Western Oregon Journal

As a chilly winter descends upon the Western campus, the Year of Color rolls on with a new exhibit, Shades of Grey.

Shades of Grey is comprised of 52 different pieces by three different artists from around the state. The works include etchings by Greg Pfarr, metal jewelry by Nicky Falkenhayn and fabric pieces by Terri Fletcher.

Etchings are usually small in size because they take a lot of effort to construct and a large press to produce the image. This is one of the many reasons why the works on display by Greg Pfarr are so interesting. Pieces like “Snow on Lava” and “Middle Sister” are large reliefs of images that can not be easily obtained.

“These are not the shots that you get from pulling off to the side of the road and taking a picture,” said Pfarr on the exhibit’s opening night.  Instead Pfarr packs materials to remote places so that he gets a view that few people see in person.

“I take just a few light supplies: camera, sketchpad, and go out and find what angle I want. Then I take everything back to my shop and can really lay out what I want the final piece to look like,” he said.

From there it is a matter of transferring the picture onto a copper plate without using any substances that will etch the acid. After this negative is made, Pfarr can put it in his press and make a print.

Like Pfarr, Nicky Falkenhayn uses technology to make her woven gold and silver necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Growing up in Holland, all of the girls were required to learn how to knit and crochet with wool. Falkenhayn took to this, but because she is allergic to wool, it was really a love/hate relationship until fate stepped in and she found her calling.

When a close friend of hers fell sick with breast cancer, Falkenhayn decided to make her a metal bra that she could wear through the treatment and lift her spirits. This proved to be a challenge because of the tedious work but she soon completed it and her friend was very happy with it. This is how Falkenhayn came about using her weaving skills to make modern (and more attractive) chain mail. By using a very old knitting machine, one that does not hold tension like other kinds since the metal would snap under tension, Falkenhayn is able to make bracelets and necklaces in a shorter amount of time than by hand.

“It takes me about three hours of work to do a necklace,” she said. “Once that is done I can go around and crochet the edges to finish them up.”

Not to be out of suite with her fellow artists, Terri Fletcher uses modern technology—something that most people have used before—a sewing machine and a needle and thread to construct her works of art. In all of Fletcher’s pieces, her background in the textiles shines through.

By using different dying techniques, sewing patterns and different found images, she makes collages that can be looked through. In one series of pieces, Fletcher uses old WWII maps that she rescued from a garage sale.

“These may have been maps that were used to plan attacks or bombings,” said Fletcher about the pieces that are hung in open space so that one can look through them. “That really intrigues me. Also, it is a tie in to the work that I have done with Japanese techniques.”

Another interesting piece that Fletcher does is the “Counting” series where she counts from one up to 84 using all sorts of stamps that she has collected over the years, images ranging from a pair of scissors to a bridge. The full series is divided into two pieces, 1-42 and then 43-84. Throughout the work, she keeps to her principles by dying different parts or using a different colored thread.

Overall the exhibit keeps in step with the Year of Color theme that Western is running this year, but the colors in this exhibit are more subtle, more of an enhancement of the grays in the show.

If you would like to view Shades of Grey for yourself, it runs through Feb. 1 in the Campbell Hall Gallery, open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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