Whitney E. Nye
Portland artist Whitney Nye explores composition through intricate patterns of repetition. In this exhibition she alludes to a variety of popular icons of past and present: make-at-home clothing patterns, vinyl records, astrological charts and more. Nye explains that the “subject of domesticity arose as I worked. The role of women, the role of men, and how as a society we have traveled away from domestic endeavors, yet in current times there is a yearning and potentially vital desire to get ‘back to the basics.’ The paintings that result from Nye’s hands-on, labor intensive, collage and layering process are mesmerizing for their ability to pull viewers into the intricacy of their patterns. They prompt reflection on the original function and meaning of the collage materials she uses, and on where such materials and their original uses fit into contemporary experience.
A University of Oregon graduate, Whitney Nye was also an artist in residence at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and at Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, Oregon. She has exhibited her work for over 15 years, and is represented by galleries in Tennessee, Wyoming, and Utah, as well as at Laura Russo Gallery in Oregon. Her work is included in a variety of private and public collections, including Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.