“The World Filled Up” by Stephen Hayes

Clark art instructor Stephen Hayes is having a 30-year retrospective at Lewis & Clark College’s Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art. The show opened September 10 and runs through December 15.

“I have admired Stephen’s work since I met him more than 20 years ago, when I was the director of Maryhill Museum and we had a small exhibition of Stephen’s work,” says Hoffman Gallery director and curator Linda Tesner. “Since then I’ve made sure to follow his career. He is a fantastic painter and his work has only become more and more interesting. I love that he is able to capture the spirit of place without making a slavish likeness; it is as if he is able to evoke the landscape as much as paint it.”

“Stephen is the best kind of instructor at Clark, with tons of real-world experience, fabulous skills, and the passion to share it all with his students,” says Clark art department chair Lisa Conway. “Stephen is a consummate professional, and a virtual icon among West Coast painters. The Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark is a prestigious institution, and it is heartening to see a great artist get this level of respect and recognition.”

Hayes began teaching at Clark about two years ago after he gave a presentation as part of the Archer Gallery’s Clark Art Talks. Members of the Art Department faculty approached him after his lecture to ask if he would be interested in teaching at the college. Hayes says that working with Clark students in classes like Drawing I and Two-Dimensional Design helps him examine his own artistic process, as well as that of his students.

Stephen Hayes in a self-portrait

“Teaching always keeps you reminded that you are in a process yourself,” he says. “When you have to explain something to someone who has no idea what you’re talking about, that really forces you to establish clarity for yourself. That in turn has an impact when you enter the studio: You have more clarity.”

Hayes sounds humbled by having a gallery focus on his entire body of work. “It’s pretty awesome, obviously,” he says. “One doesn’t get this opportunity very often. … It’s fantastic to be able to look back and to see both the continuity and the changes in direction along the years.”

Hayes says he doesn’t plan to tell his students about the show. “There are posters around, so they may well find out about it,” he says. “But I’m not making them take a special field trip or anything.”

Images courtesy of the Hoffman Gallery

Shantell Martin’s digital drawing performance with Clark College jazz musicians Max Wike, David Floratos and James Powers in the Archer Gallery.

Visual artist Shantell Martin’s free-form drawings and live-animation performances have been featured in such vaunted venues as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the New York Times, the enormous screens at Shibuya and Harajuku crossings in Tokyo–and, for more than a week, at Clark College.

Martin visited Clark as part of the college’s Artist Residency program, which hosts an artist-in-residence once a year as part of the larger Clark Art Talks program. She is probably the most prominent artist yet to participate in the residency.

“We read about her in the New York Times and contacted her, even though we did’’t think she would do an artist’s residency at Clark College,” said art professor Carson Legree. “Her visit was amazing.”

During her residency from April 26 to May 7, Martin visited numerous classes including Drawing, 2-D Design, 3-D Design, Graphic Design Exploration, Watercolor, Photography, Ceramics, and Creativity and Concept. She also gave a slideshow lecture as part of the Clark Art Talks series on May 7 and provided digital animation during a performance with three Clark jazz students in Archer Gallery on May 8. She created large-scale drawings that hung in the lobby of Foster Arts Center during much of her stay.

“Her classroom visits were filled with personal autobiography and a celebration of individuality,” said art professor Senseny Stokes. “She worked with hundreds of our students, who were inspired by her work and personal history–and charmed by her approachable, laid-back manor.”

Clark College artist-in-residence Shantell Martin displays her work in the Frost Arts lobby.

Martin, who has said in interviews that much of her artistic perspective is informed by growing up as the only interracial child in her otherwise white family in London, has made a name for herself with her playful line drawings that reflect a celebration of independence. She also frequently provides live animation or light shows to accompany music in settings ranging from museums to the mega-clubs of Japan and Russia. She has been featured on CNN, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the television show Gossip Girl. Martin has collaborated with celebrity photographers and brands alike; her notable work includes a project with celebrity photographer Nigel Barker, where she created digital sets for a 10-page Tatler Asia editorial with supermodel Christina Garcia. In February 2012, she was one of four artists commissioned by Nike iD to make a piece of work and a limited-edition shoe to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Nike Cortez.

“We didn’t think there was much of a chance that an artist with this much commercial success or international acclaim would do a residency here at Clark College, but we were honored and thrilled when she accepted our invitation,” said Stokes, who called Martins’ collaboration with the jazz students “one of the coolest things that ever happened at Clark College.”

“I’ve had a really nice time coming in every day, just drawing and coming into classes, meeting students and teachers,” said Martin in a video interview. “It’s kind of nice to come in and do the drawing and the stuff that I’m comfortable with, but also have the chance to experiment alongside young students here.”

Clark Art Talks is an ASCC-sponsored program that includes an evening lecture series, classroom workshops, and the annual Artist Residency. Organized by the Art Department, it is now completing its fourth year at the college and its second year as an official ASCC program.

See photos from Shantell Martin’s stay at Clark.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley