Lead Pencil Studio and Portland’s Inversion: Plus Minus Public Art Project with Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Sabina Samiee

Inversion: Plus Minus | “Looking Through the Past Into the Present”

This is a story about art. About public art — a public installation of grand, yet grounded proportions. It is a story of architecture. Of science and of history. Of a way of looking at an environment and a landscape with a poetic understanding. Of blending inspiration, appreciation, and idea with the realities of weather, structure, and observation and of seeing grace and beauty in the forgotten and the abandoned– in a cityscape of low-profile commercialism, traffic rushing to destinations elsewhere, and the utilitarian harshness of streets dominated by warehousing. It is also about what is left when something is gone as a place evolves through time. And it is about connecting to people, their sense of place and their capacity for appreciation.

It is about Inversion: Plus Minus, the filigree-like corten steel structures that now rise up to define the eastern finishing point of Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge. Conceived of, designed, and built by Seattle-based Lead Pencil Studio’s artist-architects, Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo (both are UO Department of Architecture alumni), the installation is a public art project administered by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and part of the city’s 2% for Art ordinance and Portland Streetcar’s expansion to the central eastside..

Inversion: Plus Minus sits comfortably within the ethos and reputation of oeuvre recognized and accomplished by Seattle’s Lead Pencil Studio—a studio renowned for the blending of art and architecture or as UO architecture professor Howard Davis explains, a “blending of the intellectual experience of art with the physical | visceral experience of a building.” Which, is, indeed the initial step to observing and understanding these structures: Davis, continues, “that physical experience (as a work of architecture) is tactile, haptic, temporal, environmental; and because it at the same time defies architectural expectations (as a work of art) it provokes thought about the idea of building itself. Art becomes architecture, and architecture becomes art….the installation [Inversion: Plus Minus] clearly does this splendidly.”

Selected by a RACC-assembled public art panel in 2011, Lead Pencil Studio’s Han and Mihalyo saw the pre-Inversion: Plus Minus Hawthorne Bridge location as a “ruthless pedestrian environment” immersed in a region of “old billboard structures, warehouses, and a density of commercial [buildings]” that had defined and shaped the area for over a century. Han and Mihalyo visualized the environment as predisposed to inspiration they derived from shipyard-scaffolding, and a poignant sense of industry left behind once the production was completed.

The actual physical east Portland location, imagined from an historic perspective and from a vision that acknowledged a past of industrial and commercial ebb and flow, gave the artist-architect team the sense that “it had a life already” and that life required expression and appreciation. Thus, Inversion: Plus Minus can be said to provide a glimpse of what had existed, and a reference to a past, of buildings that once stood in this place with rooflines discernable in the silhouettes of Inversion: Plus Minus. By presenting the idea as a void or a shadow of a building, not solid, but permeable, with the wind and the rain having full access, this tumbleweed-like aesthetic gives viewers an opportunity to imagine and to “capture a sky, a volume, a gesture, and to give one an experience,” describes Han.

Both Han and Mihalyo confide that it is futile to try and control the meaning of their work: “providing a narrative—confines the work too much.” Their goal, they say, is for the individual to “come to their own conclusions: it is more meaningful that way.” And while the quizzical form of the installation, its spiny composition of right-angle welded small pieces, from afar appearing digital in form, pixelesque in repetition fascinates the eye, Han and Mihalyo point to the questions it might raise and the discussions it might precipitate as being the most important. Inversion: Plus Minus succeeds in capturing a void, a series of spaces otherwise lost in the ethereal upper stories atmosphere blanketing a busy streetscape. The structure frames a memory bringing recognition to a history and a concept of all things existing, somehow connected to our present and bridging that gap between emptiness and purpose.

University of Oregon Department of Architecture | Portland program director, Nancy Cheng comments on the installation:

By recreating the edges of the former industrial buildings, the art piece pays homage to ordinary workers’ lives. The anonymity of the building forms speaks about the dignity of common person’s mundane existence.

The composition of metal strips recalls the static of a not-quite-in-tune television set, evoking the ephemeral quality of a dream. The disciplined orthogonal order creates a random weave texture that reveals the contemporary origin of the artpiece. Because these members catch the light in different ways, the appearance of the piece changes according to the lighting condition and viewing angle. I first saw the piece in silhouette, which muted its spatial characteristics. Photos show how that direct sunlight brings out the more literal architectural features, and reveals a rich depth of layering.

Years ago, Portlanders passed by, worked in, and interacted with structures at the Hawthorne Bridge | Grand Avenue location that resembled the roofline and height of Inversion: Plus Minus. From the 1930s-1950s, businesses bustled and people came and went in a dense urban environment. Prosperity eventually waned and the area shifted focus transitioning to a much more car-oriented comfort level. Buildings once here disappeared: torn down, removed, simply altered to fit a new aesthetic, different requirements, and modern commercialism. The environment morphed, materialistic things came and went, replaced by new buildings, new business, new people. A sense of curiosity remains, however, with a love of a place, aren’t we compelled to wonder what happened to what was before, after all, did it not influence our present and effect our future? Does it simply disappear? Seeking to explain or justify or even just satisfy a sort of questioning of the past in a way reminiscent of Roman poet and philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus’ epic poem, On the Nature of Things, who writes “all things flow –the things thus grow.” It is an approach that fits rather well with Lead Pencil Studio’s ideology. The original structures are long gone, disunited, but what remains or has replaced the emptiness is represented with affection and a weathered rust-orange patina of nostalgia that has become evocatively representational. Han comments that Inversion: Plus Minus sought to “repair the fabric of the city;” and that the desire was “to let Inversion: Plus Minus exist as a reference point similar in size to buildings that were here historically.” Lead Pencil Studio’s installation reaches into the skyline in an attempt “to relate to the city and the scale of the city, to walk between the presence and the absence….” says Han. It stands as a series of right angle outlines that forge a description of history, and summon a memory.

“Public art is blood after it has been oxygenated, coursing through our bodies providing a necessary component for survival.” —Ms. Lynette Hanson, member of the public on Inversion: Plus Minus

The idea of this public art installation as a work of memory, a piece meant to acknowledge something that existed in our past is captivating. But as a piece of public art, how does it function? What does it bring to our community? I set out recently to gather concentrated community responses to this work from the public as I felt that would help to anchor Inversion: Plus Minus to the community and foster a dialogue that accepted the piece as permanent piece of our landscape.

I decided to begin at the beginning: with the people who were watching the installation in situ from the get-go, and would be looking at it daily for a very long time. What I came across were some wonderful surprises and a delightful treasure, Lynette Hanson; her co-worker Steve Wright (both employees with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office); and the west-facing office window-side employees of the Multnomah County Information Technology offices.

Hanson works on the third floor of the Multnomah Building in the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Across the street, her office window looks directly towards Inversion: Plus Minus. She has no formal art or architecture background, and works as an office administrator. She does have an enthusiastic love of photography, and an appreciation for all things Portland.

As she says,

“I ….watched and photographed the installation of Inversion from the third floor of the Multnomah Building where I work, it was on the SE Grand sidewalk one January evening after work that it dawned on me that I could see the downtown skyline through the supports. I could look through the past into the present.”

I asked her how the installation has changed her view of the city:

Hanson replied,

“Since I moved to Portland in June, 2006–thrilled to be in the city my sons had come to call home–I’ve been on a quest to know more about Portland. Up until January, 2011, my work day commute took me through downtown, between home in the Alphabet District and the Central Eastside. Ever curious about downtown’s mix of venerable architecture and public spaces, plus accessible mass transit and the public art that goes with it, I walked the sidewalks, seeking sights to savor and investigate through the Internet and books and the Architectural Heritage Center, a few blocks north of the Multnomah Building. So, I was excited when I realized that the Portland Streetcar would bring not only more access to mass transit for my new workday commute—I now live in Northeast Portland—but also public art to its new route, the Central Loop. Little did I know that Inversion Plus Minus would be installed on the street corners right outside my workplace. For me, public art is blood after it has been oxygenated, coursing through our bodies providing a necessary component for survival. So, I’m excited to see the Central Eastside embrace public art.”

The reflections of Hanson express appreciation and a realization that this piece of public art enhances the community. It was a sentiment I would begin to hear over and over as I pressed on and asked for more input from the Inversion: Plus Minus’ captive audience at the Multnomah Building. Sheriff’s Office worker, Diane Hutchinson was happy to show me “the best view in the building”—she unlocked the main conference room so I could get a pristine look at Inversion: Plus Minus—the view seen by some of the sheriff’s office most important officials: third floor, west-facing full fenestration eye-level view of Inversion: Plus Minus. Across the street—turned out to be an excellent vantage point to a much better impression of the connectedness of the components, and the maze-like quality of the fused steel. Hutchinson’s co-workers were equally enthusiastic. Steve Wright, the Sheriff’s Office representative to the Multnomah County Green Team, among other things, proudly and graciously took me up on the building’s blustery wildflower-planted ecorooftop to be able to photograph and look at Inversion: Plus Minus from “a different angle.” He spoke with reverence and a sense of pride for being in such close proximity to the structure and even commented on looking forward to seeing how it might be used by all “neighbors” (birds, included) as it assimilates the regional ecology.

I was consistently and pleasantly surprised by the willingness of all to show me their “view” as my “tour” continued on the upper floors of the Multnomah building–employees eagerly walking me over to share their window views (Stan Mason and Tim Kurilo) and encouraging me to photograph varying angles of the structures framed by office cubbies and window sils.

We have all become rather accustomed to seeing this installation from a street view, and there is really much more to to be discovered, especially with how this installation contributes to the Portland skyline.

“….And indeed, embraced it will be.”—Beth Sellars, Suyama Space

Obviously, these 50’ high structures of 12 tons of steel are growing on their public audience and branching out to connect with the community. This is not a new progression for how the work of Lead Pencil Studio is perceived. Beth Sellars, curator of Suyama Space in Seattle (a place where work by Lead Pencil Studio has been exhibited) comments that whenever Lead Pencil completes a major art project, it is certain to be thoughtful, sensitive, and smart and will resonate with the public to the point of prideful ownership.

Sellars continues,

As a curator with a long history of their work, I am constantly intrigued with their inventive approach to large scale projects. Their Inversion: Plus Minus promises to be their most innovative to date and I’m envious Portland will be the home for it….

Lead Pencil Studio’s thoughtful reminder of the disappearing history of the industrial East Portland neighborhood, the actual 1900’s iron foundry that was destroyed to make way for bridge construction, and the mindless stream of vehicular traffic separating the neighborhood from the rest of the city will coalesce in community-wide pride of place once the work is completed and embraced. And indeed, embraced it will be.

Quite so, projects like Inversion: Plus Minus contribute to the growing and expansive definition of our city, as Nancy Merryman, FAIA and on the board of directors for the Architecture Foundation of Oregon says,

[Projects like Inversion: Plus Minus] contribute by the fact that their conception grew out of local/regional history and knowledge. I believe that anything that responds to – and contributes to – our unique environment and sense of place helps deepen our identity. That said, I am personally not fond of many of the public art pieces that have been done because I don’t feel that they contribute in a positive way. But this is the age-old conundrum…beauty and meaning is in the eye of the beholder. I do appreciate the use of permanent materials and the sense of quality in “Inversion”; from my perspective, those are two required characteristics for the success of public art.

The importance of public art pieces throughout Portland cannot be denied –their capacity to ignite conversation and debate, without doubt. In her recent introduction to Han and Mihalyo’s May 6th, 2013 “Peripheral Vision” lecture at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts, Kate Wagle (UO in Portland AAA administrative director and UO in Portland interim vice-provost) gently reminded the audience:

….intellectual integrity and curiosity [of Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo] has kindled a passionate debate, a volatile context in which to address the interdisciplinary overlap of architecture and site-specific art. However, while politics may be a condition for the work, it’s not the subject tonight…that’s the art and the artists.

Moving forward as a community with the soon-to-be expected completion of Inversion: Plus Minus, the focus needs to remain on the art and the artists. The project has been bestowed upon us to adopt and embrace as part of our growing public art collection. With Wagle’s gracious segue into the importance of the Lead Pencil Studio and Regional Arts and Culture Council’s public art project, she set the stage for a mindful discussion with a lens pointed confidently in the direction of process, the bridge and the gap between art and architecture, and the discovery of inspiration. Wagle also reinforced the musings of the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s executive director, Eloise Damrosch, who later commented, offering insightful explanation and context to the entire project:

Portland and Multnomah County’s Public Art Programs have been in place for 33 years, so the collections represent many different phases of our region’s growth through the eyes of artists working in many media and taking widely diverse points of view. They also represent the critical work of countless selection panels members who are artists, architects, bureau people, neighborhood representatives, citizens who care deeply about building the art component of this remarkable place. It is hard to image Portland without its public art. It’s in the streets and sidewalks, inside and outside public buildings, parks, fire and police stations, libraries, clinics, transit lines and courthouses.

Inversion:Plus Minus is the result of the selection panel, created specifically for the eastside streetcar line, deciding that the near eastside deserved major, large scale artworks. The selected artists (Lead Pencil Studio) were inspired to bridge a modern commitment to connect east and west sides of the river with a new streetcar line and the area’s industrial past.

This piece (currently half finished) is both bold in scale and ambition and poetic in its abstracted reference to buildings once in those places. They surprise and in some cases startle passersby. They promote curiosity and dialogue, which is part of why public art is important in our city.

This piece is also intriguing in that while some artworks are integrated into architecture – and become a part of the building, such as Ed Carpenter’s window in the west facade of the downtown Justice Center – these sculptures are architectural in themselves, yet are not buildings. They are contemporary and old, architectural and sculptural, large scaled and lacy.–Eloise Damrosch, executive director, RACC

One thing is certain, Inversion: Plus Minus offers to its viewers an opportunity to envision scale, experience material, and explore light, space and height in a purely public forum. It seems to suggest a deeper understanding of our universe to those considerate of the philosophical wanderings of ancient thought and scientific inquiry. If we are to wonder, “things are their quality, things are their form” as Carus’ moving On the Nature of Things encourages us, with Inversion: Plus Minus we are given a beautiful concept, and one that evokes a sense of permanence and foreverness despite a physical disappearance. Science teaches us that nothing is ever created nor destroyed, that atoms and molecules never disappear but continue on within our universe, becoming our environment, being incorporated into a system of nature and being, the ultimate in sustainability. It is a scientifically-based concept that enthralled the thinkers of ancient times and is expressed so eloquently in On the Nature of Things.

Taking Annie Han’s and Daniel Mihalyo’s reposeful poetic way of offering that we relate to the city, and to the scale of our city; that we “walk the line between presence and absence,” and notice that which has disappeared, I will leave you with an excerpt from Carus’ On the Nature of Things, realizing that “all things flow….” and, in its purest form, Inversion: Plus Minus might compel us to think about and discuss the transitory nature of our environs, the concept of sustainability, and, simply, the nature of things….

And certainly anything that encourages thought, is a good thing.

Many thanks to….

Annie Han of Lead Pencil Studio

Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio

Lynette Hanson, see her blog here Portland Oregon Daily Photo and Lynette_1_2_3 Flickr Set Art, Inversion Plus Minus

Steve Wright | Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office

Diane Hutchinson | Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office

Tim Kurilo | IT Multnomah County Oregon

Stan Mason | IT Multnomah County Oregon

Beth Sellars | Suyama Space, Seattle

Howard Davis | Professor, UO Department of Architecture

Nancy Cheng | Professor, UO Department of Architecture

Jane Jarrett | Executive Director, Architecture Foundation of Oregon

Nancy Merryman, FAIA | Board of Directors, Architecture Foundation of Oregon

Eloise Damrosch | Executive Director, Regional Arts and Culture Council

Kristin Calhoun | Public Art Manager, Regional Arts and Culture Council

Links:

Regional Arts and Culture Council

Portland Architecture’s blog post on Inversion: Plus Minus

Lead Pencil Studio

University of Oregon Department of Architecture

No Single Thing Abides | On the Nature of Things

By Titus Lucretius Carus (99-55BCE)

No single thing abides; but all things flow.

Fragment to fragment clings–the things thus grow

Until we know and name them. By degrees

They melt, and are no more the things we know.

II

Globed from the atoms falling slow or swift

I see the suns, I see the systems lift

Their forms; and even the systems and the suns

Shall go back slowly to the eternal drift.

III

Thou soo, oh earth–thine empires, lands, and seas–

Least, with thy stars, of all the galaxies,

Globed from the drift like these, like these thou too

Shalt go. Thou art going, hour by hour, like these.

IV

Nothing abides. The seas in delicate haze

Go off; those moonéd sands forsake their place;

And where they are, shall other seas in turn

Mow with their scythes of whiteness other bays.

V

Lo, how the terraced towers, and monstrous round

Of league-long ramparts rise from out the ground,

With gardens in the clouds. Then all is gone,

And Babylon is a memory and a mound.

VI

Observe this dew-drenched rose of Tyrian grain–

A rose today. But you will ask in vain

Tomorrow what it is; and yesterday

It was the dust, the sunshine and the rain.

VII

This bowl of milk, the pitch on yonder jar,

Are strange and far-bound travelers come from far

THis is a snow-flake that was once a flame–

The flame was once the fragment of a star.

VIII

Round, angular, soft, brittle, dry, cold, warm,

Things are their qualities: things are their form–

And these in combination, even as bees,

Not singly but combined, make up the swarm:

IX

And when the qualities like bees on wing,

Having a moment clustered, cease to cling,

As the thing dies without its qualities,

So die the qualities without the thing.

X

Where is the coolness when no cool winds blow

Where is the music when the lute lies low

Are not the redness and the red rose one,

And the snow’s whiteness one thing with the snow

XI

Even so, now mark me, here we reach the goal

Of Science, and in little have the whole–

Even as the redness and the rose are one,

So with the body one thing is the soul.

XII

For, as our limbs and organs all unite

to make our sum of suffering and delight,

And without eyes and ears and touch and tongue,

Were no such things as taste and sound and sight.

XIII

So without these we all in vain shall try

To find the things that gives them unity–

The thing to which each whispers, “Thou art thou”–

The soul which answers each, “And I am I.”

XIV

What! shall the dateless worlds in dust be blown

Back to the unremembered and unknown,

And this frail Thou–this flame of yesterday–

Burn on, forlorn, immortal, and alone

XV

Did Nature, in the nurseries of the night

Tend it for this–Nature whose heedless might,

Casts, like some shipwrecked sailor, the poor babe,

Naked and bleating on the shores of light?

XVI

What is it there? A cry is all it is.

It knows not if its limbs be yours or his.

Less than that cry the babe was yesterday.

The man tomorrow shall be less than this.

XVII

Tissue by tissue to a soul he grows,

As leaf by leaf the rose becomes the rose.

Tissue from tissue rots; and, as the Sun

Goes from the bubbles when they burst, he goes.

XVIII

Ah, mark those pearls of Sunrise! Fast and free

Upon the waves they are dancing. Souls shall be

Things that outlast their bodies, when each spark

Outlasts its wave, each wave outlasts the sea.

XIX

The seeds that once were we take flight and fly,

Winnowed to earth, or whirled along the sky,

Not lost but disunited. Life lives on.

It is the lives, the lives, the lives, that die.

. . . . .

TEDx Portland collaborates with the White Box for “What If ?” Art and Design Show

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Sabina Samiee

What If ? . . . . On Intersectionality and Your Visual Backlog

TEDx Portland What If ? at the UO White Box in Portland

The WHAT IF? TEDxPortland Art & Design Exhibition is a curated collaboration by the University of Oregon and TEDxPortland. 26 artists donated their time, treasure and talent to make this possible. Every penny from the online auction will benefit the Children’s Healing Art Project (CHAP). The Nike Foundation will match the amount raised. The auction starts at 5:30pm on April 17th, ending at 5:30pm on April 27th The exhibit will be housed at the White Box in the White Stag Block from April 4-24th and then will be transported and re-installed for TEDxPortland at the Portland Art Museum on April 27th Celebrating Ideas & Art worth spreading.

In keeping with the mission of TED, the exhibition showcases work that mines the territory between art, design, technology and science in popular culture. The work illuminates natural and imagined worlds through form and function. Selected artists were invited to submit work that is an exploration of visual media that connects to these multiple histories. Responding to concept, object, new knowledge and technologies through creative process, exhibited works span discrete disciplines and burgeoning practices.

TEDx Portland White Box "What if?"

Co-curated by White Box manager, Tomas Valladares and Molly Georgetta (Compound Gallery), What If ? presents a diverse yet curiously cohesive body of works that delve into both the digital and the handmade: a sort of vibrant intersectionality. Upon further observation, streams of unity begin to flow through the show but rather than providing simply visual entertainment and explanation, these works united and merged together in this space play with the realness of things and ideas in ways that encourage a captivating uncertainty.

I stared for an unreasonably lengthly amount of time at Zach Yarrington’s signage-cum-art Say it Out Loud. It spoke at me, not to me: playing with the blunt, authentic, familiar, but something was different. A myriad of thoughts flowed, too: 1800s memorabilia, font obsessiveness, decoration with flourish, signage you read at a glance, yet it felt new and unexpected, shifty. Had I seen this before? Heard this before? [Look at Zach Yarrington’s Say it Out Loud]

We’ve all heard that words can be deceiving. And, things are not always as they seem. Objects, images and language can evoke memories, appear commonplace, create difficult or lovely feelings, even prompt new ideas. The work displayed in TEDx’s “What If?” bring together pieces at once provocative, questioning, comfortable and challenging.

Craig Hickman’s “LOVER’S LANE” lassoo’ed me in next. It looked real, it sounded real, it sounded appealing, but then there was that roadsign, grubby billboard delivery, itself lovable in its truthfulness. However, what might have seemed comfortable was challenged by context, materiality, my own memory. Then I saw that wayward apostrophe, and the added comment, “HIGH WATER.” Had I seen those two paired together before? The logic of it was almost taunting, shamefully so–like, well of course, why didn’t I see that coming? Is it difficult to cope with ambiguity and a subconscious awareness? Hickman has no qualms in suggesting that we look, and expose ourselves to his nothing-barred candor. [Look at Craig Hickman’s LOVER’S LANE or for even more, explore his book OXIDE].

The “What If ?” TEDx Portland art exhibit opened on April 4 and here it is minutes before the online auction opens, and I am wondering about familiarity, the proverbial, and “a fictional world only slightly different from our own” (Craig Hickman describing his piece in What If ?, April 3, 2013). The exhibit prompts a questioning and a curiosity about ideas and traversing the distance between comfort of the everyday and the uncertain novelty of the unknown. Every piece here transcends the conventional, and asks the viewer to consider a different reality. It is a challenge to face familiar concepts that are rife with the expected and the known but here ignited with deviation and innovation the works become an intersection of both.

I talked to a few of the artists and designers exhibiting in the TEDx “What If ?” show to find out more….and asked them to explain a few threads woven into the body of work on exhibit that contributed to a shared ground line: that of manipulation of the human experience and layering methodology to explore the unknown. The integrative thinking and the intersectionality of this exhibit offered the opportunity to embrace the show’s portal to fascinating new representations of reality, the future, and here, and now.

The Opulent Project

The Opulent Project’s Meg Drinkwater explained “the found files that are used to create [the] ring act as symbols for what we know to be rings….By appropriating and combining these symbols…we have further emphasized the caricature that is in our collective mind….we attempt to ‘manipulate the human experience’ by examining it and questioning it.” [Look at the Opulent Project’s Digital Ring]

Sara Huston of The Last Attempt at Greatness (Sara Huston and John Paananen] and the works, Expectation 03, smtwtfs 01, and smtwtfs 02, exemplify the studio’s “exploration of subjects of progress, expectation, liminal space, categorization, perception, value and the intersection and language of art and design.” Huston and Paananen’s work boldly aims at “provoking discourse and contemplation in the viewer or user in an attempt to disrupt conventional ways of thinking, induce reflection and challenge the boundaries of what is known.” Precisely, the work of The Last Attempt at Greatness is about, as Huston elaborates, “the ‘What if?’…[it is] about getting people out of their comfort zone to look at the world in a new way.” [View their work in the auction.]

Trygve Faste, an artist/designer is showing a work called Protoform Orange Red Blue in What if? Faste’s work is “about examining the creation of objects..currently and in the future, but especially in the future.” The piece in What If? endeavors to illuminate his concept that “somehow the future will be more promising than the present.” Acrylic on canvas, Protoform is a product of “studio art and industrial design.” Faste explains that he has given himself “the challenge of trying to convey the complex relationships we have with the dynamic landscape of objects that surround us through the use of abstract painting and form….” He also believes that designers strive to “create new objects and experiences that bring together appropriate materials and technologies to create innovative solutions to everyday problems,” thus making objects of our environment; for the most part, he postulates this “comes from a place of wanting to do good.” His work “tries to tap into a collective subconscious regarding the human aspirations imbedded” in our already existing creations. A self-professed optimist, Faste relates that his work “explore[s] the unknown, particularly from the vague human desire to embark on achievements….that lead to a bright and futuristic tomorrow.” [See Protoform Orange Red Blue]

Jennifer Wall’s Parametric Ring was “birthed from a process combining 6^th century BC technology (cuttlefish bone casting) with neoteric technology (3-D printing from a parametric CAD file).” Wall speaks of her “pulling from discordant technologies to produce objects,” and explains her manipulation of the human experience as one where her research analyzes “the impulse to self-identify through the objects we make.” She continues, “time and history are necessary to understand the production of new ideas, which are often a reconstruction of that which already exists.” [See Parametric Ring]

What If ? may ask more questions that it answers, and prompt you to vacillate between emotions of familiarity and strangeness, between understanding and a sense of impulsive curiosity laced with insecurity. It may encourage you to recognize innovation and image as a way to explore new ideas and venture away from the expected. Yet, while the ability to leave a level of familiarity and comfort can precipitate a sense of entering a brave new world, it is this facing of dissidence that can bring the most rewarding drive forward. As Wall explains, we need contexts like this where objects “function as tangible indicator[s] of the space between past and present.”

"What if?" outside looking in....

Owning (and wearing) objects such as those available to you in this exhibit, is to “combine the past with the present so [you] can be doubly validated in ….an aesthetic taste and decision,” says Wall and achieve a greater understanding and perhaps connection. “It is plausible that all visual aesthetics are derivatives of one another, and that new ideas lie in seeing potential patterns in the visual backlog that already exists.”

It all starts today (Wednesday), my friends, tonight at 5:30 PST to be exact, here [The Auction]. This is your opportunity to be a part of this and actually have one, or more (!) of these pieces in your possession.

Brad Simon's "Rainbow Harvest"

“What if…?” you wait until numbers start trickling in (and up) as aficionados of art and design find their way to this place and make their bid on . . . . Wait! A work that you might want? Bidding is a strategic thing, and somehow we might be made just a bit nervous that we cannot see our competition, no paddles to raise, no leaning gaze to see where that bid came from (how dare she!?), and no jocular teasing or outright disappointment when you are outdone. And, worst yet, no bidding wars?! Yes, this is a new and different way to hold an auction, just like “What If? contains novel approaches to art and design; and we hope you enjoy it.

I have to admit, there is something to be said for bidding from the comfort of your own online location. For wherever you are, I advise you to seize the moment: being online and secretly upping the bid is so deliciously satisfying……now you can add your click, in the name of healing children and buying something more than simply relevant but also something that appreciates the chance to accept both your own “visual backlog” and a voyage away from the status quo. Doesn’t that feel good?

Artists and designers with UO affiliation in TEDx Portland What If ? are

Zach Yarrington (BFA ’11 Digital Arts)

Trygve Faste (UO Assistant Professor, Product Design Program)

The Opulent Project with Meg Drinkwater and Erin Rose Gardner (BFA ’07 and ’08, respectively, in Metals/Jewelry)

Laura Vandenburgh (UO Assoc Professor)

Craig Hickman (UO Professor Digital Arts)

Sara Huston with The Last Attempt at Greatness (UO Instructor), I, II, III

Jennifer Wall (UO Instructor)

Jenene Nagy (UO Management Certificate)

"What If?" co-curated by Tomas Alfredo Valladares and Molly Georgetta

Product Design Program Turns to US Veterans with Adaptive Design Innovation

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Sabina Samiee

A product design student (right) discusses his innovations for snowboarder | veteran Kevin Pannell's equipment.

In a recent Huffington Post article, writer, film director, and activist Michael Moore posted his contentious yet well-received, “Those Who Say ‘I Support the Troops” Really Don’t.” It was a controversial and somewhat scathing look at the hypocrisy contained in rhetoric heard nationwide during these years the US has been involved with conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“’I support the troops!’ spoken by Americans with such false sincerity—false because our actions don’t match our words….” wrote Moore. Strong and accusatory words, to be sure. Moore detailed about six ways Americans are, dismally failing in their rallying cry of support. One way, he claims, we fall short is in bringing “aid and comfort to the sick and wounded” veterans.

It does have a ring of truth. After all, upon their return, what do we, as citizens do to assist a veteran’s assimilation back into everyday life? These are young men and women our nation sent away to defend, protect, and serve. Many of them return not as they left. Perhaps injured, with major physical set-backs, having experienced trauma we civilians will only pretend to understand gleaned from quick snipets of war-ravaged video games where the blood and fear is only as real as the pixels on our computer screen.

Most of us, while at the prime of our life, will never have to bear the reality of losing a limb (or limbs), sustaining severe nerve damage, or living through the explosion of a roadside bomb. Saying “thanks” to these soldiers who are fortunate and brave enough to return to life in our community just does not seem enough, does it? Have we stepped up to the plate of humanitarianism and empathy and offered something really meaningful, helpful, and productive? For that matter, who, among us, offers truly helpful innovation that recognizes these wounded warriors, ignites their passions and brings them into a place where they can use everything they have in life with the greatest potential?

“Innovation happens when you don’t just confine yourself to the same standards as everyone else…..” –Tobie Hatfield, Nike, Inc.

Under the auspices of UO’s Product Design Program with program director, Kiersten Muenchinger, two University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts adjunct instructors, Wilson Smith and Bob Lucas, and with assistance from Nike’s Matt Rhoades, rose to the occasion this winter term 2013 and created that space for innovation to happen. With a combination of compassion and understanding and a determined willingness to offer mindful help, Smith and Lucas created the studio course, Adaptive Products | Enabling Athletes with Disabilities. This is the second time the studio course has been offered (the story was widely covered last year on this blog, in the Oregonian and CBS’ Smart Planet and others), this time around, the instructors decided their focus would be US veterans with athletic interests.

Smith and Lucas realized they each had a keen interest in innovating “real life” user-based studio courses. Already well-aware of the need to develop sports innovation around athletes with physical challenges, Smith and Lucas saw an opportunity to help contribute to the dreams and aspirations of the wounded veterans and, by doing so, create a program that would benefit the athletes and add to the educational experience of the UO students.

Smith and Lucas’ innovative and groundbreaking studio, Adaptive Products: Enabling Athletes with Disabilities enabled UO students to work with veterans who undaunted by their injuries and life situations, were enthusiastically pursuing rigorous athletic dreams on a professional level. It was a way to bring real-life challenges to UO in Portland students and create key opportunities to develop problem solving skills and foster empathy in design. The fundamental goal of the studio was to involve students in design team relationships with the studio work benefitting both the athletes and adding to the educational experience of the students.

The studio allowed students to work closely with the athletes, here with Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer.

Combining strong backgrounds grounded in sports and design expertise, Smith and Lucas have been just the duo to accomplish this. Smith comes to the project with a longstanding history as a Nike Design Director. A UO alumus, (B. Arch. 1980), Smith is currently a Creative Catalyst within Nike’s ZOO (Special Other Operations) and has professional expertise in working to develop humanitarian aid efforts that promote and create access to sports. Bob Lucas’ career began at Nike in the footwear design and innovation field. Following 15 years at Nike, he continued in this genre becoming the Head of ait Design (adidas innovation team). His educational background includes a degree in Industrial Design. Professionally well-acquainted and united by a shared interest in health, sports and accessibility, Smith and Lucas found a strength and cooperative mission in each other’s significant accomplishments. Working together made sense and brought together years of design, leadership, and creative expertise.

To introduce students to both the innovation of design and the importance of understanding human physiology, Smith and Lucas filled the term with experiences and connections that united the students with a sense of “biodesign and bioarchitecture” [Lynette Deschler. BASECAMP3] as well as design in the athletic fields. The instructors thoughtfully included workshops and conversations with Nike, Inc. Innovation Kitchen director, Tobie Hatfield and Lynette Deschler, an expert in human architecture and biodesign and owner of BASECAMP3.

Lynette Deschler of BASECAMP3 shows students how interconnected the body is during a classroom demonstration while Nike's Tobie Hatfield looks on, at podium..

Commenting on the student work, Deschler said,

The students did an amazing job with the knowledge I shared with them and integrating it into thoughtful, creative and functional product designs that related to their athletes needs. The scope of their projects were challenging, they not only had to be introduced to the mechanics and architecture of the human body, but the specialized needs of their athletes due to combat injuries. Further, combining these performance needs with the specifications of materials, performance demands, innovative design strategy, and overall functionality. They did an exceptional job at bringing these stories to life with real performance product solutions.

Veteran | Athlete Tony Davis meets with students to discuss his rowing equipment.

I really liked working with my athlete. The dedication and power he has was really inspirational. It’s rare that you get to work with someone in school, but to work with someone who is focused and passionate was amazing. The passion elevated the whole class, and the instructors just fanned the flames. It was one of the best studios I’ve had.–Comment from Adaptive Design studio student, Mike Bartell

For the winter 2013 studio, five students were paired with each athlete. Three athletes participated in the program: wheelchair fencer Sargent Leo Curtis (working with students, Natasha Michalowsky, Rebecca Swofford, Teressa Hamje, Michael Roy, and Thane Lochtie); rower Tony Davis (working with students Michael Bartell, Elizabeth (Lizz) Hampton, Daniel Nicholson, Timothy Ploeger, Isamu Jarman); and snowboarder, Kevin Pannell (working with students Nathan G. Schultze, Nithikarn Sidthilaw, Joel Swenson, Allison Rastetter, and Tony Kan).

Athlete Profiles

Kevin Pannell, snowboarder | Story: Army specialist in Iraq. In 2004 caught in a grenade ambush in central Baghdad. Legs amputated.

Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer | Story: On his last mission in Iraq, 2004. Upon being Heli-dropped into Fallujah, encountered an IED or “roadside bomb.” Suffered extreme nerve and tissue damage resulting in fused vertebrae, hearing and vision loss, and extensive, permanent damage to nervous system.

Anthony (Tony) Davis, rower | Story: Retired Naval Officer. Tony received an air medal for over 150 hours of combat flight time during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon returning home in 2005, involved in a traffic accident on Interstate-5. Broken back, ribs, collar bone, and paralyed from waist down. Never rowed before 2009.

On March 14, 2013 at the UO in Portland’s main Event Room in the White Stag Block, the Product Design students unveiled their designs for the term-end critiques. Their audience included athletic-design greats such as Nike Air Force 1 designer Bruce Kilgore, PENSOLE’s D’Wayne Edwards, Senior Designer 2 & Design Ambassador – Adidas Innovation Team at Adidas John Acevedo, Intel’s Senior Principal Engineer and Innovation Strategist Herman D’Hooge, Nike ZOO Innovation Lead Tom Rushbrook, Nike Innovation Kitchen’s James Molyneux , and University of Oregon’s Dean of AAA Frances Bronet, UO in Portland Vice Provost and AAA Administrative Director Kate Wagle, UO Product Design Program Director Kiersten Muenchinger, and UO in Portland Department of Architecture Director Nancy Cheng.

Product Design student Lizz Hampton in the stages of design innovation at the White Stag Block as she prepares, experiments, and wears her ideas for rower, Tony Davis.

Wilson Smith kicked off the review session with a heartfelt comment, remembering the words of nationally respected UO Track and Field coach, Bill Bowerman when he said, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” The stage was set for unveiling the innovation that could assist this new group of aspiring athletes achieve their dreams.

Each athlete had spent the previous 10 weeks working in close collaboration with the student teams. Students had attended practices, training sessions, and workouts alongside the athletes. This close contact enabled the students to observe and experience, the physical needs and equipment situations the athletes’ were dealing with. From watching the rowing technique of 2016 Para-Olympic hopeful, Tony Davis, students were able to design equipment such as a special seat that would adapt to his lower body strength and leverage issues (take, for example, an ingenious system arrived at by Daniel Nicholson that enables Davis to secure himself to his boat via a pair of shorts; or student Tim Ploeger’s “GROW” system, a precise analytical system of coaching solo training sessions).

Student Lizz Hampton and rower Tony Davis explore technique for rowing at Davis' training gym. Photo courtesy of Adaptive Design studio Tony Davis Team

Working with international wheelchair fencing competitor, Sargent Leo Curtis, students recognized “an area….rich for potential development…and design(s) only limited by understanding.” [student Thane Lochte] Setting out to comprehend the Sargent’s performance driven sword play as much as possible, students in this group attended weekend practice sessions and observed this athlete’s “cerebral game and unique lunging forward” as key aspects of this athlete’s technique. And while the students were quick to point out the many rules and regulations in fencing, they realized that with innovation and thought the rules and integrity could be adapted to achieve the Sargent’s ideal fencing position. With equipment that would permit the fencer to lunge forward with lightening fast speed while maintaining precision, Sargent Curtis promised to take the student designs with him on his upcoming trip to Budapest to compete in the international wheelchair fencing competition. One such design Sargent Curtis was enthusiastic to take to the international wheelchair fencing competition was the “Valhalla,” Michael Roy’s device for the wheelchair seat that exemplified the foremost body-led, performance driven pieces of the exhibited designs.

Commenting on “the inspiring bravery” of the veterans [student Teressa Hamje], the students consistently saw a need for designing equipment for Curtis, Davis, and Pannell that would be simultaneously functional and aesthetically appropriate. The athlete-veterans expressed a need for faster, better, more performance oriented systems that could be incorporated into their training and improve the existing equipment.

As the critique came to a close, and comments swirled around the room in true brainstorm fashion addressing materiality, concepts, improvements and design theory, there was one common thread heard over and over that rose above the practicality of production. Perhaps best put into words by snowboarder Kevin Pannell: Pannell who had explained his youthful voyage into the military to the students at the beginning of the term with a bluntly self-aware realism, “I [was] a country-ass white boy from Arkansas and the Army was offering to pay me to play with guns…” had a new focus. This time it was not guns that were being put into his hands. Tonight, ski poles, backpacks, snowboard bindings and improved prosthetic devices were the vital tools of his future. As Pannell tried on, admired, held, and offered enthusiastic encouragement to the students to get their ideas made into real, working pieces, he boldly stated: “Let’s make some good stuff, the right stuff!” It was a looking forward to a life with a new sense of optimism and enthusiasm.

“My self-confidence is my lucky penny—don’t touch that.”–Sargent Leo Curtis to student, Teressa Hamje

As a noteworthy side-effect of the students’ design efforts, the students became aware of the importance of the athletes’ psychological conditions and the contribution athletic success brings to self-esteem. When Sargent Leo Curtis made his “lucky penny” comment, it was clear that these designs contained much more potential than simply improving athletic performance. With better, adapted equipment, the athletes would continue to gain self-confidence with the knowledge that they had specialized, thoughtful designs specifically crafted to help them achieve their goals. The adaptive design students were paying attention and listening to each athlete’s request. As one student noted, they were challenged to design equipment improvements that would “ignite flight.”

Following the final review and the unveiling of the student designs, Deschler, commented,

In my opinion these students now have a greater advantage in the design world. Today is essential to in integrate what I call bioarchetecture and biodesign to create new innovative solutions. This cross pollination will bring immeasurable gain to how we look at and create products of the future. These students not only understood this concept but did an exceptional job at beginning to express it to the world.

No matter the eventual outcome of the war nor the political minefield that surrounds this conflict, we have a notable victory being championed here. With individuals like Smith and Lucas and the students of Adaptive Design who looked beyond what they could not change in the past, and had the foresight to work with that which they could help create. Their astute sensitivity to the condition of our returning soldiers will hopefully contribute to these veterans having a brighter future, encouraging them to pursue independence, an enjoyment of life, and the happy pursuit of health and athletic opportunity. Undoubtedly, this group has illustrated a commendable support of our veterans.

And, that is something to be proud of.

Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer.

Lizz Hampton's A.WINGS seat for rower Tony Davis

Nithikarn Sidthilaw with her K-19 Ski poles for snowboarder Kevin Pannell.

Reviewer John Acevedo greets students.

Work by Isamu Jarman for rower Tony Davis.

Reviewer Trygve Faste discusses a prosthetic for snowboarder Kevin Pannell with student Tony Kan.

Reviewers Bruce Kilgore and James Molyneux discuss designs with students.

Sargent Leo Curtis talks to Adaptive Design | Product Design student Thane Lochte.

Work by Michael Bartell for rower Tony Davis.

Lizz Hampton and her seat designed for rower Tony Davis.

Reviewers discuss designs with Adaptive Design students.

Department of Architecture director, Nancy Cheng discusses Teressa Hamje's work.

Product Design assistant professor John Arndt discusses student work.

Student Joel Swenson talks to snowboarder Kevin Pannell.

UO AAA Dean Frances Bronet talks to rower, Tony Davis while UO Media film crew documents the discussion for the making of a PAC-12 Network video.

Teressa Hamje and her fencing sword improvements for wheelchair fencer Sargent Leo Curtis.

Intel's Herman D' Hooge talks to students at the final review.

Nike's Tim Lodwick talks to student Teressa Hamje.

Bruce Kilgore with student Natasha Michalowsky.

Damien Gilley Joins University of Oregon in Portland A&AA Digital Arts Program | Winter 2013

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Sabina Samiee

Between the Lines…. with Damien Gilley

Damien Gilley | Image Courtesy of Oregon Arts Commission | Sabina Samiee

For those of us lucky enough to have encountered a visual arts, design or creativity-based education somewhere in our past, at one point, we, invariably, were exposed to the fundamentals of formal analysis—an effort to analyze formal aspects of a work of art by dissecting the artist’s efforts into elements and principles. It is a concept and a process that usually begins at the beginning: with a discussion of composition and the use of the simple line.

A line. It has the uncanny ability to take us from one place to another. It leads, we follow. It can be many things: thick, thin, horizontal, vertical, short, tall, diagonal. However, it is anything but basic. This extending mark or lingering stroke, stretching into space without much width to speak of, is the fundamental mark in all works of art. It defines, it divides, it embellishes, it conquers: it shows us the way. It can flow like a Rodin sketch, strut across a wheatfield with van Gogh precision, it can soar into the heights of a cathedral or flee into oblivion; it can provoke us Rising Down in a Mehretu. It is a shape that defies shape, a force not purely found in nature (a place that seems to have realized the value of mass and substance), and a definition of all things both real and imagined.

Into this linear exploration of the possibility of contour, comes Damien Gilley armed sometimes with only his ubiquitous roll of masking tape. Perhaps best described in his own words, Gilley is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. And he makes use of the line. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Hardly. Take a look.

Damien Gilley. Detourism masking tape and airbrush Tetem Kunstruimte, Enschede, Netherlands

His biography tells us his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including Tetem Kunstruimte (Enschede, Netherlands), EastWestProject (Berlin, DE), Las Vegas Art Museum, Arthouse (Austin), the Art Museum of South Texas (Corpus Christi), and in Portland at Rocksbox, Linfield College, Wieden+Kennedy, the American Institute of Architects, the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and the Portland 2010 Biennial, among others. Creating work with a global acceptance, Gilley is finding his method embraced by varying public and private entities.

His work has been reviewed by Artforum.com, the Oregonian, Willamette Week, Portland Mercury, Las Vegas Review Journal, the Austin Chronicle, drainmag.com, and was included recently in New American Paintings.

He has received multiple grants including a Project Grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission. He will have a solo exhibition in May at Suyama Space in Seattle, WA, and was awarded a residency at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Summer 2013. Lauded by state art agencies, he even got top-billing on the Oregon Arts Commission’s Facebook page—his work gracing the longitudinal and coveted cover image.

This winter term 2013 at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts, Damien Gilley joined us as an adjunct instructor for the Digital Arts Program. He is leading the pack of voracious fifth year BFA Digital Arts students in more ways than one: ambitiously planning student exhibitions in our White Stag Light Commons space, inviting special guest presentations and critiques to interact with his students, and planning future review sessions. He has taken to our space like a well-seasoned regular, utilizing the Output Room and radiating out his special brand of digitalesque-handmade work. And that is a key part of his intrigue—that unification of the digital with the hand-done. It might seem mystifying and slightly oxymoronic but it works in a very avant-garde, technology-based Portland-cum-DIY way. This year, in particular, his presence seems somewhat unstoppable. Get off a plane at the Portland International Airport, and winding your way through Concourse A, you get to pass Gilley’s latest in-the-public-eye installation. It is large and mesmerizing–blue masking tape spanning, reaching, breaching, transporting us away little by adhesive little. It is Gilley in his element—taking us places using technology and masking tape– and all we have to do is stand and stare and visually wander. Even when the tape begins to dry, the sticky-stuff harden and peel off the wall, Gilley delightfully accepts this as all part of the process–”that’s what happens,” he cheerfully insists, “that makes it handmade.” His philosophy on this merging of true high-tech and lowly rolls of hardware-store tape truly provides the cohesive core the medium (tape) might lack.

Damien Gilley’s new exhibit ‘Skywalker’, located along Concourse A, is a masterpiece crafted entirely from masking tape. Image from Port of Portland Facebook page.

I asked Gilley to tell me about his practice, his process and his experience (or the experience he hopes to have here at the UO in Portland). And while I was fascinated by his recent installation at the Portland International Airport and the idea of masking tape (still absolutely captivated by the idea of masking tape….), this was to be a chance to let Gilley enlighten our left brain | right brain balance and give us a glimpse of how he is able to use a line in unexpected and unpredictable ways.

Gilley says,

My practice finds its home in a fine art context, creating installations and large-scale drawings in situ that challenge a viewer’s rational understanding of space. I use digital design programs to sketch and plan these experiential projects, ranging from Illustrator to Google SketchUp, which I utilized first as a graphic designer in Los Angeles a decade ago. Now I use these tools to produce work that references digital languages, but are ultimately executed by hand in materials that step away from digital processes, like masking tape for instance.

Cashmere Fatigue vinyl and airbrush East/West Project, Berlin, Germany

Regarding his work with the Digital Arts’ students:

I am excited to develop dialog with the students about the hybrid nature of art making today, especially in the context of a digital/physical relationship. I think it is critical as artists to continue to question processes of making and develop lateral thinking strategies that explore new methods of understanding our world. The students do not need to invent completely new processes necessarily, but instead find a personal relationship to their investigations of our contemporary, digital society. This leads to a variety of complex projects that explore unique approaches to making and alternative exhibition possibilities.

Being an artist who identifies with both traditional media and digital processes, I love the opportunity to contribute my conceptual interests in the field to the AAA dialogue. I feel programs that saturate themselves in the current digital reality have the most potential of new programs today, really digesting the contemporary landscape in a complex way that investigates visual, cultural, virtual, and interactive phenomena.

And what we have to look forward to this term:

The students will create new work for a midway exhibition in February in addition to the development of their thesis culmination in May. Throughout the term various artists will come share their work, in particular artists who traverse both contemporary art and design practices. These will be valuable interactions with active exhibiting artists. It is a great opportunity for intimate discussion and conversation about how to exhibit locally and nationally, what digital processes do for artwork today, and how the art and design worlds correlate.

Look at more of Gilley’s work here, Damien Gilley and Saatchi.

Read a Willamette Week review.

Look at the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Dictionary.com definition of LINE.

[Thanks, Damien! for the interview... -ss]

Jody Mohney Pene, IIDA, LEED AP | Forty Years : Looking Back and Looking Forward

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

Interior design by Jody Pene: Large conference room in the Conference Center of Dunn Carney Law Firm by Josh Partee, Photographer.

On Monday, November 12, 2012, interior architect, Jody Pene, IIDA, LEED AP, and former principal at GBD Architects, presented her lecture, Forty Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward, to a Portland, Oregon audience at the University of Oregon in Portland, White Stag Block. Pene is a visiting professor at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts Department of Architecture and the current University of Oregon Margo Grant Walsh Professor in Interior Architecture.

Pene gave her presentation as part of this year’s Gunilla Finrow Distinguished Lectureship in Interior Architecture for the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Gunilla Finrow attended the lecture. Commenting on Professor Finrow’s attendance, Pene said,

I was very honored to have Gunilla Finrow, for whom the lecture series is named, come down from Seattle to attend my lecture. And pleased also to have many colleagues, students and friends both from the university and from the Portland community attending. Some of which were from GBD Architects and team members on many of the projects I presented. It was nice to be able to share the highlights of my career with both old and new acquaintances.

Jody Pene greeted by Gunilla Finrow just prior to Pene's Portland lecture at the UO White Stag.

Associate professor Alison Snyder from the UO AAA Department of Architecture introduced Pene, commending the visiting professor on a long and varied career that involved significant commercial and graphic design work and color expertise. Snyder remarked favorably on the opportunity to have Pene deliver her lecture both in Eugene (November 7, 2012) and in Portland; noting that it is a privilege to be able to “bring what we do in Eugene outside of Eugene to Portland and beyond—being seen and heard in places farther away” and to have the ability to provide lectures of this content and calibre to an interested community and metropolitan audience, such as that in Portland.Pene, in addition to her visiting professorship, is also on the UO AAA Board of Visitors. Professor Snyder thanked Pene for her ongoing and multi-tiered involvement with the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

Beginning by illuminating her design philosophy, Pene spoke of several key factors that have played a major role in her career: the need for having a strong concept, recognizing an individual culture and goals, and being able to identify the appropriate environment of the business or client—these factors merge together in the creation of a project solution that is unique to each design venture.

Pene graduated from the University of Oregon in 1972 with a bachelor of interior architecture. She immediately moved into her professional career relocating to Pittsburgh to work in graphic arts and interior design. At this early juncture, she found value in working with a team-based approach and discerned significant demand for her skills in signage and graphic design. In the 1970s, Pene relied on her, what she calls “old fashioned” handcrafting skills of drawing everything by hand and using tools such as pastels and pencil to convey ideas.

It was early in her UO studies and work career that Pene discovered her great love of “color and the play of patterns.” Calling upon this interest and her ability to bring together meaningful and attractive explorations of color and pattern once in a professional context, Pene’s career blossomed. She returned to the West Coast in the late 1970s to begin work with two highly significant Oregon architectural firms, Boora Architects (1978-1984) and GBD Architects Incorporated (1984-2010) where she held the position of principal for sixteen years and the principal-in-charge of interior design for twelve of those years.

Pene spoke of realizing the importance of collaboration in projects and of working with the entire team to create a strong concept. While her expertise would lie in the designing of the color palette and graphic arts component of the project, she consistently realized that it was vital everyone in the firm work together to pull the project together to create something remarkable.

Pene feels a pinnacle of her career came with her work on the renovation of Portland, Oregon’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Here she worked on the interior to come up with fifty-four new colors that would accentuate the Italian Renaissance details and inform the aesthetic of the greater interior. Everything from overall carpet patterns and specific border patterns, to the overall interior design concept complete with soaring theatrical spaces culminates to present a space of intricate detail and graciously considerate historical appreciation. It became a space uniquely suited to its culturally-grounded purpose.

During her lecture, Pene discussed her range of work incorporating independent interior projects such as those at elegant Portland accounting firms and law offices. Pene recalls that she remained true to her own design philosophy whether designing way-finding signage for a stadium or the exclusive interior of a highly prestigious law firm: the importance of designing to the individual personality of the firm or the business always remained at the forefront.

As time passed and her career continued, Pene began to realize changes in the field and practical changes in the greater societal situation that would have consequences for how she worked and what she designed. In the early 2000s, Pene saw a shift in how people would relate to a building and how the interior design could be used to create spaces conducive to stimulating creativity. The design work at Wieden + Kennedy’s Dekum Building illustrated to her how a more casual building “painted white and with playful sculptural forms” could be used to encourage innovation and creative work.

This was a change Pene had seen emerging about a decade earlier. As the 1990s had progressed, she noticed that there was a transition occurring from traditional design to design that was more responsive to change and to the creation of warmth in spaces –spaces that could foster person-to-person interaction, collaboration, and conversation.

The future of design, says Pene, was venturing into the realm of exploring flexibility and adaptability in the workplace. This new approach embraced the concept of an open office that can be re-configured to contribute more effectively and cooperatively to a collaborative workforce. Some of the initial big businesses to adopt this free and flexible design philosophy were places like Wieden + Kennedy, Columbia Sportswear, and Nike. Pene’s design theory, readily adopted by the aforementioned clients, forged ahead creating spaces that affirmed creativity while retaining corporate identity.

By establishing connections to the corporate ethos and maintaining strong ties to the sense of a unified whole or corporate campus, Pene was able to design spaces that respond to a human element, are comfortably sociable, and encouraging to innovative thought. In addition to being sensitive to place and her understanding of the humanistic component, throughout her career, Pene advocated for a palette of materials as well as colors that would allow a positive psychological emotional response, physically provide a comfortable space, and energize inventive behavior. Sometimes inspired by “aesthetically unconventional interiors,” Pene spoke of the ability of a space to encourage or foster creativity and innovation.

As changes occurred in the economy and global marketplace, Pene traced progressions in the way designs changed for her clients. Developments in environmental considerations brought new products and the desire for sustainable materials. Pene saw opportunities to integrate the newly renovated spaces of previously industrial buildings into simple and contemporary spaces blending the existing exposed structural elements as a beautiful, raw part of the entire concept. Patina-coated steel columns would become exposed, a testimony of history and permanence and be combined with a new concrete structure to produce a relaxed and informal atmosphere encouraging teamwork. [Such as with GBD's new Pearl District building.]

These innovative design principles intentionally promoted client and staff intermingling which was a distinct shift from the decades previous where offices might be cubicle-style, isolated or closed off to integration and interaction with others. Pene explained the changes in the nation’s economy and the world led to a more competitive global economy. This, in turn, brought about another change in the needs of corporate and office design: with the new digital age was the demise of the on-site printed book or need for prodigious library-like rooms in design projects for law firms. Instead, research could now be done online, at desks with computers in shared spaces and more open places.

Another change, altered the ubiquitous conference room. Communication was more electronic and conference centers could have multi-purposes with the invention of privacy screens and glass (technological innovations that changed the needs of the space). With economic and financial considerations in mind, saving money and cutting costs was a definite concern, too. Consequently, only one floor needed to receive and be open to the public thus decreasing overhead costs. Spaces were becoming lighter and brighter. People were to be encouraged to work together, to create in a more warm and welcoming environment and to realize to potential of shared spaces and daily interaction.

Pene highlighted development of trends we might consider commonplace today: the on-site workplace cafe and simple, social gathering spaces. Both of these concepts encourage on-site lingering collaboration, conversations and teamwork. People stay together longer, have more conversations and work gets done leading to greater productivity and the exchange of ideas. Even the advent of more modular furniture in the workplace allows for more space and more efficiency letting departments grow and shrink, use space and easy-to-move furniture as needed, and be more flexible to the needs of people.

The interior designer described how previously high-end law offices began to transition to interior spaces that were “home-like in quality” rather than strictly formal, dark and heavy. Pene associates these specific developments with creating spaces that let people “linger, relate, converse, and exchange ideas.”

Summing up her recent projects with slides of the Meriwether towers on Portland’s South Waterfront and the Center for Health and Healing (OHSU), Pene discussed her continued exploration into a design philosophy that creates a “living room feel.” At the Health and Healing center, Pene designed an interior that was restorative and innovative while being LEED Platinum: she was stunningly successful. She spoke of her work with Camera World and how she limited the palette there to mirror the products relying on black, silver, and nods to technology as a overall theme.

With a full and productive career, Pene now plans to continue semi-retirement sharing her time between Oregon and her beloved home in Montone, Italy where she finds pleasure in photographing and drawing the fields and farmland. This rural Italian paradise provides Pene with plenty of time to discover history, art, architecture and landscape…..and she continues to enjoy depicting her environment (by hand) in pastel, appreciating and being “enthralled by the seasons, the colors, the patterns.”

Pene showed a series of her photographs and pastels: a collection of images including poppy fields, mustard fields, a field of onions in bloom, sunflowers, an olive orchard. She spoke with great affection for the natural and agricultural environment that surrounds her in Italy and explained the “sense of revealing, in color and texture and shape, the potential of light and shadow, the symmetry and order, the curve and line, even in a random, eclectic pattern of blooming poppies in a field.”

As she looks towards a future well-immersed in the things she loves and still active in a field she has made great contributions to, Pene noted that with her recent experience at the University of Oregon as an instructor, she has now discovered a new interest: teaching and working with students. She would like to teach abroad in Italy to exchange students traveling there for the first time. Her career, she says, has allowed her to see the importance of international study to enhance the forward progression of one’s design ability and knowledge, reviatlizing creativity and bringing fresh perspectives. She encourages all students to step into the international sphere of educational experience to ignite their creativity and expand their reference. And, even in an age of digital dominance, students, she recommends, still need to learn to draw by hand.

Regarding her own continual exploration of trends, and innovative design thinking, Pene says she relies on her photography, her sketching and various sources of media to help inform and expand her knowledge and bring inspiration. She also gratefully acknowledges her frequent world traveling and attendance at fairs such as the The Milan Furniture Fair (Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) and NeoCan Chicago as key in continuing to fuel her creative energy and staying appraised, or even ahead, of trends. Keeping in touch with the pulse of the contemporary design field is further accomplished, she says, by reading a plethora of online sources and publications.

A current that continually flows through Pene’s design work and consistently infuses her ability to design meaningful, thoughtful and yet dramatic and captivating interiors, is her understanding of the importance of collaboration on her projects. While she acknowledges the design community has changed over her forty year career, she cites how important her graphic design experience has been in assisting her creative work from the beginning. There is “a strength and a clarity” to projects today, she remarked, to the way people work together which she finds quite beneficial and refreshing. Being conscious of patterns and color, and tying a project together by identifying what is required to accomplish the specific goals remains the main objective of Pene’s work ethic. She emphasized the interaction between all involved, but overall, it is the sense of collaboration that is the sine qua non of every project.

Remarking on the tremendous changes in the design field, both in approach and materials that has taken place during the last four decades, Pene recalled that as trends emerge, and change is inevitable, the observation of what is needed, and wanted and being able to adapt that to a design is a vitally important aspect of any project.

The years have defined a gradual progression in her work projects—projects that moved from the creation of formal spaces to the innovative and imaginative formulation of casual spaces. And along with this inventive approach to the workplace, human, and space interaction, Pene has seen that letting people be comfortable encourages interaction, bringing about more creative and worthwhile production, and, in the end, making a more successful product.

Jody Pene at the White Stag, UO in Portland to deliver her lecture, 40 Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward.

Jody Pene | Pastel sketch called "Poggiolo," a fall scene of the countryside at a villa in Chianti, Tuscany (Italy).

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