2021 Competition and Touring Exhibition

The 38th annual Art About Agriculture Competition and Touring Exhibition presents a remarkable selection of artworks by Oregon artists that draw inspiration from food, fiber, and natural resources.

In reflecting on the numerous challenges of 2020, the Art About Agriculture program decided to create an open call for art that felt inclusive to all expressions of agriculture in artistry. This year’s theme is simple: art about agriculture.

Artists were presented with prompts to inspire expanded evaluation of agriculture in their art, as well as articles highlighting the College of Agricultural Sciences’ exciting research and significant industry collaborations from 2020. The open call received an astounding 341 submissions of art from 105 artists.

Although the open call was available to all artists living in the Pacific Northwest, the five member blind jury of art and agriculture professionals coincidentally selected all Oregon artists. The 55 artworks by 45 artists feature topics ranging from seafood and scenic landscapes to family farms and farmer’s markets. Quite a few artists also contributed powerful reflections on last year’s wildfires.

Mediums on display will include acrylic and oil painting, watercolor, drawing, mixed media, collage, printmaking, photography, textile art, sculpture, glass, and artist’s book.

Featured artwork: Tara Kemp, The Flower Vendor, 2020, Oil, 20” x 24”.

Tour Dates

(pending COVID-19 considerations)

June 4 – July 28: 

Giustina Gallery at The LaSells Stewart Center,
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR

Gallery hours: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am – 3pm, or by appointment.

Special open hours on Friday 6/4, 10am – 3pm

Reception: Friday June 25, 5:00pm – 7:30pm

Website and online gallery

August 3 – September 30:

Parrish Gallery at Chehalem Cultural Center,
415 E Sheridan St.
Newberg, OR 97132

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday 9am – 6pm / Saturdays 12pm – 6pm

Reception: Friday August 6, 5:00 – 7:00pm

Website

List of Participating Artists

  • C. Lill Ahrens (Corvallis, OR)
  • Greg Bal (Corvallis, OR)
  • Rich Bergeman (Corvallis, OR)
  • Lisa Brinkman (West Linn, OR)
  • Zel Brook (Corvallis, OR)
  • Jonathan Bucci (Salem, OR)
  • Carissa Burkett (Portland, OR)
  • Kathleen Caprario (Springfield, OR)
  • Jeanne Chamberlain (Portland, OR)
  • Sally Cleveland (Portland, OR)
  • Bets Cole (Elmira, OR)
  • Philip Coleman (Philomath, OR)
  • Kathryn Cotnoir (Portland, OR)
  • Tallmadge Doyle (Eugene, OR)
  • Norma Eaton (Salem, OR)
  • Humberto González (Portland, OR)
  • Phyllis Helland (Eugene, OR)
  • Irene Henjum (Springfield, OR)
  • Robin Hostick (Eugene, OR)
  • Shobha Jetmalani (Portland, OR)
  • Paulette Kaskinen (Portland, OR)
  • Tara Kemp (Eugene, OR)
  • Kitty Kingston (Eugene, OR)
  • Eilleen Knott (Junction City, OR)
  • Steven Kratka (Mill City, OR)
  • Roberta Lavadour (Pendleton, OR)
  • Sheryl LeBlanc (Eugene, OR)
  • Doyle Leek (Corvallis, OR)
  • Steve Leishman (Corvallis, OR)
  • Bill Marshall (Albany, OR)
  • Patti McNutt (Eugene, OR)
  • Rinee Merritt (Albany, OR)
  • Karen Miller (Corvallis, OR)
  • Lauren Ohlgren (Corvallis, OR)
  • Michael Ousley (Langlois, OR)
  • Mark Reid (Corvallis, OR)
  • Karen Russo (Elmira, OR)
  • Erik Sandgren (Portland, OR)
  • Angelita Surmon (Portland, OR)
  • Jean W. Thomas (Lake Oswego, OR)
  • Van C. Tran (Salem, OR)
  • Dee Vadnais (Deer Island, OR)
  • Yolanda Valdés Rementería (Portland, OR)
  • Angelyn Voss (Corvallis, OR)
  • Liz Walker (Beaverton, OR)

Contact Art About Agriculture:

Oregon State University
College of Agricultural Sciences
Art About Agriculture
248 Strand Agriculture Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
owen.premore@oregonstate.edu
541-737-5534

Thank you Donors, Patrons, and Volunteers!

Tina Green-Price and Mary McKillop
The LaSells Stewart Center / Giustina Gallery

Jerri Bartholomew, Gretchen Bracher, Mary Corp, Heidi Happonen, and Russell Karow
2021 Art About Agriculture Advisory Council

Tanmaya Bingham
Juror, One River School

Betty Brose
The Betty Brose Art About Agriculture Fund

Chehalem Cultural Center

Stella and James Coakley
Sheldon L. Ladd Art About Agriculture Purchase Award

William Cook and Gwil Evans
Roy D. Nielsen Art About Agriculture Award Fund

Brenda and Gordon Hood
The Brenda and Gordon Hood Art About Agriculture Fund

Margaret Hogg
The Margaret Hogg Memorial Art About Agriculture Fund

Bob Keefer
Juror

Lamb Foundation
Paul and Reese Lamb Memorial Art About Agriculture Award Fund

Joyce Loper
Juror, Oregon State University, Office of the Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences

Alan Sams
Office of the Dean, OSU College of Agricultural Sciences

Staci Simonich
Office of the Dean, OSU College of Agricultural Sciences

Gayle Strome
The Carey L. and Glen S. Strome Agricultural Art Memorial Purchase Award Fund

Debby Sundbaum-Sommers
Juror

Robyn Williams
Juror, Portland Center for the Performing Arts

Jurors

Tanmaya Bingham

 

Tanmaya Bingham is the director of One River School of Art + Design in Lake Oswego, OR, and an internationally exhibiting artist.  Having worked in Arts Management since 1998, Bingham has managed art fairs and galleries, as well as worked for private art dealers in the U.S.A. and Australia.

Bingham earned a BA from Antioch University, an MA in painting from Australian National University, and studied painting and art history in Florence (Italy), art and architecture in Paris (France), and computer graphics in London (England) and Vancouver BC (Canada). Bingham’s artwork has been exhibiting in New York, Santa Fe, Sydney, Hong Kong and Berlin, as well as featured in Vogue Living, Hi-Fructose, Artnet, Artsy, The Sydney Morning Harled and other publications.

http://tanmayabingham.com

Bob Keefer

Writer and photographer Bob Keefer graduated from Harvard University in 1975.  He worked for thirty years at The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) where he wrote about art and artists.  Keefer is currently the Arts Editor of Eugene Weekly and author of the noir thriller, Idaho: A (dark) love story, published in 2015.

In 2006 he was a fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts’ Journalism Institute for Theater and Musical Theater in Los Angeles.

Keefer has shown his hand-colored photography at galleries around the West, including the 2020 Art About Agriculture Competition and Exhibition: Tension/Harmony. He has enjoyed artist residencies at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Wyoming and at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon.

http://BobKeeferPhoto.com

Joyce Loper

Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, Loper is a supporter and promoter of the Art About Agriculture Program.

http://researchgate.net/profile/Joyce_Loper

Debby Sundbaum-Sommers

Debby Sundbaum-Sommers, painter, printmaker and arts educator, graduated with a BFA from Oregon State University in 1975. While at OSU she studied with John Rock, Nelson Sandgren, Berk Chappell and Gordon Gilkey. In the following years, she continued to print and paint with Nelson Sandgren. From 2007-2017, Debby studied with Tamarind Master Printmaker Frank Janzen and worked as a press assistant at the Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts (Pendleton).

A staunch advocate for visual art in Corvallis, Sundbaum-Sommers was a member of the cooperative gallery, Art in the Valley (Corvallis) for fifteen years. In 2018, she curated a watercolor exhibit for the Arts Center (Corvallis).  Saundbaum-Sommers prints and watercolors have exhibited in numerous juried and invitational shows in Oregon and Washington, and found in public and private collections in the United States, Ireland, Sweden, and Canada.

http://Philomathopenstudios.com/debby-sundbaum-sommers.html

Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams has worked in the public assembly facility management field for more than thirty years in Texas, North Carolina and Oregon-where she is currently Executive Director for Portland’5 Centers for the Arts. Williams is a member and past president of the International Association of Venue Managers, and a 15-year instructor and Past Chair of the Board of Regents for IAVM’s Venue Management School. In 2007, Robyn was voted one of the “ Top Five Women of Influence” by Venues Today magazine.

Robyn Williams holds a BA in Theater Design and Art. Her artistic career has centered largely around designing sets, stage lighting, and scenic artistry for theater and dance. Williams is also a mixed media artist working in assemblage and shows her work in local galleries in the Portland region. She is a past board president of Portland Open Studios.

http://iavm.org/robyn-williams-cve-named-2018-recipient-charles-mcelravy...