FEATURES
The Clackamas Print Page 3
Wednesday, Jan. 18,1995
UUttiiuj atdid ignited emotùMU and atiw up emthwuy
by Christi Snavely
Opinion Editor
Pauling Gallery is featuring
a new show by Portland artist
Laurie Balmuth until Feb. 9.
Balmuth is a printmaker and
mixed media artist who has re
ceived two degrees in art, a BFA
in painting and a BFA in
printmaking. She is a member of
a Co-op gallery in New York City
that features work by woman art
ists who might not get a chance
to be seen otherwise.
Last Wednesday, at the
show’s opening, Balmuth had a
reception and slide presentation
in which she spoke to an over
flowing room about her early
work and its evolvementto what
it is now.
Balmuth’s art takes past
works in art history and places
them on non-traditional objects
such as washing machine lids,
refridgerator doors and saws.
Balmuth described her
choices for pieces for her work.
“Artists are reflectors and recep
tors of the culture that they’re in,
and the surroundings that they
find themselves in. So, we find
ourselves in surroundings that are
mostly manmade and the barrage
of media all the time. Some of us,
I know, have more significant re
lationships with machines in our
lives than we do with people. The
art is going to reflect that.”
During her presentation,
Balmuth described her work as a
medium to focus on women in
Photo by Christi Snavely
Students and staff appreciate Laura Balmuth’s artwork on display In Pauling Gallery.
much more powerful roles than
they were when she was growing
up.
“I began to explore the en
tire package of the perfect woman
who had a wasp waist, the torpedo
Bra. She was the perfect mother,
blond hair, always cheerful and
you knew that she was notonly
an excellent mother and maid, but
a hell of a sex machine.”
Towards the end of the pre
sentation, a small group of men
expressed a certain amount of
hostility toward Balmuth’s view
of the art. One man asked
Balmuth about what seemed to
him her “over use of male sexu
ality” in her pieces.
Her response to his question
was also an attempt to clarify
what she wants to accomplish
through her work. “I’m very in
terested in the phallocentric na
ture of our culture. The way it’s
imbedded in our art h istory is very
telling, "and so this is one of the
subjects that I like tause. It’s also
part of validating the woman’s
point of view, which is something
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by Christi Snavely
Opinion Editor
Imagine walking into your
first day of class, being split into
a group of three other people you
most likely don’t know and then
being told you have to give a five
to seven minute presentation on
a topic of the instructor’s choice
sometime within the quarter.
This is just what students
encountered when they began
their first year of Engineering
Orientation class last quarter.
“They have been giving re
ally outstanding presentations,”
said Ed Landauer, instructor and
department chair of Engineering
religious myths as they are de
picted in art history into question,
that I’m irreligious, and I’m re
ally not; I’m just calling some of
those myths into question.”
Before the close of the lec
ture, Clackamas Instructor Gisele
Tierney, who brought her' Com
munication Between the Sexes
class to the show, made one final
comment: “I want you to notice
how deeply rooted your beliefs
about gender are; where did you
get them? That’s what’s being
called into question. I didn’t
mean you couldn’t listen because
you didn’t hear it; I’m saying,
what filters are you listening
through?
“I want you to think about the
idea of perception, because this is
what she’s (Balmuth) been talk
ing about the whole time. Please
think about where you’re coming
from, and what’s been tweaked for
you. That’s a huge part of expe
riencing art and experiencing
gender-awareness.”
By igniting the emotions that
many of the students expressed,
Balmuth accomplished what she
wants to do...get people to re
evaluate how they think.
Balmuth’s work is gaining
commercial popularity; Microsoft
Co. has some of her pieces, and
although they haven’t made any
final decisions, she feels confident
in her abilities.
Science. “Each week they got bet
ter and better.”
Each group was given a topic
and a week to gather the infor
mation. They had the freedom to
decide how they wanted to present
the information.
Topics ranged from anything
that is pertinent to engineering
today. Four of the eight speeches
were on the light rail, due to the
impact on the local community
and the easy access to the infor
mation on hand.
When each group finished
the presentations, they had a class
critique. This enabled the students
to give each other constructive
criticism.
Landauer, who was once a
manager at an engineering firm
in Wàshington, said their office
required potential employees to
give a 10-minute presentation as
part of their interview. Landauer
said that a good presentation re
flected a better potential em
ployee.
The course covers making
presentations, but this is the first
time that Landauer has placed so
much emphasis on them. “This is
real life for an engineer,” he said.
The speeches were such a success
that he believes they will be an
addition to his courses forever.
I’m very interested in.”
Some members of the audi
ence commented on her use of
religious art in her work and ex
pressed discomfort with her
choices and methods in her
pieces. Asked about any criticism
about her work, Balmuth said that
for the most part she doesn’t have
opposition. She attributes much
of that to the beauty of the art.
She did, however, make an
almost foreshadowing comment:
“I’ve had a few problems. People
feel that because I call some of the
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