Past Exhibitions

Abstract print of overlapping curved lines in vibrant rainbow colors

Piero Dorazio & the Responsive Eye

John and Ethel MacKinnon Gallery

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In conjunction with the American Association of Italian Studies Conference, held in Eugene April 11–14, this special exhibition presents a series of nearly twenty experimental Op (Optical) art color aquatints and lithographs by the influential Italian artist Piero Dorazio (1927-2005).

Focus on Tibet

Focus Gallery

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In conjunction with the May 10 Eugene visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the JSMA is presenting a small selection of art from Tibet and relating to Tibetan Buddhism, largely drawn from the museum’s permanent collection.

Abstract painting in black and brown with vague white shapes of a vase and other objects

Morris Graves Effort to Bloom

Gordon Gilkey Research Center

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To celebrate the publication of “Morris Graves: Selected Letters,” edited by independent curator Vicki Halper and retired Curator of American and Regional Art Lawrence Fong, a small selection of works by this major American painter and key member of the Northwest School will be on view in the Gilkey Center

Porcelain dish with blue images of cake and pizza and text

Julie Green The Last Supper

Artist Project Space

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In conjunction with Eugene Opera’s presentation of Dead Man Walking, the JSMA invited Corvallis-based artist Julie Green to present a selection of The Last Supper, a series of some 500 porcelain painted plates that illustrate final meal requests of U.S. death row inmates and a video of final meal requests.

A colorful drawing featuring the letters A, B, and C with various illustrations and figures around them.

NewArt Northwest Kids Language Arts

Education Corridor

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Language Arts is the theme for the Sixth Annual “New Art Northwest Kids” exhibition

Photograph of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Novgorod, showing its distinctive white walls and silver domes.

Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedrals and Churches from the 11th to the 20th Centuries

A. Dean & Lucile I. McKenzie Gallery

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Presented here are cathedrals and churches built from the 11th to the 20th centuries in a vast array of architectural styles in locations as diverse as St. Petersburg, Russia, and Unalaska, Alaska—a small city 800 miles southwest of Anchorage in the remote Aleutian Island chain.

A photograph of a brightly painted bus with the word "Zomeworks" parked in a desert landscape, with geodesic dome structures visible in the background under a cloudy sky.

West of Center Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977

Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Gallery

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In the heady and hallucinogenic days of the 1960s and ’70s, a diverse range of artists and creative individuals based in the American West – from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest – broke the barriers between art and lifestyle and embraced the new, hybrid sensibilities of the countercultural movement.

Expressionistic painting of two light-skinned women in knee-length dresses dancing side by side

German Expressionism

Focus Gallery

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This exhibition of German Expressionist works, including prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Käthe Kollwitz, Franz Marc, Emil Nolde and features the recently restored double-sided painting Ballet Dancers (recto)/Two Women in Lamplight (verso), which the artist Max Pechstein painted in 1912.

Black and white photograph of a Chanel advertisement featuring a woman in water, with the text 'THIS IS THE SPELL OF CHANEL FOR THE BATH.'

Violet Ray Advertising the Contradictions

Artist Project Space

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Violet Ray created his unique 1960s ad collage series Advertising the Contradictions, documented in the West of Center catalog, by inserting disturbing new imagery into real advertisements to reveal the hidden meaning and subconscious values of consumer culture.

A display of various ceramic bowls and cups, labeled with descriptions, in a museum setting.

Chinese Foodways

Betty and John Soreng Gallery

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Organized in collaboration with UO Department of History Professor Ina Asim to coincide with the international conference Chinese Foodways (May 8-9), and co-organized by Professor Dan Buck, the exhibition features ritual food-related objects, ranging in date from the 3rd century B.C.E. to the early 20th century, from the collection and on loan from distinguished California collections.

Rectangular red house with a porch with white railing. Front and back doors are open revealing a large body of water in the background.

Building Light & Shadow The Architecture of Emilio Sanchez

Artist Project Space

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Born in Camagüey, Cuba, in 1921, Emilio Sanchez credited the landscape of his youth with developing his life-long interest in the effects of light and shadow on color. Although his early works explored figurative themes, Sanchez began his best known series of paintings and prints highlighting houses and other types of architecture in the 1960s.

An abstract painting with a bright yellow center and surrounding shapes in various colors. The composition suggests a vibrant and dynamic scene.

Carl Morris History of Religions

Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Gallery

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Carl Morris was commissioned by the Oregon Centennial Exposition to create mural-size paintings celebrating the state’s religious histories. In eight weeks, he painted nine murals, arguably his most accomplished paintings.

Yellow person with an open mouth wearing a yellow and blue patterned dress bent in front of a green circle on a lime green and yellow background

Rolando Rojas Pinceladas En El Insomnio

Upper Hallway Galleries

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Born in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, Rolando Rojas is inspired by the legends, stories, and myths passed down from the ancestors of the people of Tehuantepec, who believed that they descended from mystical trees and animals.

A mixed media artwork of a figure holding a staff, created with layered paper and thread in various colors.

Lesley Dill's Poetic Visions From Shimmer to Sister Gertrude Morgan

Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Gallery

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Lesley Dill is one of the most prominent American artists working at the intersection of language and fine art. Her elegant sculptures, art installations, mixed-media photographs, and evocative performances draw from both her travels abroad and profound interests in spirituality and the world’s faith traditions.

Print of a Japanese woman reclining with darkened skin and dreadlocks in her hair, wearing a red robe that is falling open to reveal a patterned bra.

The Female Figure Artistic Multiplicities

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery

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The Female Figure: Artistic Multiplicities draws from works in the collection, supplemented with special loans which present women as complex, nuanced individuals, as well as potent vehicles for symbolic meaning.