Terroir for Beginners
a site specific installation by
Laura Hughes
Exhibition on view August 6 - August 29, 2021
Gallery hours: Friday - Sunday,12PM-5PM, or by appointment
Opening reception: Friday, August 6th from 5PM - 8PM
1607 SE 3rd Ave, 97214
Terroir is a French term used to describe environmental factors and contexts that influence crops such as wine, cider, coffee and chocolate. These regional characteristics are studied under the presumption that the land a crop is grown on imparts unique qualities specific to that habitat. It includes the natural elements that are beyond human control as well as human decisions about which crops to grow in a particular area.
Terroir for Beginners adopts this concept in alignment with how Hughes creates a work of art in relation to the tensions between structure, light, object and the individual’s movement through space and time to question distinctions between artwork, viewer and their surroundings. Mirrored forms and mixed objects interact to create a new environment in which they must operate together to become intelligible. Beyond the objects and surfaces implemented by the artist, fixed and temporal factors such as architecture, the sun’s movement throughout the day and environmental reflections become essential visual contributors to the shifting and ever evolving composition.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Laura Hughes is a visual artist based in Portland, OR, who creates site-specific installations that investigate how light, form and space surround and shape one another in our perception. Directly responding to the given features of architectural space, she manipulates reflective materials and artificial or natural light to navigate dimensional relationships, intersecting planes, and shifting visibilities relative to surface, space and the movements of viewers. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Hughes has received multiple grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Oregon Arts Commission, the Ford Family Foundation and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at: the Portland International Airport (Portland, OR), White Box University of Oregon (Portland, OR), the Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), Atelier Gallery (Vancouver BC), and the Banff Centre (Banff, AB), among others. Hughes received an MFA in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR), and a BFA in Drawing with Distinction from the Alberta College of Art & Design (Calgary, AB). She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate students at Portland State University and the Pacific Northwest College of Art.