Pastel show opens at the Whipple Fine Arts Gallery

By Kurt Heilman · Guest Reporter
Published November 17, 2009

The UCC art department is opening a new gallery show for the Pastel Society of Oregon on Monday, Nov. 2 in the Whipple Fine Arts Gallery. The pastel show is the second of six shows planned this year for the on-campus gallery, which is currently displaying a collection of print artwork.

The show will feature roughly 60 pieces as selected by a panel of judges from the work of 26 different Pastel Society of Oregon member artists.

The gallery’s staff is anticipating a beautiful show this year. “Having been part of receiving the entries, I’m excited for people to have a chance to check out some of the fantastic pastel work we’re putting on display like Terry Ludwig and Jemma Crae’s pieces,” gallery assistant and UCC student Jason Smith says.

Pastel is a medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder; the binder is of a neutral hue with low saturation. Artists such as Edgar Degas, who was a champion of pastel, and Mary Cassatt, who was credited with helping to popularize the medium in the U.S., are some of the forefathers of the pastel tradition being kept alive through shows like this one.

“The gallery plays an important cultural role in the community, and it’s an important part of the college’s mission in that regard,” Art Director Susan Rochester says. “We provide access to the campus and the broader community to diverse types of art that people would otherwise have to travel quite a distance, like Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco to see.”

The Pastel Society of Oregon has four categories of membership which are all open to any artist working in the medium of soft pastel. The active category can be attained through acceptance by the jurying committee and a payment of $25. Honorary can be obtained through selection by the board members. Signature is a category awarded to PSO members with three paintings accepted at three different PSO national juried exhibitions, and finally Master Pastelists are artists with PSO membership and three paintings receiving an award from at least three different national PSO exhibitions.

The society also publishes a newsletter, maintains a website, holds an annual membership meeting, sponsors workshops and paint outs, holds a biennial juried membership exhibition and a biennial juried national open exhibition in addition to publishing a catalog for the exhibiting artists of the national open competition, sponsored by the Pastel Society of Oregon.

The Whipple Fine Arts Gallery will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the school year and on weekends only by special request. For more information about the Pastel Society of Oregon, contact connie@renoah.com or donandlaura@hughes.net.