Oregon College of Art and Craft’s inaugural speaker series
Connection: Intersecting Tradition and Innovation, presents “It is Difficult” by world-renowned installation artist, architect and filmmaker Alfredo Jaar
Monday, November 14 from 7:00–8:30pm
Blue Sky Gallery
122 NW 8th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97209
Oregon College of Art and Craft’s inaugural speaker series, Connection: Intersecting Tradition and Innovation, presents world-renowned global installation artist, architect and filmmaker Alfredo Jaar on November 14. His lecture, “It is Difficult,” provides a framework for considering the complexity of current social and cultural issues around the world.
Jaar works across media to powerfully articulate social touch points as he works within communities to find solutions to wide-spread problems. Born in Chile, and now living in the U.S., Jaar addresses the often-difficult intersection of politics and society, and his art has been a catalyst for thoughtful responses to global issues of conflict and sustainability. His work has been shown extensively around the world, including the 1986 and 2007 Venice Biennales, multiple Sao Paulo Biennales. His work is represented by Gallery Lelong in New York.
Connection: Intersecting Tradition and Innovation, is a speaker series of makers and thinkers who explore and inventively articulate the relationship of craft to other disciplines and fields. For more information visit www.ocac.edu.
Upcoming Spring Connection speakers include:
“50 Different Minds: Art and Design in the Age of Crowdsourcing” with Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese
Tuesday, January 31 from 7:00–8:30pm
Location TBD in Portland, OR
The collaborative interdisciplinary art team of Ligorano/Reese selects unusual materials and industrial processes to test the impact of art on social and political systems. Utilizing limited edition multiples, videos, sculptures and installations, they move easily from electronic art and computer controlled interactive installations to dish towels, underwear and snow globes, conveying vital, even urgent, commentary with a touch of humor.
“Insights into Creating a Successful Business in Design” with Sandy Chilewich
Monday, March 5 from 7:00–8:30pm
Location TBD in Portland, OR
Sandy Chilewich is the founder and creative director of Chilewich Sultan LLC, a New York based company owned with her partner and husband Joe Sultan. Chilewich, the brand, is recognized worldwide for the modern reinterpretation of underutilized materials and manufacturing processes. Chilewich textiles have transformed how people dress their tables at home and in restaurants around the globe, while their floor and wall coverings provide a clean contemporary alternative in the design community.
ABOUT OCAC
Established in 1907, Oregon College of Art and Craft is a principal center for education and dialogue centered around the art of making. The College offers a two-year joint MFA in Applied Craft and Design, a four-year BFA in Craft, a three-year Certificate Program, a one-year Post-baccalaureate Certificate Program and year round studio classes and workshops for adults and children of all ages and skill levels in which future generations of artists and thinkers learn in a mentor-based environment. As the only accredited private art college west of the Mississippi to offer a BFA in Craft, OCAC is a superb laboratory for investigating the creative process through making and finding inventive approaches to art and craft. www.ocac.edu