MU Gallery and Store Summer Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Closed on Weekends
Exhibits and Artists
2008 Summer Exhibit - Betty LaDuke, "Children of the World", June 13 - August 22, 2008
Beginning June 13th the works of Betty LaDuke will be on display at the North Dakota State
University (NDSU) Memorial Union Art Gallery. Betty LaDuke is an internationally known photographer,
painter, and illustrator who has spent the past 46 years documenting and drawing inspiration from
children and families she has encountered throughout the world. Her work is filled with visual
surprises depicting children’s strengths and resilience. LaDuke’s works also emphasize
human emotions and characteristics, furthering the understanding of cultures different from one’s
own.
The two exhibits, Children of the World and Children of the World II, provide an opportunity for
cultural and aesthetic comparisons across the boundaries of time and continents. The multimedia exhibit
of photographs, drawings, and paintings weaves through the artist’s life and beyond, and provides
a unique opportunity to explore the artist’s creative process of translating from the literal,
camera captured moment and on-site sketches emphasizing select details of people and events into
mythical, aesthetic renderings with paint on campus. The images evoke many smiles, but at the same time
encompass some of the most significant social and cultural transitions of our world community for the
past half-century. The images show how children are loved, nurtured, and conditioned to grow in diverse
circumstances.
NDSU will have both exhibits on display through beginning June 13, 2008 through August 22, 2008. The
Memorial Union Art Gallery is located on the NDSU campus at 1401 Administration Avenue in room
258.
“The earth is our common home, and local and global future depends on the well being of all the
children of the world.”
-Betty LaDuke
Alternate Endings - Exhibit by Ezra DesJarLais, April 17 - May 22, 2008
- Someplace Warm, 42" x 38" $500
Artist’s Statement
As an artist I prefer that my work be as objective as possible while simultaneously trying to inject
into it as much personal content as possible. This particular series of paintings is about
duality.
I find that objectivity is important in any given piece of artwork and take great satisfaction in
the fact the audience is free to derive their own meaning or interpretation from a piece of
artwork. However, I think it equally important for artists to be able to express themselves or to
communicate a specific idea. This series of paintings gives the audience freedom to explore the content
of each piece for themselves.
Most of the pieces in this series contain images which are either spray painted onto the background or
foreground. The meaning of these images is free for the audience to interpret.
Each of the paintings also contains a series of symbols which are an amalgam of images inspired by
Native American designs. Each symbol represents a letter of the alphabet. These symbols are very
specific and meant to relate to a deeper personal content. It is at the discretion of the audience
whether or not to decipher them.
I invite the audience to use their creativity and imagination to relate to these paintings and invite
them to take a closer look.
- Ezra DesJarLais
Essential Truth - Exhibit by Leila Rastegar, April 17 - May 22, 2008
- Fall in Fargo
Reception in honor of the artist: April 17, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Artist Statement
My work explores the urban environment and our interaction within that environment. I am
intrigued with the rhythms and complexities of urban scenes. I drive by some of these places many times
and notice nothing, and then one day the light makes a fascinating shadow and interesting complexities.
These glimpses of the city, as I portray them in my paintings, become an intimate part of my life
– an image and a place and a representation of season and time of day that I keep forever.
Since I was a child, drawing has been my greatest pleasure. Although I work from everyday cityscapes, I
take great satisfaction in experimenting with a larger format, more applications of colors, and a
looser use of the brush. After years of feeling passionate about landscapes, I feel a surge of interest
in painting the man-made objects that inhabit urban places as well – everyday forms such as cars,
rail yards, buildings, street signs, billboards, electrical poles, fire hydrants, and so forth.
These subjects fascinate me as part of the scenery of our everyday lives.
I take photographs of compelling scenes to preserve their urban environment and lighting conditions. I
crop the best photograph and change the composition the way I prefer. With this body of work, I
start the painting with acrylic. I define the composition by dividing the picture into color blocks; I
use a complementary color of the local color, final colors to paint each block. After I have
covered the whole canvas with the acrylic, I start to paint with oil. I repeat this process
until I get the balance that I want – of color, lightness, darkness – balancing the
areas of the canvas. Using acrylic allows me to work fast and decide what color value I
need. The final layers are done in oil, allowing me more time to work on the intensity of the
color.
There are a few artists influencing me. For example Lucian Freud and Edward Hopper have been the
greatest influences. Freud, an Austrian-born British citizen, is a painter of the body at
rest. He paints, draws, and etches heads and bodies. His interest is in truth-telling by
not just copying the scene like a camera, but by manipulating reality to the essence of truth.
Hopper, the best-known American realist of the inter-war period, was a master at manipulating reality
to reveal essential and disturbing truths about the modern world. I am drawn more to Hopper
because of his view of the world. I like his work because he portrays the truth that exists in
everyday life. In my recent work, I try to incorporate use his vision and way of thinking.
Everyday urban scenes have a powerful impact on me as an artist. By choosing to paint scenes that
strike me in a certain way, I connect with them. I now forever see places that once were overlooked as
memories of my life. I strive to portray them as an essential truth of life.
-- Leila Rastegar
Lisa Barber Installation - March 27 - May 22, 2008
- lisa barber art
Lisa Barber has been an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside since the fall of 2003. In 1998 she received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2002, she received the Emerging Artist Award from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Her listing of solo shows includes Thomas Hunter Studio Gallery in New York City, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, NCECA 2007 in Louisville, and the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City. In the spring of 2006 Barber was awarded a McKnight Artist Award and Residency, a competitive award in the international field of ceramic art.
Installation will be March 27 and 28; the exhibition will close May 10. During installation, Lisa
Marie will be available for conversation. She'll be available Thursday, April, 27, 2008 evening for the
reception, too.
Her website is www.LisaMarieBarber.com.
"Portraits", Kathy Chornuk - March 27, 2008 - April 5, 2008
- Saying 'Hello!'
- 43" x 54", acrylic
Artist's Statement -
“PORTRAITS” is an exhibition of brilliantly colored acrylic, oil, or mixed media on canvas.
They range in size from approximately 2’ square to 6’ x 4’. The idea behind this show
was to paint faces of people. I was inspired by a figure drawing class I had taken a couple
of years ago. In the first week of that class we drew portraits of one another. I found the
experience interesting and realized the face is composed of many different shapes and colors. These
images come from quick sketches of people that posed for me or are drawn from my imagination. They are
painted rapidly as if I were doing a quick sketch of that individual.
The portraits are colorful and not the colors people are comprised of in real life. I use bright
colors to represent the energy I see and feel when painting each portrait. I always begin by
painting the eyes of the portrait first. After painting the eyes I get an idea where I am going
with the rest of the portrait. Many times I sense a certain emotion immediately and portray that
emotion while painting. At other times the emotion remains elusive until I am finished with the
portrait. I use thick paint or switch to extremely thin washes during the progression of each
work. This variety of paint application represents as much energy to me as the brush stroke
itself. All of these factors work together to help present a particular emotion.
I thoroughly enjoy painting facial features of both people and animals. As an artist,
I am excited to see a portrait to its conclusion and the emotions that I envisioned captured on
canvas.
NDSU Photo Club Exhibit - Spring 08
See the work of 14 members of the NDSU Photography Club at the Memorial Union Gallery. Among the 48
pieces - many of them available for purchase! - exhibited in the Gallery and the adjoining North Star
Butte Lounge are work by Prasad Burange, Ross Collins,John Ehlen, Kelsey L. Johnson, Anna G. Larson,
Daniel Reetz, Stefan Robinson, Jose Rodriguez, Holly Scallon, Erica Schierholz, Nitesh
Sule, Jessica Wachter, Nathan Welk, Travis Wigdahl.
Opening - Thursday, February 28, from 4:00 until 6:00 p.m.
Rosanne Olson Photography, January - March, 2008
Rosanne Olson uses the pinhole photography technique for some of her pieces. So, what
is a pinhole photograph, anyway?
Take a needle, poke a tiny hole in a box, put film in the box, allow the light to seep in for a while.
Then develop the film and you have a pinhole negative.
Basically, that's it. A pinhole camera can be anything from an oatmeal box to a 35mm film box. The tiny
hole, best drilled into a piece of brass taped to the box, allows the light to enter in the same way
that the "camera obscura" worked to project a scene onto a wall back in the 1500s.
For my pinhole photographs, I use a modified 4x5 camera with Polaroid film. The magic of the pinhole,
for me, is in the waiting. Exposures may take anywhere from several seconds to more than 10 minutes.
Most are in the 10-minute category. In making the photograph, I decide on what I want, set up the
camera and position it as I imagine the film will see the picture. I then make a guess at the exposure
and begin. Then try again.
During the long exposures, people may walk through the pictures, but because of the very slow formation
of the image, no one shows up on the film. Occasionally people stop to inquire, curious about the
odd-looking camera without a "lens". As we wait, light drifts slowly through the tiny hole, producing a
photograph that has an unlimited depth of field, but lacks the acuity of a photograph made with a real
lens.
I place the negatives in individual water-filled baggies, then carry them around with me until I get to
my hotel room where I clean them and hang them up to dry. Because the negatives are exposed to the
outdoors, they sometimes become scratched or damaged, especially on windy days, all part of the process
of making a pinhole photograph.
To make a photograph in this way offers an opportunity for quiet and meditation. The images depict a
serene world of architecture, icons and landscapes, which will remain long after we are gone.
~Rosanne Olson
For images in the MU Gallery, visit Rosanne Olsons web site www.rosanneolson.com.
Essays by Rosanne Olson: Pinhole Meditations and Pinhole Tales
Fall 07 Exhibit
"Fractal.....", November 3rd - November 28th, 2007
The first student exhibition is open in the Memorial Union Gallery. It will continue through November
28. At the opening reception on Friday evening, artist Mary Pfeifer talked about her work in multiple
media, her fascination with fractals, dot patterns, matrix, dpi, ppi and the installation in the Gallery.
Pfeifer is a candidate for the Bachelor of Fine Art.
Ms Pfeifer credits her 2002 P.E.A.R.S. – the Printmaking Education and Research Studio –
experience with her fractal fascination. “By the time the visiting professor, Master Printmaker
Elizabeth Dove, left NDSU, I was hooked on finding the most non-repetative dot pattern possible when
printmaking.” Subsequently, reading the novel “Fractal Murders” by Mark Cohen, Pfeifer
says, she “was able to understand the dynamics of dot patterns for the first time.”
In addition to the 90-inch tall fractal females and their companion framed prints, Pfeifer presents two
additional series. One series is portraits of women who are accompanied by modern day mythology. The
other series of recent work – five feet tall acrylic paintings on stretched canvas –
“examines my relationship with my mother, now deceased, who had Alzheimer’s disease, and my
own personal struggle with the aging process”.
Joining Pfeifer for the evening were Jon Offutt and Kay Ornberg, whose work is also showing and for sale
in the Gallery. Offutt is a well-known glassblower; Ornberg’s pieces include wearable art and
photography (images captured by Ornberg and digitally manipulated by Pfeifer).
This exhibit was installed by the Gallery’s new student employees, who worked with the artists and
with the Memorial Union Gallery Coordinator, Esther Hockett. Preparations included design of placement of
the artworks, moving pedestals from off-site storage and painting them, removing nails and hangers used
for the previous show, and touching up the walls. Each artwork is placed to show it to best advantage and
to create a relationship with other pieces in the show via theme, color, or shape, for example. Text
labels describing each piece are compiled, printed, and placed on the wall, as is the artist’s
statement. For a BFA show, the faculty advisers review the hanging presentation of the work. Final steps
include installing vinyl or poster title text on the wall and positioning the many track lights to
showcase the work for best visibility, according to Hockett. The Gallery student staff are: Marita Abe,
Alex Ellis, Briana Hanson, Mary Kinstler, and Leila Rastegar.
Gallery hours are 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 Thursday
evening, and by appointment. The Memorial Union Gallery was founded in 1969 by NDSU Student Government.
Closed for two years for Union construction and renovations, the Gallery re-opened in late September in
its new, expanded location above the NDSU Bookstore, formerly known as the Varsity Mart.
Death Penalty Photography Exhibit: October 17-21, 2007
"Images of the Death Penalty, Photographs by Scott Langley"
A photography exhibit is scheduled for Oct. 17-21 at the NDSU Memorial Union Gallery. U.S. District
Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson, who presided over the trial of Alfonso Rodriguez in the murder of Dru
Sjodin, is scheduled to give an opening presentation at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 17.
The exhibit and presentation are planned in conjunction with the annual human rights conference of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. Presentation Sisters, Fargo, are helping to sponsor the exhibit.
Images of the Death Penalty, Photographs by Scott Langley website
http://www.langleycreations.com/photo/deathpenalty/index.html
Opening Exhibit: "Balance...", Sept. 28 - Oct. 13, 2007
The Memorial Union Gallery is delighted to announce a re-opening exhibit in a new location! Come and see the current and student work of NDSU Visual Arts Department graduates! Included in the show are 40 works: video, painting, print-making, multimedia/assemblage and sculpture. The art work by nine artists - Nathaniel Booth, Jennifer Brandel, Judith Feist, Kathryn Hagstrom, Amanda Henderson, Christina Johnson, Eric Johnson, Jay Pfeifer, and Rick Woodland - were installed on Friday, September 28, 2007. The show was co-curated by Kent Kapplinger Associate Professor, PEARS Director & Master Printer, Department of Visual Arts, NDSU, and Esther Hockett, Visual Arts and Gallery Coordinator at the Memorial Union.
An opening reception - free and open to the public - will be held Friday, October 5, 2007 from 5:00 until 7:00 pm - as a part of Homecoming festivities and in celebration of the re-dedication of the Memorial Union facility and programs.
The theme and title for the show is ‘balance’ as it relates to daily life, art and work, present and past, consumption and environment, self and family, process and product .The MU Gallery is now located on the second floor, above the Bookstore (formerly known as the Varsity Mart), at the south entrance. Special hours for Homecoming week, Monday, October 1, through Saturday, October 6, are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Gallery hours Monday, October 8 thru Saturday, October 13 are 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. ; Thursday, October 11 until 8:00 p.m.
Exhibit Statement for ‘balance…’
September 28 - October 13, 2007
The theme and title for this Homecoming and Memorial Union Re-Dedication exhibition is
‘balance’ as it relates to nine artists’ daily life - art and work, present and past,
consumption and environment, self and family/friends, process and product .
Recent NDSU Visual Arts Department graduates who are working artists are featured. They are:
Nathaniel Booth, Jennifer Brandel, Judith Feist, Kathryn Hagstrom, Amanda Henderson, Christina Johnson,
Eric Johnson, Jay Pfeifer, and Rick Woodland. The 40 exhibited works include video, painting,
print-making, multimedia/assemblage and sculpture.
The show was co-curated by Kent Kapplinger Associate Professor, PEARS Director & Master Printer,
Department of Visual Arts, NDSU, and Esther Hockett, Visual Arts and Gallery Coordinator at the
Memorial Union. An opening reception - free and open to the public - is scheduled for Friday, October
5, 2007 from 5:00 until 7:00 pm, as a part of Homecoming festivities and in celebration of the
re-dedication of the Memorial Union facility and programs.
The MU Gallery is now located on the second floor, above the Bookstore (formerly known as the Varsity
Mart), at the south entrance. Special hours for Homecoming week, Monday, October 1, through Saturday,
October 6, are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Gallery hours Monday, October 8 thru Saturday, October 13
are 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. ; Thursday, October 11 until 8:00 p.m.