Faculty artists featured on campus

Faculty art on display in Nightingale

Nov. 1, 2018 LA GRANDE, Ore. –  Teaching and doing are not so far removed for art faculty at Eastern Oregon University.

The Nightingale Gallery’s biennial Faculty Exhibition showcases recent studio work by professors Susan Murrell, Cory Peeke, Nathan Prouty and Michael Sell starting Nov. 9.

An opening night reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9 in the gallery in Loso Hall. Featured faculty will present a gallery talk at 5 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 6, also in the gallery.

Susan Murrell will present several new works from her recent solo exhibition “Absent Presence” at Portland’s Carnation Contemporary. Murrell’s work is focused on the universal and personal process of experiencing presence through absence — a struggle to know a thing from the hole it has left behind after it is gone.

Cory Peeke will exhibit selections from his newest series of collages. Peeke’s latest work employs tapes, charcoal and found images to investigate constriction, transparency, anxiety and obsession as related to the complexities of memory.

The colorful ceramic sculptures of Nathan Prouty present viewers with engaging objects that are at once playful, as well as full of anxious energy. Prouty’s concentrated bundles are as humorous as they are uncertain.

Michael Sell will present photographic portraits from his ongoing series of fans at Phish concerts. In most cases, the subjects are people he had only just met, and these intimate images offer a stark contrast to the colorful, energetic psychedelia of Phish’s live rock shows.

“It is always a pleasure to exhibit with my department colleagues,” said Cory Peeke, director of the Nightingale Gallery. “Without a doubt, this group contains some of the most interesting and thoughtful artists currently working in the northwest. They are exemplars of the engaged, discerning and productive contemporary artist, as dedicated to their studio practice as they are their students, in whom they foster that same engagement, discernment and productivity.”

See the exhibit through Tuesday, Dec. 11, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, go to eou.edu/art or follow the Nightingale Gallery on Facebook and Instagram.

To request images of artwork for publication or to schedule an interview with the artists please contact Gallery Director Cory Peeke at cpeeke@eou.edu.