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A Retrospective Exhibition of Oregon Artists Mark Clarke and Margaret Coe Opens at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

“Our Lives in Paint” will be on view from October 21, 2017 to April 1, 2018.

 

EUGENE, Ore. -- (October 5, 2017) - The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art showcases a retrospective exhibition of Eugene painters Mark Clarke (1935-2016) and Margaret Coe’s work in “Mark Clarke and Margaret Coe: Our Lives in Paint,” on view October 21, 2017 - April 1, 2018. This exhibition brings together forty works by Clarke and Coe, offering an intimate glimpse into fifty years of painting and the experiences that shaped their life together. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with essays by Danielle Knapp, McCosh Associate Curator, Coe, and Roger Saydack, made possible by a Ford Family Foundation Exhibition Documentation and Support Grant. 

 

On Saturday, October 21, at 2 p.m., join Margaret Coe and Danielle Knapp for a tour of the exhibition. The tour will be followed by a reception featuring a performance by the artists’ son, Tim Clarke, and light refreshments. The events are sponsored by Sue Keene.

 

“This special exhibition of Mark Clarke and Margaret Coe's work has been a long time coming” says Knapp, who curated the exhibition. “After Mark's unexpected passing in January 2016, Margaret wanted to move forward with the exhibition as planned. It was an honor to work closely with her in developing a checklist that celebrates their life together and over fifty years of painting, affirms Mark's legacy, and debuts brand new works completed after her recent trip to Italy.”

 

The exhibition includes examples of their early student work,pieces from the family collection, and select loans from private collections. The exhibition includes major paintings that showcase each artist’s most recognizable imagery.

 

Clarke was beloved for his luminescent acrylic paintings that capture the Willamette Valley’s unique landscape and atmosphere, but he also painted striking figures drawn from imagination, memory, and his own family. He extended his interest in harmonious color and form beyond the canvas through explorations in sculpture and collage.

 

Coe, who recognizes modernist Oregon painters C.S. Price (1874–1950) and Charles Heaney (1897–1981) as important influences, has a keen eye for the dynamic color and energy of this region. Her brightly realized paintings of the Northwest treat the natural and the manmade with equal attention. Additionally, she has engaged with cross-cultural, international subject matter (painting on site during artist residencies in England, France, and Italy), as well as acutely personal moments, including those drawn from periods of grief and mourning.

 

Both alumni from the University of Oregon, Clarke and Coe met while enrolled as art students as they studied under the guidance of skilled faculty, including David McCosh, Andrew Vincent, and Jack Wilkinson. Clarke was also a long-time employee of the JSMA, where he spent a combined twenty-three years as its curator, chief preparator, and technician.

 

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public.  The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, Europe, and the Americas as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of seven museums—and the only academic art museum-- in Oregon accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

 

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

 

Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

 

Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu