Last Updated on January 11, 2024 by Kaley Cope
On View: January 18 — March 14, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 18, 4:30 – 6:30 pm
PENDLETON, Ore. – The Betty Feves Art Gallery at Blue Mountain Community College is pleased to present Light Moves in Radiant Bodies, an exhibition by multimedia visual artist and new BMCC Art Instructor Nika Blasser. The community is invited to attend a reception on Thursday, January 18, from 4:30 – 6:30 pm. Everyone is welcome at the reception; an artist talk will occur at approximately 5:00 pm, and light refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs until March 14, 2024.
Blasser’s art installation focuses on the interaction of light and material. Video works highlight the contrast between organic and hyper-synthetic surfaces, with a haunting silver-clad figure set against rural landscapes. This character recurs in a series of photographs, some of which use slow exposures for other-worldly night scenes. Around the gallery, detailed charcoal drawings, cyanotypes, and paintings each offer translations of light and shadow through their own unique media. This meditative contemporary display invites literal and figurative reflection.
Light Moves in Radiant Bodies encompasses drawing, painting, video, sound, and photography. The exhibition encourages viewers to contemplate how we shape, and are shaped by, our environment.
About the Artist:
Nika Blasser is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work spans a wide variety of materials and defies easy categorization. Her art explores the ephemeral existence of humans in the world, capturing moments of poetic magic created by the forces of nature.
Blasser has exhibited artwork nationally and internationally. She has upcoming solo exhibitions at the Pendleton Center for the Arts and the Dalles Art Center. In 2023, her work was featured in several group exhibitions, including the Foundry Vineyards gallery in Walla Walla, Washington, Moscow Contemporary in Idaho, and Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Also in 2023, she attended a residency at the Vermont Studio Center, with travel partially supported by a Career Opportunity grant from the Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation. She has been invited to attend other prestigious artist residency programs such as the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, PLAYA in Oregon, and Taekker AIR Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Blasser grew up hiking, traveling, and immersed in the art scene of the Northwest. She holds an MFA in Drawing and Intermedia from the University of Alberta and a BA in Painting/Drawing/Printmaking from Portland State University. She lived in Canada for five years, initially for graduate school and later continuing her work in the arts and teaching at the University of Alberta.
She has lived in Pendleton since 2015 and is highly involved in the arts and education communities in Eastern Oregon. She was the Marketing Director at Crow’s Shadow for over five years, a Multimedia Specialist for IMESD, and has taught workshops at the Pendleton Center for the Arts, along with previous part-time teaching for BMCC. She is a member of the City of Pendleton Arts Committee, a board member of the Oregon East Symphony, and last summer, was a chaperone to Japan for the Pendleton Cultural Foundation’s Minamisōma sister city student exchange, among other volunteer work. You can find out more at https://nikablasser.com.
In September 2023, she was hired as the full-time Art faculty member at Blue Mountain Community College.
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The Betty Feves Memorial Art Gallery at BMCC is a non-profit exhibition space connecting emerging and established artists and their work with students, staff, and the general public in eastern Oregon. The gallery is open to the public Monday—Thursday, 9:30 am—1:30 pm, and is located in Pioneer Hall on the Pendleton Campus, 2411 NW Carden Avenue. Admission is free.
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Image: Nika Blasser, video still from Silver Suit at Playa