Southwestern gallery hosts University of Oregon exhibit

The Southwestern Oregon Community College Eden Hall Fine Art Gallery will be hosting a rare treat for South Coast residents: a sculpture exhibit from the University of Oregon.

“The UO Show” features the work of three artists – Tom Urban, Laura Alpert and David P. Miller – long associated with the university sculpture program. The Eden Hall gallery will be hosting a reception with refreshments for this stunning and engaging show during Art Walk from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Urban is associate professor emeritus at the University of Oregon and was the founding director of the University of Oregon EMU Craft Center. He has a courtesy appointment in the university’s Art Department where he has taught sculpture classes over the past 12 years. He also is co-founding instructor for the University of Oregon Stone Sculpture workshop and holds an MFA degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Alpert – an associate professor emeritus at the University of Oregon’s Department of Art – is a sculptor who investigates the relationship between human technology and the natural world. In her work, the distinctions between the fabricated and natural orders are presented as indefinite, variable and changeable. She has been an instructor at the MARBLE/marble Stone Carving Symposium in Colorado, as well as at Northwest Stone Sculptor’s Association events in Washington and Oregon. She has been a co-founder and co-leader of the university Stone Sculpture Workshop for 11 years.

Miller is a sculptor based in Eugene who has been associated closely with the University of Oregon Sculpture Program, particularly as a leading participant in the annual Summer Stone Sculpture Workshop. Miller could be described as a “semi-strict formalist” as he bases much of his work on geometric formal abstraction. His forms often are derived from geometric forms such as cylinders, spheres and planes.

Eden Hall Fine Art Gallery is located on the north side of the Southwestern campus in Coos Bay, and is easily reached from Parking Lot 2 or 3. Regular gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. For more information, those interested can contact James Fritz at (541) 888-7322.

Press Release Date: February 26, 2007