Opening Reception: Friday, August 20, 5:00pm – 8:00pm (coincides with Medford’s Third Friday Art Walk)

Exhibit Dates: August 20 – September 11, 2010

"Strata" textile/mixed media art by Marilyn Briggs

(Medford, OR) – July 7, 2010 – It’s a year full of celebrations at the Rogue Gallery & Art Center (RGAC). First, the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary in January. Now, RGAC will be throwing a 75th birthday party for local artist, Marilyn Briggs. To be precise, the party is actually the Opening Reception for Briggs’ Retrospective Exhibit, “Influenced by the Rogue Valley,” which opens August 20 and runs through September 11, 2010. The public is invited to the free celebratory Opening Reception on Friday, August 20 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. The exhibit is made possible through the generous support of Mountain Meadows and Skylark Assisted Living.

Briggs recently opened up to RGAC about her lengthy art career, how she was inspired by the Rogue Valley, and what to expect from this special retrospective exhibit:

RGAC: Tell us a little about your upcoming exhibit, “Influenced by the Rogue Valley.”

Briggs: I’m honored and excited having this Retrospective coinciding with my 75th birthday. This exhibit, spanning 1960-2010, shows Oil Paintings and Fabric Sculptures. I owe these forms to living in the Rogue Valley. I am profoundly influenced by an unique combination of our regional land forms, people, institutions, programs, and even materials, which intermingle in multiple ways.

RGAC: What brought you to the Rogue Valley?

Briggs: Since childhood in Denver, I was always attracted to the hills and mountains, but my college studies were in mega urban centers. I started at UCLA, spent a summer at the New York City Art Students League, and my junior year at Mexico City College. My BA is from UCLA, 1957, and Masters from California College of Arts and Crafts, 1960. In 1961, I was delighted when we moved to “quaint” Ashland where my husband began his career as an English professor at SOC, (now SOU). We bought acreage at the base of the watershed, raised three children, and kept traditional farm animals. The same property now holds three generations of us.

RGAC: How has your artistic style evolved over the years?

Briggs: My early oil paintings date from the 60′s; some incorporate collage and stitchery. However, in 1966, I put away my oils after my toddlers smeared a wet canvas and bit into paint tubes. In 2004, I gleefully resumed oil painting based on a nagging internal urge and a pivotal invitation to exhibit in the 25th anniversary of the Howard Hanson Gallery. The paintings are abstract landscapes being composites of natural views, aerial views, and strata, the cross sections of earth’s layers. On Earth Day, 2009, I began a series of small “oils with findings” to emphasize “recycling,” using stuff found throughout my house.

"Bubbles" Fabric Sculpture by Marilyn Briggs

RGAC: How did you begin creating your unique fabric sculptures?

Briggs: During the decades between painting periods, I created fabric sculptures, a serendipitous offshoot of being a volunteer in the costume shop of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was privileged to glean gorgeous fabrics from the end-of-the-season scrap boxes. The fabrics were my palette of colors, but additionally, they had seductive textures and could be manipulated into exquisite folds. I was especially drawn to the gold, silver and bronze fabrics. I added found wooden or metal objects for bases and tactile beads, buttons, floss, etc., which were plentiful at local yard sales.

RGAC: What inspires you the most?

Briggs: The materials, whether paint, fabric or findings, have always suggested what they were meant to be. When I begin a new work, I have only a vague idea. I love the challenge, the adventure of getting to the place where all the components delight me in their arrangement. Apart from the instinctive choices within the composition, I am constantly aware of the fundamental elements and principles of academic artistic arrangement, that is the “educated eye”. The titles are a clue to enhance the viewers’ enjoyment. Any composition could be different on any given day, and most certainly would be totally different if I hadn’t spent the last 49 years living in the Rogue Valley.

RGAC: How has art shaped your life?

Briggs: Throughout the years, I reached into the community to share the joy of “art”. I owned the Stump Art Gallery in Ashland for 8 summers starting in 1963, the first year there were any Ashland galleries. (Judy Howard became my gallery partner). I taught innumerable adult and children’s classes privately and through a wide variety of public school programs like “Artist in Residence” and venues such as the Rogue Gallery. In the 70′s, I taught part time in the SOC Art Department, Art History and Fabric Sculpture. I also organized annual “Ms” exhibits on campus featuring Rogue Valley female artists. For four years, in the 80′s, I was Art Coordinator for the Ashland Public Schools. I taught myself architectural drawing and spent several years teaching residential design and remodeling. Apart from involvement in the arts, I spent 6 fun years as a full-time middle-aged ski instructor at Mt. Ashland. Beginning in 1997, as a result of being involved in municipal hearings, I served eight years on the Ashland Planning Commission. IT HAS BEEN FUN!

Mark your calendars for another festive Rogue Gallery & Art Center (RGAC) Opening Reception—Friday, August 20 from 5:00 to 8:00pm—which also coincides with Medford’s Third Friday Art Walk. Marilyn Briggs’ Retrospective continues through September 11, 2010. For more information, contact RGAC at 541-772-8118 or visit www.roguegallery.org.

The Rogue Gallery & Art Center is the Rogue Valley’s premier non-profit community art center, founded in 1960 to promote and support the arts in the Rogue Valley. The Gallery offers local artists an opportunity to display their work, and because of its non-profit status can display a wide range of artistic styles and mediums not seen in commercial galleries. Aspiring artists, both children and adults, take classes from local artists and are exposed to a wide variety of artistic mediums. RGAC is located in Medford at 40 South Bartlett Street. The hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.