8__________ ________
WEÓNEsdAy, FEbRUARy 16, 2000
J
A&E
The CI ac I íamas P rint
Lancili
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAY SLUSARENKO
[above] Balance, a work by Slusarenko, captures 250 miniature figures struggling to stay atop a metal pipe, [left] Slusarenko's
collection of magic eight balls, [below] Umbrellas double as works of art in Slusarenko's office.
/
FULL-TIME STUDENTS,
FACULTY, and STAFF...
ANGIE PASCHEL
A & E Editor
Walking into Kay Slusarenko’s
brightly painted office, I instantly
felt at ease. Her collection of magic
eight balls, funky umbrellas and
paint-by-number canvases on the
walls reflected Slusarenko not only
as a collector, but also as a versatile
artist who finds magic in ordinary
objects.
Her love of the “mundane”
things in life has led Slusarenko as
an artist for thirty years. Tomor
row, she will share some of her his
tory as a professional artist at a
colloquium in M206ffom 12-1 p.m.
As associate dean of Humanities
and Social Sciences, Slusarenko is
in and out of meetings every day,
but her passion for art has stayed
constant in her life. Her career in
the art field is not restricted to one
medium, as I soon found out.
Slusarenko dabbles in painting,
drawing, photography and sculp
ture, as well as a concept known as
installation art, which she has been
focused on for the last ten years.
“A gallery or museum will con
tact me and say ‘we’ll give you this
room [for installation art],” said
Slusarenko. “I’ll go in, I’ll make two
rooms, maybe three rooms; I’m in
terested in how I can control how
you come into the space, and how
you go out.”
Installation art, according to
Slusarenko, is hard to describe be
cause it could mean so many things
depending on the artist.
“I wish I could just say, ‘well I
just love to paint flowers,’ but it’s
not that simple,” joked Slusarenko.
After showing me pictures of her in
stallation art shows, I can see why
the concept is so abstract. The only
thing that seems to remain consis
tent in installation art is
that nothing remains con
sistent.
“I like it being tempo
rary,” said Slusarenko.
“It’s very much like life, in
that it is temporary. It’s
very much like when I walk
home tonight, and maybe
find a leaf and just think
it’s amazing, but it won’t
be there tomorrow.”
i Slusarenko has been
'commissioned to create
her art for many places
around the country, in
cluding Alaska, California,
Washington and many lo
cations in Oregon. A show at Pio
neer Courthouse Square in 1994,
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called “Flowerbeds,” was a big suc
cess, and a joy for Slusarenko.
“I was given 29,000 flowers, and
then was told to create art with
those flowers,” said Slusarenko.
Among her work was “Hollywood
Bed,” a giant flowerbed modeled
after an actual bed used for sleep
ing, complete with neon lights and
an I8’xl8’ flowerquilt Anotherwas
“Waterbed,” a shower-like sculp
ture that contained working fau
cets, lily pads and live fish. All of
the pieces were tom down after
eight or nine days,
leaving Slusarenko
with only a memory,
which she cherishes.
Slusarenko was
also commissioned for
work at the new li
brary in downtown
Portland. This time,
the work was perma
nent. After request
ing a space in the
children’s section,
Slusarenko began a
two-year journey into
the land of miniatures.
In^Peekaboo,”
Slusarenko created
eleven tiny scenes inside an oak
cabinet that can only be seen from
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four-inch square windows.
“I worked with an East German
company that does miniature
people that are beyond cool,” mar
veled Slusarenko. “I can’t imagine
how they do it because they are
only a quarter-of-an-inch to an inch
tall.” When she wanted to cut back
on costs, Slusarenko had to learn
how to paint the miniature objects
herself, using only one or two-hair
brushes and magnifying glasses.
The piece is also lit using fiber op
tics, which made the scenes glow.
“I wanted something that spe
cifically spoke to children, said
Slusarenko. “Everything is out of
scale and it’s a real fantasy. It was
a lot of fun for me.”
I was absolutely captivated not
only by the depth of Slusarenko’s
artistic ability, but also by the way
she keeps art accessible to the gen
eral public. An artist must have a
way of reading and interpreting the
people around them, and
Slusarenko accomplishes that
through her diverse and extremely
personal work.
“You don’t want to tell people
what to look for in your art, but
you hope they get those feelings
that you did when you created it,”
said Slusarenko.
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