The Bountiful Lens

OSU's Art About Agriculture Unveils “The Bountiful Lens” Exhibit

Sep. 20 through Dec. 8, 2017
Gallery 440, Strand Agriculture Hall, Oregon State University
Reception: Friday, Oct. 20, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., with remarks by Eugene photographer Susie Morrill.

Oregon State University's Art About Agriculture program is exhibiting a selection of photographs from its permanent collection now through Dec. 8 in Gallery 440 of Strand Agriculture Hall.

A reception and gallery talk by Susie Morrill will be held on Friday, Oct. 20, from 3:30 to 5:30.  A long-time photographer and photo educator from the Eugene area, Morrill is the most recent photographer to be added to the permanent collection, which now includes 50 regional photographers among its artists.

“The Bountiful Lens:  Selected Photographs from the Art About Agriculture Permanent Collection” includes 17 color, black-and-white and alternative process photographs by photographers from Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Nebraska and New Mexico. 

Oregon artists represented in the exhibit are Harrison Branch and Rich Bergeman of Corvallis; Kurt Norlin of Albany; Loren Nelson of Beaverton; Christopher Rehwalt, Mark Rupert, Susan Seubert and Alan Mevis of Portland; and Morrill, Gary Tepfer and Justin Williams of Eugene.

The exhibit was organized to coincide with the annual meeting of the Northwest Regional Conference of the Society of Photographic Educators, which will be held the weekend of Oct. 20-22 on the OSU campus.

The College of Agricultural Sciences established its Art About Agriculture program in 1983 to encourage regional artists to interpret themes of agriculture, food, and natural resources in their work, and since then has built its collection through annual peer-reviewed acquisitions. Patrons’ gifts fund acquisitions and other program operations. Currently numbering more than 300 works, the collection comprises fiber arts, mixed media assemblages, paintings, sculptures, watercolors and works on paper, such as drawings, photographs and prints. The photographs encompass a wide range of formats and techniques, including gelatin silver, platinum/palladium, wet-plate collodion, and such color techniques as hand-colored gelatin silver, Ilfochrome, Type C, and color pigment prints.

The College’s Art About Agriculture Permanent Collection is the nation’s only contemporary, agrarian art collection owned and supported by a public university. It reflects the College’s commitment to build knowledge and appreciation for agricultural communities across the Pacific Northwest.

Susie Morrill
Nichole and Bucky
Pigment Photographic Print
11 by 14 inches

Susie Morrill was granted the 2017 Carey L. and Glen S. Strome Memorial Art About Agriculture Purchase Award, sponsored by the late Gayle Strome, and the College of Agricultural Sciences.