Clatsop Community College announces the return of Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century. The exhibit will open for viewing on February 1 and run through March 14 at the Royal Nebeker Art Gallery located at 1799 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR. A special reception in honor of Henk Pander and celebrating the participating artists will be held on February 8 at the Royal Nebeker Gallery from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Gallery hours are from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The gallery is open on Sundays and holidays by appointment only.
Founded in 2007, this showcase of artwork featuring the nude human form has been a significant platform for figurative artists working in drawing, painting, and printmaking media. This year’s exhibit is dedicated to the memory of the late Henk Pander, who served as the most recent juror for the competition just before the lockdown.
Henk Pander, a revered artist who has been described as “an Oregon art giant,” is originally from Haarlem, The Netherlands, and represented in prestigious museums and collections across the globe, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Pander was a strong supporter of the Au Naturel and in addition to jurying the 2020 show, he won the first-place award in the 2017 Au Naturel, and was also an award-winning participant in the ninth annual Au Naturel in 2015. His legacy is marked by numerous accolades, including the Regional Arts and Cultural Council Visual Arts Fellowship, the State of Oregon Governor’s Award for the Arts, awards in national competitions in the Netherlands, the Silver Medal in the Prix de Rome, and the Talens Prize, among others.
Rather than a juried competition, this year’s show is an invitational and co-curated by Au Naturel Founding Director Kristin Shauck and Ghislaine Fremaux, Associate Professor of Art at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, TX. Fremaux currently serves as Interim Director of the TTU School of Art. She holds her MFA from the Pennsylvania State University, conferred in 2012. Her work examines consent, aging, and inter- and intra-corporeal experiences through drawing, and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Fremaux has undertaken interdisciplinary projects within sociology and medicine, and works in frequent collaboration with her partner, Lando Valdez.
In addition to Henk Pander, participating artists include Portland artists Arnold Pander, Elizabeth Malaska, Daniel Duford, Laura Ross Paul, Patrick Deshaye, William Webster, and Buck Braden; local talents Robert Paulmenn, Roger Dorband, Paul Polson, Jordan Manchester, Penny Treat, Anna Lee Larimore, Drea Frost, and Carrie Williams (who has recently relocated to New Mexico); Seattle area artists Tom Jensen and Beth Kehoe; Texas artists Ghislaine Fremaux, Lando Valdez, Devin Ratheal, James W. Johnson, Josie Del Castillo, Shannon Cannings, and Chris Marin (now based in Louisiana).
The CCC Royal Nebeker Gallery is dedicated to enriching cultural life in Astoria and the North Coast region. Located at 1799 Lexington Avenue, the gallery welcomes visitors from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The gallery is open on Sundays and holidays by appointment only. For further information, please contact Kristin Shauck at 503-338-2472 or kshauck@clatsopcc.edu.
