Click an event link below to see what is going on at the College of Design.
Department of the History of Art and Architecture
April 2026
5:30–7:00 p.m.
In this talk, Professor Jon Holt of Portland State University will explore two fundamental frameworks for parsing the visual grammar of comics: Scott McCloud’s formalist analysis and Natsume Fusanosuke’s culturally grounded approach to manga expression. McCloud and Natsume constructed their theories of visual language separately but simultaneously in the 1990s, and their discourses remain powerful and helpful to comics studies scholars as well as instructors teaching manga and comics in the American classroom. By placing these perspectives in dialogue, Holt will show how these flexible frameworks can still help us interpret manga not just as a visual narrative form, but as a distinct cultural medium.
The lecture is open to the public.
The event is sponsored by:
- Yoko McClain Lecture Series in Japanese Studies
- The Sally Claire Haseltine Endowment in Art History
- Comics and Cartoon Studies Program
- Center for Asian and Pacific Studies
May 2026
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Join us for a workshop with Tibetan Master Jamyong Singye to learn about the preparatory iconometry of traditional Thangka paintings.
Learn how to develop a perfect grid (tik-khang) and how to draw a Buddha face and his full figure in a meditation pose with precise measurements and proportions.
Templates and supplies will be provided.
Click the link below to pre-register now — space is limited to 50 guests only!
https://jsma.uoregon.edu/form/studio-workshop-rsvp
Event sponsors: Department of the History of Art and Architecture, Asian Studies Program, Oregon Humanities Center, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
4:30–5:45 p.m.
Prof. Carolyn Nadeau (Illiniois Wesleyan University) will deliver a public lecture titled “Food Fit for a King: What the 1611 Cookbook Teaches Us about Early Modern Spanish Foodways.” Her lecture is one of two keynote presentations of the Mediterranean Seminar Spring Workshop and Conference, hosted by the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
This event was made possible through the generous support of the Schnitzer School for Global Studies and Languages, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Department of Romance Languages, the Italian Program, the Global Justice Program, the Rutherford Middle East Initiative, the Global Studies Institute, the Department of Religious Studies, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, the Food Studies Program, the European Studies Program, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Department of History, and the Department of Comparative Literature.
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
Prof. Anny Gaul (University of Maryland, College Park) will deliver a public lecture titled “A Mediterranean Nightshade: Tomatoes, Trade, and Travel over the Longue Durée.“ Her lecture is one of two keynote presentations of the Mediterranean Seminar Spring Workshop and Conference, hosted by the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
This event was made possible through the generous support of the Schnitzer School for Global Studies and Languages, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Department of Romance Languages, the Italian Program, the Global Justice Program, the Rutherford Middle East Initiative, the Global Studies Institute, the Department of Religious Studies, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, the Food Studies Program, the European Studies Program, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Department of History, and the Department of Comparative Literature.
School of Art + Design Events
April 2026
Utilizing the visual language of color calibration charts and contemporary stock photography, this image collage offers the viewer an amalgamation of references that could at first appear to be celebratory. Mashed together are depictions of beauty regiments, skin tone makeup charts, piles of foods and ethnic spices, sumptuous desserts, tropical vacation landscapes, pastoral farmlands, and community building moments of togetherness. On closer inspection, the frictions and ironies begin to surface, suggesting an anxious shift in contemporary politics masked by upbeat advertising language and colorful veneer.
Long interested in how visual displays can camouflage more complex realities, Syjuco purchased the majority of these images from commercial stock photography sites, juxtaposing them in a way that teases out conflicting meanings. Included is one large image she staged in her studio, as well as multiple color calibration charts that are meant to check for “correct color” — a fraught metaphor for our times.
Stephanie Syjuco works in photography, sculpture, and installation, moving from handmade and craft-inspired mediums to digital editing and archive excavations. Recently, she has focused on how photography and image-based processes are implicated in the construction of exclusionary narratives of history and citizenship. Born in the Philippines in 1974, she is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship Award, a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award and a Tiffany Foundation Award. Her work is in numerous collections, including at The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, The Getty Museum, SFMOMA, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. She was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC in 2019–20 and is featured in the acclaimed PBS documentary series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century. She is a Professor in Sculpture at the University of California, Berkeley and lives in Oakland, California.
A BFA Thesis show by
Mira Ciccarello
Sophia Newton
Hannah Oldham
Chase Reeder
9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
A BFA Thesis show by
Mira Ciccarello
Sophia Newton
Hannah Oldham
Chase Reeder
New work by Britta Anderson.
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*Note: UO ID card with building access is required to gain entry to Washburn Gallery.*
9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
New work by Britta Anderson.
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*Note: UO ID card with building access is required to gain entry to Washburn Gallery.*
May 2026
5:00–8:00 p.m.
The University of Oregon Department of Art's MFA Degree Show culminates three years of independent research and experimentation by a cohort of four artists whose various practices engage in a broad range of inquiry. This year, the MFA exhibition returns to Ditch Projects, celebrating the MFA graduates’ efforts in the professional standard of a highly regarded artist run space and gallery. The 2026 cohort is Yalda Eskandari, Elri Friedman, Afsaneh Javadpour, and Maryam Keshmiri. The four artists showcased in this exhibition represent a diverse range of media and practices, spanning sculpture, installation, photography, painting, and collage.
Artists: Yalda Eskandari Elri Friedman Afsaneh Javadpour Maryam Keshmiri
On View: May 8-24, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, May 8, 5:00- 8:00 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Saturdays & Sundays from noon- 4:00 p.m. and by appointment
Location: Ditch Projects, 303 S 5th St #165, Springfield, OR 97477
5:00 p.m.
The Dawn is Too Far shares the untold stories of eight Iranian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area and shares the longer arc of history (beyond the 1979 revolution) that recounts events both in Iran and the US. The film features aspects of the Bay Area Iranian diaspora community and the way their lives and work were influenced by this region of California, but how they have contributed and helped shape it as well. The film offers a poetic and complex narrative that undermines the barrage of negative headlines that dominate our news media and features rare archival footage.
Persis Karim is the former director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University where she also taught in the Department of Humanities and Comparative and World Literature. She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature, and has published numerous articles about Iranian diaspora literature and culture for academic journals, as well as poetry and essays in non-academic publications. The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life is her first film and reflects her interest in documenting and sharing the larger history and personal stories of those who are part of the global Iranian diaspora.
Made possible by the Department of Anthropology, SSWANA, and the Department of Art’s Center for Art Research.
4:00 p.m.
University of Oregon 2025-26 Visiting Artist Lecture Series Presented by the Department of Art and Center for Art Research
“This presentation introduces my studio practice, which is situated at the intersection of weaving and animation. I create woven textiles on a jacquard loom and translate these fabrics into time-based works, approaching the loom as a camera and editing tool. By working with sequential woven images and material processes, my work explores how textiles can generate motion and shape the moving image. I will discuss recent projects that move between handwoven cloth and animation, as well as the technical and conceptual questions that arise when textiles are used as a time-based medium. The talk will also touch on the overlapping histories of weaving and cinema, and how textile processes offer alternative ways of thinking about moving images, narrative, and authorship.”- Kate Nartker, 2026
Kate Nartker works between animation and weaving to dismantle images, narratives, and material structures. She received an MFA from the California College of the Arts and is an Assistant Professor of Textile Design at the Wilson College of Textiles at NC State University. Her work has been included in exhibitions and screenings throughout the United States and internationally, including The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, The Contemporary Austin, and the Hordaland Art Center in Bergen, Norway.
6:00 p.m.
Filmlandia Screening Series presents: Street Girls (1975). Free and open to the public.
Directed by Michael Miller | 74 min | Rated R
Synopsis: When a middle-aged father searches for his dropout daughter Angel, his quest takes him into the underworld of prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, and thieves.
The Department of Cinema Studies and the University Film Society celebrate Oregon’s rich film heritage with a new screening series showcasing movies with a unique Oregon connection—from locally shot features to stories written or directed by Oregon filmmakers. Discover Oregon’s reel legacy on the big screen while connecting with the university film community.
Cosponsored by: Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Endowment; Department of Art; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Department of History; Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Folklore and Public Culture Program; School of Journalism and Communication; Art House Theater; DUX Present; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; Julie and Rocky Dixon Chair of U.S. Western History; and Oregon Humanities Center’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities
7:30 p.m.
Filmlandia Screening Series presents: Sometimes a Great Notion (1971).
*Free with UO ID
Directed by Paul Newman | 114 min | Rated PG
Synopsis: A family of fiercely independent Oregon loggers struggles to keep their family business alive amid changing times.
The Department of Cinema Studies and the University Film Society celebrate Oregon’s rich film heritage with a new screening series showcasing movies with a unique Oregon connection—from locally shot features to stories written or directed by Oregon filmmakers. Discover Oregon’s reel legacy on the big screen while connecting with the university film community.
Cosponsored by: Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Endowment; Department of Art; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Department of History; Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Folklore and Public Culture Program; School of Journalism and Communication; Art House Theater; DUX Present; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; Julie and Rocky Dixon Chair of U.S. Western History; and Oregon Humanities Center’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities
4:00 p.m.
University of Oregon 2025-26 Visiting Artist Lecture Series Presented by the Department of Art and Center for Art Research
Allan Wexler’s work mediates the gap between fine and applied art using the mediums of architecture, sculpture, photography, painting, and drawing. Wexler’s work is sometimes functional, sometimes theoretical, and often performative. In all cases, it demonstrates a commitment to reevaluating basic assumptions about the human relationship to the built and natural environments.
In the late 1960s Allan Wexler was an early member of the group of architects and artists who questioned the perceived divide between art and the design disciplines. They called themselves non-architects or paper architects. The subject of Wexler's work is the built environment. He creates drawings, multimedia objects, images, and installations that alter perceptions of domestic activities. Wexler is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2016), is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a winner of both a Chrysler Award for Design Innovation and the Henry J. Leir Prize from the Jewish Museum. Wexler currently teaches at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He is represented by the Jane Lombard Gallery in New York City where he had a solo exhibition from January through March of 2025.
Made possible by the Department of Art, the Department of Product Design, and the Bob James Ceramics Fund.
June 2026
7:00 p.m.
Filmlandia Screening Series presents: Ed's Coed (1929) with a live musical accompaniment by Orchestra Next. Free and open to the public.
Directed by Carvel Nelson and James Raley | 74 min
Synopsis: Ed’s father wished for him to attend college, but he’s reluctant to leave the family sawmill until he sees his cousin with a pretty co-ed. The sophomores have hazing on their mind when country boy Ed matriculates, but he won’t be deterred.
The movie was filmed on the UO campus.
The Department of Cinema Studies and the University Film Society celebrate Oregon’s rich film heritage with a new screening series showcasing movies with a unique Oregon connection—from locally shot features to stories written or directed by Oregon filmmakers. Discover Oregon’s reel legacy on the big screen while connecting with the university film community.
Cosponsored by: Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Endowment; Department of Art; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Department of History; Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Folklore and Public Culture Program; School of Journalism and Communication; Art House Theater; DUX Present; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; Julie and Rocky Dixon Chair of U.S. Western History; and Oregon Humanities Center’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities.
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Spring Storm is the School of Art + Design's annual end-of-year exhibition and celebrates the culminating work of senior students completing degrees in Art, Art & Technology, and Product Design.
Engaging a broad range of art and design practices, the work reflects the pluralism of contemporary culture and the dynamism of their curiosity and engagement.
Spring Storm marks a pivotal moment for graduating seniors, celebrating their college experience and launching them into a lifetime of creative thinking and innovative action.
School of Architecture & Environment
May 2026
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Lecture - just practice; practicing process
1 hour
just practice is a collaborative practice started by Amanda Ugorji and Sophie Weston Chien. They will be lecturing on their process and how their experiences and values shape their work as built environment professionals, educators, and textile designers. In addition to sharing their most recent pieces intersecting ideas of environmental justice, the built world, and narrative, they will be sharing how they have navigated collaboration, funding, and working sustainably. They hope for this lecture to serve as a case study for young practitioners imagining what is next.
Workshop - practicing process with just practice
75 minutes
In this workshop with just practice, we ask you to bring a project you feel most excited about being realized and imagine how to make it real with us. So much of what we do in school is framed as an exercise, but we are interested in thinking about how the ideas (and sometimes derivatives) can show up in your work outside of school. For roughly an hour, we will talk through embedded values, potential collaborators, design agency, and what success would look like to you. We hope to foster a broader conversation with peers. Please submit an image associated with the project and a three-sentence description in advance.
Bio
just practice (Amanda Ugorji and Sophie Weston Chien) spans architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, community engagement, textile, and graphic design, as well as activist and organizing work within the design field. We think about modes of practice, the spatialization of memory, Black feminist practices, the historical role of women in architecture, and strategies for collective care. just practice has exhibited at Northeastern University, Mills College, MIT Museum, Boston Public Library Leventhal Map Center, MIT Rotch Architecture Gallery, Yale School of Art and Boston Society of Architects, and our work is in private collections and in the permanent collection at the MIT Museum. Our piece Soft City was awarded the inaugural City Talks Digital Gallery Award from the Spatial Analysis Lab at USC, and we were finalists for the Harvard University Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition.
Sophie is from North Carolina, and Amanda is from Massachusetts.
This memorial lecture was created by friends and family members of our department’s alumna, Mary Kim McKeown. She received her bachelor of landscape architecture from the University of Oregon in 1982 and was working in Mill Valley, California in the offices of Royston, Hanamoto, Alley and Abey (now RHAA). McKeown was considered one of the bright ones, and an up-and-coming leader for the firm. She lost her life when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area on October 17, 1989.
To honor her memory, McKeown’s family and her associates at RHAA dedicated themselves to establishing this memorial lecture fund. An endowment fund at the UO Foundation was created, and in 1992 the department hosted Robert Royston of RHAA as the inaugural speaker in this lecture series.
School of Planning, Public Policy and Management
May 2026
noon
Ed Rubin, Assistant Professor, Economics, presenting on "Do Local Emissions Respond to Upwind Abatement? Evidence of Regulatory Rebound from Power-plant Rules and PM2.5 Standards".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is working in collaboration with the Department of Economics and the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Weaving Hope represents an opportunity for queer and trans stories of recovery from substance misuse to reach a wider public. The first event of its kind at UO, this event will bring together queer and trans individuals from UO, the Eugene area, and beyond to share unique stories focused on how substance misuse impacts our communities, and how we have survived and thrived in the face of addiction.
noon
Patrick Hunnicutt, Assistant Professor, PPPM, presents: "Poisoning the Well: Process, Recognition, and Opposition to Environmental Policy in Rural America".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is working in collaboration with the UO School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
3:00–6:00 p.m.
You are cordially invited to the 2026 PPPM Awards, the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management’s annual awards event. Join us to see students’ showcased work, mingle with luminaries, and enjoy catered food and drink.
No need to RSVP. It will be held in the Ford Alumni Center on the east end of campus.
3–4 pm: Showcase of student work 4–5 pm: Awards event. The awards include:
- Outstanding service to Oregon
- Outstanding recent alumnus/a
- Outstanding alumnus/a
- Teacher of the Year
- Student Service Awards
- Community Partner
5–6 pm: Reception
We look forward to seeing you.
Go PPPM and Go Ducks!