Future is Genderless
The Future is Genderless asks us to question and examine the way that gender is personally expressed right now, and how the future of gender can evolve. We are at this cultural inflection point where body autonomy and body rights are being brought to the forefront and being intertwined with the complexities of our other identities. Can we embrace the varied and individual expressions of one another and find ourselves accessing the humanity we need to not only accept ourselves but accept others as they are? This show features over 15 local community and student artists.
SHOW GUIDE MEET THE ARTISTS CURATOR NOTE
Bergen Bock
Born in California and raised in the Bay Area, Bergen has been influenced by the folk
and street art of their youth, using vivid hues and movements to convey emotions.
After spending fifteen years in the rugged north of Alaska, they now resides in Bend,
Oregon.
Sloan Churches
Sloan Churches is a Central Oregon-based artist and poet. He enjoys creating multi
media compositions. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, much of his work is inspired
by the experiences and voices of people in this community.
Ellie Clute
Ellie Clute is a college freshman, an art student, and an aspiring concept designer.
She likes video games and fantasy, and their favorite kind of art tells a story so
they include that in their work.
Kathleen Cooper
Kathleen Cooper studied art mainly at COCC, with emphasis on landscape painting and
some figurative sculpture. Kathleen works in the library changing exhibitions in the
Barber Library Rotunda and is our reception host at all of our gallery openings.
Victoria Desenberg
Victoria Desenberg is a Studio Arts student at Oregon State University-Cascades based
in Bend, Oregon, where she was born and raised. Although she primarily works with
digital and film photography, she also includes several other media in her projects.
Her primary interests include themes of identity, community, nostalgia, sense of self,
and the simple intricacies of the everyday.
Anna Elaine
Anna Elaine has always created art and recently decided to share it with the world.
Nicky Gebhard
Nicky Gebhard's work represents the inner turmoil he experienced while undergoing
anguish and mental reformation. Finally embracing full color drawings and paintings
has allowed himself to finally begin to demonstrate the coalescing and colliding emotions
and memories he lives through. The unresolved nature of much of his work represents
the vastly incalculable sum of forces at work to make both reality and his art possible.
Through black and white mediums he hoped to achieve some recollection of a basic understanding
of negative and positive energies in resonance throughout his piece in order to simplify an already complicated
idea and expression.
Terry Gloeckler
A former Professor of Art, Terry Gloeckler maintains research and outreach through
university teaching, gallery representation, exhibition, artist residency, publication,
and visiting artist invitation most notably at the University of Florida, University
of Wisconsin-Madison, Tulsa University in Oklahoma, Elon College in North Carolina,
Whitman College in Oregon, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Arkansas.
Gloeckler's work is in numerous private collections, in addition to public collections
at Miami University of Ohio, Oregon State University, Tulsa University, and Kassitar,
Iceland.
Joseph Hart
Joseph Hart is a COCC student who uses art as a tool to help him figure himself out,
clear the chaos in his head, and tries to pay it forward and inspire others.
Scott Larson
Scott is a United States Coast Guard veteran. He used his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits
to attend Shoreline Community College (WA), graduating with an Associate in Fine Arts.
He finds contentment in the creative process, enjoys making art in different mediums,
and finds inspiration in subjects he has often overlooked.
Nancy O'Toole
Nancy O'Toole is a ceramic artist who draws inspiration from her childhood and the
organic, such as, nature and the human body. After spending the first 14 years of
her adult life workin gin healthcare, Nancy rediscovered her love of art.
Matilda Joy Puccio
Matilda Joy Puccio, aka Matti Joy, is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Bend,
OR. Her primary mediums are the written word, watercolor, ink, and guitar. Her pieces
combine her journey through discovering she's trans with a fantastical bent that seeks
to comment on the ways we fool ourselves into thinking we've got it figured out.
Ylva Wulfruna Lehtonen
Runa is a 30 year old gender nonbinary artist, originally from Big Sur, California.
Runa mostly prefers to do 3D art but is learning digital and traditional 2D. Their
self hatred and disgust with themselves, and idolizing the female form is reflected
in their work.
Amie Pascal
Amie Pascal is a lesbian artist and writer whose work is in continual conversation
with the paths from life to death, from seasonal flowers to chronic illness, and the
stories we tell along the way about ourselves and each other. Amie engages her intersectional,queer-feminist
lens to make sense of humanity and mortality through painting and writing that reflects
the complexity of her plurality and considers the fragility of life. Amie’s paintings
have shown in exhibitions in various western states and been published in multiple
publications.
Kan Robinson
Kan Robinson's desire to express his extravagant vision is what drives his art, which
is always voluminous and vivacious. He believe he is too ambitious with each endeavor,
but accomplishes what he completes. Black and white is his muse as it is clean, striking,
and pure so appears as a common element. He aims to captivate using beauty and disparity.
Nacho Ruiz
Nacho Ruiz (he/him) is an artist based in Madras, Oregon. While Ruiz is an artist
that primarily focuses on traditional painting and drawing, he has explored the digital
art world more extensively and has grown to really enjoy it. Some themes commonly
found in his work are relationships (with yourself and others), human anatomy and
sexuality, tuning in with your Devine feminine and masculine, other forms of spirituality,
and the connection to his Hispanic roots. Nacho knows that not everyone can freely
express themselves for the fear of being judged, so he hopes to create a personal
connection between the audience and the art.
Chelsea Sanford
Chelsea Sanford is a proud queer creator who currently resides in Central Oregon.
By day, she facilitates communication as an American Sign Language interpreter in
the school system, by night she is a fiber textile artist. Her passions are embroidery
and quilting, and all of her creations are done entirely by hand.
Sarah Weimers
As a queer fiber artist, Weimers believes that art should be thought provoking, relevant,
and have elements of play. She takes great care in designing and hand stitching designs
that embody all of those elements. She is compelled to create and speak to her experiences
and the world around her.
Breezy Winters
Breezy Winters, Fine Artist and Educator loves more than anything to teach. Born and
raised between South Lake Tahoe, where she developed a love and appreciation for the
outdoors, and Las Vegas, where she established a love for people, diversity of culture,
and travel. Graduating with honors from Lake Tahoe Community College with an Associate
of Arts in Early Childhood Education and an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts. Winters
also graduated from Brooks Institute with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Journalism,
and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography Magna Cum Laude. She was also formally trained
and mentored in Alternative Process Photography by Fine Artist Joyce Wilson. Winters
previously taught photography courses at Ventura College, Halstrom Academy, and Alternative
Process workshops with Joyce Wilson. Currently, Winters resides with her husband Alex,
their daughter Emalyn, and their dog Sefi in Bend, Oregon, specializes in portraiture,
conceptual fine art, and sharing all her knowledge and creativity through courses
at Oregon State University Cascades, Central Oregon Community College, and private
workshops.