Vicki Lynn Wilson, has had the PCC Sylvania Northview Gallery to herself and visitors as a studio installation site for a month. She has done similar projects at Blackfish which were fantastic. This one is a little more weighty. We usually don't print the release, but this one is better than we could rewrite:
"Cumulus is a sculptural installation comprised of Paper Mache, pattern drafted cardboard, sewn and cut paper, carved Styrofoam and other mixed media forms and structures. Several human forms traverse the monochromatic brown space of an implied flooded plane. Their postures are bent to the domestic objects which rise from their arms and backs. “I began with an idea of wanting to transform the space. I decided to use cardboard and paper as a practical matter. The gallery is large so I needed inexpensive and plentiful material. It was the disposability and transience of the material that led me to the subject of the installation.” Taking a “waste not” approach, the majority of the materials were collected from the recycling of Widmer Brewing Company, Rose City Upholstery and the PCC Bookstore. Even the coffee cups and trash of the artist and visitors to the space are being incorporated.
The work is inspired by the artist’s lifelong dreams of home interiors and family, and based on the theory that the state of a home in a dream reveals the psychological state of the dreamer. The work is also inspired by the powerful images of natural disasters around the world which have left survivors sifting through wreckage to recover their lost objects. “My dreams are often about loss and disaster, though I don’t always read them as bad dreams. I think they are a subconscious expression of compassion for those who are suffering. This installation is a conscious expression of the same. Objects become so significant to us when they take on symbolic qualities. When the memory of something lost becomes associated with an object, the significance can be so heavy”.
Wilson presents a closing performance tonight with Heidi Dyer and Eric Nordstrom in and around the gallery. PCC has fierce parking rules in effect until 10PM. At the PCC Sylvania Northview Gallery www.pcc.edu/about/galleries/sylvania/ 12000 SW 49th Ave. Portland, OR 97219 CT Building, Rm 214. 8-9PM Free
Power, Wealth, and a Confucius for Today is a talk by Peter K. Bol, professor of East Asian Languages & Civilization, at Harvard, a longtime center for study of Chinese literature. Confucian thought stresses order and respect for elders. It has been observed by many that those in power are followers of Confucius, and those who want change, followers of Taoism's Lao Tzu. But when the revolution is successful, each group assumes the other's philosophy. Over the more than 2500 years of Confucian influence on China, there have been waves of Neo-Confucian interpretation. Of course today, it is a strong meme of government. Bol provides his view of Confucius in China today. At Portland State University Lincoln Hall Room 75. 1620 SW Park. Parking is free after 5 in PSU garages as marked. 6:30PM Free
