Clark Art Talks
Clark College’s Artist & Scholar Lecture Series
Upcoming Art Talks:
This Clark College Artist and Scholarly Lecture Series invites professional artists to speak to our community about their practice. This gives our students, faculty, and staff unique insight into how each artist creates artwork and makes a living within contemporary society, in turn pushing back on the ‘starving artist’ stereotype. These lectures also present a variety of scholarly journeys to inspire students. All of these events are free and anyone may attend (unless otherwise noted).
Artist Talk: Roger Allen Cleaves
October 22, 2026, 11am - 12 noon
Location: PUB 161
Roger Allan Cleaves was born in Memphis, TN where he currently lives and works. He received his Bachelors of Fine Art at the University of Memphis. During his tenure at the University of Memphis he was one of fifteen undergraduate students selected from across the country to participate in the Yale Norfolk Summer program for the arts. Cleaves went on to study at the University of Wisconsin- Madison where he received his MFA.
Cleaves latest works feature a self-written fictional story titled The Land of the Forget Me Nots. The story investigates social themes, fantasy, and epic adventures through the lens of Afrofuturism. Symbolism, abstract figuration, and distortion are a few of the tools he uses in his creative process. Often times Cleaves uses motifs from Modernism that have been borrowed from African cultures to explore the complex relationship between black artist and the contemporary art institution. The different bodies of work are generally moments from the storyline that concentrate on the characters interactions inside the created world. The created world - Forget Me Nots Land- is a multiverse and an amalgamation of sociological ideas fused with contemporary storytelling. Roger will be visiting Clark College from Memphis, TN.
https://www.rogerallancleaves.com/
Artist Talk: Orlando Almanza
October 26, 2026, 2 - 3pm
Location: PUB 161
Orlando Almanza (b.1989, Las Tunas, Cuba) pulls us into his dreamworld of memory, myth and loss with ethereal landscapes, portraits and storytelling. His stories take place in the natural world where figures are intertwined with plants, animals and light. The interconnectedness of his work points to the artist's deep dedication to nature, and the unique way it connects with myths and storytelling across cultures. Each painting invites us in, to search for meaning and truth. Almanza received his B.A. in printmaking from the Institute of Superior Arts in Havana, Cuba.
https://www.orlandoalmanza.com/
Artist Workshop: Steve Gardner
October 29 2026, 1pm - 4pm
Location: Frost Art Center, Ceramics Lab
Seattle artist Steve Gardner studied art and biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, then received his M.F.A. in ceramic sculpture from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. His three-dimensional work is sculpted in architectural terra cotta, utilizing traditional techniques with new innovations in surface color. Both his gallery work and his architectural commissions focus on the human figure, surface pattern, and a sense of story.
Recent architectural commissions have taken the form of large murals in cast glass and metal.
Installations of his sculptures can be seen at SeaTac International Airport (Seattle, WA); The LaSalle Building (Baton Rouge, LA); the Snohomish Library (Snohomish, WA); the Vancouver School for the Blind (Vancouver, WA); the Denali Lodge (Denali, AK); and The Oregon Zoo (Portland, OR).
He lives with his family in Ballard, Seattle, WA, USA.
Artist Talk: Palmarin Merges
November 16, 2026, 11am - 12noon
Location: PUB 161
Palmarin Merges is a Filipina American artist whose work draws from the desire to become more sustainable by re-using materials close at hand and by adapting restriction as a generative force for creation. Trained as a Printmaker, she now works primarily in mixed media, especially household waste - plastic, cardboard, etc. These common materials taken from the fabric of her daily life are processed and then transformed into pattern, collage and concrete poetry.
Raised in Hawaii and California, she left Oregon in Dec. 2019 with her husband to return to Japan, this time to Tokyo. Her adventures now include exploring a variety of traditional crafts and wandering the areas in and around the Yamanote Line.
Palmarin Merges holds an MFA Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute and has exhibited in Japan, the Philippines, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. She has previously taught Relief, Screenprint and drawing at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Marylhurst University and Pacific University.
Artist Talk: Heather Watkins
January 28, 2027, 1pm - 2pm
Location: PUB 161
Heather Watkins’ work explores the nature and possibilities of the drawn line – materially and symbolically. Working with ink, cord, thread, cloth, and paper, she submits these materials to many cycles of saturation, compression, intertwining, and transference. Through these physical processes, she investigates phenomena such as flow, stasis, circulation, and gravity. Her work takes many forms: sculpture, drawing, text-based work, printmaking, and artist’s books.
Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, at venues including: PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Planthouse Gallery, New York, NY; the lumber room, Portland, OR; Front of House, Portland, OR; The Art Gym, Marylhurst, OR; and Nine Gallery, Portland, OR. Her work is held in private and public collections including the Portland Art Museum, the Miller Meigs Collection, the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s Portable Works Collection, the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, Portland State University, Reed College, and Rhode Island School of Design Artist’s Book Collection. She has been the recipient of grants from Oregon Arts Commission, The Ford Family Foundation, and Regional Arts & Culture Council, and has been awarded residencies at Caldera; Sitka Center for Art & Ecology; Oregon College of Art and Craft; and at Em Space Book Arts Center. Watkins holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and is represented by PDX CONTEMPORARY ART.
Artist Talk: Niki Keenan
February 9, 2027, 11am - 12pm
Location: PUB 161
Niki graduated summa cum laude in painting and drawing from the University of Oregon. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is featured in the permanent collections of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the State of New Mexico. She was recently included in Vitamin P:NW – Recent Painting in the Pacific Northwest at the Museum of Northwest, and had large-scale installations featured at the Seattle Art Fair and the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, WA. Niki lives and works in Seattle, WA.
“I paint natural scenes that take my breath away – the Pacific Northwest forests and waterways to backyard sunsets and sunrises. My work reflects on the power and intelligence inherent in nature and in our forests, and I imagine the Pacific Northwest as a mythic and healing landscape. Color is energy to me, and I paint with earth tones to portray nature as it appears in the tangible sense, with bright colors as underpainting and veils of light to portray the intangible energy living within nature. Between the known and the felt is a rich meeting place connecting the interior and exterior worlds of landscape. My work conjures this exploration using native flowers, underwater creatures, and lyrical shapes.”
Artist Talk: Haruka Ostley
April 20, 2027, 1pm - 2pm
Location: Archer Gallery
Born in Japan and raised across four
continents, including Spain, Brazil,
and Mexico, Haruka Ashida Ostley
explores memory, identity, and human
connection. Her interdisciplinary
practice spans painting, installation,
performance, and socially engaged
projects, often collaborating with
communities to share and honor their
stories. Through fragments, symbolic
imagery, and quiet emotional spaces,
her work invites reflection, empathy,
and connection. She has served as an
Artist-in-Residence with the Yew
Chung Education Foundation in
China and is currently pursuing an
MFA in Art and Social Practice at
Portland State University, continuing a
lifelong journey of learning and
creative engagement.
日本で生まれ、スペイン、ブラジル、メキシコを含む四大陸で育ったハルカ・アシダ・オスリーは、記憶、アイデンティティ、そして人と人とのつながりをテーマに活動しています。彼女の学際的な実践は、絵画、インスタレーション、パフォーマンス、社会参加型プロジェクトにわたり、コミュニティと協働して物語を共有し、尊重することを重視しています。断片的な表現や象徴的なイメージ、静かな感情の空間を通して、鑑賞者に思索や共感、つながりの機会を提供します。中国の耀中国際教育財団でアーティスト・イン・レジデンスとして活動し、現在はポートランド州立大学でアート＆ソーシャルプラクティスのMFAを追求しながら、学びと創造の旅を続けています。
Artist Talk: David Schell
April 22, 2027, 11am - 12pm
Location: PUB 161
David Schell is an artist working in Portland, Oregon. He received an MFA from American University and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the founder of The Semi-Finalist, a painting-centric blog that features interviews by Schell and columns by Benjamin Terrell.
Schell's recent work is about what's not there and how the remaining form interacts with absence. His paintings investigate the idea that context, shape, color and perception are intimately linked to one another.
Recent exhibitions include Around and Also with Leslie Roberts (2025) at Left Field Gallery, An Arrangement (2024) at Nine Gallery in Portland, OR; Open (2024) and Conditional (2022) at 57W57ARTS in NYC; Casual Plans (2023), intimate, intimate (2021), and Temporary Fun (2019) at Augen Gallery in Portland, Oregon; Current Surroundings at the Dengeringink Gallery in Vancouver, WA; End of the Beginning in Queensland, Australia; What Develops at The Floating Gallery in Portland, OR; Just Like This for a Little While (solo show) at Oranj Studio in Portland, OR; the 60th Chautauqua Annual Exhibit of Contemporary Art in Chautauqua, New York; Transformation Chase at the North View Gallery, also in Portland, OR. He has also shown work at Gallery 214 on the Pacific Northwest College of Art campus (Portland,OR) and at Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR).
Artist Talk: Linda Wysong
April 27, 2027, 2 - 3pm
Location: PUB 161
Linda M Wysong is an interdisciplinary visual artist who works at the nexus of social practice and public space. Examining the relationship between the built and the natural environment, her practice is not centered in object making but rather utilizes place, space and experience. Participating in the civic dialogue, Wysong has contributed to numerous design and planning teams. She has public art installations in Seattle’s Northgate district, and at the Interstate MAX, Springwater Trail and RiverEast Plaza in Portland. In 2011, she was invited to be part of an international trans-disciplinary team to revitalize the historic Ute Ulay mine in Lake City, Colorado. Wysong’s work has been shown nationally and internationally. Her video Beneath Our Feet was included in Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s (PICA) TBA:05 and her performance/tour Backyard Conversations in TBA:08. Selected exhibition venues include: Exit Art in New York, Southern Exposure San Francisco, the National Building Museum, Washington DC, and Kunst en Complex, Rotterdam. Wysong has been a part-time PNCA faculty member since 1990, teaching Sculpture, Art Theory, Professional Practices, and Art History.
Artist Talk: Ryan Kelly
April 29, 2027, 2 - 3pm
Location: PUB 161
Ryan Kelly is currently an Assistant Professor of Ceramics and Foundations at Western Washington University. From 2006 to 2011 Ryan was an Artist In Residence at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. He holds a BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, and an MFA in Ceramics from The Ohio State University. He was also for a year, the Lourmina Salter Fellow at the Baltimore Clayworks. Ryan has taught at a number of institutions including Ohio State University, Swarthmore College, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Tyler School of Art, Rutgers University. The wide variety of materials and communities in which he works has led to his involvement with several puppet theaters and theatrical prop construction for low budget films. He also enjoys having facial hair and speaking in the third person.