Past Exhibitions

A seated woman painted gray with wavy brown shoulder-length hair. She wears athletic clothes with a green University of Oregon “O” and the number 8 on her shirt. The background is a blue, green, and yellow map of France.

Exploring Identity and Representation France

Education Corridor

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In June during UO Zero week, twelve university students studied abroad in a Global Education Oregon (GEO) program designed and led by Director of Education Lisa AbiaSmith at the site of her own study abroad university thirty years ago in Aix-en-Provence.

A vibrant painted box featuring a scene of a person in a pink shirt and headband holding grapes and herbs, set against a backdrop of hills, a river, and a bright sun. The box's sides are adorned with grapevines, cornstalks, and decorative patterns.

Resistance as Power A Curatorial Response to "Under the Feet of Jesus"

Focus Gallery

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The JSMA’s fourth “Common Seeing” exhibition supports the UO’s 2019-20 “Common Reading” of Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes. In the book, the resilient protagonist, 13-year-old Estrella, works in the hot California grape fields while navigating the realities of first love, financial struggle, family separation, and illness.

An abstract artwork featuring a dense cluster of blue geometric shapes in a circular formation, creating a textured surface.

Kwang Young Chun Aggregations

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

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South Korean artist Kwang Young CHUN combines hundreds of paper-wrapped parcels to create sculptural compositions, called Aggregations, which look like crystal formations, asteroids, or the surface of the moon.

Includes:
  • Gallery Guide
  • Video
Brown shed with a partially obscured Muslim woman dressed in white with a red head covering holding a white book over the head of a white crane with a red face

Naeemeh Naeemaei Dreams Before Extinction and Under the Earth, Over the Moon

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery

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Dissolving the artificial boundary between human society and wild nature is the goal of this special exhibition, featuring work from two of the artist’s recent series, "Dreams Before Extinction" and "Under the Earth, Over the Moon."

A pop art-inspired piece featuring a stylized figure with traditional Japanese features looking suspiciously at a cooking pot. In the background, the shadow of a woman holding a ball is visible through a grid of bars, with vibrant colors and bold lines.

What’s New Curatorial Conversations

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As a follow-up to 2018’s popular collections exhibition A Decade of Collecting, JSMA’s curators present newly acquired works as well as recent and planned gifts in honor of Jill Hartz.

Photograph of Philip Haas, a light-skinned man wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and white coveralls. In his hand is a white plaster death mask. On his head is a white sculpture with a second mask blowing into a Seussian horn interspersed with paintbrushes with red paint on their bristles.

Philip Haas Sculpture Breathes Life into Painting & Music

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery

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The JSMA is excited to present the world-premiere of noted artist Philip Haas’s new work, before it embarks on a year-long tour in the U.S. and abroad. The two-week performance installation incorporates motorized sculpture, construction, totems, altered found objects, film, fetishized costume, movement, sound, spoken word, and music.

Young man wearing a white t-shirt and yellow pants, sitting in a classroom filled with empty green chairs and desks.

Common Thread Reflections on Aesthetic Culture

Education Corridor

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Focusing on clothing and other wearable attire, the exhibition serves as a platform for conversations that address diversity, equity, and inclusion. The exhibition is organized by a UO student curatorial team: Taite Stull, Cassidy Shaffer, and Kristen Clayton, who also served as creative project manager.

Watercolor abstract with various swirls of blue, green, and purple paint in a vague natural style

Art Heals Reflections and Connections

Education Corridor

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This special exhibition showcases artwork made in the Alzheimer’s arts access program, hosted by the JSMA in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association Oregon & Southwest Washington Chapter. Reflections and Connections is a free workshop series for individuals living with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and their care partners.

A black and white photograph of a woman lying in a small rowboat on dark water. The woman is dressed in a patterned top and a full skirt, looking relaxed with one arm behind her head and the other holding a paddle.

Mohau Modisakeng Passage

Artist Project Space

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This three-channel video, South Africa’s entry in the 2017 Venice Biennale, meditates on slavery’s impact dismemberment of African identity.

Black and white photograph of a couple sitting on a piano bench with a dog at their feet. One wearing a dress and pearls sits on the lap of the other who wears a suit and hat while they hold hands.

Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente Photography in Cusco 1895-1945

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery

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Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente: Photography in Cusco 1895-1945, is a portrait of a city and a culture at the dawn of the modern era, drawn from the work of nine photographers who lived in the Cusco region. Subjects range from Inca sites to romanticized evocations of Peru’s indigenous past.

Two people viewed from behind walking down a forest path with tall trees on the right and green and red grasses on the right

NewArt Northwest Kids Protecting the Northwest’s Natural Beauty

Education Corridor

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The annual NewArt Northwest Kids exhibition returns to the JSMA for its twelfth year. This year’s theme, Protecting the Northwest’s Natural Beauty, examines the roles people have in caring for the environment and recognizing the collective responsibility to preserve the quality and safekeeping of the land, air, water, plants, and animals.

Album over for “Lo Mejor de la lupe.” A medium-dark skinned person stands on the cover with one hand on their hip and the other holding a cigar. Their smiling mouth is open and their head is tilted back, surrounded by shoulder-length black curls. They are wearing a plum-colored brimmed hat and a tan jacket. “La lupe” is repeated three times down the left side.

Visual Clave The Expression of the Latino/a Experience through Album Cover Art: 1940-90

Artist Project Space

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Visual Clave explores the evolution of Latin album cover art with particular focus on the United States market. It pays critical attention to issues of identity and aesthetics through depictions of Latino/a people and cultures, historical context, and the unsung graphic artists who helped present Latin music—and its attendant socio-cultural themes—to the world.