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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 2021)
4 AUGUST 11�18, 2021 MIXED MEDIUM THE ARTS AROUND EASTERN OREGON New art exhibit opens in Pendleton ‘Night Passages’ will be on display through September Go! staff P Courtesy of the artist “Waiting for Plant Magic in the Anthropocene” is among the works of Kirsten Furlong exhibited at the Pendleton Center for the Arts through September. ENDLETON — The geologic time scale may not seem related to art, but Kirsten Fur- long’s new exhibit, “Night Pas- sages,” at the Pendleton Center for the Arts shows otherwise. “I create images and objects about human, animal and plant interactions in places where these relationships are defi n- ing the Anthropocene,” Furlong said, describing her work. The show opened Thursday, Aug. 5, and will be on exhibit through Sept. 30. Admission is free to the gallery, at 214 N. Main St. The Anthropocene Epoch, according to a press release, is an “unoffi cial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a signifi cant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosys- tems. The word Anthropocene Wed-Fri 12-5 pm & Sat 10am-2pm is derived from the Greek words anthropo, for ‘man,’ and cene for ‘new,’ coined and made popular by biologist Eugene Stormer and chemist Paul Crut- zen in 2000.” Furlong’s recent projects re- late to nuclear waste in the high desert of the western United States, declining habitat in the grasslands of the Great Plains, and the eff ects of climate change on species everywhere. According to the artist’s state- ment, “animals and plants serve as emblems of nature and as metaphors for human desires. She uses detail, repetition and patterns inspired by those encountered in the natural world as a representational tool while also using mark making to express empathy, loss and longing.” Furlong was born in Milwau- kee, Wisconsin, and currently lives and works in Boise, Idaho. She received a BFA from the University of Nebraska and an MFA from Boise State Univer- sity. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions, in- cluding several this year. Expe- riences at artist residencies in Denali National Park in Alaska, Signal Fire and PLAYA in Or- egon, Jentel and Brush Creek in Wyoming, Montello Foundation in the Great Basin of Nevada, Prairieside Outpost in Kansas, and Good Hart Artist Residency in Michigan have created the foundation for many recent projects. She is the director of the Blue Galleries and a lecturer in the Department of Art, De- sign and Visual Studies at Boise State University. Support for the exhibit came from the Oregon Arts Com- mission and the Alexa Rose Foundation. More information is available by calling 541-310- 7413 or online at www.pendle- tonarts.org.
