Open now at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Kittredge Gallery are Liberal and Phenomenal. The Liberal exhibition includes faculty from the Northwest Five Consortium, a group of liberal arts colleges in the Pacific Northwest. Among them are Michael Knutson (BFA 1972), who teaches at Reed College, and Elise Richman (BFA 1995), who teaches at UPS and is currently Chair of the Department of Art and Art History. The Phenomenal exhibition includes five artists who "exemplify painting's phenomenal potential to represent and reveal subjective experience through its shared language." Painting + Drawing Professor Ann Gale is among these painters as is Eric Elliott (MFA 2007) and Emily Gherard (MFA 2004). Both exhibitions close on November 4.
Elise Richman is also co-organizer of a gathering on November 3 and 4 at UPS with the title "Phenomenal: The Northwest Five Painting Colloquium." There will be discussion panels for each exhibition, which include all of the people mentioned above. Another panel includes three more alums: Cable Griffith (MFA 2002), Margie Livingston (MFA 1999), and Paul Komada (BFA 2000). The colloquium is free, but registration is required.