Science and art meet in “Where-Wolf (Willamette University),” a new exhibition showing in the Rogers Gallery through May 15.
“Where-Wolf,” by artist Andrew Myers, is a mixed-media installation that explores the concepts of place and home.
The large-scale piece features a half-human, half-wolf figure made from a patchwork of collaged drawings. It tells the story of OR-7, a male, gray wolf who abandoned the Wallowa County Imnaha pack in the summer of 2011.
After traveling alone through much of Oregon and northern California in an unsuccessful search for a mate, OR-7 became world famous when biologists tracked his journey with a GPS/radio-telemetry collar. OR-7 returned to southern Oregon in March of 2013, and is now known as the first wolf sighted west of the Cascades in more than 80 years.
Myers says OR-7’s journey mirrors his own life experience in several ways.
“This story of futility and hope was very interesting to me, and being from northeastern Oregon myself, and now in western Oregon, I felt a lot of connections,” he says.
“I hope this piece conveys the instinctual exploration to find a new life, the feelings of both hopelessness and hopefulness at the same time, as well as the importance of place in our lives — where we live, work and play, where we are going, where we’ve been.”
Rogers Gallery Curator Andries Fourie says Myers’ installation embodies the idea of liberal arts.
“Andrew’s work combines storytelling, myth and personal expression to show that art and science aren’t polar opposites,” he says.
Myers received his MFA from Portland State University in 2003. His work has been showcased in Art in America and at the Drawing Center in New York. He teaches drawing at Oregon State University and in Rome.
Natalie Pate 