The Maude Kerns Art Center presents “Evoking Narratives,” featuring the work of James M. Lilly, Susan Rochester, and Brian Sostrom, and opening with a public reception on Friday, July 22, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. “Evoking Narratives” is on display through Friday, August 26. The Title Sponsors for “Evoking Narratives” are Nancy Pobanz and David Wade.
James M. Lilly, from Kennydale, Washington, displays acrylic on wood wall sculptures that evoke particular places or feelings that Lilly has known and experienced. He received a B.A. in Painting from Pomona College and an M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University. He has an extensive exhibition record, having shown his work in venues throughout California, Washington, Oregon, and beyond. No stranger to the Maude Kerns Art Center, Lilly exhibited here in 1988. Lilly asks his viewers “to examine the individual elements of each piece with the desire that they will … draw their own conclusions as to the relationships, and thus the meaning, of each work.”
Susan Rochester, of Sutherlin, Oregon, exhibits archival pigment print photographs that combine an interest in scientific inquiry and exploration of the natural world with the formalism of still life tradition. Her dream-like images “challenge viewers to decide whether the subjects are alive or dead.” She has both a B.A. and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Oregon and currently serves as Associate Professor of Art at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. Rochester has exhibited her photographs in various venues, including Umpqua Community College, the Arts Center in Corvallis, and the New York Center for Photographic Arts/Site 109 Gallery in New York, New York.
Brian Sostrom of Sagle, Idaho, creates atmospheric “visual poems” painted in acrylic on plexiglass and inspired by nature and the beauty of emptiness. He says of his work: “I love the physical presence of paintings and am obsessed with the sense of history the surface expresses.” He often incorporates glass beads with iridescent pigments in his work. The quality of the surfaces varies as the lighting and angle of view change. Brian graduated from Washington State University with a major in graphic design and a minor in painting. Solstrom has exhibited his work in galleries in Washington and Oregon, and in 2015 had a solo show in the Main Street Gallery in Ketchikan, Alaska.
