"Aside from a year and a half of odd jobs after graduating from high school, I have made my living from my art in one way or another all my adult life.

I was born and lived the first fifteen of my life in Southern California. I spent nearly four years in the Air Force in the Korean War period. I took my education at San Jose State University in San Jose, California. My first tenured position, after leaving graduate school, was at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, Canada in 1966. I came to Western in 1968.
During my years at Western, I developed the printmaking program here; I was the first studio artist at Western to be promoted to full professor in 1980, and I received the Faculty Honors Award in 1985. I enjoyed teaching a great deal but more important than my enjoyment in teaching were the many wonderful people who were my students. I am very proud of their many achievements since graduating from Western. After twenty-six and a half years in the Art Department, I retired in December 1994.

In the public sector, I am equally proud of my participation and involvement in the Northwest Print Council. The NWPC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, professional printmaking organization, created in 1981 and headquartered in Portland. I was the second NWPC President (1982 to 1985) and have been a member the NWPC Board of Directors until the present day. I am equally proud to have been named as a NWPC Honorary Life Member in 1998.

As an artist, I prefer to make things whose meaning is wrapped up in seeing, that is, they have been made for no other reason than to be looked at. I enjoy working in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, but many know me as a printmaker.

The human figure, particularly portraits, has dominated much my work for most of my professional life. My fascination with the figure is due in large part to my long-term interest in social commentary as subject matter.

All of the works in this exhibition however, are paintings. They are a body of works completed over the past year and a half, based on what I feel is the beauty in the landscape that surrounds this region of the Willamette Valley. Thirty-five years ago, that beauty was foremost in our decision to locate here. We have never regretted that decision. The paintings included in this show, which I have titled The Monmouth Series, are intended as a tribute to the enjoyment we have savored in the thirty-five years we have lived here."

James T Mattingly, Professor of Art, Emeritus, WOU
Dallas, Oregon

LOCATION: 2nd floor Gallery
Curator: James T. Mattingly

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