The Betty Feves Art Gallery at Blue Mountain Community College will present Light Moves in Radiant Bodies, an exhibition by multimedia visual artist and new BMCC Art Instructor Nika Blasser.
The community is invited to attend a reception on Thursday, Feb. 22, from 4:30–6:30 p.m. This is a rescheduling as the original reception in January was postponed due to weather. Everyone is welcome at the reception; an artist talk will take place at approximately 5 p.m., and light refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs until March 14.
Blasser’s art installation focuses on the interaction of light and material. Video works highlight the contrast between organic and hyper-synthetic surfaces, with a haunting silver-clad figure set against rural landscapes. This character recurs in a series of photographs, some of which use slow exposures for other-worldly night scenes. Around the gallery, detailed charcoal drawings, cyanotypes, and paintings each offer translations of light and shadow through their own unique media. This meditative contemporary display invites literal and figurative reflection.
Light Moves in Radiant Bodies encompasses drawing, painting, video, sound, and photography. The exhibition encourages viewers to contemplate how we shape, and are shaped by, our environment.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Blasser grew up hiking, traveling, and immersed in the art scene of the Northwest. She holds an MFA in Drawing and Intermedia from the University of Alberta and a BA in Painting/Drawing/Printmaking from Portland State University. She lived in Canada for five years, initially for graduate school and later continuing her work in the arts and teaching at the University of Alberta.
She has lived in Pendleton since 2015 and is highly involved in the arts and education communities in Eastern Oregon. She was the Marketing Director at Crow’s Shadow for over five years, a Multimedia Specialist for IMESD, and has taught workshops at the Pendleton Center for the Arts, along with previous part-time teaching for BMCC. She is a member of the City of Pendleton Arts Committee, a board member of the Oregon East Symphony, and last summer, was a chaperone to Japan for the Pendleton Cultural Foundation’s Minamisōma sister city student exchange, among other volunteer work. You can find out more at https://nikablasser.com.
In September 2023, she was hired as the full-time Art faculty member at Blue Mountain Community College.
