Catalog of an exhibition held at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, January 20-April 29, 2018.
The interview of Achepohl is edited from a conversation between curators Jill Hartz and Danielle Knapp and the artist at his studio on September 18, 2017.
Contents:
Introduction / Robert and Desirée Yarber, Morris Graves Foundation -- Foreword : the nature of art, the art of nature / Jill Hartz, Executive Director and exhibition co-curator, Danielle Knapp, McCosh Associate Curator and exhibition co-curator -- Finding time in Achepohl's vision of nature / Cory Gundlach -- A conversation with Keith Achepohl -- Works in the exhibition -- Keith Achepohl : curriculum vitae
Summary:
In 2011, Eugene-based artist Keith Achepohl (American, born 1934) spent three weeks at the Morris Graves Foundation Artist Residency, "The Lake," in Loleta, California. That period of uninterrupted work, followed by a second stay in 2016, profoundly affected both the artist's subject matter and his media. Thus far, Achepohl has created nine distinct yet interrelated explorations of the plants and trees that he observed at Morris Graves's final home, which are presented here for the first time. Although the finished pieces are wholly of nature, they are, according to the artist, neither landscapes nor botanical studies. Rather, he describes them as "more fantasy than reality, an intensely personal language of nature that developed from careful observation to mnemonic response." Achepohl's virtuosity across media is evident in these sensitively rendered, metaphorically rich portraits of The Lake's natural splendor.
