museum’s education programs with UO students, youth in our World of Work program, and outreach programs for children identified as at risk and enduring trauma.

Abstract digital artwork featuring a gradient background transitioning from bright green at the top to vibrant magenta at the bottom, with vertical streaks blending the colors in between.

Hear My Voice

Education Corridor

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This year's project, Hear My Voice, was led and curated by UO art students Kayla Lockwood (2022, ATCH BFA) and Sam Berry (2023, Product Design) and Malik Lovette (2024, M.Arch). The exhibition documents multiple community conversations with UO students, primarily students of color, and documents their experiences surrounding stereotyping.

A portrait of Delphine Sims standing against a mural, wearing a tan jacket and a T-shirt, with curly hair framing her face.

Lewis Watts - Likeness or Not Reflections from the African Diaspora

Focus Gallery

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The exhibition highlights an impressive grouping of photographs by Watts gifted to the JSMA that includes portraits of artists, activists, authors, and musicians along with his sourcing of important historical publications acquired from archival holdings of African American cultural institutions.

A mixed-media collage on a black background, incorporating various elements such as a cardboard cutout of a hanger, a doily with a heart, a yellow tulip, and assorted geometric patterns. The artwork blends different textures and styles.

Drawing Connections Raymond Saunders with Laura Vandenburgh

Morris Graves Gallery

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The JSMA’s recent acquisition of Untitled by Raymond Saunders (American, b. 1934) marked the first work by this esteemed Bay Area painter and installation artist to enter the collection. Untitled combines many of the visual and thematic elements Saunders has repeated throughout his long artistic career.

Intricate circular artwork filled with detailed patterns and colors, resembling a complex nest or hive.

On Earth A Fragile Existence

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery

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On Earth: A Fragile Existence highlights works from the JSMA’s permanent collection that reflect a multi-layered understanding of humanity's role in our shared ecology with the non-human, or more-than-human, world.

Includes resources
Painting of a boat named 'MAR AZUL' at sea with two figures aboard, one holding a trident and the other wearing a hat and shirt that says 'I ♥ OCEAN'. The background includes a moon, a whale, and a setting sun.

NewArt Northwest Kids Brave Spaces

Education Corridor

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This year marks the 14th annual NewArt Northwest Kids exhibition. This year’s theme, Brave Spaces, encouraged students to share their personal stories of bravery that help define who they are, and stories of bravery they saw or imagined. The works of art reveal the resilience of each student and the bravery they witness every day.

Religious icon of a woman standing on a street in front of an ornate building surrounded by 3 men with a fourth man kneeling on the ground in front of her. All figures are haloed.

After Life The Saints of Russian and Greek Orthodoxy

A. Dean & Lucile I. McKenzie Gallery

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Featuring icons, manuscript pages, and other pre-modern Christian objects, After Life: The Saints of Russian and Greek Orthodoxy explores the artistic narrative of hagiography --- the stories of the lives of saints. Zoey Kambour, 2021-22 post-graduate fellow in European & American art, curated this selection of works from the JSMA’s icon collection.

Includes resources
A mixed media artwork featuring colorful circles and splatters representing fruits and vegetables.

Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos) pearly gates

Artist Project Space

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Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos)'s Artist Project Space exhibition pearly gates includes painting installation, video, and woven baskets, and thematically considers access in terms of land, ancestry, resources, and human relationships.

Painting of a woman with dripping paint, surrounded by peaches.

Remember This Hung Liu at Trillium

Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Gallery

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On February 5, 2022, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will open the “Remember This: Hung Liu at Trillium” in the museum’s Barker and Soreng galleries. In this exhibition, renowned contemporary Chinese-American artist Hung Liu explored subjects ranging from portraits to landscapes to still lifes and reflects upon history, memory, tradition, migration, and social justice.

Includes resources
A landscape photo of a rocky desert area with a triangular section replaced by a black textured surface.

Rick Silva Western Fronts

Artist Project Space

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Rick Silva’s Western Fronts: Cascade Siskiyou, Gold Butte, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Bears Ears is an experimental video that reflects the political and ecological threats that face four U.S. National Monuments. The work combines aerial drone footage and photogrammetry with 3D animation to create a nature documentary that collapses into itself.

Includes resources